Angelology was an unexpectedly fun regional romp with a vast internal headspace. Much of the book's action takes place in New York City or the Hudson River valley, except for the parts that take place in Paris or in Bulgaria. The protagonist is a young sister at a convent on the river. Her sort-of love interest is an art historian. The bad guys are angel-human hybrids of various sorts.

Of those places, the only one I have not visited is Bulgaria. I grew up in the Hudson Valley. I've stayed at at least one religious community on the Hudson, and yes I like angels. The book was like falling into the proverbial candy store. It was a lot of fun to read, very richly written, and entirely contemporary (for now).

There is a lot of description when it comes to the buildings, the landscape, the angels – and cars, but not so much of the main working characters. A large part of the exposition consists of a flashback by one of the characters, and it is nicely done and descriptive. One could almost say that there is not a lot of description when the characters are getting down to business.

This book's not perfect, but I think its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses -- well, except for having to wait for the sequel (and the author's preference for “wing tips” over “wingtips” in writing the shoe style; but I have to believe that she enjoyed the play on words).

I did find it strange, though, that in a book so filled with the trappings of religion there was no actual, well, spirituality, on the part of the characters. On the other hand, personal religion on the part of novel characters can be a delicate business, and it has ruined more than one otherwise fine book, so perhaps that's not really a flaw.

The ending was a surprise to me, although I think that some readers might anticipate it.

I will be preordering the sequel.