Darien: Guardian Angel of Jesus

Angelwalk #4

by Roger Elwood

Originally introduced in Roger Elwood's Angelwalk , the angel Darien is given the great honor and daunting responsibility of acting as the guardian of Jesus. But when Jesus is crucified, he begins to doubt the Creator's plan. An intriguing novel to deepen our understanding of the life of Christ.

Genres: Fiction, Christian Fiction, Christian, Fantasy

420 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 1997

About the author

Roger Elwood was an American science fiction writer and editor, perhaps best known for having edited a large number of anthologies and collections for a variety of publishers in the early 1970s. Elwood was also the founding editor of Laser Books and, in more recent years, worked in the evangelical Christian market.

Reviews

[Ava · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this was a good story with interesting ideas for familiar characters. I liked the historical aspects when the author explained Jewish customs or traditions even Persians for the Magi. I think the writing style was too disjointed for me. The historical and cultural context was great but the author took us away from the character's perspective to inform us rather than show us from the character's point of view.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this are more than I thought I would, and I did not realize it was a "sequel" of sorts to Angelwalk. I thought it was better than either Angelwalk or Fallen Angel (I do not remember if I ever read Steadfast, and I would say it was written after Frank Peretti's "Darkness" books (about spiritual warfare, angels, and demons) became popular on the Christian market. It was an interesting direction the author took for a story, as it focused on something I never considered (did Jesus have a guardian angel with Him at all times?), so I found myself enjoying most of the "internal discussions" between Jesus and Darien. I realize the story is also extremely speculative in nature as it covers "events" that are not mentioned in the Bible, including various moments of Jesus from just after He was born up until He was twelve years old and his parents found Him in the temple. Also, everything having to do with angels is also highly speculative (apart from the little revealed in the Old and New Testaments), so there is that, too, but I felt the author did a nice job of handling things, overall, in terms of how angels and demons might act in the spiritual realm granted, I do not know how much I agree with the "concept" that demons can return to their former state if they would just renounce Satan and turn away from him to return to Yahweh; I have never seen anything in Scripture that says a fallen angel can be restored to his former glory in Heaven. The author has some moments were demons are told that what they lost can be restored if they will but renounce their current master, but none of them ever do; some of the demons are even written as expressing regret over their choice(s) to rebel, but it never goes beyond that point. So it just seems like "why introduce that concept anyway?" if nothing will ever come of it?.

I enjoyed the "historical parts" of the story, where the author describes lifestyles, how the rich and poor might have lived, what foods they ate, what society might have been like for various individuals. It made the book that much more interesting, in my opinion, because of the insight that was given.

While I did not like how some of the demons were described in some ways as to possibly generating sympathy for them, I think the author could have done a better job with Judas. I know he betrayed his Master for 30 pieces of silver, but the author jumps from him being pursued by demons to his corpse being discovered by Darien. I think the author would have done a better service by painting Judas in a more sympathetic light than any of the demons, myself.

The author introduces several "new characters" throughout the course of the book and then brings them back at the end. Some of them, it took me a few moments to remember who they were (because of the "number of years having passed" from when the time they were introduced to their reappearance). I did not mind it so much, as it allowed for some interesting discussions to take place. At the same time, I was somewhat surprised there were some "elements" or moments that were not covered, such as when Mary of Magdalene had demons cast out of her, which changed her life, or how John the Baptist never acknowledged that he and Jesus were cousins, which also seemed rather weird to me as that would have seemed to have been a natural course of direction or discussion to me.

The author does make some interesting observations throughout the book, I felt, such as when Darien realizes that his constant questioning of Yahweh's plan is no different than Satan's pride that got Satan cast out from Heaven, as if Darien knew better than Yahweh on how to handle things. Granted, Darien continues to question Jesus and Yahweh over the course of the entire book, which got a little frustrating, as Darien kept saying he'd "remember these lessons" and then promptly forgot them. There was a moment of insight I wish I had jotted down that helped me see God in a "different way," and it was a cool moment.

As I said, I was pretty disappointed with the first two books and did not realize this was the fourth book in the series. Until I read the third book, I will probably say this is the best of the series. I may go back and reread the first two books as well, just to see if my opinion has changed, but I am still glad I took a chance on reading this book.

[Olusola Anyanwu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read, especially when you get deeper into the story!

[Tamcamry · Rating 4 out of 5]

• I know after reading some of Elwood’s previous books I was concerned that this book would really come off as a blatant money grab. I was pleasantly surprised. This book was very respectful during the parts that it was talking about Jesus. It was also very interesting in the interactions between fallen and unfallen angels. It gave some insight into the times that the events of Jesus’ life happened. Other than that, it was also a good story. Granted, things may have been completely different than what was written here, but this seemed realistic and plausible. I hope the rest of the books in the series continue that way.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about a half-star better than the other Angelwalk books, because it has more of a plot. Of course, that's because it's telling the life of Jesus, which is a very well-defined narrative. The angelic perspective is interesting, and though I like this more than the others in the series, I don't think it's met my criteria of "will I ever read it again" to actually get the fourth star and stay on my bookshelf.

[Zee · Rating 5 out of 5]

An angel who is still trying to find his way around, even after the Angelwalk, is assigned the most important role - to be a guardian angel of none other but Jesus himself. As Darien follows Jesus' life, he has to make decisions where his allegiance is.

[Robyn Fanning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting .. enjoyed .. different perspective