My favorite thing about this book is the setting and world building! I absolutely loved this Wild West town that's built around the ancient, decaying body of a fallen angel, and how that has shaped the environment and the society. Honestly, I would recommend reading this novella just for the joy of exploring the interesting interplay of angels, demons, religion, morality, and vice. As for the story itself, it moves quickly and I was able to read it in an evening. While I didn't feel particularly invested in the characters or the mystery, I did enjoy the world.

*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Big Roanhorse fan. Not a novella fan. More story, please.

I enjoyed the western/steampunk/Christian mythology world-building and found the murder-mystery investigation captivating. The resolution was a little underwhelming. Overall an enjoyable quick read. I would definitely pick up a longer book set in this world if Rebecca Roanhorse writes one!

This is a very readable novella of western fantasy, a genre I’m not very familiar with. I loved the world-building and the allegory of angels and demons enough to ignore some of the plot shortcomings (the twist mostly) and some complaints I had about the main character. All in all, this book was just what I was looking for. I did not read the short story it was based on, but might soon.

This was a fast-paced, engaging story following a YA “quest” type of plot line. The story is set in a world of descendants of the angels and demons who fought in Heaven’s war. The protagonist is half-Fallen, half-Elect and trying to save her Fallen sister from an accusation of murder. It is beautifully written as always and contains a very interesting allegorical world that I would’ve wanted a full novel about. Some of the interactions/relationships seemed kind of flat and the ending had me scratching my head because of that. It gives off more Greek tragedy/biblical parable than what I had expected, but I think that it’s a great look into our perceptions of other people.

“They knew as well as Celeste did, God’s justice always ended in blood.”

Tread of Angels is a very interesting novella about a Fallen Angel named Celeste. She is very close to her little sister, Mariel, and they live in a world where people look down on their kind. Things get dicey for Celeste when Mariel gets accused of killing a Virtue and Celeste takes on the job of defending her sister. It won’t be easy however. Beings like them rarely receive justice.

I really think that this is a novella with an amazing concept and some good bones. The world building was so well done, especially for a book this size. The synopsis actually tells you a lot about this world, maybe even too much if I’m being honest, but there were still quite a few things to learn while reading.

Celeste was fantastic as a main character. She wasn’t perfect by any means, but she cared about the people around her, especially her sister, and she did everything she could to be there for Mariel.

The murder mystery that takes place was also well done. However, I do think it suffered the most from the length. This book being a novella is my biggest criticism. This is such an interesting world and concept and it deserved to be a full novel to let all of these amazing elements get the time they needed. The mystery had some good elements, but it felt rushed. This was also true for the ending that also felt rushed. I really wish this would have been a full length novel because the story this could have been…

Either way, I did enjoy my time with it, even if it wasn’t a new favorite.