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Morningstar
This retelling the Biblical mythos of the Creation and the Fall comes from the perspective of the Fallen: the angel Morningstar. It is the story of an angel, not of pride and envy, but of confusion and frustration. Forced to watch as the place of the angels as the Creator's favored is slowly taken over by the rise of Man, Morningstar seeks solace with his lover, Radueriel.
Radueriel has a fanatical devotion to the Creator, and he repeatedly urges Morningstar to surrender to the Creator's will. Unable to do so, Morningstar revolts against the Creator and His ineffable Divine Plan, jeopardizing his relationship with Radueriel and risking the wrath of God. The revolution fails, and the rebelling angels are expelled from Heaven.
Not to Hell, but to Earth.
Radueriel has a fanatical devotion to the Creator, and he repeatedly urges Morningstar to surrender to the Creator's will. Unable to do so, Morningstar revolts against the Creator and His ineffable Divine Plan, jeopardizing his relationship with Radueriel and risking the wrath of God. The revolution fails, and the rebelling angels are expelled from Heaven.
Not to Hell, but to Earth.
92 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2007
1 person is currently reading
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About the author
S.L. Armstrong
56 books133 followersSupport S.L. Armstrong & K. Piet on Patreon!
S.L. Armstrong has been writing for as long as she can remember. Art and reading have played a large part in her life since young childhood, but around fourteen, writing became her passion. Voraciously consuming every book in front of her opened up hundreds of worlds in her head, and she soon wanted to create worlds for other people as well. She has a particular fondness for gothic horror, horror, high fantasy, urban fantasy, and romance novels. The authors she turns to time and again are Stephen King, L.J. Smith, V.C. Andrews, R.L. Stine, and Anne Rice, among others. She has no shame in picking up the young adult novels she loved as a child, and she will talk your ear off about grammar and punctuation.
After she married her husband over seventeen years ago, she began to truly delve into the world of writing for public consumption. It was sheer chance that she stumbled on M/M fanfiction, and she's not looked back. Though fanfiction will always have a fond place in her heart, she soon grew tired of playing in other people's sandboxes. When she discovered M/M romance, and how it was now a legitimate branch of romance writing, she knew her course. S.L. plans to release F/F, M/M, M/F, and multiple partner books as she continues her writing career. M/M romance is where her heart lies, no matter what else she may write or read, and it's where she keeps returning to. There is something about two men passionately in love that just makes her heart melt, and she has no intention of giving that up anytime soon.
S.L. Armstrong lives in Florida with her husband, partner, two dogs, and twelve cats. She hates the heat and longs for a northern, snowy climate. She writes with K. Piet on a number of projects, but she also writes her own solitary titles as well.
S.L. Armstrong has been writing for as long as she can remember. Art and reading have played a large part in her life since young childhood, but around fourteen, writing became her passion. Voraciously consuming every book in front of her opened up hundreds of worlds in her head, and she soon wanted to create worlds for other people as well. She has a particular fondness for gothic horror, horror, high fantasy, urban fantasy, and romance novels. The authors she turns to time and again are Stephen King, L.J. Smith, V.C. Andrews, R.L. Stine, and Anne Rice, among others. She has no shame in picking up the young adult novels she loved as a child, and she will talk your ear off about grammar and punctuation.
After she married her husband over seventeen years ago, she began to truly delve into the world of writing for public consumption. It was sheer chance that she stumbled on M/M fanfiction, and she's not looked back. Though fanfiction will always have a fond place in her heart, she soon grew tired of playing in other people's sandboxes. When she discovered M/M romance, and how it was now a legitimate branch of romance writing, she knew her course. S.L. plans to release F/F, M/M, M/F, and multiple partner books as she continues her writing career. M/M romance is where her heart lies, no matter what else she may write or read, and it's where she keeps returning to. There is something about two men passionately in love that just makes her heart melt, and she has no intention of giving that up anytime soon.
S.L. Armstrong lives in Florida with her husband, partner, two dogs, and twelve cats. She hates the heat and longs for a northern, snowy climate. She writes with K. Piet on a number of projects, but she also writes her own solitary titles as well.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 3, 2012
Wonderful story, but it’s not for religious purists
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 8/10
PROS:
- The subject matter here was simply enthralling to me, as were sections of the writing itself. Morningstar’s narrative voice is part frank cynicism and part poetry, and the author explores the nature of angels in a way that I found unique and incredibly intriguing.
- I haven’t read many stories about fallen angels, so I’m not anywhere close to being an expert on the subgenre. As a result, I can’t comment on the originality of the story. However, I found the angels’ personalities very interesting: they possess a whole slew of doubts and emotions I typically consider human (they’d have to, I realize; otherwise the book would be boring)--like fear and worry and extremely passionate love.
