Hey readers,
Okay, it might be a little odd to be reading a Christmas story at the start of summer, but in the same way that dogs are for life and not just Christmas, books don't have to be read during the months/season they are set in. In fact I want to recommend this book and more of Moore's as being great for light holiday reading. This is actually the first book I've read by Moore, but I'm looking forward to reading a few more, including a vampire trilogy, which is on my birthday wish list for next month. My boyfriend has recently gotten into these books and he actually read this one in the Lake District and wouldn't stop laughing. So, I decided to read and see what all the fussy was about.
The Stupidest Angel is set in Pine Cove, California and though this is the third book to be set there and contain a few characters from the other two books, its not actually a trilogy. It reads like a stand alone to me because so much of the background information about the characters and there relationships with each other is given. I've also been told that some of the characters appear in two or three more of Moore's books and he's brought them all together in this one it would seem.
It only took me about three days to read this book, that might be due to the fact its only 243 pages long and the font size is large, but I think it has more to do with the fast pacing and the eagerness to know how things are going to play out. There is a mixture of genres and themes including; Christmas, romance, horror, religion and crime. Normally having so many different things crossing over each other wouldn't work, but it actually does here. I guess because the novel just touches on them each a little and doesn't focus on one thing fully.
The story is that a young boy, Joshua, witnesses the accidental murder of a man, Dale, dressed as Santa. He is killed by his crazed ex-wife, Lena, after he catches her digging up his pine trees to make into live Christmas trees for the poor. Joshua hurries home to tell his mum what's happened, only to find himself home-alone, so he prays to God for a miracle to bring Santa back to life. His pray ends up being answered by the Archangel Raziel, who has come to town to grant a child a Christmas wish. However, as the title of the book suggests, he makes a mess of things and raises all the dearly departed. Who turn out to be zombies, which go on a rampage around the local church and send the whole town into chaos.
The characters are really well written and they do feel like 'normal' people. There's a whole range of different persona and some development does appear. There's a lot of characters, so I'm just going to write about my favourite ones; Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland aka Molly Michon. She has a split personality and believes that she is a movie character she use to play before an accident happened. She also has a voice in her head called the Narrator. She has many sides to her and is just a fun character. Roberto is a talking fruit bat who wears shades. I was fascinated with him because though he's an animal he has a great character and I really want to read the other book he appears in now. Skinner the dog is also in this same vein, I just loved the thoughts he had about his owner- Food Guy- and his fear of being baddogged. The undead characters were funny too and I liked how Moore moved away from the seriousness that is found in horror to a much more funnier side. There really is something about zombies having a 'love for affordable prefab furniture' that makes me laugh out loud.
I really enjoyed this and found it such a light, quick read too. There are other plots going on in the background, but this just have to do with the relationships between characters and the setting up of the Christmas party. I bet that some of the characters develop more in the other books and it'd be interesting to read the other two that connect with this one to find that out. I can't wait for that vampire trilogy though and there's another about Death that looks really good too.
The movie is coming in December this year!
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