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gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I think this novella was a great look into what makes someone monstrous or good, and wether it is their nature, upbringing or something else.
It’s a murder mystery set in a gritty world that centers on mining the remains of a fallen angel, and the world is split between the descendants of angels and demons.
No one in this story is truly good here, but the divide of Elect versus Fallen makes some worse than others.
honestly set expectations aside for who the characters are and what they’ll do/what they have done. Very unreliable narrator.
It’s a murder mystery set in a gritty world that centers on mining the remains of a fallen angel, and the world is split between the descendants of angels and demons.
No one in this story is truly good here, but the divide of Elect versus Fallen makes some worse than others.
honestly set expectations aside for who the characters are and what they’ll do/what they have done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
ofbooksandechos's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexism
maeverose's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really like Rebecca Roanhorse’s writing, especially her worldbuilding. I liked the fantasy elements of this story and the parallels to our very real corrupt justice system. I loved how casually queer this was as well.
I was drawn to this because I love fantasy stories that incorporate religion (be it a real religion or fantasy, I just like religious themes in books… despite being very agnostic lol) and because I really like the Between Earth and Sky series and wanted to read more from the author. I also wanted to try something new, since I’ve never read a western-adjacent story before, but unfortunately I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m not typically a fan of murder mysteries either.. which I didn’t realize this was. I struggle with flawed/unlikable main characters, so I wasn’t really a fan of Celeste. None of the characters really grabbed my interest, sadly.
So 3 stars for the writing, world building, ideas and social commentary, but not really a story for me.
I was drawn to this because I love fantasy stories that incorporate religion (be it a real religion or fantasy, I just like religious themes in books… despite being very agnostic lol) and because I really like the Between Earth and Sky series and wanted to read more from the author. I also wanted to try something new, since I’ve never read a western-adjacent story before, but unfortunately I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m not typically a fan of murder mysteries either.. which I didn’t realize this was. I struggle with flawed/unlikable main characters, so I wasn’t really a fan of Celeste. None of the characters really grabbed my interest, sadly.
So 3 stars for the writing, world building, ideas and social commentary, but not really a story for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Suicide, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Graphic: mentions of human castration, bleeding out Moderate: poisoning, animal gorewordsareworlds's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Unfortunately a very disappointing departure from Roanhorse's other works. Much of the novella is spent info dumping lore instead of developing the characters beyond single traits or plot usefulness, and it makes the climax unbelievable at best.
While I'm a big fan of flawed MCs, and love the way Roanhorse has written others, this one crossed a point of no return where I was actively rooting against her, which also made for an unpleasant experience for the last quarter of the book.
While I'm a big fan of flawed MCs, and love the way Roanhorse has written others, this one crossed a point of no return where I was actively rooting against her, which also made for an unpleasant experience for the last quarter of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Confinement and Sexual content
Minor: Sexism
albon's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, and Murder
displacedcactus's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I've enjoyed everything I've read by Roanhorse, until this book came along. If it had been a longer book, I probably would have just straight-up DNFed it, but because it was so short, I kept with it hoping that it would pleasantly surprise me. Instead, it ended up disgusting me. HUGE spoilers here: when Celeste can't find evidence to clear her sister of murder, and in fact finds evidence that makes it obvious her sister lied to her about what happens, she decides to frame another girl for the murder, just based on the fact that the other girl said some snarky things about her sister. She also gets her demon lover to compel the other girl to confess. It's incredibly messed-up, and even the demon lover says so.
I can see what Roanhorse was trying to do, I think, by taking some tropes and turning them on their head, but unfortunately the end result is a character I don't particularly like making decisions that I strongly disagree with, and in such a short book that I'm not given any reason to feel compelled by her motivations.
I can see what Roanhorse was trying to do, I think, by taking some tropes and turning them on their head, but unfortunately the end result is a character I don't particularly like making decisions that I strongly disagree with, and in such a short book that I'm not given any reason to feel compelled by her motivations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Sexism
The racism here is an allegory but it's a painfully obvious allegory. There are no real-life racial slurs being used, however.