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Tread of Angels cover art

Tread of Angels

Written by: Rebecca Roanhorse
Narrated by: Dion Graham
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Publisher's Summary

Celeste, a card sharp with a need for justice, takes on the role of advocatus diaboli, to defend her sister Mariel, accused of murdering a Virtue, a member of the ruling class of this mining town, in an “intricate…engrossing” (The Washington Post) new world of dark fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse.

The year is 1883, and the mining town of Goetia is booming as prospectors from near and far come to mine the powerful new element Divinity from the high mountains of Colorado with the help of the pariahs of society known as the Fallen. The Fallen are the descendants of demonkind living among the Virtues, the winners in an ancient war, with the descendants of both sides choosing to live alongside Abaddon’s mountain in this tale of the mythological West from the best-selling mastermind Rebecca Roanhorse.

©2022 Rebecca Roanhorse. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved

What the critics say

"Narrator Dion Graham's superb performance helps to create a weird and wonderful fantasy world based around Goetia, a town full of demon- and angel-type characters with a Western feel. When Goetian slum resident Mariel is accused of murder, her sister, Celeste, sets out to prove her innocence, using every method open to her. Graham's narration is the perfect match to this tale. As he skillfully brings alive the broad cast of characters, his voicing of Celeste is particularly notable. His pitch-perfect timing keeps the listener engaged, and his authentic-sounding pronunciation of the evocative names gives a sense of reality to this otherwise alternative world."AudioFile Magazine

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Disappointing.

Maybe I wouldn't be so disappointed in this story if I hadn't recently read a novella about angels and demons and a mystery that outshines this book in every way, from the moral journey of the main characters to the world-building to the theme of sacrifice.

In this novella, the Fallen seem to be written as a stand-in for race, and the nuance in this is great: Celeste's ability to pass and how that changes how those around her treat her based on how they perceive her, the unjust treatment of the legal system toward the Fallen, the way men treat Fallen women (as if they are good for whoring but nothing else).

I'm afraid that's where my praise of this novella stops. I never had a sense of time or place. The love interest immediately comes off as manipulative in a way that makes the consent later on feel coerced, even though the author clearly tied herself in knots to make it seem otherwise. And although her sister's arrest for murder should have been a good motivator, Celeste makes decision after decision that just didn't make any sense to me.

I wish I could say this book is an aberration in the author's repertoire, despite loving her debut and thinking myself a fan for life, I've now been let down by her last two non-franchise adult books. If you liked Black Sun (which I did not, but for different reasons), maybe YMMV on this novella too.

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