Title: The Dichotomy of Angels
Author: N.R. Walker
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 327 Pages
Category: Contemporary, Fantasy
At a Glance: The most honest compliment to The Dichotomy of Angels I could offer are my tears in exchange for how deeply I was drawn into the story and how much I’d fallen in love with the characters. I adored everything about this book’s message and the way that warm and sweet lesson was delivered.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Nathaniel and Chasan are no ordinary angels.
Destiny chose them to be twin flames, fated mates. But Nathaniel has avoided Chasan for nearly a thousand years.
When sent to Earth on a mission to live and work together, Nathaniel comes face-to-face with his destiny. Short-tempered, petulant, and grumpy, he hates the idea of being fated to anyone and has chosen an existence of isolation rather than spending time with the calm, kind, and serene Chasan. But now he has no choice.
One is fire, the other is air; a true dichotomy of angels. Together they will be ignited, or they will be extinguished. This assignment will seal their fate either way.
Review: I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a pairing of N.R. Walker and a couple of earthbound angels. Of course the story would be romantic, that was never a question, but how would she incorporate them into a concept of Heaven and spirituality, and how would they interact with humans in a place like New York City? Would the story be heartwarming? Heart-wrenching? The simple answer to everything is, successfully and absolutely.
Chasan and Nathaniel have a long and storied history, one that reveals itself through their interactions as well as through the unique bond they share. In familiar terms, they are fated mates. They’re bound to each other through an exceedingly rare twin flame they carry in their hearts, a flame that, should they acknowledge and consummate that bond, would have an effect on all of Heaven. The question, however, is whether it would be a positive effect…unlike the one that came before. And, of course, they both have to accept that their fate is each other. The problem is Nathaniel. How do you solve a problem like Nathaniel? If you’re N.R. Walker, you do it the genre romance way: through a little fake marriage, some forced proximity, and one bed, naturally. But that’s not all there is to this story. There are mitigating circumstances that keep Nathaniel from allowing himself the happiness he longs for with Chasan. He doesn’t believe he deserves peace with the angel he so obviously loves.
One of the things Walker gives such care to in The Dichotomy of Angels is her handling of the realm of Heaven, and within that realm, Hell, as well as the conceptualization of the characters. Rather than the story promoting a single mythos, Walker promotes a broader, relatable message of love, harmony, and that, deep down, the human race is still fundamentally good but with a few bad actors thrown in to keep Nathaniel entertained in his job as the head of Hell Division. For Nathaniel, there’s nothing much more satisfying than a good smiting, so obviously there has to be people who deserve to be smote. I loved that these angels were flawed and emotionally vulnerable, and that they weren’t impervious to mistakes and missteps. The result is that the story promotes a message of love, healing and redemption, through imperfect people, with some of Walker’s trademark humor thrown in with it (Nathaniel’s inability to cuss is like the anti-Jordan from Upside Down!).
Holding all of those things together, though, is faith. And faith happens to be something Nathaniel is in short supply of through much of the story.
The mission Nathaniel and Chasan are sent on places them in a classroom, co-teaching, as husbands, a group of four-year-olds, which may seem a bit of hell on earth to Nathaniel at the outset, but he learns a lot from the experience. He gains something so, so priceless from it too. Add in the dogs—always trust the pups—and it was the perfect mirror to reflect what a caring and compassionate angel, and man, Nathaniel truly is, and that there’s no one who’d ever be more perfect for him than his complementary opposite, Chasan, who is what you might call a godsend in his role as the embodiment of Nathaniel’s kindred spirit.
The Dichotomy of Angels doesn’t read like a 300+ page novel. I read it in a day, that’s how easy it was to sink into. I’d also be lying if I said this story didn’t make me cry a little, so there’s that. There is a turning point in Nathaniel and Chasan’s fate that gutted me a little, even though I trusted that Walker would set everything to rights. It’s the most honest compliment to this book I could offer—tears in exchange for how deeply I was drawn into the story and how much I’d fallen in love with the characters. I adored everything about this book’s message and the way that warm and sweet lesson was delivered.
You can buy The Dichotomy of Angels here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B0834PV5Z2?d” style=”black” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]
