13
Dec092011
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Crushed Seraphim’ by Debra Anastasia
by Laura • Posted in 3 Star Reviews, Authors A-D, Debra Anastasia, Omnific, Paranormal Romance, Reviews by Laura
Title: Crushed Seraphim
Author: Debra Anastasia
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Publication Date: May 2011
Paperback: 194 Pages
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Review copy from publisher
Reviewed by Laura
| 
SUMMARY:
How does a foul-mouthed angel end up as the last hope for all of Heaven and Earth?
When Seraph Emma is maimed and tossed from Heaven by a rogue angel who’s taken charge, she fears she’ll never be allowed to return. Tasked with the impossible job of showing the self-loathing (and not even human!) Jason his worth, Emma is sure she’s doomed to fail.
Meanwhile, having wormed his way into Heaven, the corrupt Everett has trapped God in Hell and has designs on unleashing evil everywhere. Fortunately, if there’s one thing Emma can’t do (in addition to minding her language), it’s give up. Determined to save Jason and get back to Heaven-even if it means going to Hell-Emma’s plan is simple yet impossible: trick the Devil to save God.
What she doesn’t count on is the devotion and, well, humanity she finds in Jason; the spirit, hidden compassion, and raw sex appeal within the Devil; and the vulnerability of her own heart. With the help of two unlikely allies, she’ll wage the battle for Heaven. But will Emma be sidetracked by a new sort of heaven along the way? What’s truly more dangerous? Falling from Heaven, or falling in love? (Goodreads)
REVIEW:
‘Crushed Seraphim’ is quite an interesting and mixed read. Seraph Angel Emma is tossed from heaven by corrupt Angel Everett, and given the task of convincing half-breed vampire Jason that he in fact a good person, even though he drinks human blood.
But, Jason’s redemption and belief in heaven is barely the tip of the iceberg. God is trapped in hell and Everett is about to take over heaven and only Emma is aware of his evil plans. Emma must now not only save Jason, but undertake the terrifying journey to hell in order to rescue God.
This was an interesting book because of its take on good and evil. Is the Devil evil or merely a misguided soul in need of redemption? Are all Angels good and are even the good ones always pure and true, or driven by very human weaknesses? The lines were mixed and didn’t always play out the way you would have expected them to.
What made this a mixed read was the characters and their interactions. At the core of the story is a love triangle, between Emma and Jason and Jack. My problem was I didn’t both truly believe in or engage with the initial love story between Emma and Jason, it seemed to come out of nowhere with very little chemistry. When the declarations of love came, I was a little bit taken aback and thought, wow, where did that come from? And just as I came to terms with the blossoming romance between them, enter Jack and a love triangle emerged. As a consequence it took me a while to fully engage with either potential romances until the final chapters.
Right from the prologue, the character who totally stole the show was the Devil (aka Jack). He is the ultimate charismatic, seductive bad boy you just can’t wait to see come good. He sucked me in during the prologue. So much so that I was disappointed when the story shifted to Emma and Jason, I wanted to know more about what made this dark man tick.
The first part of the book danced about quite a bit, lots of things happened too quickly and the romance between Emma and Jason frustrated me. In fact, I was tempted to give up on it. But, just as I was getting a measure of the book and how it was all going to play out the final third of the book really picked up pace, and finally I was fully sucked into the story. Although, the cliffhanger at the end just as things were starting to get really good was slightly annoying. But there seems to be a bit of a cliffhanger trend at the moment in books. Because of the disparity between different parts of the book, I would give the first two thirds of the book a 5/10 and the final third 7/10.
VERDICT:
If you can get past the first part of this book and the lack of believable chemistry between Emma and Jason and reach the seductive depths of hell, you will be rewarded with a dark romance and a story that will eventually suck you in.
RATING: 6/10 – Good
This book counts towards the following BCC Reading Challenges:
Book #63 100+ Books In A Year Reading Challenge 2011
Book #63 100+ Books In A Year Reading Challenge 2011
13 Comments
Love the cover! I will be adding this book to my TBR list!
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Why do you review rewritten fanfiction? This was once a Twilight story, and the reason why the characters suddenly hook up, is because their names are Edward and Bella – and E/B can do no wrong…
But seriously though, I thought this site reviewed serious books, not rewritten fanfiction.
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I've read your tweets. To clarify.
This book used to be a Twilight fanfiction about main characters Edward and Bella. She went under the name MrsTheKing. She took the story, changed the names, and voila, it became and "original" book.
This story is freely available as fanfiction online. This and both her next book, Poughkeepsie.
Her "publisher" Omnific only publishes rewritten fanfiction. Together with TWCS Publishing they make people pay money for something that was completely free.
This is a cheap money grabbing scam from people who can't write something original and get it published. It's why all their books have lacking characters. It's why things seem a bit sudden plotwise, because in the Twilight world, Edward and Bella can do no wrong.
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I read those above comments…and wondering if that is true
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I read this when it was a work of Twilight fanfiction and I think one of the reasons the characters are so disconnected from each other and the chemistry doesn't flow is because the chapters weren't prewritten – as MrsTheKing (fanfiction name of author) posted them.
The story was posted as a quick Christmas story and the chapters were short, each one ending with an author's note asking the readers where they wanted the characters to go next.
The next chapter was then posted meeting the demands of the readers rather than following any pre-structed story outline.
