Triune

by
Willow Polson

Black Wing, September 2010, 321 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-453-82826-7

Genre: Paranormal Fiction

Subgenre: Angels
Reviewed: 2/12/2011

Reviewed by: Conan & Nikki Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

In a Raging Fire in a Shopping Center

The fire blazed up again next to Barrett and he found himself using a wing as a shield against the intense heat, blinking from the smoke in his eyes. He'd gotten slightly turned around, the density of the smoke making it hard to tell which way the front windows were.

Goddamn it! I think it's this way...

He got far enough away from the flames to think properly, and tried to feel out where everybody was located. Brian was in front of him, Mike was on the other side of the room, and the two people were near Brian...

There. Got it.

Skirting the fire by pressing himself against the wall, basically following Brian's path, he eventually made it over to the back corner where the bathrooms were. Mike arrived at the same time, having been slowed by going up the dumb waiter shaft. Brian had his hand on the door handle of the men's room. But they knew what he was going to say, even as he opened his mouth to speak.

"The guy's in a bad way, the woman's doing all right but scared," said Mike. All Brian could do was nod, eyes widening. Barrett looked between them. "How do you know what condition they're in, Bri?"

"How... how the hell did you know what I was going to say?" Brian replied. Mike only shrugged and nodded at the door. Brian blinked, then realized he was the one holding the handle, and opened it.

"What was that?" squealed a woman's voice as the door opened, letting even more smoke in. The windows were too small and high up for them to escape, but had been propped open, the woman thinking that she was letting fresh air in, but in reality it was pulling just as much smoke under the door and into the bathroom as it was letting fresh air in. The man was badly burned and trembling, semi-conscious, in shock, and couldn't have possibly made it out of the second-story window anyway.

Michael was through the door first, realizing that they were fully visible again based on the woman's terrified screams. Muscular body coated in smoke and ash, with dark clothing and black wings, he appeared the perfect image of the angel of death. He put his hands up and tried to calm her.

"Hannah... it's all right. We'll get you both out of here," he said in a gentle voice, as gentle as possible over the roar of the chaos just outside the walls. His brothers followed, and all the woman could do was stare and whimper at them, sure she was hallucinating and about to die. She couldn't even bring herself to ask how he knew her name.

Brian approached slowly with a little smile, then knelt next to the injured man. He gently laid his hands on the shaking figure, which almost immediately began to calm, the burns starting to disappear. Barrett shivered, watching for a moment and feeling a bit of the energy his brother was working with, then cleared his head and looked for a way to get them out.

"I don't like that noise," said Mike. Barrett was focused on the windows and ignored him. "Hey," said Mike, elbowing his older brother, " I think the wall..."

The wall separating them from the fire suddenly lurched inward several feet with a sickening groaning crunch. Brian's eyes widened in alarm, and he took the man he'd just healed in his arms.

"We have to get them out of..."

But before he could finish, everything started to go. Mike wrapped himself around Hannah protectively, wings as a shield, and hoped it would be enough, then the wall and the section of ceiling it was helping to hold up finally gave way.

Synopsis

On the commercial jet Mike is flying on, a suicide bomber sets off his bomb and Mike finds himself falling through the air toward the earth. Falling near him is a woman and he reaches out and grabs hold of her. All of a sudden, Brian sees something crashing through his skylight into his studio smashing a lot of his stained glass windows that he has been working on. Brian spies huge black wings and thinks it is some kind of bird until he realizes that the wings are coming out of the back of his brother Mike.

Mike has no recollection of what just happened and is very confused by the wings, which he is able to magically draw back into his body. Brian also notices that Mike heals very quickly from all of his injuries. Mike is confused as to why he has been picked to become an angel, but quickly accepts his new situation. Mike and Brian study the three stained glass windows in Brian's studio that depict three different angels. They notice that Mike looks a lot like one of them who is designated the warrior. There are two more angels, one being a healer and one a leader.

They call Barrett and show him what has happened to Mike. They test out Mike's new ability of flying by heading out into the desert. All three are riding in Barrett's car when they come upon an accident. Mike and Brian hurry over to the wrecked car while Barrett calls 911. Brian touches the woman and her injuries begin to heal. Mike tells Brian to look behind himself and Brian nearly faints when he see white wings sprouting from his back.

