Decided to step away from the gaming fiction shelves and turn my attention to some more traditional reading material. Of Angelic Blood and Other Tales is a trim little book with one novella and two short stories. The best way to describe the novella is probably an intellectual variant of the movie City of Angels. The basic plot revolves around an angel that falls in love with her young charge, the self-defeating, nerdy, overthinking Filo. Sophia was sent to Earth as a child and raised as a human, though she always knew she was an angel. She has no memory of heaven, however, and only a vague notion of what exactly she is suppose to be doing to help Filo.

Sophia desperately wants to be human, and has difficulty understanding why Filo is so miserable. There is a lot of philosophical dissertation between the two about the nature of humanity and its relationship to divinity. If you don't like this sort of stuff, you may get lost in the conversations.

The novella is actually told from Filo's perspective, however, not Sophia's. I probably would have liked the book more if it had been from Sophia's Point of View. Filo fluctuates between being a loveable nerd to an obnoxious know-it-all. It's hard to really like him as a protagonist. Like most men, he's also a bit of a hypocrite. He rants about how most women are only interested in superficial appearances, but then goes on and on about Sophia's beauty.

I probably would not have enjoyed the book if not for the author's peculiar and artful way with words. Even though the plot was overly simple and somewhat predictable, it was a joy to read the author's fluid verses. Even in the middle of the most convoluted commentary about Kant and Humanism, Collins writes his prose as if writing poetry.

The short story Night of the Raven was a complete change of gears from the novella. This is a suspenseful sci-fi story about a mining colony on a distant planet. The colony, operated by a multi-galactic corporation that runs the colony like a slave camp, is on the verge of rebellion. I would have loved to have seen this story expanded a bit more. The last story is A Voice Unheard. This was a sort of internal monologue about a guy trying to get up the courage to ask out a girl. There wasn't really a lot to this story and the book could have done without it.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. The novella was a welcome change of pace that challenges the reader to think a bit about the nature of the cosmos. Night of the Raven was an action filled story that earned its spot in the book. Of Angelic Blood and Other Tales is both a challenging and enjoyable read.