Fans of nostalgic young adult angel fantasy novels will find themselves engrossed in the world of The Fallen and a human teenage girl.
The Fallen plan to destroy the world. Only she has the power to save herself and the dark leader before they do.
When sixteen-year-old Grey, a shy loner, moves to Sleepy Key for the summer after the death of her father, she finds herself exploring deep in the woods with her twin brother when an ancient manuscript—The Book of Eternity—falls from the sky. Grey curiously touches it, unknowingly opening up a mysterious, undiscovered world and igniting the fight for her life between two groups of powerful The Surge, who keep order, and The Fallen, who wreak havoc in the world.
Zale, the dark leader of The Fallen, tells The Surge that Grey’s soul is his.
What started as a game, when he visits her on her balcony, quotes Romeo and Juliet, gives her clues to what he truly is, turns serious when he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her, and leads him to do what he is eternally forbidden to do.
Unknown to Grey, Zale can only touch or be touched by humans once a month when the Copper Moon is out. When she accidentally touches him while trying to protect him from one of The Fallen, death begins for Grey and the centuries-old Zale. He is then forced to tell her what he is and that he thought she was “The One” whose soul he needed to open up Hell and begin the Almighty War.
Only Grey can save them both while the Seven Orders of Angels are gathering to see who will take over Zale’s reign, sending the earth into chaos and disorder.
Can Grey save herself, Zale, or their love before it’s too late?
I received an ARC of The Book of Eternity for an honest review. What follows is my opinion and mine alone.
I’m just going to put it out there that I honestly didn’t read the full blurb before agreeing to read this book. In fact, I think it was just the initial email stating that this has YA nostalgia vibes that had me. I don’t often do that, but I’m glad I did.
True to the email, The Book of Eternity does have those YA vibes. Think Fallen by Lauren Kate, or maybe even older than that, and think of the books that began the YA genre. I definitely felt as if I was transported into the late 90’s or early 00’s when I started reading. It was a bit of a culture shock, in a way, but a good one.
The stakes aren’t too high in this book. At least, not for Grey. I say this because, really, if we look at the book from just her POV, you are only going to see a grieving girl who is angry and confused and falls in love with a stranger. The other storyline is where you’ll find your intrigue as you try to understand the world Jacqueline Pennewill has crafted. That is the storyline that grips you.
In that storyline, we are introduced to two separate groups of angels: The Fallen and The Surge. The Fallen are exactly what you think they would be. The Surge are… different. They are supposed to be the “good” guys, or at least, the angels working alongside the good and the Innocents (humans). But, honestly, I have a feeling there’s more to them than we see in this book. Which has me interested in the next in the series.
There is also a love story mixed in, but I didn’t quite feel it. It might be because I haven’t been a teenager in over twenty years, and it might be the author’s intention. I can understand Zale’s interest in Grey, but hers seems… like a girl just reaching out for someone to hold her. Which feels right. Losing a parent is never easy, and I completely understand her grief.
In fact, that’s probably what I loved about this book. Pennewill does an amazing job showing the different ways grief can manifest in her characters and the different types of grief. We have the grief of losing a parent, a husband, and the grief of losing your home. For instance, Zale is grieving over the loss of a home and God. He may not say that out loud, but he is, and it manifests in hatred for humans. It’s not until he sees grief in Grey that he starts to unfold his own beliefs.
Grey is angry at the world and her mother. The only person she is nice to is her twin brother, but even he has to find ways to get her to see that her grief is hurting the family. Her twin shows his grief by trying to protect and be the man. He is full of energy and happiness, though he’s hurting just as much. This is seen in a deeply emotional scene that rocks their lives to the core. And then there is their mother, who is just trying to survive and keep her family the way it was and should have been if her husband were still alive.
As someone who has been dealing with a lot of different griefs since 2020, this book hits you in a way you definitely don’t notice as you are reading it. It’s not until you sit and think about it (or write a review) that you will find the hidden nuance and the bigger story.
As for the writing, it’s not bad. There isn’t much action, and it is filled with feels. So, you may find the narrative boring. But the nostalgia is there, and you won’t find any errors. It is a quick read you could easily finish in a day as a fast reader, or maybe a week if you are just picking up a few pages a day. I do recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick read that is just a small morsel of a bigger world to come. It is absolutely age-appropriate all around. So, if you’re a parent and are worried about your ten-year-old picking this up, don’t be.
I know that I want to read the second book in the series. The Book of Eternity ended on a cliffhanger that has me scratching my head. There’s more to the world than just the small bit we have, and that alone has me interested. But I also want to see the journey Grey goes through with her grief. Especially because of that ending. Oh boy, I am still trying to wrap my brain around it.
Casia's Corner 