Where Angels Fall by Chris Stewart, 367 pages

"The war that began before we entered mortality is escalating into the final battle for freedom, liberty, and the hearts and souls of all people. Into this world filled with turmoil, our Father will send some of his most valiant servants.

General Neil Brighton is proud of all three of his sons. Ammon and Luke are proving themselves to be men of good worth and intelligence, and Sam, Neil's adopted son, has already achieved honors and recognition in the demanding ranks of the military's Special Forces Unit. But General Brighton is worried about the sons of King Fahd bin Saud Faysal of Saudi Arabia. Both sons have plans for the fate of Saudi Arabia; both sons will stop at nothing to achieve their aims. One will plunge the country into war; the other will sacrifice everything to begin the country's transition to democracy.

As these players in the great drama of the last days are drawn inexorably together - for good or for ill - a child is born who may have the power to change the course of history. But will Elizabeth be true to the covenants she has made in the premortal world? Lucifer and his dark angels have not forgotten their promise of retribution and are tireless in their efforts to destroy the Father's valiant souls. Will Elizabeth and her brothers have the strength to withstand the terrible forces of evil that are bent on their destruction?" - Jacket

I told my mom that I could not start another series. I've still got to read Inkdeath. I'm waiting for the 4th Inheritance book. I never did finish the Left Behind series. Catching Fire comes out in a month. I did not want to get involved in another series, but my mom was persistent and I finally caved. How do you say no to your mom?

Where Angels Fall is actually the second book in The Great and Terrible series. She only had the first book on CD and I'm no good at listening to audio books - my mind wanders - so she filled me in on how the story starts and said I could read this book without feeling lost. She was right, but I still want to go back sometime and read book 1.

This series is a little like Left Behind in the sense that it's a story about the last days. Left Behind, however, is all about the book of Revelations and things are taken very literally. Some things were a little far-fetched for me and I couldn't quite get into some aspects of the story. The Great and Terrible series, on the other hand, is very believable and better written.

I was struck by a few things in this book, beliefs that I guess I've always had but hadn't thought about until they were put into words. I've never been a big believer in coincidence. I think most things happen for a reason and in this book you get the sense that a lot of things happen for a reason. The characters become connected in ways that you just know are part of a bigger plan; in essence they find each other on earth.

The second is how Lucifer and his angels work. I know that they tempt and try to lead us astray but I'd never really given much thought to how they do that exactly. In this book they whisper in people's ears, telling them what to do or think. This book is fiction so I'm not saying that this is Gospel truth, but in my mind I don't really see how else they could do it. Satan knows us and our weaknesses and does his best to exploit them. I have thought about this a lot during my day, especially when I do something that is less than my best.

Gospel elements aside, this book was hard to put down and heart-wrenching at the end. Of course now I'm waiting for my mom to finish book 3 so I can borrow it. In the mean time I've got 65 thrift-store finds I can choose from.