TSS Week 11

I fell in love with The Accidental in the beginning. It is narrated by five different characters, and the first - Astrid, a 12 year old girl - totally captivated me. I loved her instantly and was hooked. The next, her 17 year old brother Magnus, was also done extremely well. The adults, however, were not as interesting. I found myself going through their parts just to get to the kids again.

The first half of the plot was intriguing, but after that, it just fell. Smith lost the magic and seemed to get away with no real resolution or ending at all. This disappointed me because it had such potential, and I had such high hopes. Kudos to her for creating a couple of fantastic characters, though.


I also just finished I, Lucifer, a novel I have been wanting to read since I saw it in a bookstore years ago. The cover says, "Finally, the other side of the story," which piqued my interest. I am well-versed in the Bible and Judeo-Christian traditions, and I love when people take a familiar story and redo it (The Red Tent is an all-time favorite). Anyway, this novel turned out to be less about Satan's retelling of cosmic history and more of an illuminating portrait of Satan himself. Who is he, what motivates him, is he really so bad? These are questions the reader finds her/himself asking. Duncan does a fabulous job of humanizing Satan without being unrealistic - every so often he reminds you that you cannot really believe a word he says. You learn to analyze Satan intuitively, without trusting his opinions of himself. The ending was perfect, fitting and satisfying. I loved it.