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@Disappointed & @Anonymous – Thank you for your comments. I have checked the site where Mrs.The King posts her fan fiction and the last entry explains that she is leaving fan fiction because she's now with a publisher and wishes to write her own fiction (you can read it here)
After reading Laura's review of CRUSHED SERAPHIM I don't think it sounds anything like Twilight and neither do the characters – I've also spoken to Laura who's also read the Twilight books and she thinks the same. I have read the synopsis of POUGHKEEPSIE and this sounds absolutely nothing like Twilight either. Having not seen the original work on the fan fiction site I cannot see how much is rewritten fan fiction.
I do thank you for bringing it to my attention as I really didn't know what fan fiction was, although I have heard the term before. I'm sorry you found Book Chick City's acceptance of the novel for review offensive. However, I have spoken with the author and she expresses deeply that her published novels are own original work from her imagination, so I have made the decision to put the 'fan fiction' situation aside and stand by BCC's acceptance of the review request and Laura's review.
~ Carolyn
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Hi everyone thanks for your comments on my review. Like Carolyn, fanfiction is new to me … I had to google it.
I have to confess to being a big Bella & Edwards fan and have read the Twilight books more than once and 'Crushed Seraphim' did not remind of Twilight in th slightest. In fact it's a totally different story with th exception of both books having a love triangle.
Laura
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And a vampire…(although I appreciate that most YA fiction these days does).
In this instance the fanfiction was a work taking characters from the Twilight series and placing them in a alternate universe. It wasn't a divert recreation.
Changing the names to Jack, Emma and Jason doesn't immediately make it an original piece of work. This was written as fanfiction. Readers were then exploited for their support and critics so that the author could then publish the work after some minor adjustments and make money off these suggestions.
Fanfic excerpt from chapter 1:
"Edward tracked the falling star on Christmas Eve. Its tail was exceptional. The sparking
rainbow arch scratched its mark in the obsidian sky. It broke the atmosphere and came
closer. If Edward had not been a vampire he would have never caught her. If he had not
been able to discern the gentle form of a woman's hand in the scorching white-hot fire, he
would have never run full out.
But Edward did. His sprint and fast reflexes delivered him to an unbelievable surprise. He
had an armful of angel.
She was unconscious, her brown hair covering her face. He knelt; shocked to be holding
something so cold that had come from something so seemingly hot."
Having read the book, you'll see the uncanny similarities and minor edits. And as @Disapoointed states, this is freely available for download anywhere online—why pay money for the published work?
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Hi @anonymous and a vampire yes you're right. I haven't read Debra Anastasia's fanfiction, only 'Crushed Seraphim' so it is hard for me to comment on similarities etc. The excerpt you have pasted above is indeed similar to a sequence in the book, you're right. But I cannot comment if this is just one similar paragraph or the whole book is like this.
I read the book unknowing of any background without prejudice as it was sent for me to review. And as I said it really did not remind me of Twilight at all.
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I think you've missed the point of fanfiction. It's not a rewriting of Twilight; neither myself or @Disappointed said that.
The author used characters from another story—in this case Twilight—and wrote something based on those characters, not the initial story itself. This is still a breach of copyright.
The fanfiction itself was also entitled 'Crushed Seraphim' so wasn't even changed for publication. I only included a small excerpt to highlight the near 'copy and paste' job from one text to the other.
If you felt so inclined you would be able to source this information easily yourself and see what I'm talking about. Though I will note that the publication begins with a prologue not included at the start of the fanfiction work.
I appreciate that you read the book not knowing its origins, it seems you were duped just like the rest of this authors readers.
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The reviewer accepted it as an original work, read it as an original work, and even having read twilight, did not see any connection outside of generalized tropes and customary charcterizations found in general is this genre. There are also kindle books which have many twilight-like elements but are offered on a temporary basis for free download. Would you argue as well that any reader who misses and opportunity for free access has an expectation formthat access to be faciliataed at their leisure, rather than the author or publisher's descretion? Since Ms. Anastasia has openly admitted without shame that an earlier draft of her her story was presented under the auspices of fanfiction, and as there was not any expectation or request for readers of that version to purchase in recompense the reworked version (though of course any author hopes for the support of their fan base) I'm not certain at which point there was any "duping" of anyone.
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The whole thing about fanfiction, is that it's written with someone elses characters. That in and of itself is stealing. But the original author doesn't protest this as it's viewed as flattery and free promotion. The writers are allowed to use original characters.
However, taking those stolen characters, writing a fiction based on that, then change out names and then go ahead and publish it, is ILLEGAL! And morally despicable. But that's a whole other ballgame.
Having had pointed out that these are indeed books that are in violation of copyright infringement, and still going ahead and keeping the review up there for all to see, is wrong.
And for future reviewing; Omnific and TWCS publish 99% rewritten fanfiction. I.e. stolen property. Supporting this by reviewing their books, makes me question the reviewers.
I understand you didn't know about this going in, but you've now had it pointed out. So, it stands to question, where do YOU stand on this.
And by the way, after several talks with both agents and publishing houses, they all blacklist authors like this.
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@Disappointed – This will be my final comment on this, but the fact you write without giving your real name goes against you I'm afraid. I will not remove a review based on an anonymous commenters' views. You've had your say and I've listened, but I've made my decision and will not be removing the review. If you choose to not visit the site again or read our reviews, then that's your prerogative.
~ Carolyn
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