Book Review: The Edge of Over There by Shawn Smucker

About the Book

The Edge of Over There (The Day the Angels Fell #2)

by Shawn Smucker

Description from Goodreads

Before the Tree of Life, everything in Abra Miller's life had been predictable. But after the Tree and the lightning and the angels, everything felt tenuous, like holding a soap bubble in the palm of her hand. She spent years looking for signs of that other world, waiting for it to break through. When it didn't, her friendship with Sam Chambers grew cold and distant, and they both wondered how any of it could actually have happened.

Four years later, 16-year-old Abra's long-delayed quest to find the next manifestation of the Tree of Life is renewed when she sees a woman walking up the road--a woman who looks exactly like Sam's dead mother. The woman directs her to New Orleans where she will find the grave of Marie Laveau, one of seven gateways between this world and Over There. As Abra enters The Edge of Over There and begins her pursuit of the Tree once more, she doesn't know whom to fear or whom to trust. But she's starting to think that some doorways should never be opened

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36739634-the-edge-of-over-there

Book Review

The Edge of Over There is a Christian supernatural fantasy set in historical New Orleans. It can be read as a stand-alone, but would be better appreciated if read as book two in the series.

The main character is a girl named Abra. In the previous book, Abra received a mission from God to protect any future Trees of Life from the enemy. In this book, she finds herself following mysterious clues in New Orleans and trying to stop the supernatural enemies of God.

This book is difficult to describe because there aren’t many books to compare it to. It is just too bizarre and dark. There are weird supernatural beings that Abra must defeat and portals to another world that is stuffed into the pathway to the afterlife, catching souls who should have gone all the way through. I admire the author’s imagination because this isn’t a story I could have ever thought up on my own.

The most interesting part of the story was the symbolism and the message. One of the messages, which continues on from the previous book, is that death isn’t entirely a bad thing. Eternal life in this sin-filled world would be more like a living hell than a life, and so it is better to believe in God and follow Him into the afterlife. But not all the characters understand that and they accept the offer of eternal life and eternal pleasure, only to be herded along like sheep in a miserable existence in a world between life and death.

Yes, the symbolism was very well-done and made it a fascinating, thought-provoking, and entertaining book.

Content warnings: this book is a little dark and there is some violence.

I received a complementary copy of this book from NetGalley. Everything written is my honest opinion, and I didn’t received compensation for writing them.