Host of books appear as angels become theme of new teenage reading cult
They're heavenly, or hellish, but tales about angels are joining vampire sagas on the bestseller shelves
Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent
The Observer, Sunday 4 April 2010 


Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in the film Twilight, a 2008 vampire movie. Photograph: Summit Entertainment/LMK

"Angels are all around us," reads the publisher's blurb for Angel, the first of a British trilogy of books for teenagers. "Their beauty is intoxicating, their presence awe-inspiring, their energy irresistible. Angel fever is spreading."

And this spring an angelic host does seem to have taken over a key sector of the book industry, with at least seven new literary series about angels targeted at young adults published here and in America, and two further bestselling titles dominating the European market.
The publication of Angel, written by L.A. Weatherly, an established children's writer from Hampshire, will be followed next year by two sequels, Angel Heat and Angel Burn. They imagine a world where the "potent magnetism" of these "stunning beings" is not what it seems. Far from benevolent forces, Weatherly's angels are "despicable creatures" who must be destroyed by the book's hero, Alex, to stop them "feasting lustily on the energy of innocent victims". For Alex, "the only good angel is a dead angel".
Comparisons with the vogue for teenage stories about vampires are obvious. Just like their blood-sucking supernatural cousins, angels are half-human visitors who can both fly and usefully suggest the mysterious adult world of sexuality that lies beyond. It is a thought that appears to have simultaneously occurred to authors and publishers searching for a new cult reading trend. "I had this idea that I thought was really original," said Weatherly, "and then it seems that everyone else had the same idea at the same time, although hopefully not with angels being evil."
Full story at The Guardian online.