Paradox Special Edition by Patti Roberts

I first got to know Patti on Goodreads, because she is one of the first (if not the first), to take part in the Fellow Bibliophiles page. She also very generously gave me a ebook special edition, containing the first two books of her series - The Angels are Here and The Progeny of Innocence.

Initially, I was rather confused about the series. Who are these Grigorians? Are they fallen angels? And who are these Bulguardian? Who are the Wafes? I suspect there aren't any clear answers because Patti wants the reader to learn alongside Grace. The book is compelling because of the mystery.

The Paradox series is basically a metanarrative about the conflict between good and evil. In the macrocosm of things, there are the Grigorians and the Bulgarians, and the snippets of their battle (especially through the portrayal of Therria and the rest of the Grigorians) emphasize the magnitude of the war, and the risk of losing. The Grigorians aren't the typical Twilight-esque magic creatures. They might be beautiful, but they're also evil. There isn't any of the wishy-washy, tortured evil villian here.

Grace, the main protagonist, is a Wafe. I'm not sure what that means, but I know that she's important. And that's enough to carry the story. Her interactions with her best friend Angela, her friends Josh, Zach and of course her love interest, is true to real life. She sounds like a typcial teenager, not angst-ing over everything, but well, normal.

And it's the juxtaposition of the everyday life and the cosmic war that makes the series really unique. It might have taken me quite a long time to finish the two books, but that's only because I'm slow when it comes to ebooks. A word to the wise though: when portraying the evilness of the Grigorians, it's invariable that what can be termed as "advisory" content appears. It's not explicit, but still, I recommend making sure that whoever reads this is mature enough to handle it.