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It's been a long time since I looked at this book, but I am about 99.9 percent certain that you are thinking of The Ways of Magic, by Scott Ciencin. Does this cover art look familiar?

It's been a long time since I looked at this book, but I am about 99.9 percent certain that you are thinking of The Ways of Magic, by Scott Ciencin. Does this cover art look familiar?

Of course,it helped that the series title shown on the front cover was "The Elven Ways," which strongly suggested that some of the characters in this story would be some sort of elves. (Granted, as far as anyone knew when reading the first chapter, it might have turned out that "the elves" and "the angels" were two separate sets of people in the plot.)

Of course, it helped that the series title shown on the front cover was "The Elven Ways," which strongly suggested that some of the characters in this story would be some sort of elves. (Granted, as far as anyone knew when reading the first chapter, it might have turned out that "the elves" and "the angels" were two separate sets of people in the plot.)

I'm in the same boat -- I know Aitan Anzelm had supernatural abilities (showing everybody that he was not just "a regular fellow who happens to have pointy ears,") but I don't recall exactly what they could do, or what his own field of expertise was among his kind!

Yes, I remembered that the angel thing was all a scam. It was established right away in the text that, by the time this story was taking place, virtually all of the humans, and implicitly a great many of the "angels," were, in fact, firm believers in the self-serving religious propaganda invented by the original batch of elves who had taken refuge on Earth. Tom's master, as I recall, was definitely one of those true believers. After all, why shouldn't he believe what his elders had been telling him for all of his life? But, as you say, they were simply elves whose ancestors had fled to Earth from some other world.

On the other hand, the good news is that this was, in fact, always intended as the first installment of a trilogy, and the other two books were published afterwards. (Apparently spaced about a year apart -- 1996, 1997, 1997.) According to ISFDB, the Elven Ways trilogy consists of:

I'm in the same boat -- I know Aitan Anzelm had supernatural abilities, as did the other angels in Tom's world, but I don't recall exactly what they could do, or what Aitan's own field of expertise was among his kind!

Yes, I remembered that the angel thing was all a scam. It was established right away in the text that, by the time this story was taking place, virtually all of the humans, and implicitly a great many of the "angels," were, in fact, firm believers in the validity of the term "angel" for this nonhuman race. Which turned out to be self-serving religious propaganda invented by the original batch of elves who had taken refuge on Earth. Tom's master, as I recall, was definitely one of those true believers. After all, why shouldn't he believe what his elders had been telling him for all of his life? But, as you say, they were simply elves whose ancestors had fled to Earth from some other world.

On the other hand, the good news for you is that this was, in fact, always intended as the first installment of a trilogy, and the other two books were published afterwards. (Apparently spaced about a year apart -- 1996, 1997, 1998.) According to ISFDB, the Elven Ways trilogy consists of: