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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 goreazrah786's review against another edition
3.75
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, injury, gore, murder, death, animal death, confinement, infidelity, alcohol, vomit, toxic relationship, pregnancy, classism
--
Tread of Angels is a fun little novella following 2 sisters and a murder mystery set in a world featuring the descendants of angels and demons.
It definitely gave me A Dead Djinn in Cairo vibes but was something entirely new.
Roanhorse’s writing is as captivating as expected, perfectly depicting the noir/western atmosphere of the story and mining town setting. Society in this town is segregated with the upper Elect class - those descended from Angels – always looking down upon the Fallen – those descended from Demons. And we follow Celeste who is of a mixed background, as she sets out to save her sister Mariel (Fallen) after she is accused of murdering someone of the ruling Virtue class.
We get snippets of the history and the happenings of this fascinating world that Roanhorse has imagined as well as brilliant commentary on class disparities, morality and the corruption of power throughout the story. The primary plot fit perfectly for the length, fast moving and page turning in the best way however, there is always the case of a novella leaving you with wanting more and this one is no different.
We’re introduced to a intriguing cast of characters but moments between them are fleeting. Our protagonist goes through some interesting developments however, I found myself not knowing enough about her, enough about anyone in the story. By the end everything is wrapped up in a satisfying way but you also feel like you’ve been on a journey with amazing moments but not enough time to fully appreciate them.
Hence I would reeeally welcome additional stories in the future to expand on this world and all its details but this bite sized piece of it was enjoyable all the same.
Final Rating - 3.75/5 Stars
CW: violence, blood, injury, gore, murder, death, animal death, confinement, infidelity, alcohol, vomit, toxic relationship, pregnancy, classism
--
Tread of Angels is a fun little novella following 2 sisters and a murder mystery set in a world featuring the descendants of angels and demons.
It definitely gave me A Dead Djinn in Cairo vibes but was something entirely new.
Roanhorse’s writing is as captivating as expected, perfectly depicting the noir/western atmosphere of the story and mining town setting. Society in this town is segregated with the upper Elect class - those descended from Angels – always looking down upon the Fallen – those descended from Demons. And we follow Celeste who is of a mixed background, as she sets out to save her sister Mariel (Fallen) after she is accused of murdering someone of the ruling Virtue class.
We get snippets of the history and the happenings of this fascinating world that Roanhorse has imagined as well as brilliant commentary on class disparities, morality and the corruption of power throughout the story. The primary plot fit perfectly for the length, fast moving and page turning in the best way however, there is always the case of a novella leaving you with wanting more and this one is no different.
We’re introduced to a intriguing cast of characters but moments between them are fleeting. Our protagonist goes through some interesting developments however, I found myself not knowing enough about her, enough about anyone in the story. By the end everything is wrapped up in a satisfying way but you also feel like you’ve been on a journey with amazing moments but not enough time to fully appreciate them.
Hence I would reeeally welcome additional stories in the future to expand on this world and all its details but this bite sized piece of it was enjoyable all the same.
Final Rating - 3.75/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Death, Confinement, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Classism
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy
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