2.5 stars

God created the angels and they all called him "Father". I wonder if can file this under incest - ha-ha

SPOILERS

=============================

I do realize that

- Yep, it was God's punishment for Renat to make him suffer for a thousand years for choosing to leave his parent's house fall.
- Yep, it was probably God's intention to cure Renat of his resentment towards humans by making him one.


Stars off

- for presenting that totalitarian regime as a generous and forgiving "love" bestowed upon God's children.
- Emiel and God through him forcing human form on Renat, presenting no warning and no choice (God forbid Renat has a freedom of choice again! - pun intended). Vengeful creature, that Father of theirs, isn't he?

=============================

Other than that - nicely written, I really enjoyed all the bits and pieces that did not involve The Almighty. Solid 4 stars.
Rounding up to 3.

( )

A lovely short story about love and its power to destroy as well as its power to redeem. ( )

A beautiful story about love, grace, and trust, this takes the idea of the falling of angels one step further and examines what would happen if one of them fell because of love. The kind of love that is "too personal", and doesn’t put God first. Kind of a difficult situation to imagine happening to an angel, but it is an interesting assumption. I have to admit that the writing pulled me in, the characters had me fascinated, and the idea of "what if" the way Cari interpreted it had me turning the pages eagerly, wanting to find out what happens.

Renat is the angel with a problem. He loves Emiel, but not with the kind of heavenly love angels are supposed to feel, he wants more. His love is more like the human kind, but the real problem is that he loves Emiel more than God. He has made the decision to leave heaven, and tries to take Emiel with him, but Emiel isn’t ready. He cannot disobey God, and so Renat falls alone and becomes one of hell's princes.

Thousands of years later, Renat has suffered tremendously, but has kept a remnant of his grace. Emiel comes to get him back, and the solution is beautiful in its simplicity, as is his plan of getting them away from Satan.

The power of love is what makes this story special. Beautifully done! If you like angel/demon stories, if you enjoy thought experiments about good and evil and how they interrelate, and if you like reading about characters who will most likely make you ache with understanding and hope that all will end well, you will probably like this short story as much as I did. ( )