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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
slow-paced
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is definitely not a bad book, but the first things that come to mind when I try to describe how I feel about it are "drawn-out" and "disorienting".
This book has a lot of my favorite themes, so I really thought it was gonna be one of my favorites. Queers, religious imagery, ancient-greece-esque aesthetics, bloodshed and cannibalism, etc. There were probably 100 pages in the middle that I did really love, and I guess it was at the height of Lucifer and Michael's romance, but I don't think that's the only reason that part worked for me. The way that Lucifer and Michael's interactions were written felt so natural, and it was like everything else in the book bent around that while they were together. A majority of the book focused on the larger story, though, and I had trouble staying engaged.
The language in the beginning was very disorienting, bordering on incoherent sometimes, and I'm guessing that's because Lucifer was just "born" and didn't quite know how to describe things yet. The book did a very good job of conveying how it would feel to be suddenly brought to life in heaven, but it was still very difficult to get through. There was a heavy focus on describing settings for the first portion of the book, and while certain details got a lot of focus and were described very beautifully, the extended descriptions of small features in the confused-new-angel style distracted me from being able to picture entire scenes.
Eventually that got better, and it felt like the story was taking precedent, but the writing style was just a little bit irritating. Sometimes the fourth wall would randomly break, when it didn't seem to fit with the story at all. The text was packed with character's thoughts, mostly strewn into normal paragraphs, but sometimes they were interjected in the middle of sentences (e.x. "The common greenery of the room, which 'invaded this place when I finished constructing it' had grown unruly." "Asmodeus screamed at him a second time, took his 'wet, hot,' hands.") which always took me out of the moment. Again, it's not bad!! It was just distracting, and made it very obvious that I was reading a book instead of experiencing a story. If that makes sense.
And I don't mean to use "drawn-out" to say that I thought the book was padded with filler or anything. I think every event that was included was important to the story, and I did really enjoy the story, I just had a lot of trouble with the writing style. Lots of description, lots of thoughts and feelings, lots of attempting to convey very abstract ideas. By the time I got to the 300 page mark I was kind of just pushing through to the end, but the last few chapters were so vivid and well-done, and it was worth it to give this book a chance. I'm glad I read it and I can have this story floating around in my head now, it just took a lot of effort to get it there.
So!! Overall it's worth the read. I think the author is cool and obviously put so much effort into this and has a lot of ideas and creativity that I really admire. The way Rafael describes love and longing is so so beautiful and painfully relatable. The characters all feel realistic and the way God is depicted is perfect and terrifying. Very gratifying for my horrible experiences with religion. I can even admire the writing quirks that I had trouble with, because I like it when authors aren't trying to perfectly mimic the "correct" way to write a book. If you're gonna read this, I'd just advise to be patient with it and be prepared to put a little bit of extra energy into focusing on the story!
This book has a lot of my favorite themes, so I really thought it was gonna be one of my favorites. Queers, religious imagery, ancient-greece-esque aesthetics, bloodshed and cannibalism, etc. There were probably 100 pages in the middle that I did really love, and I guess it was at the height of Lucifer and Michael's romance, but I don't think that's the only reason that part worked for me. The way that Lucifer and Michael's interactions were written felt so natural, and it was like everything else in the book bent around that while they were together. A majority of the book focused on the larger story, though, and I had trouble staying engaged.
The language in the beginning was very disorienting, bordering on incoherent sometimes, and I'm guessing that's because Lucifer was just "born" and didn't quite know how to describe things yet. The book did a very good job of conveying how it would feel to be suddenly brought to life in heaven, but it was still very difficult to get through. There was a heavy focus on describing settings for the first portion of the book, and while certain details got a lot of focus and were described very beautifully, the extended descriptions of small features in the confused-new-angel style distracted me from being able to picture entire scenes.
Eventually that got better, and it felt like the story was taking precedent, but the writing style was just a little bit irritating. Sometimes the fourth wall would randomly break, when it didn't seem to fit with the story at all. The text was packed with character's thoughts, mostly strewn into normal paragraphs, but sometimes they were interjected in the middle of sentences (e.x. "The common greenery of the room, which 'invaded this place when I finished constructing it' had grown unruly." "Asmodeus screamed at him a second time, took his 'wet, hot,' hands.") which always took me out of the moment. Again, it's not bad!! It was just distracting, and made it very obvious that I was reading a book instead of experiencing a story. If that makes sense.
And I don't mean to use "drawn-out" to say that I thought the book was padded with filler or anything. I think every event that was included was important to the story, and I did really enjoy the story, I just had a lot of trouble with the writing style. Lots of description, lots of thoughts and feelings, lots of attempting to convey very abstract ideas. By the time I got to the 300 page mark I was kind of just pushing through to the end, but the last few chapters were so vivid and well-done, and it was worth it to give this book a chance. I'm glad I read it and I can have this story floating around in my head now, it just took a lot of effort to get it there.
So!! Overall it's worth the read. I think the author is cool and obviously put so much effort into this and has a lot of ideas and creativity that I really admire. The way Rafael describes love and longing is so so beautiful and painfully relatable. The characters all feel realistic and the way God is depicted is perfect and terrifying. Very gratifying for my horrible experiences with religion.
Spoiler
I'm a big fan of the fact that Lucifer's biggest "mistake" was falling in love, and it made me so so happy when the phrase "angel of love" was finally said, because the whole time I'd been thinking "you only think you're the angel of worship because you've only ever loved God!!!"
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is not a romance, the writing is terrible, and the second half was going to be full of triggering gore and sexual violence.
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
🪽“How terribly lonely that must be, to be so beautiful that others think of you a thorn.”
This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read!
Descriptive flowery language and purple prose is not for everyone, but I think it worked well for the purpose of this narrative. The setting is heaven, so everything MUST be beautiful and wonderful and awe-inspiring, right?
This is not a romance but a dark coming-of-age story in which Lucifer is born and is continually learning new things, from the angels who adore him, from god, and from himself.
🪽“Is Father good because He is good, or because He says He is good?”
I found myself relating to Lucifer many times, especially when he was ashamed of others ogling at his body and his beauty. He was socially awkward and shy.
Growing up in church, I always heard “my god is a jealous god” and this book takes that to the extreme. The almighty becomes jealous when Lucifer realizes there is more to himself than worship, and when he is taught by another angel to love himself.
There is beautiful queer yearning, found family, betrayal, violence, abuse, and heartbreak.
I adored the mentions of dinosaurs, the angel relationships, and the wonders that were Heaven & Earth, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this trilogy!
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes