Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Angels Before Man

As a recovering ex-catholic queer... this book was absolutely beautiful. Such a wonderful take on the fall of Lucifer. It's tragic, it's introspective, and it needles you with pointed questions about authority and autonomy. The prose is really imaginative and atmospheric; it literally feels biblical in its nature and scope. Despite the intensity of some of the content, I feel like everything was handled with a lot of grace and care. Lucifer is one of the most interesting, complex characters I've encountered this year; his relationship with the other angels, specifically with Michael, are so tender and impactful.

My only complaint is that it took me a minute to get truly invested; it started out a little slower than I would have liked, but after the first ~25% it really picked up. Other than that, this was such a fantastic read. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded that queerness exists in all corners of mythology.

Content Warnings

ina_pages's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.75

I’d give this 5 stars if not for very minor grammar issues that I believe were addressed in the rewrite. I hope to get my hands on that since I also heard that new scenes were added to it.

This book pulled me out of a reading slump that lasted MONTHS. Rafael’s masterful prose will have you gripped from start to finish and will have you falling in love with characters literally against your own will. It was heartbreaking enough to read about a character you knew was doomed from the start, but this book makes you feel so much for Lucifer that watching his decent from grace was just that much worse.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who’s interested. The author lists down a set of trigger warnings at the start but they are only really applicable in the second half of the book.

If you want a feel good, slow burn, romance-y book then maybe pick this up and just stop after part one (like skip the interlude even) but if you have the headspace for it part two is an intense rollercoaster ride of emotions.

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axel_p's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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a_crow_in_the_sky's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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nevermoregothic's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

There are some beautiful parts of this book. There are some tender moments I found very moving. There is also a deeply unsatisfying ending that is delivered at twice the speed of the rest of the book. I think a follow up book is coming, which I will definitely read. I just had some issues with pacing and clarity behind some of the choices that were made by the characters. Hopefully that gets fleshed out.

I will say - if you have religious trauma, please do a LOT of research before deciding to read this book. It was pretty triggering for me.

Also - I would not label this as a romance and only a portion is cozy - the rest is quite intense and at times difficult to read (trauma, gore).

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loyddl's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

3.75

I enjoyed the story until it neared the end where Lucifer’s character change became prominent. For as much build up as it got it still felt abrupt and completely disconnected from the Lucifer we followed in the rest of the book. I think the problem was that near the end of the book Nicolás stops giving us Lucifer’s perspective on important events that would impact his dramatic character change. For most of the book we get intimate detail from Lucifer’s perspective and thoughts but more and more writing was put toward other characters point of view. As a result, even though we see the pain Lucifer goes through, his later actions feel like they are too extreme and come out of nowhere.

I also think the writing fell flat in the story’s resolution. For something so long built up it also felt anticlimactic. And again, we’re taken out of Lucifer’s point of view and only given a finale description of him rather than any though or emotions felt by him as a result of his actions.

A finale thing I would have loved to see, especially in the finale act, is the development of Micheal. Without giving any spoilers, Micheal is important in Lucifer’s fall yet I don’t understand his actions near the book’s resolution based on the relationship between him and Lucifer that had taken half the book to develop.

While I enjoyed the story, it’s setting, and it’s characters, the ending makes me hesitant to pick the book up again. The book is all buildup but does not explain some characters most extreme actions.

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