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sersi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was so close to completely loving this (the prose is frequently tremendous and the somewhat unreliable narration kept my attention even as it confused me), but the ending didn't entirely work for me. (Although I recognize and respect it's ambition).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
blacksphinx's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is for communist and anarchist queers who loved Gideon the Ninth but also kind of wished Catherynne M. Valente had written the prose instead.
My number one tip to you is to keep paper and pencil at hand to write down character names and attributes because this book does no hand-holding and every character has at least three names, sometimes up to five. It takes place in a fully realized fantasy world of many different cultures and religions and there's no guide to help you keep it all sorted (unless it's added to the official release). It's a glorious mess.
So, what the hell is this book even about? Our protagonist Marney is the only survivor of strike-breaking massacre at a factory that refines a strange and magical metal called ichorite. She is "lustertouched", born allergic to ichorite but also with a magical resonance to it. In the aftermath of the massacre she winds up joining the Choir, a gang of political radicals who have overthrown a baron and are keeping up the charade of him still being alive while the people live in a socialist commune funded by stealing from the rich. There are many ways the charade can fall, and the most obvious ticking clock is that the baron had a young daughter who at some point needs to appear in high society or things will get too suspicious. Meanwhile, Marney has sworn to kill Yann Industry Chauncey, the man who discovered how to refine ichorite and ordered her family killed. These threads eventually come together as the Choir spies an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by entering a disguised Marney into a competition among nobility for the hand of Chauncy's daughter in marriage.
We must resist the ossification of precedent. We march toward Hereafter, not tomorrow, we march past tomorrow, we know tomorrow will be hard.
This is an intensely political book. While many different political philosophies are exposed by characters on the page, the true core is to the far left. Reading such a radical political underpinning in a fantasy novel, a genre with deep conservative roots, was extremely refreshing. I've never experienced it before and I hope it blasts open a dam. It felt like clarke was writing this book because they wanted to read it, not to chase any trends or to the tastes of the mass market. I hope it blows up. I hope it goes nuclear.
It's also extremely queer. I immediately made the connection from the in-book word crawly to queer (and several other words I fear I don't have the license to type), especially when Marney starts using it around people who call themselves Lunarists or astrologists. It's wonderful to have a stone butch protagonist. The sex scenes are perfectly woven into the story. It's a sapphic book for messy, sexual, sapphic punks.
The actual storytelling is where I struggled. This book meanders. Marney often reflects on things and directs a large amount of her narration to her dead first love, sometimes in the middle of other things. Marney is also prone to seizures, hallucinations, and fits when exposed to ichorite. It's a book you cannot skim or listen to at 3x speed. I feel a lot of fantasy is written where the prose is as unobtrusive as possible, so you barely notice the words as you turn the pages. This prose is sharp and present; the book demands you look at each word. If you don't, you actually can skim right over important plot developments. Overall, I found the back 60% to be far more enticing than the 40% that came before. The pacing also speeds up beyond that point. The ending is beyond my dreams.
In short, it's a damn fine novel that didn't work perfectly for me. I want to give a copy to every radical that helped shape my burning queer self as I came of age, into the hands of all my friends making messy queer art, and to all people who are dreaming of the Hereafter.
Thank you NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and Erewhon Books for this ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.
My number one tip to you is to keep paper and pencil at hand to write down character names and attributes because this book does no hand-holding and every character has at least three names, sometimes up to five. It takes place in a fully realized fantasy world of many different cultures and religions and there's no guide to help you keep it all sorted (unless it's added to the official release). It's a glorious mess.
So, what the hell is this book even about? Our protagonist Marney is the only survivor of strike-breaking massacre at a factory that refines a strange and magical metal called ichorite. She is "lustertouched", born allergic to ichorite but also with a magical resonance to it. In the aftermath of the massacre she winds up joining the Choir, a gang of political radicals who have overthrown a baron and are keeping up the charade of him still being alive while the people live in a socialist commune funded by stealing from the rich. There are many ways the charade can fall, and the most obvious ticking clock is that the baron had a young daughter who at some point needs to appear in high society or things will get too suspicious. Meanwhile, Marney has sworn to kill Yann Industry Chauncey, the man who discovered how to refine ichorite and ordered her family killed. These threads eventually come together as the Choir spies an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by entering a disguised Marney into a competition among nobility for the hand of Chauncy's daughter in marriage.
We must resist the ossification of precedent. We march toward Hereafter, not tomorrow, we march past tomorrow, we know tomorrow will be hard.
This is an intensely political book. While many different political philosophies are exposed by characters on the page, the true core is to the far left. Reading such a radical political underpinning in a fantasy novel, a genre with deep conservative roots, was extremely refreshing. I've never experienced it before and I hope it blasts open a dam. It felt like clarke was writing this book because they wanted to read it, not to chase any trends or to the tastes of the mass market. I hope it blows up. I hope it goes nuclear.
It's also extremely queer. I immediately made the connection from the in-book word crawly to queer (and several other words I fear I don't have the license to type), especially when Marney starts using it around people who call themselves Lunarists or astrologists. It's wonderful to have a stone butch protagonist. The sex scenes are perfectly woven into the story. It's a sapphic book for messy, sexual, sapphic punks.
The actual storytelling is where I struggled. This book meanders. Marney often reflects on things and directs a large amount of her narration to her dead first love, sometimes in the middle of other things. Marney is also prone to seizures, hallucinations, and fits when exposed to ichorite. It's a book you cannot skim or listen to at 3x speed. I feel a lot of fantasy is written where the prose is as unobtrusive as possible, so you barely notice the words as you turn the pages. This prose is sharp and present; the book demands you look at each word. If you don't, you actually can skim right over important plot developments. Overall, I found the back 60% to be far more enticing than the 40% that came before. The pacing also speeds up beyond that point. The ending is beyond my dreams.
In short, it's a damn fine novel that didn't work perfectly for me. I want to give a copy to every radical that helped shape my burning queer self as I came of age, into the hands of all my friends making messy queer art, and to all people who are dreaming of the Hereafter.
Thank you NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and Erewhon Books for this ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Abortion, and Dysphoria
sol_journal's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
**Thank you Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for the arc! All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The Storygraph
Posted on: 7 October 2024
3.4 (rounded down to 3) out of 5 stars.
I don’t know where to start for this one. I wanted to love it, so so SO badly did I want to enjoy this! Rebecca Roanhorse hadn’t steered me wrong before so I was ready for another banger she reviewed.
It fell short for me and I don’t know why! It was easy going first. You do kinda start off kind of thrown into this world, but I think August Clarke does a splendid job of pulling you through with the main character. I think what got me confused some was the sudden ‘you’ that was mentioned and turned out to be a friend (potentially lover too I think?) of Marney. Once I got it though, it was like nothing.
I think what bugged me was the pacing? It started off with a bang, kind of slows down, and I feel like it alternates between these action scenes and suddenly slower informational bits. The world building was slipped into these slower bits, and I think it just felt like a dump at times? I literally entered a reading slump during one of the slower bits and found myself pushing through until it got a little better, but I just couldn’t bring myself to force-read it anymore.
I say this, but still I don’t think it was a /bad/ read. It just wasn’t for me at the moment. I do want to try and pick it back up again another time because the plot was good. I was here for the lesbians and the worker’s revolt, and I was not left wanting. I think the info bits were just dragging too much, and I was too distracted to fully re-immerse myself after picking it back up from one break already. Lots of people did seem to enjoy this read though, and I can really see why! At the same time, I can also see how it isn’t for everybody as well. It’s definitely an interesting ready, and the writing style wasn’t entirely my favorite, but it’s one I want to come back to. Just for now, I had to DNF because I didn’t see myself picking it back up again and actually finishing it before it released.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Blood
mals_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This was an exceptional adult debut. METAL FROM HEAVEN is a ravenous fantasy about a class struggle revolving around a toxic, malleable natural resource that kickstarts an industrial revolution, weaving a story of the elite's insatiable hunger for more, always more, with a voracious revenge plot. Clarke's sharp writing style packs a punch, and the execution of their characters' decisions and motivations was nothing short of phenomenal. Finally, the world is affixed by a distinctive magic system focusing on a malleable natural resource that is brought to its limits, pushing forward the threat of a destructive war and mobilizing the oppressed.
METAL FROM HEAVEN checks every one of my boxes for a powerful queer political fantasy, and it rightfully left its mark on me - I hope those who need this story can find it, and find themselves in it.
METAL FROM HEAVEN checks every one of my boxes for a powerful queer political fantasy, and it rightfully left its mark on me - I hope those who need this story can find it, and find themselves in it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Xenophobia, Abortion, and Toxic friendship