Thursday, December 20, 2007

A perfect little scene

Great moments from last night's reading
Book: Demon Angel
Author: Meljean Brook
Page: 79
Spoiler level: low

I love when angelic Guardian Hugh and demonic Lilith are standing on a London rooftop in 1666 as the city burns, and he presents her with a bound quarto of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.

"Her heart thundered. 'You would give this to me?'"
Of course, Hugh knows she has haunted various writers and poets, though she can't tell him why such things are so important to her, then,
They staggered as the roof buckled and caved; a hole opened yards from where they stood. Flames shot up, sparks showered down around them. Yes, it was much like Below. What would Lucifer do should she have such a gift in her possession? She wouldn't be able to hide it, or excuse it. It was not a theft--was not something she could cover with a lie.

She clenched her hands by her sides, tempered her shields, and forced the words through the tightness in her throat. "No. I want nothing so worthless."

His features hardened, and his gaze dropped to the book. He slid his palm reverently over the tooled leather cover.

Then he tossed it into the fiery pit beside them and walked away.

Oh, she so wanted the book! I loved this moment; it was so poignant, and so dramatically illustrative of their whole relationship. Also, I love how these two stand around conversing in the midst of lots of action. With a lot of books, if you think about them too hard, especially when it comes to plot and character motivation, they fall apart. While I'm still early on in the book, I have to say, the more I think about the plot and the people, the richer and more interconnected the text becomes, the more tightly it holds together, even grips, sort of like a Chinese finger trap. Well woven, Ms. Brook!

7 comments:

lisabea said...

YES!YES!YES!

Sarai said...

Oh it sounds good. I have to admit that I haven't read anything by this author but now it might have to be added to the ever growing TBR pile!

meljean brook said...

Oh, man. That was one of those scenes where you wonder if you'll ever write anything like that again. It's my favorite in the book (and I have a lot of favorites, hee.)

I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'm crossing my fingers that feeling holds through the remainder of the book :-)

lisabea said...

OMG, anytime Meljean shows up I've acted like a complete twit. Heh.

So, CJ, how's it goin??? Have they gotten to the bit yet when, uh, crap I don't want to give it away....

Carolyn Crane said...

Meljean! Thanks for stopping by, wow! And I have a definite feeling that the feeling will hold. And I will undoubtedly report about it in breathless detail.

LB: From what you say, I have to guess that they did not get the the bit you are talking about. Perhaps tonight!! Also, tonight I will be working on my Holiday Advent blog. I loved yours. Like you, I will not be doing a thing on my traditions. My traditions are not all that interesting!

Holly said...

My stomach clenched just now when I read that. And I've read this book 5 times now. That's how amazing that scene is. Oh how my heart hurt for them both. *Sigh*

I think I need to do a re-read. :)

Carolyn Crane said...

Holly -

Wow, 5 times! I can SO totally understand that, though. I'm near the end of the book now, and I'm sort of reading slowly now, savoring it like chocolate, because I don't want it to end. Hence the interplay of My Fair Captain. But I might finish Demon Angel tonight!