1. First Freya had just came back from the hospital that she had a illness. After she sees a dark angle. She soon finds out that she is an angle. Freya has some duties to for fill. Her duties as an angle isn't easy as she thought. 2. I choose this book because when I saw the cover it seemed really creepy and the title was angles. So I thought that it was a horror book about angles. While I was reading the book I knew that it was different from what I thought the book was about. 3. I finished the book because I wanted to find out what her duties were and if she was angle for her rest of her life. 4. I recommend this book to Saad because he likes these types of mythical creatures. So he would think the plot is wired, but he would like it because it is about angles. It's a sober YA book. What more can you ask for?At first, I was reluctant to read Mcnish's Angel because it's a YA book, and the synopsis I found made it sound so cliched. Not to mention that I felt too old to read YA books aside from The Hunger Games trilogy, which has an overt political undertone. I tend to avoid the YA section like a plague these days. But this much is true: the synopsis didn't do this book justice. And the tiny blurb at the back of the book, too, didn't do it justice (it made it sound like all those superficial, overly-cliched paranormal romances). The reviews didn't quite do it justice too, but hey, to each their own. The general tone of the novel felt like Mcnish's angels themselves: mostly ambiguous, a creature of the air, has a wonderful story to tell, but refreshingly, grittingly realistic in a way. The pacing felt just right to me, and the author doesn't rush to reveal his cards or try to shoehorn in too many mysteries. I love the slow build-up, and Freya's encounter with Mestraal is painfully realistic. Put a fourteen-year old girl with an ominous, almost eldritch creature, and she would be terrified out of her mind. Keep that in mind, YA authors. And keep in mind, too, that dark angels was generally unpleasant company to keep had they been real, or, as I'd love to put it: they're terrifying as fuck. I was hoping to see this terrifying aspect from the other angels too, and the author didn't disappoint (Hestron had eyes all over his body, a throwback to the Cherubim and Ophanim) - but it was Freya's reaction who disappointed me. But, to give her the benefit of the doubt, she was changing into one herself, so it's probably not a big deal to her. Still, it would be nice if the mythology of these mysterious creatures would be touched upon more than just "they came from the stars". Although it's likely better that way, given that this is a YA book. (Can I hope for an "adult" version? One where Freya had grown up, maybe, and finding out about hers and the angels' origins? Oh, that's why we have fanfictions.)Kudos to Mcnish for daring to raise about the issue of bullying, by the way. I read some reviews here complained about how he's too focused on it, but I actually loved this book better because of it. As a victim of it myself, I can say fhat yes, it'll ruin your life (the psychological damage practically lasted forever) and yes, it is a more imminent threat, especially to teenagers, than demons. Or the Biblical apocalypse. That's why we need more YA writers writing about it. Mcnish presented it as part of the inescapable reality of teenagers, as much as his angels being aliens. He's doesn't deny it, nor tuning it down. He presented this reality as it is.His angels are also limited, not the omnipresent semi-deities our mythologies made them up to be. They have to make hard moral decisions, and have to live with the consequences. Some of them, like Mestraal, couldn't bear it, and they shut themselves out from it. They are like the fictional superheroes we created, not invulnerable immortal entities. They are like us. (Only with wings and an extra set of arms, and a hellish number of eyes.) In a way, it taught the readers about choices, morality and consequences, and I sure as hell hoped that I've read something like this in my teenage years. The prose are easily digestible but good, and the characters are alive. Freya is just another teenage girl who's trying to put her "crazy" past behind her, and is trying to fit in. Even before taking up the angelic mantle, she already had to make tough moral decisions - helping a seemingly crazy lady in front of her popular friends, wanting to talk to a peer who could destroy the social status she'd built. We've all been there, or in similar situations thereof, and clarity always comes later. It's about choices, choices, choices; choices that'll shape your life, just as it had shaped Freya's life. Other than Freya, the characters all have clear motives, and understandable; sadly, even girls like Amy, Gemma, and Vicky (whose types really do existed in real life). The only one I could not bring to like (aside from Amy, but she's just that horrible as a human being) was Stephanie. She strikes me as hoo-boy-crazy-as-fuck. I could say a thousand incriminating things about her, but that's just a matter of personal preference. After all, some of us been through her phase - zealously believing in something, desperately wishing it to be true, and had that tower of Babel destroyed violently. I could understand her desperate wish of wanting a friend, too. And in the heart of it all, lies family. The author touched the topic of friendship too, since it's such an inseparable part of the human condition, but when it comes down to it, it's about family. I'm not a big believer of families, but Mcnish definitely is. And that is refreshing because at the end of the story, Freya's heart didn't go out to Adam, nor does she ended up kissing him again, or getting a new boyfriend; but her heart goes out to her father. Her father, who's always been there for her, always believing in her, even bringing her back from her period of crazy. Her father, who was sick...and may or may not be dying. And I love it. I love it because when I was a teenager (which was not a long time ago actually) I did all sorts of horrible things to my parents and called them all sorts of horrible names. I never realised how much they have sacrificed for me, how they've always been there for me, and that, despite their (and my) mistakes, they genuinely loved me. How I wished I was like Freya, who realised what a horrible human being she has been to her parent much sooner than I do. And Mcnish was right, in a way: family does matter. Boyfriends and friends come and go, but family is bound to stay forever.Yes, I'd totally recommend this book, especially to its intended audience: teenagers. Especially bullied teenagers. It's a delight to be read by adults too, for the topics and questions it raised was timeless: choices, family, growing up (among other things). How good do you have to be? It's up for you to decide, but can you live with the consequences?
What do You think about Il Custode Di Freya (2010)?
Weird -- an interesting idea executed in a mediocre fashion.
—sboss
I loved this book. Truly a wonderful story.
—bcp36912
