Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Angels Before Man

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

72 reviews

intoner1's review against another edition

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

(Copied and pasted from my goodreads account)
A tantalizing tale in desperate need of an editor

I read this book after reading a goodreads review that recommended it. At first I enjoyed the book it started off slow but the world building was extremely interesting and I found myself lost in Heaven. I felt unsettled slightly because I knew it wouldn't end well making the songs of praises and joy slightly horrific. The feeling coiled in my stomach as I read, I anticipated what was going to happen next and was on the edge of my seat.

I noticed a few amateur mistakes but was able to ignore them due to the world building. Part II is where the story really started falling apart. The fatigue of the author settled in and it showed. Errors became more apparent, characters were introduced and contributed nothing to the plot, issues with prose and syntax started arising. The author made the creative choice to start randomly writing in all lowercase, which was not seen in part I and made no sense to suddenly introduce. It was almost as if I were reading a fanfiction on Archive of Our Own where the author got tired of writing and changed things up in order to avoid fatigue. Which is fine in a fic I'm reading for free but not for a book I've spent 15 dollars on.

The author is obviously talented he's able to capture the attention of a reader through character development and world building but he needs an editor more than anything. This book could easily become 4 or 5 stars if it were published through a more traditional company who had a someone to go through the book with a fine tooth comb to ensure it's error free.

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kayaisreading's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

bloodbrooxv's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

shadowspinner's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

alicia_ann_reads's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a book that made me feel things.

First, it's a queer retelling of Satan's (Lucifer) Falling, which I wasn't familiar with so did a quick google to discover it was mentioned in two books if the Bible.

I'm not a Bible follower, but I imagine that anyone who had any form of religious trauma in their life would find this book incredibly cathartic.

The prose was wonderful, the first half is the telling of Lucifer's life from birth, his struggles with being the centre of attention, the 'angel of beauty", his shame and lack of self confidence... Until he meets Michael, who slowly coaxes him out of that shell. You see a really slow burn romance.

The second half of the book takes that and shows Lucifer's fall, how his worship focus went from God to Michael and how God had punished, and from that punishment the seed and kernel of defiance and hatred grew, how Lucifer coined new terms, created Sin as God created...

It is graphic and gory, and really hard to read at times, but it was also powerful.

The negative aspects: Was a little long. Middle part dragged and in the second half saw an increase in internal dialogue; which in and if itself is not an issue but the way it was presented on page was really difficult to read.

You had internal dialogue between apostrophes butted next to external dialogue in quotes with no delineation; and multiple POVs back and forth on one page.. I had to read slowly.

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sapphicbookfae's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this book made me go through a SERIES of emotions! and i enjoyed that

i really loved the sweet moments between the angels and my heart ached because of the heavenly emphasis on purity and obedience as goodness. these concepts are used so easily to control loved ones at times in a manipulative manner. and of course Lucifer's flawed but he went through so much and it's hard for me to hate this version of him

i will say that i hoped for a redeeming ending DESPITE the occurrences of coercive obedience, lack of autonomy, emotional and sexual abuse from those in positions of power. i think this book tells an "ugly" story quite beautifully and demonstrates the extremes that the above occurrences can lead to. the ending chapters did feel rushed to me and i was left wanting to know more about certain characters (maybe intentionally)

definitely give this book a read if you have religious trauma (LMAO) like me and maybe struggle with being honest about your queerness with your catholic religious family members... you get the extreme perspectives

Content Warnings