Nephilim. The kiss of dawn. Leah Cohn.
Review: Jamie M.
Ediciones B. Barcelona , 2011. Original title: Der Kuss des Morgenlichts. Translation: María Alonso. 356 pages.
After reading Hush, hush , a book that despite its successes, promising more than it did then, I confess I faced reading this Nephilim , a novel that at first (more than anything else by the title) is pod themed apparently would assume similar to that, with some reluctance. And how wrong I was. Two books are like night and day, totally opposite in design and development.
This is the story, told in first person, Sophie Richter , an accomplished student of music with tremendous stage fright that seizes when it should play in public or face their piano exams. When you meet Nathanael Gregory , a marvelous cellist in Mozarteum , the center where she music he studies, and be invited to play a track with him, his fate was sealed irrevocably. Prototype mystery man of unknown past, fascinating and attractive, Sophie falls in love him. But after a brief period of passion and joy, Nathanael away leaving the girl an unexpected "gift." For seven years, his life will go on, until suddenly things change with a new turn and the strange events breaking into his life forcing her to redefine all the parameters within which so far unfolded.
Nephilim is the story of a young woman who is carried by an irrational love, a love at first sight in that mix physical attractiveness and charm to the musical virtuosity of the man causes it, because Sophie is never really "know" Nathanael beyond their passion for music, he knows nothing of her past , his personality, his family if he has one ... A young woman who subsequently have to face the consequences their thoughtless acts, looking suddenly enveloped in a millennial battle between people who hate, laborer powers surely surpass it. But do not expect the emergence of armies of angels and demons, do not expect the war between Heaven and Hell, no, this story is more mundane, close, personal clashes, individual beings living in hiding from beginning of time between humanity, struggling through a difficult balance between those who seek their own welfare at any price and those who seek the welfare of humans is at the expense of his own sacrifice.
Along with the narrative voice of Sophie, the author intersperses the story a few small paragraphs in the third person and in italics according to an unnamed character who seems to spy on the steps of the protagonist, giving a precise counterpoint to the facts and adding an element of intrigue and action that threatens to turn serves to clarify a point in history. While the mysteries are uncovered, the figure in the shadows keeping tension with short strokes that offers the author. first thing that catches the attention in the novel, happily, is changing the typical scenario of this kinds of stories. Austrian citizenship because of the author, the plot takes place in Salzburg and the region Hallstatt of their country. And just get that detail to imbue the story of a different from the usual air. No Here nothing of the sordid and dark environment in which urban fantasy usually moves. In fact most of the story takes place in a mountain village, where there is also tragic events as the assassinations of many hikers, but that is far from typical scenarios underworld, monster hunters and all that sort routine in the paranormal genre. There is a villain, yes, some nineteenth century, it must be said, too conscious of its role, and awakens many feelings in the reader, making hateful, pathetic and touching at different times.
A success of Cohn is starting the work so obvious, with the love story between Nathanael and Sophie, a romance necessary for what is to come later, but that soon gives way to intrigue, tension and mystery. The shift to the thriller and suspense author prints the action, cleverly changing the parameters of the story with this temporary break of seven years, while surprisingly rewarding, offering a story that is read in one sitting smoothly.
Sophie is a "normal" woman, has no powers or a captivating personality, not an expert on weapons or melee, but it is a timid woman, full of self-doubt, brave despite all its weaknesses, and whose greatest concern is the welfare of his daughter Aurora, a girl that would be capable of anything, facing the greatest threats to keep her safe from a hostile world.
paranormal beings do not appear more than those offered by the title in English (as in the original are not mentioned at all), and even these are somewhat vague, playing with Biblical reminiscences to offer a story far from religious connotations, not really deeply into the myth of the fallen angels, but giving a good use of a certain quote from Genesis .
The style is simple and pleasant, smooth, without fanfare (even when the author describes the victim of a murder he does not truculence any), well suited for the type of story being told, with no further difficulty in reading, with a direct prose that pinpoints the feelings of Sophie as he advances his story thus enabling the reader to get into your head and thoughts, making it very close. This, however, has the problem of distance from other actors, leaving very blurred and making their actions sometimes are not as understandable or coherent as they should, as is the case Nele , best friend and roommate Sophie, or Nathanael, in which the author does not dwell at all despite being one of the major players involved in the whole plot. is true that there really is not much action in the book, no major confrontations or fights (and when there are already covered by the author to draw the focus to Sophie to avoid rather than reflecting them back), little more than a duel with the sword or the assault on a home. Thus a simple book, pleasant, but not "exciting", although it knows how to keep the tension and interest to learn the fate of Aurora. The plot may be too linear and simple, but that makes the surprises when they are older. The whole story is based only on six or seven characters, so there is no place to disperse the attention, focusing all focus on what really interested in showing the author. Not too many compliments or riots in the narrative, no distractions. Everything is straightforward and easy to follow.
And although the author, as he says in his lapel, is already working on a then we can say that the book is completely autoconclusivos. It is true that the air makes an epilogue that can pick up the story, but Nephilim ends in a totally satisfactory, leaving nothing in particular "hook" for what is to come.
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