Posted on August 3, 2012.
Tagged with Thomas E Sniegoski, Remy Chandler Series, detective, gods, Angels, urban fantasy, .
Tagged with Thomas E Sniegoski, Remy Chandler Series, detective, gods, Angels, urban fantasy, .
Review: Where Angels Fear to Tread by Thomas Sniegoski, Book 3 of the Remy Chandler Series
Remy Chandler, private investigator and seraphim, is still in a rut from the death of his wife, fighting both depression and his angelic nature that flares more strongly with his loneliness. Even his friend is beginning to worry about him – and not much worries the veteran cop.
He also has a new case – a man has run off with his daughter without the mother’s consent, and she is desperately worried for her child. More, this child, Zoe, seems capable of seeing the impossible including both the future and Remy’s true nature.
She has a power inside of her, a power that isn’t meant for humanity but is highly desired. Remy is faced with the challenged of finding the child with what erstwhile allies he can gather, while both the soul-consuming seductress Delilah (yes, of Samson and Delilah) and the long weakened god Dagon both seek the same prize for their own reasons – and that doesn’t include the welfare of the child.
I’ve said before that there’s a lot of research that goes into this series and it really does show. It has a very rich, wide and broad world with a lot of weight to it. Everything is solid, non-contradictory and holds up well and still brings in a vast amount of information and different legends. The introduction of Samson and Delilah was nicely done with their lives after the Biblical legend. It was another level of richness and depth to this world.
It’s also interesting to see the depiction of deity – because it does seem to be the ultimate personification of a righteous – but incredibly harsh and unforgiving god. After all, the plot here revolves so much around Delilah trying to escape her excessively cruel punishment. I am curious where this is going to go – because it does fit very well with what we’ve seen of Remy’s Seraphim side and the other angels. Just, right, powerful, determined to fight evil – and utterly lacking in any kind of mercy, compassion or empathy. Yet, at the same time, the scene with the reclaimers suggests the powers that be have at least some level of compassion. I’m curious and I definitely want to see more and how it fits.
In fact, the world has been expanded generally here with the introduction of other deities (albeit ones under god), other powers and a suggestion that there is a lot more out there beyond the Judeo-Christian style divinity we’ve seen so far. I always like to see a world developing and growing.
