Sacred Cups

Seven Archangels #2

by Jane Lebak

Gabriel and the other Archangels of the Presence have a new assignment: guard the Messiah through his childhood and ministry. Gabriel still struggles to synthesize the lessons for his year as a man, but he carries the shame of his punishment with him into his relations with the other angels.

When created beings kill the Son of God, mortal enemies suddenly become allies while close friends become enemies, and Gabriel finds himself on the battle field of a war he never wanted to fight.

307 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 2, 2015

About the author

Jane Lebak writes about angels, smart women, and angels who have to put up with smart women. Her stories are a random assortment of genres, both fiction and nonfiction, long form and short form. Some of it is pretty weird. One editor told her, "You think so far outside the box, I'm not sure you know there is a box."

Boxes are for cereal. Fiction wants to be free.

Jane lives in the Swamp and spends her time either writing books or ejecting stink bugs from the house. She is pretty sure no one reads these author bios.

Reviews

[Jane Lebak]

Reading this again because I wanted to hear it in the audiobook format. Struck by just how hard Mephistopheles played Gabriel outside the tomb. Also, Raphael is just such an amazing character.

[Laura Maisano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had the pleasure of reading some of Jane Lebak's other angel books, and Sacred Cups continues the tradition of heartfelt moments and spectacular imagination. The story follows the archangels as they protect and guide Jesus from his birth and through his ministry and resurrection. Though we "know what's going to happen" just like we'd know the Titanic would sink, the story of Jesus is the backdrop for the interplay between the angels.

The book delves into the spiritual world and it's such an interesting viewpoint of a world we don't know much about, that I can't look away. There's many creative ways of looking at theological points and questions of faith, and the book really makes you dig deep into your own faith. It's not a light read that way. The reader must remember this is a fictional story, and though it contains events from the gospel, the angelic interchanges can be only speculation and fiction.

One thing I will mention is that I'm glad I read Annihilation before this one. Though Annihilation takes place later chronologically, it explains the whole primary/secondary bond between angels in this world much more clearly. I think because in that book the bond is even more important to the story, so it's fleshed out more. The bond is very important in Sacred Cups for the reader to understand the gravity of the pain Gabriel and Raphael are going through, so if the reader doesn't understand it, it won't hurt as much. So, I'm glad I had that background already, because it made the tense moments shine much stronger for me.

[MarleneJS · Rating 5 out of 5]

How long can resentment last

This 2nd in the series runs parallel to Jesus''s death and resurrection which the angels didn:t even predict. But meanwhile so many misunderstandings and unforgiveness and assumptions last hundreds of years in angels' life since they don't die. Makes one think about their own grudges and the bad results they leave. Love this series and am halfway thru 3rd book. You could read them out of order but you'd not understand some things .

[Shavonn Rinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble

What a beautiful story. It gives great insight and prompts the reader to seek greater understanding. Can't wait to read the next one.