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ghoulscape's review against another edition
2.0
this was slooooow and apparently just a set-up for the next book in the series. so many characters and i cared for not a single one of them. it was written well but there was no payoff there for me. honestly i'm surprised this didn't end up in my DNF list.
qalminator's review against another edition
3.0
I was mostly enjoying this, and then felt very let down by the ending. It just fizzled out, with an opening that might or might not be continued in the next volume.
Good writing, bizarre world (where fallen angels interact with displaced Immortals, and who knows what else) that manages to work despite the mismatched elements, but rather dark. The torture is alluded to rather than shown in detail, for the most part, but it's there.
With a better ending, I might have come away with a more positive view of some of the characters. As is, they're all rather bleak and awful. Might or might not continue this series; certainly won't pay full price for the second book.
Good writing, bizarre world (where fallen angels interact with displaced Immortals, and who knows what else) that manages to work despite the mismatched elements, but rather dark. The torture is alluded to rather than shown in detail, for the most part, but it's there.
With a better ending, I might have come away with a more positive view of some of the characters. As is, they're all rather bleak and awful. Might or might not continue this series; certainly won't pay full price for the second book.
tasharobinson's review against another edition
4.0
This heavily gothy fantasy about a post-apocalyptic Paris ruled by fallen angels took me a while to get into, because the POV roams enough that it's initially hard to get a sense for any of the characters. But I enjoyed the elaborate setting and the creative world-building enough to get absorbed into it. And I especially appreciated that no matter how outsized the fantasy about angels and magic, the story really came down to intrigue, opportunism, and other recognizably human motivations and intentions.
Full review for NPR here.
Full review for NPR here.
marymoth's review against another edition
4.0
“Power is power. Those who hold it seldom remember where they came from.”
TW: Violence, drugs.
REP : Vietnamese MC, lesbian MC, w/w relationship, m/m relationship, black side character.
4/5 stars!
Look, fallen angels have never been my thing and I think, part of what fucked it up was The Mortal Instruments series (I´m sorry ya´ll) but when I heard of this (thank you, random internet page) I decided to give it a chance. It sounded interesting enough. It is interesting, to an extent at least.
It follows an interesting premise and the book is incredibly atmospheric: you can almost see yourself walking the streets of Paris, seeing the polluted, black Seine for yourself, surrounding Notre Dame and Des Magasins. However, there were some things I´d just like to point out, because this HAD so MUCH potential.
"There was no point in grieving for faded things"
The story itself follows three main characters: Selene, the head of the house of Silverspires, Madeline (my personal favourite character) an addicted alchemist and Phillipe an ex Inmortal.
Selene , a Fallen, is responsible for keeping the house up and going after Morningstar left with no warning whatsoever. It is unknown what happened to him, other than he has been missing for 20 years. Having no choice but to rule, she is engrossed in House politics and petty games after the War of The Houses, which left Paris devastated. Gangs all over the place, people starving and the privileged safe and warm, as always.
Madeline , is an alchemist, escaped from one of the other houses after a sort of coup de état which left her only lover dead and she, wounded at the heart of Silverspires. She is taken in by Selene and ever since then, she becomes addicted to a drug called angel´s essence (basically Fallen´s bones) which is strictly prohibited in the House. Aside from having to hide her addiction, she is too, thrown upon the House tandem. She is also responsible for training apprentices.
And Philipe, a Viet Inmortal who is taken away from his home, forced upon servitude of a house during the war. Later joining a gang and later being forced upon Silverspires much to his disgust, after trying to farm blood off of a Fallen, whom he later creates a bond with.
The plot is interesting and rich enough: Philippe is found farming off a Fallens blood and in retribution, Selene bounds him to the House, trying to understand his powers. Phillipe, being confined to the House discovers a curse inside the Cathedral and accidentally calls upon it. After that, pure chaos. Houses bickering at each other over murdered dependants, petty pasts and power.
See, everything was set up to be incredibly splendid and yet, it wasn´t. I found myself dethatched (fuck thats a difficult word) from all the characters, and I mean all of them, even Madeleine, who was my favourite. It felt like the threads were there for me to grab but they just slipped between my fingers every damn time. It just, aside from Madeleine (and sometimes even her) I felt most of the characters were kind of flat. We get the occasional description, feelings, etc, but nothing much, in any way.
"You´d be surprised what does work. In the depths of pain and darkness, what kind of spars people can seize and never let go of..."
The salvaging point of this book its basically the prose , enchanting and deep while easy to understand and the setting and atmosphere, the world building and effort put into it. It was never hard really, to envision myself inside the story. It was beautiful.
Now let´s talk about the plot, shall we? As I said, it´s interesting enough. It has beautiful gothic elements in it alas there are some few things I´d like to point out and that is: I felt through some parts of the book that I was smoking something. Some things were believable enough for me, but others... not so much. The bond between Isabelle and Philippe was just there, it wasn´t entirely believable for me, it just didn´t carry what was necessary. It felt, as much of its characters, bland.
Honestly, I also felt throughout some parts (aside from the dragging) that it was a mess, a jimble jamble of things. We have little knowledge throughout most of the book and when we do, we are presented with it in a weird way to say the least. The magic as well, was kind of bland. For most of the book, I had this persisting thought of: "Well its only developed as a convenient way to end and alter things"Which don´t get me wrong, I obviously understand that´s the whole point of the book. And talking about that, I would like to make an honorific mention of the ending: we get teased and teased and teased throughout the book and the ending was just cut off, so easily? Like Madeline´s POV could have had so much POTENTIAL TOO. SO MUCH.
I do appreciate a lot of things in this book: the setting AND the atmosphere for once, as i mentioned time and time again. Aside from that I loved the representation, parts of Phillipe and Selene stayed with me, and in a way, I understood Phillipe too. What it feels like, to be somewhere were you don´t belong. I loved the themes it touched too: power, politics, war, the mess of it, the belonging, finding a "family". It just... oof. Bonus point for the mention of Mexico somewhere in between the book (it´s difficult as it is to find any mention of it!) and an extra one for demonstrating it can be a good, incredible book without the need of adding romance as its center.
Honestly, while I had some complaints, I am surprised. Pleasantly so. I think, after having written this review, I can safely say it deserves, wholeheartedly 4 stars. I don´t know why. Don´t ask. Because some times I wanted to tear my eyes out, I also, fell asleep, but, Idk. It gave me a feeling, and that´s good enough for me. Im not a literature critic, after all.
Overall: I do recommend it. Do read it. AND POINTS FOR MADELINE and her ENDING. Thanks.
"IT is almost pleasant, at first, to be Falling..."
TW: Violence, drugs.
REP : Vietnamese MC, lesbian MC, w/w relationship, m/m relationship, black side character.
4/5 stars!
Look, fallen angels have never been my thing and I think, part of what fucked it up was The Mortal Instruments series (I´m sorry ya´ll) but when I heard of this (thank you, random internet page) I decided to give it a chance. It sounded interesting enough. It is interesting, to an extent at least.
It follows an interesting premise and the book is incredibly atmospheric: you can almost see yourself walking the streets of Paris, seeing the polluted, black Seine for yourself, surrounding Notre Dame and Des Magasins. However, there were some things I´d just like to point out, because this HAD so MUCH potential.
"There was no point in grieving for faded things"
The story itself follows three main characters: Selene, the head of the house of Silverspires, Madeline (my personal favourite character) an addicted alchemist and Phillipe an ex Inmortal.
Selene , a Fallen, is responsible for keeping the house up and going after Morningstar left with no warning whatsoever. It is unknown what happened to him, other than he has been missing for 20 years. Having no choice but to rule, she is engrossed in House politics and petty games after the War of The Houses, which left Paris devastated. Gangs all over the place, people starving and the privileged safe and warm, as always.
Madeline , is an alchemist, escaped from one of the other houses after a sort of coup de état which left her only lover dead and she, wounded at the heart of Silverspires. She is taken in by Selene and ever since then, she becomes addicted to a drug called angel´s essence (basically Fallen´s bones) which is strictly prohibited in the House. Aside from having to hide her addiction, she is too, thrown upon the House tandem. She is also responsible for training apprentices.
And Philipe, a Viet Inmortal who is taken away from his home, forced upon servitude of a house during the war. Later joining a gang and later being forced upon Silverspires much to his disgust, after trying to farm blood off of a Fallen, whom he later creates a bond with.
The plot is interesting and rich enough: Philippe is found farming off a Fallens blood and in retribution, Selene bounds him to the House, trying to understand his powers. Phillipe, being confined to the House discovers a curse inside the Cathedral and accidentally calls upon it. After that, pure chaos. Houses bickering at each other over murdered dependants, petty pasts and power.
See, everything was set up to be incredibly splendid and yet, it wasn´t. I found myself dethatched (fuck thats a difficult word) from all the characters, and I mean all of them, even Madeleine, who was my favourite. It felt like the threads were there for me to grab but they just slipped between my fingers every damn time. It just, aside from Madeleine (and sometimes even her) I felt most of the characters were kind of flat. We get the occasional description, feelings, etc, but nothing much, in any way.
"You´d be surprised what does work. In the depths of pain and darkness, what kind of spars people can seize and never let go of..."
The salvaging point of this book its basically the prose , enchanting and deep while easy to understand and the setting and atmosphere, the world building and effort put into it. It was never hard really, to envision myself inside the story. It was beautiful.
Now let´s talk about the plot, shall we? As I said, it´s interesting enough. It has beautiful gothic elements in it alas there are some few things I´d like to point out and that is: I felt through some parts of the book that I was smoking something. Some things were believable enough for me, but others... not so much. The bond between Isabelle and Philippe was just there, it wasn´t entirely believable for me, it just didn´t carry what was necessary. It felt, as much of its characters, bland.
Honestly, I also felt throughout some parts (aside from the dragging) that it was a mess, a jimble jamble of things. We have little knowledge throughout most of the book and when we do, we are presented with it in a weird way to say the least. The magic as well, was kind of bland. For most of the book, I had this persisting thought of: "Well its only developed as a convenient way to end and alter things"Which don´t get me wrong, I obviously understand that´s the whole point of the book. And talking about that, I would like to make an honorific mention of the ending: we get teased and teased and teased throughout the book and the ending was just cut off, so easily? Like Madeline´s POV could have had so much POTENTIAL TOO. SO MUCH.
I do appreciate a lot of things in this book: the setting AND the atmosphere for once, as i mentioned time and time again. Aside from that I loved the representation, parts of Phillipe and Selene stayed with me, and in a way, I understood Phillipe too. What it feels like, to be somewhere were you don´t belong. I loved the themes it touched too: power, politics, war, the mess of it, the belonging, finding a "family". It just... oof. Bonus point for the mention of Mexico somewhere in between the book (it´s difficult as it is to find any mention of it!) and an extra one for demonstrating it can be a good, incredible book without the need of adding romance as its center.
Honestly, while I had some complaints, I am surprised. Pleasantly so. I think, after having written this review, I can safely say it deserves, wholeheartedly 4 stars. I don´t know why. Don´t ask. Because some times I wanted to tear my eyes out, I also, fell asleep, but, Idk. It gave me a feeling, and that´s good enough for me. Im not a literature critic, after all.
Overall: I do recommend it. Do read it. AND POINTS FOR MADELINE and her ENDING. Thanks.
"IT is almost pleasant, at first, to be Falling..."
jvar's review against another edition
3.0
The writing was good, the plot was interesting. What lacked was a connection to the characters. I don’t regret reading It, but I don’t think I’ll go further in the series. I just don’t feel compelled to know “what happens next?”
vtrumpredd's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
siavahda's review against another edition
4.0
Actual rating more like 3.5 stars. A technically beautiful novel with truly fabulous world-building; I feel like I should have loved it much more than I actually did. I think the right reader will fall head-over-heels in love with this one; it's just that I, alas, am not the right reader. But that is not the fault of Bodard; I will definitely be adding this one to my list of recommended reads.
eol's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.25
waclements7's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very unique story, I just never really felt attached to any of the characters. Not that they weren’t interesting characters, it was just difficult to figure them out, or find points to connect with them. The concepts were interesting, and the world building good.
daniewho's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0