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lo_vana's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Blood, and Sexual content
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
4 ⭐ CW: Death, blood, oppression
Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse is a novella inspired by Christian mythology set in an Old Western mining town. I've been enjoying this type of mythology lately. I've recently started watching Lucifer and enjoy the different take on angels and demons. Like with a lot of novella's I wish there had been more! I would have liked to learn more about this town and the structure of oppression of the Fallen.
We follow Celeste, a Fallen woman who is determined to prove her sister Mariel is innocent of murder. In this world, the battle between the seraphim of Heaven and the demons of Hell ended when Abbadon fell, and his body was left to rot in the mountains creating a new element called Divinity that is being mined. The only people with the ability to see Divinity are the descendents of those demons, called the Fallen. The Fallen are second class citizens, and must put up with discrimination and oppression, and are considered a necessary evil.
Celeste is a Fallen that can "pass" for an Elect, a non-Fallen person, while her sister cannot. Celeste has spent her whole life looking after Mariel, denying herself the things she wants, and fooling herself about the kind of person her sister really is. This was a great take on the "tragic mulatto" trope, and you can see the comparisons to what life was like for mixed raced people who could "pass" for white versus those who could not, and the struggle and difficulties it posed to both sets of people.
I just wish we got to see more from Abraxas and the other Fallen. I wanted more descriptions and a bit more world-building, but such is the nature of novellas. It was still a great story with a good twist, and morally gray characters. I love the trope of the angels not necessarily being the good guys.
Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse is a novella inspired by Christian mythology set in an Old Western mining town. I've been enjoying this type of mythology lately. I've recently started watching Lucifer and enjoy the different take on angels and demons. Like with a lot of novella's I wish there had been more! I would have liked to learn more about this town and the structure of oppression of the Fallen.
We follow Celeste, a Fallen woman who is determined to prove her sister Mariel is innocent of murder. In this world, the battle between the seraphim of Heaven and the demons of Hell ended when Abbadon fell, and his body was left to rot in the mountains creating a new element called Divinity that is being mined. The only people with the ability to see Divinity are the descendents of those demons, called the Fallen. The Fallen are second class citizens, and must put up with discrimination and oppression, and are considered a necessary evil.
Celeste is a Fallen that can "pass" for an Elect, a non-Fallen person, while her sister cannot. Celeste has spent her whole life looking after Mariel, denying herself the things she wants, and fooling herself about the kind of person her sister really is. This was a great take on the "tragic mulatto" trope, and you can see the comparisons to what life was like for mixed raced people who could "pass" for white versus those who could not, and the struggle and difficulties it posed to both sets of people.
I just wish we got to see more from Abraxas and the other Fallen. I wanted more descriptions and a bit more world-building, but such is the nature of novellas. It was still a great story with a good twist, and morally gray characters. I love the trope of the angels not necessarily being the good guys.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
kbairbooks's review
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well, this is definitely a thing. I don’t think the timing of when I read this novella was the greatest. That and the huge Christianity plot points was… interesting for me to absorb at this time. Short read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Death, Classism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Police brutality, and Pregnancy
takarakei's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-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
4.0
Rebecca Roanhorse is one of the best fantasy writers out there. I would've loved to spend more time in this world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abortion and Sexism
clhtdr's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Abortion
netthauser's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Solid quick read in a unique setting. The characters are messy and the plot moves satisfyingly quick. The ending matches well with the story. Roanhorse is really good at writing characters who want different things and play their cards close.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail
sarrie's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This one fell super flat for me unfortunately. I really loved the idea behind the setting and what parallels the author was trying to draw but I just did not connect to this.
Celeste (our main character) felt like every other "Flawed Female" character we get in urban fantasy stories with her 'burn the world down' mentality for one specific cause. The same can be said for her love interest, he was very much the Spike Style love interest of 'bad boy but good for her' type.
I think maybe if the story had been from Mariel's perspective it would have been much more interesting. Especially since both sisters are effectively murderers by the end. At least Mariel had a better reason. That whole, kill my boss's girlfriend because she's kind of mean was way to female on female violence for me. I didn't like that.
Celeste (our main character) felt like every other "Flawed Female" character we get in urban fantasy stories with her 'burn the world down' mentality for one specific cause. The same can be said for her love interest, he was very much the Spike Style love interest of 'bad boy but good for her' type.
I think maybe if the story had been from Mariel's perspective it would have been much more interesting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Murder
davidbythebay's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I received a copy of this book through a giveaway. Thank you to the author, Rebecca Roanhorse, and the publisher, Saga Press, for this ARC copy.
I wanted to like this more than I can really say I did. The writing is exquisite and immersive. The story is inventive and engaging. My biggest issue is that this book needs at least 100 pages more to delve into the characters and set the players more. The pacing is too quick with sudden character shifts that just don't read as plausible, much less believable.
The only characters I liked in the end were secondary ones (one of whom could be considered more of a primary-B character he is so borderline). He is treated more like a secondary character even when he is being used as a primary character. And a lot of this all has to do with the lack of character exploration in the brief novel. At just about 200 pages, this needed a strong hand adding in more of the world and the characters. We meet one female character briefly, get a curt description of her personality in the next scene confirming what we saw, and see a complete 180° change in her, all in the span of I believe 50 pages. I felt I must have missed something, as though the ARC was missing pages - which, I checked, it was not.
Another 100 pages written as beautifully as these pages would have easily improved my rating, provided of course they expanded and showed nuance in the world and characters.
I wanted to like this more than I can really say I did. The writing is exquisite and immersive. The story is inventive and engaging. My biggest issue is that this book needs at least 100 pages more to delve into the characters and set the players more. The pacing is too quick with sudden character shifts that just don't read as plausible, much less believable.
The only characters I liked in the end were secondary ones (one of whom could be considered more of a primary-B character he is so borderline). He is treated more like a secondary character even when he is being used as a primary character. And a lot of this all has to do with the lack of character exploration in the brief novel. At just about 200 pages, this needed a strong hand adding in more of the world and the characters. We meet one female character briefly, get a curt description of her personality in the next scene confirming what we saw, and see a complete 180° change in her, all in the span of I believe 50 pages. I felt I must have missed something, as though the ARC was missing pages - which, I checked, it was not.
Another 100 pages written as beautifully as these pages would have easily improved my rating, provided of course they expanded and showed nuance in the world and characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit
maeverose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really like Rebecca Roanhorse’s writing, especially her worldbuilding. I liked the fantasy elements of this story and the parallels to our very real corrupt justice system. I loved how casually queer this was as well.
I was drawn to this because I love fantasy stories that incorporate religion (be it a real religion or fantasy, I just like religious themes in books… despite being very agnostic lol) and because I really like the Between Earth and Sky series and wanted to read more from the author. I also wanted to try something new, since I’ve never read a western-adjacent story before, but unfortunately I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m not typically a fan of murder mysteries either.. which I didn’t realize this was. I struggle with flawed/unlikable main characters, so I wasn’t really a fan of Celeste. None of the characters really grabbed my interest, sadly.
So 3 stars for the writing, world building, ideas and social commentary, but not really a story for me.
I was drawn to this because I love fantasy stories that incorporate religion (be it a real religion or fantasy, I just like religious themes in books… despite being very agnostic lol) and because I really like the Between Earth and Sky series and wanted to read more from the author. I also wanted to try something new, since I’ve never read a western-adjacent story before, but unfortunately I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m not typically a fan of murder mysteries either.. which I didn’t realize this was. I struggle with flawed/unlikable main characters, so I wasn’t really a fan of Celeste. None of the characters really grabbed my interest, sadly.
So 3 stars for the writing, world building, ideas and social commentary, but not really a story for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Pregnancy, Animal death, Classism, Confinement, Genocide, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Police brutality
Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Suicide, Sexual harassment, and Vomit
Graphic: mentions of human castration, bleeding out Moderate: poisoning, animal gorerorikae's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
'Tread of Angels' by Rebecca Roanhorse is an inventive fantasy that deserves a full book length to be fleshed out.
The story centers on Celeste who works in a mining town where she lives with her sister. Their town is caught up in the political fallout of a war that included demonkind. When her sister is accused of murdering a doctor who is part of the ruling class, Celeste has to go out of her way to prove her sister's innocence. To do this, she will even go back to a past demon lover of hers that she has sworn to stay away from.
Roanhorse creates such engaging worlds and this is no different in 'Tread of Angels.' Her world building instantly sucked me in but how short the story was meant that it was never able to fully flex its wings. There are a number of characters in this story, all of whom are fascinating but never given enough room to become fully fleshed out. The ending felt a little bit rushed for this reason as well. I hope that Roanhorse will return to this world in the future because there is clearly so much to explore. This story really deserved more room to grow and I think that its short length does it a disservice.
The story centers on Celeste who works in a mining town where she lives with her sister. Their town is caught up in the political fallout of a war that included demonkind. When her sister is accused of murdering a doctor who is part of the ruling class, Celeste has to go out of her way to prove her sister's innocence. To do this, she will even go back to a past demon lover of hers that she has sworn to stay away from.
Roanhorse creates such engaging worlds and this is no different in 'Tread of Angels.' Her world building instantly sucked me in but how short the story was meant that it was never able to fully flex its wings. There are a number of characters in this story, all of whom are fascinating but never given enough room to become fully fleshed out. The ending felt a little bit rushed for this reason as well. I hope that Roanhorse will return to this world in the future because there is clearly so much to explore. This story really deserved more room to grow and I think that its short length does it a disservice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Murder