Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Angels Before Man

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Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

75 reviews

wei_lan's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was so intriguing and gut-wrenching for me. As someone who grew up in a deeply religious household, I related so hard to Lucifer’s relationship with God.

1. Lucifer’s questions and perspectives felt comforting to me because I experienced the same sort of rabbit hole that began as being curious and ending with anger and hatred. I wish I had this book when I was in highschool.

2. I adored Lucifer so much. His initial shyness and curiosity was what really hooked me in. I could see him changing and becoming more confident but being perceived as vain and immodest and it really made me think about the difference between them. Like, why should Lucifer not be proud of his appearance when he is the angel of beauty?

3. I knew what was going to happen but it still tore me to pieces when it happened. I almost stopped reading this when

Lucifer and his angels began burning heaven. But it was Lucifer’s understanding that they were probably going to lose that made all the difference. I was cringing hard at the thought of Lucifer believing that he could actually defeat God in their final battle, but him recognizing that it was near, if not completely, impossible made me love him even more. I think it also shows that he isn’t actually cocky with his confidence. He believes in himself and that’s enough for him.

4. There were a couple of times I zoned out and got lost or confused. Visualizing the angels’ houses was difficult for me and when I read about the on a bed or entering a room I was kind of taken out of the story trying to imagine what a bedroom would look like in heaven for an angel.

5. As far as I can remember, there was not a single female character. I don’t know how to feel about that because I’m pretty sure this was based on biblical canon and I don’t there are any female angels, but having all male characters did make it harder for me to keep track of who was doing/saying what at times.

6.

Hearing Lucifer create words with meaning was so cool!! Hearing him create “c*nt” and “f*cking” was so funny to me.

Content Warnings

tzemin's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

2.75

I wanted to love this book.

The author wrote it with a lot of heart, and his emotions he tried to convey through his writing were genuine. There were a good number of moments where I wondered if this was what the author had felt.

Like this:

He tried not to think of Michael, who was still up in the stars somewhere. There had been weeks, not long after the chief prince grew absent, that Lucifer traveled through meadows and orchards, climbed onto the highest branches of the tallest trees, staring upward, waiting for the moment Michael would descend magnificently into Heaven, holding an entire universe on his back. But a soon return wouldn’t come, and his duties had taken over, and if there’d been hope, it had dwindled. Hope, it seemed, ought to wither sometimes; Lucifer knew his gaze should remain on God, who was his solace, his comfort. His love. He was happy, at His side; he couldn’t be happier.

Or this:

“If you would have me, Father.” Lucifer chased after God’s hand, feeling terribly alone without His touch, as if he were starved of water and tasted it in His fingertips. “I will come into your garden every day and worship, worship until you tire of me.” He clutched the grass by his knees, felt it between his fingers, kept attempting to look at Him but was too weak to hold His gaze for any more than a second.

Oof

But I wish the book had an editor, because the pacing and choice of words left a lot to be desired. The first 20% of it was slow, and it featured every character sighing, breathing and gasping. I couldn’t differentiate between Lucifer’s fellow angel friends, Asmodeous and Baal and Rosier, because they didn’t have agendas or strong personalities until halfway through Part II. I imagined them as anime men. Throughout the book were phrases such as “chuckling, sounding much like the taste of chocolate” and “melted ruby” (aka blood). Reading them stunned me and not in a good way. 😭

I’m also hoping I got these plot points right:

In Part I, Lucifer starts out as an angel with no self-image outside of being a beautiful adornment and damn good worshipper. He obeys God and is therefore “good”, but he’s got intense amounts of shame and hollowness within him. He falls in love with Michael, who teaches him to take pride in his own body and develop a sense of self. In Part II, the archangels are like “no don’t do that” and God is like “no don’t love anybody other than me” and so he takes out his wrath on Lucifer, so viciously and appallingly that Lucifer’s mental state starts unravelling. But the real stories behind Lucifer’s severe punishments don’t get out to the other angels, who apparently gossip a lot. They stay as secrets and sure never reach Michael’s ears. If they had, maybe he wouldn’t have turned against Lucifer in the end?

This was never made clear though, which I feel was a missed opportunity.

But yeah… to enjoy this book, you need to match its vibes and look past its writing flaws. Vibes-wise: a way of describing the novel is 41 chapters of Lucifer getting fucked over by God

(quite literally)

and y’know what, go ham, Lucifer, be your best fallen angel self. I dig it. I just couldn’t see past the flaws though; the writing seriously needed tightening. 😔

To be fair, some lines were pretty solid. Like “Lucifer’s heart — withering into gratitude”. Or this:

When the chants flowed out from the crowd, next, along with the blares of excited drums and horns, all Lucifer did was clap. He didn’t get swept away by the fervor, not in the manner he used to. That was melancholic to realize — all the excitement of youth was fading away, revealing something unknown; it was exciting, also.
‘I feel aged. I feel as if you’ve aged me with your own hands, Michael. Ripened me. Like a red fruit, at the edge of a branch, hanging at its peak. Beautiful — and just about to fall.’ A little laugh, his own thoughts embarrassing him. ‘Maybe I’m the dramatic one.’

Just wish the whole book was more like that. Coherent.

Content Warnings

rh13's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-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

5.0

Content Warnings

kelseydaffodil's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

''What am I for, Father? In what way an I perfectly made, for what purpose?' To be something so abstract as beauty - it was as if Lucifer weren't more than an abstraction himself, an idea, a fantasy, the figment of a lonely, longing imagination.'

i feel. empty. this book is 6 stars. everything about the writing was so poetic. how the further Lucifer fell, the less correct punctuation, grammar and proper sentences were used in thoughts. his and michael's relationship. the whole idea of god. this book has broken my heart. the pain throughout it. it's so heavy and i don't have enough words to express this book.

Content Warnings

rizky's review

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.5

Ruin me, will you

Content Warnings

jacksons_books_and_music's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

Content Warnings

mirandyli's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Such a beautiful poetically written book about the fall of Lucifer from heaven.

Content Warnings

carolani's review

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adventurous dark inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Really enjoyable, unique, freshly written. Wildly inspiring language. The personification is amazing. Only drawback is the plot isn’t riveting, it’s more of a character piece but outside of Michael and Lucifer and the Lord I wasn’t super interested in the characters. I would’ve liked some more complexity in character choices and in the overall plot, but genuinely one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. I’ve never marked up a book as much as this one.

Content Warnings

alnicole19's review

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challenging dark sad 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

wjquick32's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is intense, and you need to take the last 20-25% slowly because it’s dense and complicated if you aren’t well versed in Abrahamic religion. But wow, is it good! It’s so many things all in one book.

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