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athenian_frog's review
I was super, super excited to read this book. I never expected that I would keep bouncing between dropping it and trying to finish another chapter. I saw glowing reviews from people whose opinions I respect, so I think this might be a me problem...
There are some really cool and interesting scenes (Lucifer realizing his talents, the conversations with God) and I found the relationship between Luci and Michael fairly compelling, too. I have no doubt that Mr. nicolás is passionate about this work.
But nine times out of ten, the pacing feels like a sloooooow crawwwwwl. Maybe the point was that in comparison to the mortal realm, the bountifulness of Heaven makes it stagnant? But it really hurt the actual reading.
A lot of characters also felt a bit flat, like they were there just for plot reasons. I didn't feel all that attached. The other thing that prob contributed to the slow feeling was how densely packed the descriptions were. There was a LOT of description loading on the reader, some of it was very hard for me to conceptualize.
I would read a few chapters, put it down, then be reluctant to pick it back up again. The last time I made good progress (over ten pages) on this book before I set it free was a whole two months ago, and I didn't think about it twice. That's kinda what made me say: "okay, what am I doing this for?"
I will check out other rafeal nicolás works just in case another one piques my interest, but I think Angels Before Man might just not be my thing.
There are some really cool and interesting scenes (Lucifer realizing his talents, the conversations with God) and I found the relationship between Luci and Michael fairly compelling, too. I have no doubt that Mr. nicolás is passionate about this work.
But nine times out of ten, the pacing feels like a sloooooow crawwwwwl. Maybe the point was that in comparison to the mortal realm, the bountifulness of Heaven makes it stagnant? But it really hurt the actual reading.
A lot of characters also felt a bit flat, like they were there just for plot reasons. I didn't feel all that attached. The other thing that prob contributed to the slow feeling was how densely packed the descriptions were. There was a LOT of description loading on the reader, some of it was very hard for me to conceptualize.
I would read a few chapters, put it down, then be reluctant to pick it back up again. The last time I made good progress (over ten pages) on this book before I set it free was a whole two months ago, and I didn't think about it twice. That's kinda what made me say: "okay, what am I doing this for?"
I will check out other rafeal nicolás works just in case another one piques my interest, but I think Angels Before Man might just not be my thing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Blood
arlingtonchamberofgay's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-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
rafael nicolás does a beautiful job of painting Heaven as a utopian paradise alongside the perils of asking too many questions, being too different. His writing is wonderfully elegant and walks you through the creation of the angel of beauty and his long life all the way to his fall. Lucifer’s expulsion from Heaven was always going to happen, but you can’t help but pray that it doesn’t, for the angel to succeed in his fight against god and his throne.
This book is for the outcasts, the broken, the abominations. It’s for those of us who have been deemed undesirable in the eyes of god, his church and worshippers. May we create and mold new worlds out of our pains and pleasures.
This book is for the outcasts, the broken, the abominations. It’s for those of us who have been deemed undesirable in the eyes of god, his church and worshippers. May we create and mold new worlds out of our pains and pleasures.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Sexual content, and Self harm
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
naiadtales's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I'm a bit conflicted on how to rate this book. The first half was some of the most beautiful writing I've read in a while and I enjoyed witnessing Lucifer's growth but the second half was where the confusion comes in. I understand that it may have been written this way to depict Lucifer's declining mental state but boy was it still hard to follow along. Also some of the choices/paths that the characters took were so nonsensical to me it felt like I was reading 3 different books Asmodeous raping rosier?? Why ? I get the corruption but I felt like it was already alluded to that they had this kind of relationship from the jump so why was this necessary?
I enjoy stories where non-humans are showcased doing human things and I this was one of the things I enjoyed about ABM. It was cool watching the angels discover themselves and jumping through dozens of hobbies in a bid to pass the time. Another thing I enjoyed was the snippets we got of the time before realization(that may not be the correct phrase) but the stories that we got from the time of the first angels like Uriel (who should honestly needs to get a damn life). It was sad though that these bits came between mentions of other events and was in some cases such a jarring jump from what was actually happening.
My favorite scene is when Rosier admits to never having seen god, or even given much consideration to his existence. He just knows that he is real because of all the splendor that he sees.
