leannarapier's reviews
114 reviews

A very satisfactory sequel to The Golem and the Jinni. If you have not read the first book, you must do so to really appreciate this one. Without giving away spoilers, I love the way the author matured and developed the relationships of the characters from the previous novel. Like before, every character was so well done that I was never more impatient to read one over another. Every character is beloved, and I hope the author continues their stories in a future book.

My daughter (age 12) expressed and interest in The Hobbit, so I insisted we read the book before watching the movies. She enjoyed pointing out every place the movie got it wrong.

I just finished reading this aloud to my 9-yr-old son. Enjoyable for kids and adults alike. Recommend. My son enjoyed this one enough that he asked to read the next book by this author.

Celestial follows a group of angels given a mission by God to capture a particularly dangerous demon. But the heart of the story is found in their captain, Jediah, and his search for peace. He longs to know what salvation is like and hopes to see a human child, Chloe, saved. It turns out he isn’t the only angel in this group that is haunted by the past in their age long struggle of spiritual warfare against Lucifer and his demons. The story opens with a moving Prologue that should not be skipped and a matching Epilogue, like two perfect bookends.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect before I read Celestial. Usually stories about angels do not appeal to me. I think it’s because they often elevate angels almost to a place of worship, or because the angels are giving extra biblical revelation. Of course, I read several of Frank Peretti’s books back in the day that incorporated the behind the scenes spiritual warfare into the story. In his stories, however, the spiritual beings were distant and mysterious.

In Celestial, I think readers will be pleasantly surprised. The angels in this story have real feelings, desires, and challenges that make them relatable rather than mysterious. Though the Bible is designed to reveal to us our Savior and doesn’t go into great detail about angelic beings, what the Bible does tell us about angels should not make us imagine that they are emotionless beings that never face any trials.

The author of Celestial does an excellent job bringing to life the nature of angels. Of course, the fallen angels emotions and desires are twisted. In addition, she takes some of the biblical descriptions of what we find angels doing—worshiping around the throne of God, delivering messages, fighting battles etc. and creates several “classes” of angels. There is some creative license taken here, and she doesn’t claim these classifications to be fact. After all, I think it’s important to remember this is fiction, and as such you have to “fill-in-the-blanks” in order to have a fleshed out story.

Finally, Celestial is different from any other spiritual warfare book that I have read in that it focuses on the story from the perspective of angels rather than humans. Yet, because of the points I mentioned, it doesn’t fall into the trap of glorifying angels or putting them in any way above God or the Bible. Just the opposite, the story is really not so much about the angels as it is about salvation. Again, angels rejoice to see a human saved, they desire to look into the gospel, and they are fighting a spiritual warfare on God’s—and our—behalf against the devils that want to keep us from the good news of Jesus Christ who came to save us from our sins.

My favorite quote: "My weakness becomes His strength and my guilt an example of His Grace. For He does in me, what I cannot do for myself."

This is an ARC review and my honest opinion. I was not paid for a particular response.

You can read a longer version of my review on my blog: https://leannarapier.com/book-review-celestial-by-hannah-mae/

This is my second time reading Out of the Silent Planet. The first was years ago when I was a teenager. I enjoyed it then, but I can definitely appreciate it more now.

C.S. Lewis writes some of my favorite prose. It’s rich and thought provoking, yet simple to comprehend.

One of my favorite passages is when Ransom expresses how he had thought of space as “the black, cold vacuity, the utter deadness, which was supposed to separate worlds.” Now in space, Ransom declares:

“No: space was the wrong name. Older thinkers has been wiser when they named it simply the heavens—the heavens which declare the glory—“

As for the story itself, it is a simple one though enjoyable; and therein lies Lewis’s talent: to reveal profound truths in simple tales.

Solid L’Amour book. Not in my opinion one of his best, but it introduces my favorite series—The Sacketts. This is my second time reading. I read through the Sacketts years ago as a teenager and wanted to revisit them. As usual for Louis L’Amour, there is a lot of fast paced action and the good guy always wins, but those are his tropes and why I loved them when I was young and wished for a daring young man to sweep me off my feet like those in his novels.

A perfectly nightmarish version of going through a wardrobe… or in this case, a walled off door that instead of leading to the empty flat next door leads back to a twisted version of your own. Loved it!

What I really loved about this book was the fantastic world building. You really felt like you were reading another place, another time, another culture, and not just today in a fantasy setting. The story is set in far future that encompasses many planets, but primarily takes place on the desert planet of Arrakis, so despite the futuristic technology, it feels more like a fantasy setting than sci-fi.

One thing I wish was that I got a deeper look into Paul’s POV and motives. I felt like I knew Jessica and even Duke Leto better. Paul remains mysterious, although that is part of his character I suppose. I liked his character a lot; my complaint is only that I would have liked more time with him, especially in the first part of the book. It almost felt like he was being ignored.

The first part of the book takes some patience, unless you’re really into world building and political intrigue. My attention kept getting lost from all the switching back and forth from different characters and little discernible plot. The second two parts moved fast and all the pieces are put together. At that point, I found the book hard to put down.

I give Dune 4 1/2 stars.

Some books touch me on an intellectual level and make me think. They eloquently express ideas and thoughts. Some books draw me emotionally to the characters. Few books do both and really pull me into their world, making me forget I’m reading a book—make me live the book. How fitting that a book about characters being pulled into the real world would pull me into theirs.

Gripping to the end.

These are not sweet mermaids but dangerous predators. A single dad, Rake, escapes the cruel mermaid queens with his young son and tries to find refuge among the humans. Only problem is the humans hate the mermaids, especially Kestra, whose father was eaten by the mermaids when he fell into the sea.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, dark fantasy, I recommend The Teeth in the Tide. I read it in two days because I couldn’t put it down.

*Notes: This is the first edition, with fade-to-black, closed-door intimacy between the characters. Since I read this book, there is now an Extended Edition that is more “spicy.”