Barrett returns to San Jose and is worried that he may also be an angel. He doesn't want to be one, he only wants to run his business. But he cannot prevent himself from being who he really is and soon finds himself standing on Brian's doorstep with pearl grey wings sprouting from his back after having flown from San Jose to Reno. Mike and Brian are overjoyed that all three of them are angels.

The three angels begin testing their powers and find that they can do many things. They can fly, heal others, heal themselves, understand and speak other languages, teleport, don't need to breath, turn invisible to others, and cannot be burned. As they test these new powers, the keep learning about new ones. They use these new-found powers to help people whenever they can.

Finding that their bond is now stronger than ever, they buy an old house in San Jose so all three of them can sleep in the same house. Mike starts working at Mason Imports while Brian teleports back to Reno to work on stained glass windows. One day Brian returns to his studio to find that his place has been vandalized and every stained glass window has been smashed. They find the person responsible for the vandalism and it turns out to be a preacher. After scaring the bejeezus out of the preacher, they learn from the scared man about a portal to hell down in Los Angeles.

The three angels decide to investigate this portal and fly down to L.A. Little do they know that they will soon witness devastation like they have never seen before. They will also finally find some answers to all of the questions they have about being angels. Their lives will never be the same again.

Triune is a paranormal fiction story about three men who are angels and is written by Willow Polson.

Review

From Conan Tigard . . .

Triune is an interesting tale about three brothers who don't know that they are angels. Once they do discover what they really are, they begin to use their powers to help people in need. This feel-good story moves along as an even pace, leaving readers longing to turn into an angel themselves. The story mostly focuses on the Mason brothers and their struggle with becoming angels and all of the responsibilities that go along with having superhuman powers.

As for the writing, the story constantly flips from one brother to the other without any warning. At first I found this a little confusing. But after a time, I found myself just rolling with these quick changes, but still wished for a line break to designate a change of point of view. One other thing that bothered me a little bit was that the story just seemed to only be about the Mason brothers becoming angels. There wasn't any kind of conflict they had to solve or mystery they had to unravel. I had no idea where the story was heading until the very end of the book. The storyline just seemed to focus on the Mason brothers becoming angels and their dealing with the emotions of this shocking change.

I really liked Mike and Brian, but I never really bonded with Barrett very well. Sure, I liked him, but Mike and Brian are the characters that I really enjoyed reading about. I sometimes felt that the dialog was a little girly for grown men to be saying, but heck, I have no idea how angels would speak . . . especially, three angels that are connected to each other like these guys are. Just stop hugging so much. Guys don't hug each other very often.

The story itself is a fun read and very light-hearted. I liked the fact that there wasn't a big, bad villain that they had to defeat in a supernatural battle. The story is just about three brother doing the right thing after finding out that they are angels. I have always enjoyed stories about superheroes, and that is really what the Mason brothers become. They have super powers and save humans that need saving.

Overall, Triune is a great story that needs a little polishing, but still is a very enjoyable read. I hope that Willow Polson turns this idea in to a series, because I feel that there is still a lot more that the Mason brothers have to do. It is nice to read a paranormal fiction book about something other than vampires. Vampires used to be bad and now are good and sweet and sparkly. Gimme a break! At least we know angels are supposed to be good and sparkly. They are the true heroes.

I rated this book an 8 out of 10.

From Nikki Tigard . . .

I absolutely loved this book - and I tend to be a much harsher critic than my husband. And I'm not sure I can completely articulate why I loved it so much. The story just had an overwhelming sense of warmth, positivity, and optimism.  I very much enjoyed the writing style and the depiction of the three brothers' journey into becoming something more than human. 

One thing I did enjoy was that the brothers, even as they are becoming angels, are still very much "of this world."  They still swear, still have concerns about their work, where they are going to live, etc.  And they have what felt to me like very natural mixed emotions and reactions to the changes that are happening to them.

I do agree with my husband on a couple of points.  The story at first did jump around a bit between brothers, which was a little distracting, but I also think it set the background for each individual brother, as well as the bond they have.  I also agree that at times the brothers' actions felt a bit "feminine" - especially the amount of hugging that went on between them.  But it's also nice to show such a connection and bond between people - regardless of gender.

I very much hope that Willow Polson continues to write about the Mason brothers and their journey as angels in the modern world. 

I rated this book a 9½ out of 10.