"The Space Between" by Brenna Yovanoff

I can say with a hand on my heart that I loved this book. I'm not a vamp or zombie lover, but gimme angels and demons and leave me be! So yeah, "The Space Between" was my sort of book variety, and I really, truly enjoyed every single one of its awesome pages!

I know it's been a while since it was published (in 2011), but I only got around it thanks to a "what-to-read-next" poll I did in a Goodreads group. Otherwise, it may still have waited on my book stash, untouched and mostly ignored.

Anywho, I keep on thinking that I'm more the angel-lover sort of person, and in fact I am. But this story was demon oriented, and got me looking at the other side of the veil. Not that I'd change my opinion on the holy ones and the fallen, but still it was pretty nice to read a demon's perspective on the world and all.

So the demon here was a girl - Daphne, the last one of Lucifer and Lilith's daughters. She was a pretty strong willed girl I might add. She was determined and brave in the quiet sense of the word. She was the person who brought calmness. The person who could fix one's broken soul. The person who could ignite love where it could never blossom. Weird things to say about a demon, huh? But they're nonetheless, true.

I could feel Daphne's boredom in the beginning, and her lack of interest in anything at all. She was just an inhabitant in a world of fire and timelessness. Then the events lured her out in search for her brother. She was veiled in quiet panic and pain over whatever was happening to him, and she cursed herself for not being able to find him quickly enough. Then other misfortunes hit, and she's full of grief that she doesn't know how to express, so she holds it in, hidden deep within her, where the pain won't hurt her too much.

Mostly though, I loved how virtuous she was. Daphne never lied, risked her life for others, was not selfish, and discovered what love truly meant in a way that I think none of her siblings ever did. She knew the feeling on that level so deep inside, where the other person became one with you. And when he's missing, it's like a chunk of you is missing too. And I just really loved that.

Then there was Truman, who had no idea who he was. Truman with his pain that raged on and on inside him. Truman, the quiet boy whose grief only brought him lower and lower to a place where suicide seemed like the only good decision left. Had it not been for Daphne, he might've would've never realized that he was wasting his life grieving for the past, when there was so much worth living for in the future.

And of course, there was Azrael, the angel of death, who - at least to me - was the monster here. Sure, his intentions were noble and holy, but he never realized that his means would never accomplish anything. He was bloody happy when he destroyed life, and didn't have the slightest idea how to help a boy lost in his own misery. And instead of helping, he just made things worse. In my mind, he couldn't have been an angel at all - more like a hateful, vengeful person with an agenda of his own. I hated him for not seeing truth and love in the most obvious places and for putting everyone under the same common denominator. That sort of blinded him to see reality.

There were other prominent figures in there as well - Lilith (the mother demon, because of whom the Fall occurred); Lucifer (with his quiet agony and readiness for revenge); Beelzebub (who ached for redemption); Obie (with his readiness to die if his death would save his child's life) and others who truly made this book worth my time.

To sum it up: "The Space Between" is a book full of emotions - both quiet and fierce ones. There's action, there's thrill. There's much pain and even more struggle to find the path to love and life. It was a journey I was glad I took along with all the amazing characters.


My rating is