fromthefoxhole's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
MASSIVE thanks to Quinton Li for being added to the Devout Arc team, it has been so fun to just shout at each other in the discord.
OKAY I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED. First, I'll give you my thoughts per piece:
The Angels at Harvest Church - oh holy shit, okay. my religious trauma is already losing its mind. Freydís always has the most lyrical prose.
I Know My Father - the story of Jacob wrestling the angel always messed with me, spoke to me intimately. I'm so glad it's not just me.
Seasons of God - Angela Sun, you have a new fan. The prose??? The horror? My god.
Resta Con Me - I called the twist but it was still done perfectly.
Seraphim - and yet, be not afraid.
Wings Like Madeleines - Heart wrenchingly relatable. "A gnarled creature in the middle of a perfect crowd." - please get out of my head.
And the Mountains Melt Like Wax - stunning. Abel meets an angel, fallen to earth, and something within him is healed.
The Mountains, The Mountains, The Mountains - “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
We Suffer in Fire - There are consequences to taking the Lord's judgement into your own hands.
Divine Body - I've always thought that love and sex were in and of themselves a holy act. Delightful to know I'm not alone in that.
Halfway to Heaven - ugh ouch. unrequited love hurts so good
Fade to Black - Is there anything that exists that could make the devil happy? Is there anywhere that he might find belonging? If we mortals too cannot find such a spot amongst our own, perhaps the pairing of human and demon might provide some solace.
Misery In Company - If God predestines all, then surely He knows the outcome of any bet made with Him. Might we gamble anyway?
Enfleshed - A creation myth, an offering.
Swarm Behavior - I would read a whole book of this. I'm so upset it's over 😭
Recovered Contents From an Angel's Stomach - Another one I wish had a whole book. Absolutely disgusting and visceral and I want more.
An Angel Song from the Ether - I want to bite this poem. I want to bite and shake it like a dog with a bird in its teeth.
Hashem Yireh - Yitzchak is freed from the mantle of "eldest son", able instead to live out her name's meaning as "one who rejoices".
Pieces - I NEED MORE OF THIS. I would read a whole series of these two oh my god??? Gory by the end, which I loved.
Paradises - Choosing this piece as the end cap was BRILLIANT. I love the idea of Gabriel being a caretaker and a lover, needing space to breathe and become more himself.
MASSIVE thanks to Quinton Li for being added to the Devout Arc team, it has been so fun to just shout at each other in the discord.
Now, my thoughts on Devout as a collective. I am someone with quite a bit of religious trauma thanks to my upbringing, so I have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings about angels lol. I love that the authors here cover multiple faiths, and how many different interpretations exist in under 200 pages (for my e-arc at least). We get prose and poetry, direct references to Scripture and Faust, sci fi imaginings and viscerally gripping body horror. I ate every morsel up and licked my fingers clean. Delicious. To quote Morgan's review, "banger. no notes" 😂
OKAY I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED. First, I'll give you my thoughts per piece:
The Angels at Harvest Church - oh holy shit, okay. my religious trauma is already losing its mind. Freydís always has the most lyrical prose.
I Know My Father - the story of Jacob wrestling the angel always messed with me, spoke to me intimately. I'm so glad it's not just me.
Seasons of God - Angela Sun, you have a new fan. The prose??? The horror? My god.
Resta Con Me - I called the twist but it was still done perfectly.
Seraphim - and yet, be not afraid.
Wings Like Madeleines - Heart wrenchingly relatable. "A gnarled creature in the middle of a perfect crowd." - please get out of my head.
And the Mountains Melt Like Wax - stunning. Abel meets an angel, fallen to earth, and something within him is healed.
The Mountains, The Mountains, The Mountains - “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
We Suffer in Fire - There are consequences to taking the Lord's judgement into your own hands.
Divine Body - I've always thought that love and sex were in and of themselves a holy act. Delightful to know I'm not alone in that.
Halfway to Heaven - ugh ouch. unrequited love hurts so good
Fade to Black - Is there anything that exists that could make the devil happy? Is there anywhere that he might find belonging? If we mortals too cannot find such a spot amongst our own, perhaps the pairing of human and demon might provide some solace.
Misery In Company - If God predestines all, then surely He knows the outcome of any bet made with Him. Might we gamble anyway?
Enfleshed - A creation myth, an offering.
Swarm Behavior - I would read a whole book of this. I'm so upset it's over 😭
Recovered Contents From an Angel's Stomach - Another one I wish had a whole book. Absolutely disgusting and visceral and I want more.
An Angel Song from the Ether - I want to bite this poem. I want to bite and shake it like a dog with a bird in its teeth.
Hashem Yireh - Yitzchak is freed from the mantle of "eldest son", able instead to live out her name's meaning as "one who rejoices".
Pieces - I NEED MORE OF THIS. I would read a whole series of these two oh my god??? Gory by the end, which I loved.
Paradises - Choosing this piece as the end cap was BRILLIANT. I love the idea of Gabriel being a caretaker and a lover, needing space to breathe and become more himself.
MASSIVE thanks to Quinton Li for being added to the Devout Arc team, it has been so fun to just shout at each other in the discord.
Now, my thoughts on Devout as a collective. I am someone with quite a bit of religious trauma thanks to my upbringing, so I have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings about angels lol. I love that the authors here cover multiple faiths, and how many different interpretations exist in under 200 pages (for my e-arc at least). We get prose and poetry, direct references to Scripture and Faust, sci fi imaginings and viscerally gripping body horror. I ate every morsel up and licked my fingers clean. Delicious. To quote Morgan's review, "banger. no notes" 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Dysphoria, Death, Body horror, Sexual content, and Cursing
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