[\u015eerban Andrei Mazilu, The Angellove Society: Crux<\/i>, WheelMan Press, 2013]<\/b><\/p>\n
by \u015etefan Bolea<\/p>\n
\n1.\u00a0\u00a0 Let me start this off by saying that Mazilu\u2019s English is extraordinary \u2013 I never felt for a moment that this book was written by a non-native English speaker. I was impressed by the range of his vocabulary and I even looked up many words in the dictionary. From my perspective, a writer who created such a good dark fantasy novel directly in English has two more challenges (and perhaps two \u201cduties\u201d) left: to write a similar novel in Romanian (except Cr\u00e2znic\u2019s celebrated Gothic novel, I don\u2019t see much competition) and to write a non-fantasy (\u201cserious\u201d) novel in English. I\u2019m not in the habit of saying grand words but with his level of English, he would be able to able to emulate \u2013 let\u2019s say \u2013 Nabokov. So as far as I\u2019m concerned, Mazilu owes us at least two great novels.<\/p>\n
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0 The foreword written by Dana Dorian makes an interesting and supported claim: \u201c[Andrei] takes you by the hand, but doesn\u2019t lead you to a quiet spot in the library; instead, you suddenly find yourself transported in a live cinema \u2026\u201d It is true that Mazilu\u2019s writing is highly visual and that his novel could nicely be turned into a movie. Directors like James Cameron (Avatar<\/i>) or Tom Tykwer (Perfume<\/i>) are suitable for the subtlety and originality of Andrei\u2019s mythology. To continue this sci-fi line of argument, the star from Vampire Diaries<\/i>, who also played in a TV series related to the story from Crux<\/i> (Fallen<\/i>), Paul Wesley would be a good choice for some of the human characters. I\u2019m not sure that I would cast Nina Dobrev (Elena from Vampire Diaries<\/i>) in Kara\u2019s part, although there are several similarities. On the other hand, I don\u2019t see a better Akaba than Jason Momoa (Conan<\/i>) <\/i>and a better Maar than Chris Hemsworth (Thor<\/i>).<\/p>\n
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0 I would say that the book has two definite achievements. The first one is the chemistry between Kara and Maar. In the chapter My Personal Guardian Devil<\/i>, the two characters have a sort of telepathic encounter, where Maar\u2019s essence (anger) is revealed: \u201cShe nodded smiling and pulled him close, placing her palms on his face and staring into the Nephalem\u2019s burning eyes. As gently as possible, Kara began absorbing his essence \u2026 In his blue eyes she saw the need to hunt and kill and enjoy that feeling. She saw a monster roaring to come out and bring waste to anything in his path \u2026 It was obvious that this \u2026 man was engaged in permanent battle. A David versus Goliath encounter where he actually managed to hold his ground.\u201d (137-138)<\/p>\n
\n4.\u00a0\u00a0 The second achievement is the depiction of the demonic mentality, which feeds on horror and pain and becomes stronger as it destroys its targets.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c[The captors] looked like men, but as if pure hatred coursed through their veins. Their eyes buried deep in their skulls, dripping fluid red smoke from the corner of their eyelids \u2026 To Kara, they were evil made real \u2026 Uniformed in their armored black tunics, their faces burned with hatred, consumed by an eternity of inner torment \u2026 They wandered away from any concept of humanity \u2026\u201d (24, 68) The spirituality of the Fallen<\/i> is a combination between black metal<\/i> and Nazism<\/i> \u2013 representing extreme (right wing) Evil; the devils want to produce a Holocaust and destroy all the half-breeds such Nephalems \u2026<\/p>\n
\n5.\u00a0\u00a0 The idea of a supreme creative Goddess (Innanna) reminds us of the higher purpose of Venus from Culianu\u2019s The Emerald Game<\/i> (\u201cGod is a woman!\u201d): \u201cInnanna herself was said to be a creator in her own rights, for Crux was her child. As the legend went, she left the Creator\u2019s side after the birth of the Creation, searching the Universe for answers to questions she did not know, exploring and finally reaching the point where space and time joined in perfect harmony. It was there that she used her power to give birth to Crux, a world made of celestial magic \u2026\u201d (39-40)<\/p>\n
\n6.\u00a0\u00a0 In the end, I would like to point some of the weak sides of the novel, too. There are way too many characters and I would have dismissed some of the second hand characters that are not useful for the plot \u2013 let\u2019s hope that they are more useful in the sequel. Therefore, (sometimes) the story is pretty hard to follow. I don\u2019t like the ending at all \u2013 it is too \u201cAmerican\u201d, too happy<\/i>. The trick Balittian does to save his son is so deus ex machina <\/i>\u2013 and we have to remember that Euripides was the weakest of the great old tragedians. Moreover, I repeat, the ending needn\u2019t be so<\/i> happy \u2013 a touch of suspense or anxiety is good for the sequel. We shouldn\u2019t abandon all the characters in absolute contentment and satisfaction \u2013 it is better if we are a little afraid for their fate. I don\u2019t like some of the dialogues, who seem to come from a Hannah Montana gone Emo: \u201cWhat\u2019s that? Looks like a pig, a whale and a sea cow had an orgy, then they aborted the baby! \u2026 Answer me this, Burger King Kong: why do zombies hate fast food?\u201d (64, 72) I understand why the author introduced them \u2013 they give some sort of American \u201cauthenticity\u201d but I wonder if in a dark fantasy universe there is place for such vulgarities.<\/p>\n
\n7.\u00a0\u00a0 I must say that I enjoyed the novel and the depiction of the demonic is splendid: evil is energy and activity (as William Blake showed). Now I feel like playing Warcraft<\/i> 3 and I am hesitant with which race should I play: either Orcs, or Undeads. I would definitely use my shamans and invoke Bloodlust. There can be only one! Vae victis!<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[\u015eerban Andrei Mazilu, The Angellove Society: Crux, WheelMan Press, 2013] by \u015etefan Bolea 1.\u00a0\u00a0 Let me start this off by saying that Mazilu\u2019s English is extraordinary \u2013 I never felt for a moment that this book was written by a non-native English speaker. I was impressed by the range of his vocabulary and I even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[969,125],"tags":[970,1123,1129,984,39],"class_list":["post-9654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia37","category-invitat","tag-egophobia-37","tag-english","tag-invitat","tag-serban-andrei-mazilu","tag-stefan-bolea"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-2vI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9654"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9676,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654\/revisions\/9676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}