I enjoy stories where non-humans are showcased doing human things and I this was one of the things I enjoyed about ABM. It was cool watching the angels discover themselves and jumping through dozens of hobbies in a bid to pass the time. Another thing I enjoyed was the snippets we got of the time before realization(that may not be the correct phrase) but the stories that we got from the time of the first angels like Uriel (who should honestly needs to get a damn life). It was sad though that these bits came between mentions of other events and was in some cases such a jarring jump from what was actually happening.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Rape
asteria_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Rape, Gore, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Grief
kangaroo1990's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt
laurenionejones's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Death
axel_p's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I am so torn between loving this book and hating it.
Lucifer had some great ideas but some of his other ideas were less ideal.
Lucifer had some great ideas but some of his other ideas were less ideal.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, War, Child abuse, Blood, Dysphoria, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Mental illness, Animal death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
create_with_me_michael's review
challenging
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
ash_tree's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Murder, and Violence
pika_berry's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A powerful work.
Quite unlike other LGBT fantasy, and warning:bad ending and gore.
Though it has it in the tag, technically, this book is not a genre romance.There is no HEA — a HEA is the prerequisite for a genre romance.
The first 30% or so was quite rough with POV issues.
Words like “ground level shrub” or “mahogany” would be used when it’s the POV of somebody who was literally just created and does not even know what a plant or a tree is.
Is was sometimes hard to tell who’s perspective we have shifted to, and had me wondering who did what. But these issues went away in the middle of the book. I think the writer got better at writing as they went along.
Another major drawback is the portrayal of god. The god is written as a petty, moody, middle aged man. He doesn’t seem very wise nor compassionate. He demands the angels to worship him, and makes dumb decisions.
Like creating an Angel that is supposed to be the most beautiful, and giving him special treatment … this doesn’t seem like a very wise thing to do, even from my limited mortal perspective…
And while I know this is in the original story, I don’t think this book depicted this very well. He feels more like an abusive cult leader than a holy being to me. But perhaps this is because the writer is a modern person, and at the end of rhe day, most modern people snicker at religion and the idea of god. They think it’s superstitious or foolish. It is natural for this broader sentiment to show in their work.
The entirety of the plot is based on poor decision making by this dumb god character, and that could pull you out of the book. I didn’t mind though. I don’t think anybody reads a retelling for plot, tbh.
The drama, the beautiful imagery and the motives make this a compelling read.
The book feels like a fanfic. It’s a retelling, but feels more like fanfic. It’s probably the generic characters. I like it though lol.
I can imagine the story doing well in the Japanese market, perhaps made into a manga.
Quite unlike other LGBT fantasy, and warning:
Though it has it in the tag, technically, this book is not a genre romance.
The first 30% or so was quite rough with POV issues.
Words like “ground level shrub” or “mahogany” would be used when it’s the POV of somebody who was literally just created and does not even know what a plant or a tree is.
Is was sometimes hard to tell who’s perspective we have shifted to, and had me wondering who did what. But these issues went away in the middle of the book. I think the writer got better at writing as they went along.
Another major drawback is the portrayal of god. The god is written as a petty, moody, middle aged man. He doesn’t seem very wise nor compassionate. He demands the angels to worship him, and makes dumb decisions.
Like creating an Angel that is supposed to be the most beautiful, and giving him special treatment … this doesn’t seem like a very wise thing to do, even from my limited mortal perspective…
And while I know this is in the original story, I don’t think this book depicted this very well. He feels more like an abusive cult leader than a holy being to me. But perhaps this is because the writer is a modern person, and at the end of rhe day, most modern people snicker at religion and the idea of god. They think it’s superstitious or foolish. It is natural for this broader sentiment to show in their work.
The entirety of the plot is based on poor decision making by this dumb god character, and that could pull you out of the book. I didn’t mind though. I don’t think anybody reads a retelling for plot, tbh.
The drama, the beautiful imagery and the motives make this a compelling read.
The book feels like a fanfic. It’s a retelling, but feels more like fanfic. It’s probably the generic characters. I like it though lol.
I can imagine the story doing well in the Japanese market, perhaps made into a manga.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis