The God has disappeared, leaving angels and demons to their own devices. The archangels have been hiding it from the populace of Heaven for millenia, even cooperating with Hell to keep the status quo. But what happens when a real crisis arises, and the world really needs a miracle?
Zastepy Anielskie (Angelic Hosts) is a series of books by the Polish author Maja Lidia Kossakowska. It follows the story of the archangels trying to keep Heaven working in the absence of God, in particular Daimon Frey, the archangel of destruction, also known as Abaddon. The first book of the series was published in 2004.
So far there have been 7 books in the series:
- Żarna Niebios (Millstones of Heaven), a collection of short prequel stories.
- Siewca Wiatru (Sower of Wind), the first book that introduces Daimon Frey and the first major crisis the angels have to face.
- Zbieracz Burz (Reaper of Tempest), two books exploring a conflict created when Daimon Frey receives a message from God, an order so terrible, it nearly throws Heaven into another civil war.
- Bramy Swiatlosci (Gates of the Light), three books concluding the story, with the heroes going on a quest to find God.
Tropes:
- All Myths Are True: Though some have resulted from drunken bets between demons. There are a lot of supernatural beings besides angels and demons, and many gods of various mythologies fit somewhere in the supernatural society.
- Apocalypse How: Class x is basically Abaddon's job (culling malformed worlds that sometimes spring into existence as a side effect of creation). The events of the story threaten everything up to x-4.
- Crapsack World: Played with. There is a lot of evil in the world, and even Heaven is plagued by what is basically an oppressive caste system. But there is always enough good in it to keep it worth fighting for, and the reader always has some good guys to root for.
- Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: That's how war is waged nowadays. While key conflicts between powerful beings are still resolved with swords, and sometimes fists, the current standard is magitech guns - and even a powerful angel can be taken down by a couple good shots.
- Have You Seen My God?: One of the central themes of the series - the angels have been created to fulfill God's orders, and often feel very lost when his absence leaves them with basically free will, and all its consequences.
- Invisible to Normals: Earth is positively swarmed by various beings, but their powers either make humans ignore them altogether, or make them seem human unless they do something purposefully dramatic.
- Our Angels Are Different: While they obviously wield phenomenal cosmic powers, they seem to have some sort of biology they still adhere to. They can get permanently crippled by war injuries, and eat and drink. (also smoke joints rolled with myrrh)
- Painting the Frost on Windows: The job of 'birds of Heaven', the lowest ranking manual workers among the angels.
