The Celestial Assignment
By: Theresa Braun
After a sudden death, Will, a misguided angel, is tasked with protecting a baby girl. Watching over her as she grows up and navigates the world appears a harsh punishment for his past failings. Can he redeem himself, or will he fall further from grace? – Goodreads
*Book received in exchange for honest review*
The Celestial Assignment is a short story running at around 28 pages. As much as its a story, its really a character analysis exercise. The main character Will has become an angel after his death and assigned to take care of a baby girl called Celeste, much to his surprise. Will is something of a character development analysis. His personality changes subtly, unknowing to himself that he no longer is that selfish man that he used to be and learns more by observing the things that happen to Celeste that he is looking over. Does he face his own problems and really address what makes him draw some parallels to the people that the baby girl meets as she gradually grows up and runs into her own problems and meets guys that are like him when he was alive.
Theresa Braun is a pretty good writer. The Celestial Assignment has a good flow and knows what he tries to presents. With limited page count, the story stays on track all the time and knows exactly what it wants to deliver and the focus it needs to take while keeping everything at a minimum. Will comes to life on paper by how he is written through his reactions, whether its his remarks or his actions, whether you find it snarky, witty or sarcastic. At the beginning there is a real sense of disapproval for such a negative character who does experience the different changes because he is written so vividly.
Seeing as The Celestial Assignment is a shorter story, there isn’t much to talk about without sharing too much of the story. In that sense, I’d rather you go and read it yourself. Its an incredibly quick read. Character analysis like this one helps with the reflection of our own lives and for that, it becomes an intriguing read as we see how the character on the page comes to terms with the person before and now and how to move forward.
Previous books reviewed by Theresa Braun
Tranquil Dreams 