Tread of Angels
Ratings27
Average rating3.5
Celeste, a card sharp with a penchant for trouble, takes on the role of advocatus diaboli, to defend her sister Mariel, accused of murdering a Virtue, a member of the ruling class in the mining town of Goetia, in a new world of dark fantasy.
High in the remote mountains, the town of Goetia is booming as prospectors from near and far come to mine the powerful new element Divinity. Divinity is the remains of the body of the rebel Abaddon, who fell to earth during Heaven's War, and it powers the world’s most inventive and innovative technologies, ushering in a new age of progress. However, only the descendants of those that rebelled, called Fallen, possess the ability to see the rich lodes of the precious element. That makes them a necessary evil among the good and righteous people called the Elect, and Goetia a town segregated by ancestry and class.
Celeste and Mariel are two Fallen sisters, bound by blood but raised in separate worlds. Celeste grew up with her father, passing in privileged Elect society, while Mariel stayed with their mother in the Fallen slums of Goetia. Upon her father’s death, Celeste returns to Goetia and reunites with Mariel. Mariel is a great beauty with an angelic voice, and Celeste, wracked by guilt for leaving her sister behind, becomes her fiercest protector.
When Mariel is accused of murdering a Virtue, the powerful Order of the Archangels that rule Goetia, Celeste must take on the role of Advocatus Diaboli (Devil’s Advocate) and defend her sister in the secretive courts of the Virtue. Celeste, aided by her ex-lover, Abraxas, who was once one of the rebels great generals, sets out to prove Mariel innocent. But powerful forces among the Virtues and the Elect mining barons don’t want Celeste prying into their business, and Mariel has secrets of her own. As Celeste is drawn deeper into the dark side of Goetia, she unravel a layer of lies and manipulation that may doom Mariel and puts her own immortal soul at risk, in this dark fantasy noir from the bestselling mastermind Rebecca Roanhorse.
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Maybe more of a 3.5 though.
I've only read the author's Black Sun and a couple of short stories but they've always been fun, so I thought it'll be interesting to checkout this little novella. And it's been a while since I've read a fantasy novel (been quite a few slumpy weeks), so I wanted to ease myself in the new year with a shorter read.
And this was both interesting but dissatisfactory. The author creates a very cool world with familiar elements like the angels and the fallen, but also imbues it with some parallels from Old West and the mining towns of America and the lives of those who worked the mines - marginalized people who were only trying to survive amidst discrimination. But everything is just only implied and we hardly get any details because the book is too short.
Even the characters are barely introduced to us and we don't get enough time to get invested in their lives, but I still thought the author did a very good job creating a connect with them, especially Celeste. We can see that these people are morally grey and aren't just closed with each other, but are also lying to themselves. It's a quick chance to peer into these dynamics but I was mostly left wanting more, because ultimately it's a murder mystery and it gets solved too quickly. I wouldn't mind though if the author decides to set more stories in this world.
Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.
Roanhorse is a strong writer and is perhaps better suited for longer works. There was a lot of focus on the very interesting setting here, so much so that the plot and characters took a backseat to it. This was an enjoyable and smooth read, but felt like it was missing something.
When everything was resolved it sure felt like the last twenty or so pages were doing a lot of the plot's legwork for it.
*3.75
This story could do with more pages to really explore the worldbuilding (and the characters). And maybe it would also make room for a better build-up to what I feel is a very unusual finale in a fantasy book. Unusual in a really good way! When you read this novella and get a bit restless, whatever you do, don't give up on it. It pays off.
