In her debut novel, “Archon” ($14.99, Harper Voyager), Sabrina
Benulis offers up an intriguing idea, but the execution leaves me with mixed
feelings.
Angela Mathers is a troubled child. Obsessed with angels,
Angela has a death wish that she seems unable to accomplish, no matter how she
tries. Knives won’t penetrate to her vitals, guns misfire. She’s even tried to
burn herself, which ended with the deaths of her parents and severe scarring to
her body, but she survived. Now, she’s gotten out of an asylum after that
incident and has been enrolled in West Wood, an academy run by the Vatican on
the island of Luz. She’s been accepted both because of her artwork of angels
and the fact that she’s a bloodhead, a term originating from a prophecy that
says a redhead will become the Archon, referred to by most as the Ruin, who
will challenge the devil for the throne of Hell.