Angel Evolution (The Evolution Trilogy, #1) in Shut Up & Read

Dec 28, 2011 Midu Hadi rated it liked it

Shelves: prophecies, duels-wars-battles-and-skirmishes, really-ya, 313, read-in-2013, fire-powers, amazon-and-other-warriors, fantasy, first-in-the-series, humor

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Sep 27, 2012 Jenn rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012

AGH! I just finished the book and was about to start screaming about the ending. Then I checked and saw that the second book was already out, and was like "thank goodness." I am glad I don't have to wait to find out the next part of the story.

Angel Evolution is really different from the other angel and demon stories out there. This story has no basis on religion at all. The angels and demons come from a different source, which I found to be fascinating.

Taylor is a pretty cool character. She ha ...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Sheri rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviews

Taylor is off to her first year of college where she meets Gabriel. Gabriel is a mystery to Taylor from the very first time she sets eyes on him, and she's immediately drawn to him and his mysteriousness. Gabriel is not what he seems though, and Taylor ultimately has to decide if she can trust him or not.

I love the characters. Taylor and Samantha had such contrasting characters but despite that, or maybe because of that, they were best friends. Gabriel and Christopher thought they were completel ...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Giovahni rated it it was amazing

Oh, I like how interesting the powers of the angels and demons, and just as one person previously said. It is kinda of hard to wrap one's head around angels being the bad guys this time. ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Yzabel Ginsberg rated it liked it

Shelves: paranormal-supernatural, young-adult, angels-and-demons

I've had this novel on my radar for a couple of weeks, and finally got to read it today. I must say it made me spend a good moment, even though it has its flaws.

I think the major problem for me as a reader was that I found connecting with the characters a little hard. Especially the main female character, Taylor, who remained quite bland for a good deal of the story, until she finally grew something of a spine. Besides, she accepted Gabriel's story so quickly! It would've been more believable if I've had this novel on my radar for a couple of weeks, and finally got to read it today. I must say it made me spend a good moment, even though it has its flaws.

I think the major problem for me as a reader was that I found connecting with the characters a little hard. Especially the main female character, Taylor, who remained quite bland for a good deal of the story, until she finally grew something of a spine. Besides, she accepted Gabriel's story so quickly! It would've been more believable if she had been more of a skeptic, asked more questions, be warier of him, kept a distance at first... not fall into his arms so soon. I didn't know where to stand regarding Gabriel either, couldn't decide if he was suffering from chronic lying disorder, or was just brainwashed, or tried to convince himself he believed in all of that. I guess this is part of his evolution, of how he goes from obeying orders to standing for what he thinks is really right, but it still came off as shaky.

On the other hand, the story itself was enjoyable, with an original twist about angels and demons. Well, alright, at first I wasn't sure whether I would've wanted those to be closer to their original myths, or not; however, now that I've finished the book, it feels like a positive aspect, that provides a nice change from more classical retellings of such fights. It's a good thing that there is no God here to steer the ship; we are presented with people who, all in all, are still human, or at least evolved from humans, and as such, who are prone to mistakes (but then, there's the black snake... will more be revealed about its role later on?). The ending of this first novel leaves several doors open, regarding various possibilities of action for the characters; I feel like it doesn't have to end in a full-blown war... yet it could just as well... or there could be yet another path to follow. At this point, the outcome is not predictable, and I like that.

What I appreciated most was that there was more than met the eye to the two sides of the war. The angels whom everyone expects to be 'pure' and 'good' actually have their lot of bastards, double-standards, lies and downright crass goals; while the demons, supposedly evil and dark, probably have their lot of ambiguous characters and darker aims as well (I don't know what's going to be tackled in the two other novels, after all), yet were clearly not the totally bad guys they were made to look like. In fact, the character I liked the most throughout the whole novel was Chris, and I hope we get to see more of him in book 2! Even Jonas had a nice side to him, in spite of not being shown under the best light in the world.

Although I'm not giving full marks to this novel, I am positive that its setting and story have strong bases, and that the author's next works can only evolve in an even better direction. ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Delilah rated it it was ok

Shelves: stopped-reading, 50-2012, fantasy, young-adult, language-english

I was given this book to review through the Read It & Reap project.

At the moment I am at the beginning of chapter 18 and I can already tell that this book, even though it has quite a fascinating story premise with the creation of angels and demons, will go the way of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for me. Which means it will probably take me a very, very, very long time to finish the book. (After over ten years I am still at chapter six of the Fellowship of the Ring.)

This has nothing to do with the ...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Heather rated it it was ok

The very first thing I read in this book is a Creed quote. Not sure what to make of that - is that good or bad? Sure, I like one or two of their songs, but I'm not sure I should admit to that.

Anyway, I did not enjoy this book as much as I would have liked. I did like that the author took a non-religious take on where angels and demons came from, but that's about it.

First, sometimes instant loves work for me and sometimes they don't. In this instance, it didn't work for me. It just was not believ ...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Bookish Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: gifted

**Received the e-book copy for review from a giveaway**

An interesting twist in the role of Angels and Demons in this book. It seems that the Angels are plotting to use Taylor, a girl with unusual aura, to wipe out the Demon population while the Demons are bent on preventing that from happening.

I like the style of writing; the words just flowed and totally sucked me into the book! Interactions between Taylor, Gabriel, Samantha and Christopher sometimes made me smile.

It's interesting to read the ...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Anne rated it really liked it

Shelves: nook

I received this book as part of the Read 2 Review program on Goodreads, so thank you for sharing this story. I really enjoyed this book. It pulled me in from the start. It was a different and original take on the angel / demon roles. Although they both think they are right and doing what is best , I love the twist on how they look at the human world. I found humorous the extent they went to ensuring the layout of their battles; it was so civilized for lack of a better word. I also enjoyed the st ...more

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Feb 22, 2012 SarahSmith rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-ebooks

I received this as part of a Goodreads group Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Fanatics: Read to Review giveaway. This was a great quick read. I thought that the characters were well thought out, and even though the plot centered on the conflict between angels vs demons, the authors take on this subject combined with the fact that these two groups aren't related to their biblical counterparts was very original. I would like to have seen the main characters' 'abilities' exploited/explained a l ...more

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