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dead_colonel's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Self harm, Gaslighting, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Incest
axel_p's review against another edition
- 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
Lucifer had some great ideas but some of his other ideas were less ideal.
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
minayana's review
- 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
Please check trigger warnings before starting the book!
Graphic: Gaslighting, Animal death, Self harm, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture and Sexual assault
okays1331's review
3.75
It’s marked as a queer retelling of the fall of Lucifer. I don’t think that is central to the story. The characters are man-shaped but so is everyone. There is no real romance, the tender feelings of the two central characters tip over into obsession immediately. Sexual content is almost all violent and violating.
Note: Sometimes difficult to read because of the way the author chose to format dialogue.
Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Gore, Body horror, Violence, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Death, Blood, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Incest, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting
nevermoregothic's review
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, War, and Alcohol
Minor: Incest, Rape, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury
androgynous_child's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: War, Body horror, Blood, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Rape and Gaslighting
Minor: Self harm
charlotteregan's review against another edition
3.75
The ending was a bit anticlimactic that’s why I’m not rounding it to 4, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy this book. The romance between Michael and Lucifer destroyed me in so many ways unimaginable.
THAT ENDING??? THE ENDING WHERE THE ARCHANGEL IS DESTROYING HIS DEMON LOVER???? YEAH TOTALLY KILLED ME. IT’S CRAZY WHAT WORSHIP DOES TO US REALLY.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Sexual assault
seykv's review against another edition
- 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
I remember when you were created, Lucifer. I saw how our Father sewed you from coppers, how He handled you when you were settings of gold. He embroidered a nose on you, a sweet mouth on you, then the outline for a pair of eyes before He placed suns there. He sculpted your face with wet clay; He opened you like a mandarin and planted a garden of budding flowers inside. He weaved your hair, I think, from the streaks of three bursting stars, and from your wings out of four wandering crescent moons. Your hips came from the tides of a sea, and then He carved your hands and feet from marble and pearls. I watched Him breathe life into you, then cradle you as if you were His first angel. He placed you into a fire cut into the air, and He let you simmer there.
Wow. Just wow. More people need to read this book.
Angels Before Man follows Lucifer's transformation from God's favorite, an angel too shy to glance at his reflection, to the Devil we all know (and love!). This novel is a masterfully crafted character study told through prose as ethereal as its setting. Highlighting the unsavory aspects of Christianity, Lucifer's tragic descent feels not just believable, but inevitable.
Lucifer seems like the perfect angel in the beginning: beautiful, humble, and--most importantly--obedient. He endeared me from his first stuttering words. The novel starts as a fluffy slice-of-life following Lucifer’s early years in paradise. He coos at flowers. He cuddles a colorful cast of characters. He finds a role serving his beloved God. Lucifer loves Heaven, and it loves him.
The sparse plot finds its tension in dramatic irony. Scattered throughout are indications of Lucifer's true nature.
Then Lucifer meets Michael. In many ways, their bond is the story's catalyst. It is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking.
Lucifer's innocence seeps away one page, one conversation, one betrayal at a time. The angel Lucifer and the demon Lucifer are as different as could be. Yet there were no moments when I felt he suddenly broke character. There were, however, moments when I felt like a frog that saw the boiling of slowly heated water at last. Lucifer would commit some act that would horrify his younger self, and I would then realize that Lucifer had not blushed, bowed, or cried for a number of chapters--he had become so distant but taken such small steps that I took no notice.
The novel uses Lucifer's fall to explore themes of shame and freedom. These are placed within the context of organized religion, but anyone who has felt at odds with inane higher authority can relate to them.
Lucifer dares to question God for giving him life--then shaming him for loving it more than Him. For these sins, God punishes him.
Lucifer passes from disobedience into full-blown rebellion. He gains a hatred of the weakness in Heaven that gives God power and excuses His crimes. It applies to angels who serve God, angels who serve him, and even himself. In one memorable scene, he imagines defiling and murdering his innocent young self. He wants to shape Heaven to his libertine beliefs.
Lucifer does not, of course, succeed in that. God is all-powerful. Perhaps He even planned for Lucifer's rebellion. (Why else would He let Lucifer enact so much violence before stopping him? Why else would He encourage Lucifer to use his body by taking his voice?) But the novel makes clear that God does not win, and Lucifer does not lose. Lucifer does create a new order. While the angels who remain in Heaven now fear the lonely God, the demons who fall to Earth still love Lucifer--because they are the only ones free to love whoever they want.
All this is accentuated through beautiful and imaginative prose. The author paints the story through otherworldly metaphors that are right at home in Heaven.
One angel's eyes are described as such:
His irises were bustling rivers, housing a million fish circling abysses of pupils.
He split the sea of golden threads, then crossed each river over one another, creating a pattern, weaving a braid.
[The face] belonged to someone who'd been invaded by red cherries, blackberries, blueberries, a conglomerate of them bursting from his skin.
However, there are times when the prose is... experimental
The ending is satisfying enough that the novel can serve as a standalone. However, after seeing (stalking from top to bottom) the author's Tumblr, I have seen that two more entries are planned for this narrative. They will center Azazel and Dina and cover the Flood and Armageddon. I am sure they will be of similar quality to Angels Before Man, which has quickly become one of my favorite novels.
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Religious bigotry, Torture, Gore, Gaslighting, and Self harm
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Incest
purrson's review
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Body horror, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Bullying, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty
sapphicbookfae's review
- 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
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
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Violence, and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol