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violetlunablossom's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.5
Oh Angels & Man...where do I begin? I feel as if Rafael Nicolás ripped out my heart, blended it in a blender, served it back to me as a smoothie, and watched in glee as I gagged it down. This book is a volley of tragedy and just like Angels Before Man, I was left with an unintelligible feeling of sorrow when I finished it.
Azazel and Samyaza were fantastic dual protagonists and I love how their trauma from Lucifer's rebellion was portrayed in this book; there's so much anguish, denial, and confusion. It makes the contrast between Samyaza's righteousness and Azazel's guilt so much more engaging, especially when it came to the way that they dealt with characters from the previous book. And speaking of characters from the previous book, I absolutely love how they're brought back and included in the main plot. So many of my favorite chapters include the manifestation of Lucifer and Michael's bitter yearning or Asmodeus and Rosier's rattled relationship. Nicolás has such a talent for writing broken and regretful relationships, it really shows through the immaculate dialogue (both inner and outer) and brilliant descriptions.
There were times, however, when I felt the pacing of the book got a little show, and it really shows when the Watchers and the humans are the focus of the chapter. Yes, I know this book is called Angels AND Man but I felt like the human characters were far less interesting than their angel partners. It was much more interesting to read about the angels interacting with the humans than the humans interacting with the angels (if that makes any sense at all). Despite that, I feel like the ending was one of the most impactful endings I've read in a while. Everything felt earned and the build-up to it all is undeniably remarkable. I think I may like it even more than the ending of Angels Before Man.
In essence, Angels & Man is nearly everything that I could want out of the sequel to one of my favorite books. There are moments where things get a little rocky but all the positives of the book vastly outweigh the negatives. I wait in excited apprehension for how Nicolás will end this incredible trilogy with the final book.
Azazel and Samyaza were fantastic dual protagonists and I love how their trauma from Lucifer's rebellion was portrayed in this book; there's so much anguish, denial, and confusion. It makes the contrast between Samyaza's righteousness and Azazel's guilt so much more engaging, especially when it came to the way that they dealt with characters from the previous book. And speaking of characters from the previous book, I absolutely love how they're brought back and included in the main plot. So many of my favorite chapters include the manifestation of Lucifer and Michael's bitter yearning or Asmodeus and Rosier's rattled relationship. Nicolás has such a talent for writing broken and regretful relationships, it really shows through the immaculate dialogue (both inner and outer) and brilliant descriptions.
There were times, however, when I felt the pacing of the book got a little show, and it really shows when the Watchers and the humans are the focus of the chapter. Yes, I know this book is called Angels AND Man but I felt like the human characters were far less interesting than their angel partners. It was much more interesting to read about the angels interacting with the humans than the humans interacting with the angels (if that makes any sense at all). Despite that, I feel like the ending was one of the most impactful endings I've read in a while. Everything felt earned and the build-up to it all is undeniably remarkable. I think I may like it even more than the ending of Angels Before Man.
In essence, Angels & Man is nearly everything that I could want out of the sequel to one of my favorite books. There are moments where things get a little rocky but all the positives of the book vastly outweigh the negatives. I wait in excited apprehension for how Nicolás will end this incredible trilogy with the final book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, Self harm, and Gaslighting
peggy_racham's review
5.0
Will I ever recover from this book?
"The same God that loathes you loves you. He abhors you the same way that he adores you — over fire. "
"The same God that loathes you loves you. He abhors you the same way that he adores you — over fire. "
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Child abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Violence, War, Miscarriage, Blood, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship
pika_berry's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
It's not as good as the first book. The author certainly has a good story to tell, and I can see the vibe they're going for. However, you can tell that the writer is a newbie trying to learn the craft, and it's clunky and hard to follow.
As a content warning, probably don’t read this book if you are mentally ill or in a place where you hate people in general. This book will make it worse.
Honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone committed suicide after reading it. The antinatalist messaging is pretty strong.
Here are some issues I found distracting:
As a content warning, probably don’t read this book if you are mentally ill or in a place where you hate people in general. This book will make it worse.
Honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone committed suicide after reading it. The antinatalist messaging is pretty strong.
Here are some issues I found distracting:
- They invent new phrases that are supposed to be aesthetic, I guess, but come across as sloppy.
- They have a habit of making a character think something in dialogue form. This is fine once every chapter or so, but they rely on it too heavily. Sometimes it is borderline impossible to tell whether it is a thought or dialogue, requiring the reader to reread the sentence for no good reason.
- They'll spend way too much time depicting unimportant details in depth, then skim over transitions that SHOULD be accentuated. For example, they'll abruptly change from one perspective to another without any indication they did so, with no line breaks, nothing. I don't think the writer currently has the skill to pull off these advanced attempts at playing with pacing.
- The main characters (Azazel and Sam) don't have enough depth or interest to pull the story tbh. Azazel comes across as a generic NPC, and Sam as a cardboard cutout of someone with anger issues. Naturally, the romance between them felt dry and uninteresting. I could not give a shit.
- The infodump where someone (I don't even remember who) drones on about what happened in book 1 was horrible, and I skipped it. If I recall correctly, this happened a couple of times and it was annoying. Though understandable since there were so many random characters in book 1.
- Heavy misogyny. I usually don't care for feminist discussions, but the book literally depicts female humans as manipulative animals using lust and emotional attachment to drag the angels into suffering. There is no getting around this. Perhaps the writer wanted to accentuate the woes of gay people. The attempt came off as preachy and heavyhanded. You don't need to shit on women to honor gay people.
But the good news is that most of the flaws are technical, meaning they will go away once the writer gets better at the craft. They definitely have a knack for sadness porn, as witnessed in the great reviews on this site, and so have the potential of taking on an Anne Rice kind of position in the LGBT fantasy scene once the craft is there. Maybe another five to ten books and it will kick in (which is normal: study mega bestsellers from the past 30 years or so, and you will find that most have a bunch of novice works they needed to get out of their system before reaching a wider audience. They may have been unpublished, or sold under a different pen name. It’s called practice).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, and Death
Moderate: Gaslighting, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Torture, and Toxic friendship
dead_colonel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Child death
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