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professor_jango's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization
emily_mh's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Usually I’m not a fan of paranormal stories (e.g., urban fantasy, angels and demons type stuff) but I really liked it here. Polk fit in some nice depth to the world which is always a challenge in a novella. I especially appreciated the history we were given of the angels as this fleshed out the angel characters well. I also liked how the politics between the various supernatural factions had such direct influence over the plot and characters. I will say I was a little confused whether the supernatural/magical world was hidden or the norm for all humans everywhere.
The story was so easy to fly through. The plot was fast-paced and investigation-driven, the latter essential in a murder-mystery for me. It was also clever, the resolution satisfying.
I got a good sense of the MC Helen and was fully rooting for her. She’s a puzzler and a thinker, she’s driven, but most important she loves HARD. My heart was in my throat seeing the lengths she would go to to save and protect her loved ones.
Unfortunately I didn’t totally get the romance between Helen and Edith. I didn’t feel the depth of their connection like most other readers have seemed to. But it wasn’t a biggie for me overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Drug use, Gun violence, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Car accident
Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, Homophobia, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Cursing, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol
Moderate: conversion therapy, eye trauma Minor: gambling, loss of a loved one, self-injuryleanne_miron's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Medical content and Homophobia
robin1010's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The premise was great, the execution needs a lot of editing and about double the pages. The author had a lot of different subjects and topics to explore but wasn't able to focus on anything enough to give meaning or depth. There was barely any investigation into the murder mystery that wasn't just reasons to put x character at x location, the romance was incredibly flat and had very little development, the magic system was vague and handwavy, the lore and worldbuilding was equally only the strictly relevant and barely that. Even the atmosphere distinctly missed the noir mark, as the writing style, dialogue, and characters just felt modern. A few bits of outdated vocabulary here and there doesn't make it noir.
The pacing was horrendous. The novel spends almost the exact same amount of time on each event that happens, regardless of how important or how much explanation this event needs.Helen and Edith talking in the club takes MORE time than the reveal of Edith as an angel and her and the angel's entire backstory/mechanism of possession. The last act felt squished together and the first two felt dragged out. Some chapters just felt like filler. You never really get time for events or revelations to sink in and settle.
For whatever reason the author put in angels and demons, and then immediately gives the tools to kill them. I don't understand the point of having these beings known for limitless power and immortality and then making them killable. In a similar vein the last big fight was relatively anticlimactic - we were just introduced to the real antagonist and his motivations and he's dead in a couple of paragraphs. Delaney was a weird character to have in there - also, Helen specifically notes his eyes flare the same weird way Edith's do, but doesn't connect the dots between that and him having angelic influence until hes already revealed as the villain.
I hate that Helen and Ted both 'go to hell' at the end. In a wlw book? really? In combination with repeated mentions of homophobia (including conversion therapy) and misogyny. Don't tell me these are about adding realism in a fantasy book.
The relationship itself also, frankly, sucks. It has all the chemistry of a dead fish. Largely because Helen is as blank as they come, but theres also no development, no time spent just getting to know them, no interaction that isn't painfully generic and could be any couple speaking to each other. It was boring reading about them.
The characters, themes, and content needed more space to breathe than such a short book gave it, and the author needed to choose a focus rather than juggling too many things at once.
The pacing was horrendous. The novel spends almost the exact same amount of time on each event that happens, regardless of how important or how much explanation this event needs.
The relationship itself also, frankly, sucks. It has all the chemistry of a dead fish. Largely because Helen is as blank as they come, but theres also no development, no time spent just getting to know them, no interaction that isn't painfully generic and could be any couple speaking to each other. It was boring reading about them.
The characters, themes, and content needed more space to breathe than such a short book gave it, and the author needed to choose a focus rather than juggling too many things at once.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Death
yourbookishbff's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Mental illness, Gore, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Grief, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, and Child death
maeverose's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of those books that I’m conflicted on how to rate, because objectively it’s a very unique story, well written, and I can absolutely see why people love it, but for me it was just mildly entertaining.
It took a few chapters to grow on me, you’re kind of dumped into the story without any world building, which is a pet peeve of mine. I was unsure about the writing style at first but I got used to it. I liked the humor. I usually struggle to connect with pre-established relationships but Helen and Edith’s love for each other was very sweet and very believable. I’m still left feeling like the world and magic system wasn’t fully explained, but I think that was intentional. That stuff isn’t really the focus, and with a novella there’s only so much time you can spend on that. I understood what I needed for the plot to make sense. So I have nothing to critique, it was just okay for me.
Though I will admit the ending made me a bit teary.
It took a few chapters to grow on me, you’re kind of dumped into the story without any world building, which is a pet peeve of mine. I was unsure about the writing style at first but I got used to it. I liked the humor. I usually struggle to connect with pre-established relationships but Helen and Edith’s love for each other was very sweet and very believable. I’m still left feeling like the world and magic system wasn’t fully explained, but I think that was intentional. That stuff isn’t really the focus, and with a novella there’s only so much time you can spend on that. I understood what I needed for the plot to make sense. So I have nothing to critique, it was just okay for me.
Though I will admit the ending made me a bit teary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Medical content
Minor: Sexual content
Brief mention of conversion therapy and electroshock therapy to treat catatonia, and non detailed eye trauma
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