Review: The Heavens Fell Somewhat Flatly
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2012
The premise of The Heavens Shall fall piqued my interest right away; a book exploring what would happen on earth as each of the Biblical seals were opened sounds like an exciting read. However, the main character, Jude, was quite a disappointment.In the opening chapter we learn that Jude is a former Marine who is presently a firefighter. He is naive, not the brightest bulb in the box, but as the book progresses, Jude's intellectual capacity nose dives from just plain dumb to "no appreciable brain-wave activity". I am guessing that the idea was to create a character who would be the least likely person chosen to save mankind, but his modesty and stupidity reach a point where it distracts from the story - how could anybody this dumb be a Marine or a firefighter? (Or walk and talk and the same time...)The primary storyline itself is interesting throughout the book, a very different take on end of the world scenarios. Father Michael is a great early addition to the book; the tornado scene was exciting and the outcome unexpected. I especially liked Daniel, who evolves from a self-centered highly ambitious businessman into someone with a much wider view of the world. The scenes from the psychiatric hospital were also interesting, and the way Jude's mother reacts to the idea of the rapture was believable.There are a lot of characters transitions in this book, and roughly midway through I began to tire of the constant switching around and had a little trouble remembering who was who, but within a few paragraphs usually I figured it out.This author shows a good deal of promise, but in future books I would suggest more character development and less, or at least smoother, transitions.