DNF Review – Breath of Angel (Angeleon Circle, Book 1) by Karyn Henley (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 278 pages
Publisher: Andon Press
Release Date: June 21, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1933803265
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Angeleon Circle
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 2/5 stars

“The stranger’s cloak had fallen back, and with it, a long, white, blood-stained wing. When Melaia, a young priestess, witnesses the gruesome murder of a stranger in the temple courtyard, age-old legends recited in song suddenly come to life. She discovers wings on the stranger, and the murderer takes the shape of both a hawk and a man. Angels. Shape-shifters. Myths and stories—until now. Melaia finds herself in the middle of a blood feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm. When Melaia becomes a target, she finds refuge with a band of angels attempting to restore the stairway. But the restoration is impossible without settling an ancient debt—the “breath of angel, blood of man,” a payment that involves Melaia’s heart, soul, and destiny.”

This is the first book in the Angeleon Circle; there are three books in this series. I read the first hundred pages of this book and really struggled with it.

The story is set in a fantasy-type setting and starts out at a temple. Angels are real and walk the earth but unknown to most people. Melaia, our heroine, finds herself immersed in the politics of angels as a series of strange events unfold.

I struggled with a number of things about this book. The writing doesn’t flow well, the characters aren’t engaging, and there are a lot of names/characters thrown at the reader in a very short time which makes the story hard to follow.

Our heroine is supposed to be the priestess to take over the temple she’s at, but very quickly that is all thrown out the window and she is basically sold to the King and a new temple. This whole storyline seemed very abrupt and disjointed.

I ended up stopping the book because I just had absolutely no interest in the story or characters at all and I have a lot of books to read. The writing style was very basic and didn’t flow well. There just wasn’t anything about this book that I enjoyed even remotely.

Overall this was an awkward and poorly written fantasy that didn’t engage me at all. I would not recommend and won’t be reading anymore of this series.

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