Miranda was carved out of stone long, long ago. For some unknown reason, she has a living soul and a mind that can think. But for many, many years she is trapped inside of the stone carving of an angel. She can only look and think, movement is impossible. The world passes her by. In the middle of a terrible war, Miranda falls from her high perch on the church into a pond down below. Much to her surprise, Miranda falls through a gateway into another world. And she becomes human.
The story is about Miranda's life on Arbarron, the strange world she came to, and her quest to save the world from an unknown evil.
I thought 'The Life in the Angel Carving' was a good plot idea. It had great potential and I was curious from the beginning. But it took too long to get going. The story was very slow and it seemed as if there was too much unnecessary information, or information that just wasn't brought to life. My attention wasn't caught until the last few pages of the book. I thought the characters were nice, but nothing special. Also, some of the characters weren't described as well as I would have liked. I thought the King was an older man but in truth he wasn't as old as he looked. I thought that was a bit confusing because he spoke of how old he was and yet he didn't appear old.
In the story, there is a massive gateway in space connecting the Artex Galaxy with the Milky Way Galaxy. Earth is in shambles and is falling apart with every horrible thing imaginable. Disease, war, famine, drought, death, greed - the list goes on and on and it was very depressing. It was too much like someone was giving me a lecture on how bad Earth could become if we don't do something. The author portrayed humans as if they were the most detestable creatures alive and it was all their fault. Personally, I don't enjoy being "yelled at” when I'm trying to read an enjoyable book. It was much too heavy and gloomy to drag into the book. If the description had been shorter and not so terribly uncomfortable and preach-y, that would have been fine. But I'm so tired of everyone shouting to save the world while we can, to recycle and save Mother Earth! I find it tedious and not enjoyable to read about.
Some of the words and phrases the author uses would be too hard for younger children to understand. There were a few curse words here and there that might bother younger children. Also, the pages and descriptions about a futuristic Earth gone to shambles could be disturbing.
Reviewer Age: 15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Doylestown, PA USA