- Armstrong does a good job of showing the differences between Morningstar and the other angels: his tendency toward anger when that emotion is absent from most of the angels, his near-obsession with humans when the others prefer to keep their distance, etc. These little indications that he’s fundamentally different from his peers make his Fall from Heaven seem inevitable.
- I loved the character of Radueriel, Morningstar’s lover. I always like sweet, innocent characters, but the fact that Radueriel is an angel who’s never experienced the cruelties of mankind first-hand made his naiveté utterly believable to me.
CONS:
- There are passages in the story that convey a wealth of information very quickly, and they do so by telling what happened, in a play-by-play sort of way, rather than showing specific occurrences in any detail. Here’s one example: “Man never knew of the conflict his Creator and His angels engaged [in], but we fought long into Man’s history.” This is such an intriguing idea to me, but the scene leading up to this statement is relatively undeveloped. It’s mostly “this happened, then this happened...” and so on.
- The characters’ dialogue mimics that of the King James Bible at the beginning of the book (examples: “What is it thou askest of Me?” “Why doth thy brow crease, Morningstar?”). While I understand the probable reason behind the author’s choice to write like this, those lines come across as rather jarring, especially considering that most of the narration uses contemporary speech patterns and vocabulary.
Overall comments: This is an interesting and unique story, but if you’re sensitive about the twisting of Biblical lore, you should probably avoid this one. I consider myself to be a pretty open-minded Christian, and parts of this story still made me cringe. As far as the love scenes go, there are several (4 or 5) in this relatively short story, but they’re pretty tame and none of them last very long.
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 8/10
PROS:
- The subject matter here was simply enthralling to me, as were sections of the writing itself. Morningstar’s narrative voice is part frank cynicism and part poetry, and the author explores the nature of angels in a way that I found unique and incredibly intriguing.
- I haven’t read many stories about fallen angels, so I’m not anywhere close to being an expert on the subgenre. As a result, I can’t comment on the originality of the story. However, I found the angels’ personalities very interesting: they possess a whole slew of doubts and emotions I typically consider human (they’d have to, I realize; otherwise the book would be boring)--like fear and worry and extremely passionate love.
- Armstrong does a good job of showing the differences between Morningstar and the other angels: his tendency toward anger when that emotion is absent from most of the angels, his near-obsession with humans when the others prefer to keep their distance, etc. These little indications that he’s fundamentally different from his peers make his Fall from Heaven seem inevitable.
- I loved the character of Radueriel, Morningstar’s lover. I always like sweet, innocent characters, but the fact that Radueriel is an angel who’s never experienced the cruelties of mankind first-hand made his naiveté utterly believable to me.
CONS:
- There are passages in the story that convey a wealth of information very quickly, and they do so by telling what happened, in a play-by-play sort of way, rather than showing specific occurrences in any detail. Here’s one example: “Man never knew of the conflict his Creator and His angels engaged [in], but we fought long into Man’s history.” This is such an intriguing idea to me, but the scene leading up to this statement is relatively undeveloped. It’s mostly “this happened, then this happened...” and so on.
- The characters’ dialogue mimics that of the King James Bible at the beginning of the book (examples: “What is it thou askest of Me?” “Why doth thy brow crease, Morningstar?”). While I understand the probable reason behind the author’s choice to write like this, those lines come across as rather jarring, especially considering that most of the narration uses contemporary speech patterns and vocabulary.
Overall comments: This is an interesting and unique story, but if you’re sensitive about the twisting of Biblical lore, you should probably avoid this one. I consider myself to be a pretty open-minded Christian, and parts of this story still made me cringe. As far as the love scenes go, there are several (4 or 5) in this relatively short story, but they’re pretty tame and none of them last very long.
August 24, 2013
This started out so-so and got better as the story progressed. I enjoy stories about angels, demons, and the like, but didn’t expect it to feel so religious (if that makes sense). That’s what made the first half of the book more of a struggle for me. The second half improved as it became more about Morningstar and Radueriel. Those who don’t like any cheating in their stories (the unquestionable kind or even the “well technically, it might not be considered” kind) might want to proceed with caution.
May 10, 2011
One of the first things I thought when I started reading was Paradise Lost so it was amusing that it actually quoted Milton. While short it had its moments, but overall I thought that it was a great idea that didn't develop fully. I would have easily given it three stars if not for the beginning and that I am personally not interested in religious themed fiction.
April 20, 2011
4.5 stars.
The first half of this read like a biblical tale, it was really beautifully written. The story itself is just amazing!
The first half of this read like a biblical tale, it was really beautifully written. The story itself is just amazing!
September 2, 2015
I do not care for the biblical language that the angels spoke in. It took the joy out of reading the story.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews