Ferren and the Angel

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Author(s)

Richard Harland

Publisher

IFWG Publishing International

Genre(s)

Age Range

13+

Release Date

November 06, 2023

ISBN

978-1922856296

Buy This Book

Ferren and the Angel is a YA Fantasy, but can be equally enjoyed by older readers. It's a different kind of fantasy, a sub-genre of its own, including elements of SF, horror, steampunk and surrealism.

The background is immense, based on the old Judeo-Christan-Islamic lore of angelology. This isn't a religious book, however. It's a story of personal experience focused on the two foreground figures: Ferren the young tribesman and Miriael the warrior angel who crashes to the Earth.

Ferren and the members of all 'Residual' tribes - who are actually surviving remnants of the original human race - must learn to stand up for themselves against the dominant 'Humen'. Miriael and eventually all angels and archangels must learn to empathize with human experience instead of despising physical bodies and the physical world.

Ferren and the Angel is the first book of The Ferren Trilogy, complete as a story in itself, but also leading on to larger developments and eventually a climactic invasion of Heaven by the armies of Earth. It's a hugely exciting adventure story set in a wildly imaginative world.

Editor review

1 review

Ferren and the Angel

February 19, 2025 (Updated: June 06, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

5.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

3.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

There is a lot to unpack with the first novel in this series. As someone who loves mythology retellings, I was excited to see one more in the Christianity faith. Greek, Norse, and Asian mythologies are everywhere - and I love it. But you don't really see too many about angels and devils without it getting too preachy.

This book did an excellent job creating a dystopian world dealing with Angels, Heaven and Earth. It takes a bit to get used to the writing style but once the realization that the characters are supposed to be that daft and the angels to be that conceited, does the story take off. I struggled at first because I was wondering why the human characters were so.... dumb. But then remembering the description of what they are wearing and learning more about the history, it really is more of a "caveman" mentality. It shows how much the wars have impacted society.

The story is what sucked me in though. At first, I was reading because I was reading and then I found myself reading because I truly needed to know what was going on. How did the world end up this way? Why did the intelligence of humans degrade so much? And when everything truly starts to happen - good luck actually putting the book down.

What was lacking to me was more the writing style. It was very generic, and unlike some fantasy books I read where quotes jump out at you - it's just there. Some of the machinery was hard for me to imagine which made me struggle a bit at towards the end of the book but I just pushed through.

Overall, Ferren and the Angel by Richard Harland was a very unexpected book. When I started, I wasn't sure what to expect but the story just carried me away. I found myself finding it very hard to put the book down because I needed to know what was happening. The characters take a minute to get used to but once I was able to take a step back and try to put myself into the scene itself - they clicked. I wish the writing was a bit stronger to help but the storytelling was strong to cover the generic words. I highly recommend this book if you are a dystopian fan and looking for something you've never experienced before. This story will take you there and leave you wanting more.