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A review by hannavos18
Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse
4.0
This book is a very thought-provoking piece. My copy was small with just 197 pages, so it was certainly a fast read. I think it was more intended to invoke a feeling, rather than be a completely fleshed out story.
Celeste and her sister Mariel are half Elect, the upper class, and half Fallen, the working class. When Mariel is accused of killing a Virtue, a member of the ruling class, Celeste takes it upon herself to prove Mariel’s innocence.
While on this path to saving her sister, Celeste loses everyone she loves: Hypatia, her boss who is like family. Celeste loses her when she says they are not family since Hypatia helped hide Mariel’s lover from Celeste. Zeke, her friend and coworker. She loses him when she takes his trike, which he has poured his heart and soul into, without asking and abandons it. Abraxas, the demon lord who loves her. She loses him when she asks him to manipulate another Fallen girl into confessing to the murder of the Virtue man, which essentially means her death. Lastly, she even loses Mariel, who decides to come clean to the court. Mariel confesses that she was the one who killed the Virtue man, who was her lover and had impregnated her. The Virtue man’s widowed wife offers to take Mariel in, rehabilitate her, and raise the child. Mariel agrees to go live with this woman, and asks Celeste to not visit her so she can learn to live without her sister’s overbearing presence.
In the end, Celeste loses everyone. While I felt that this story could have been more engaging had it been
longer and more detailed, I don’t think that was the point. I think the point was to show a woman who, despite having the best intentions of just saving her sister from execution, ends up losing everyone and everything, and is completely alone. I think this story is simply meant to put an aching feeling of loneliness and emptiness into the reader, and leave them to wrestle with that feeling.
Celeste and her sister Mariel are half Elect, the upper class, and half Fallen, the working class. When Mariel is accused of killing a Virtue, a member of the ruling class, Celeste takes it upon herself to prove Mariel’s innocence.
While on this path to saving her sister, Celeste loses everyone she loves: Hypatia, her boss who is like family. Celeste loses her when she says they are not family since Hypatia helped hide Mariel’s lover from Celeste. Zeke, her friend and coworker. She loses him when she takes his trike, which he has poured his heart and soul into, without asking and abandons it. Abraxas, the demon lord who loves her. She loses him when she asks him to manipulate another Fallen girl into confessing to the murder of the Virtue man, which essentially means her death. Lastly, she even loses Mariel, who decides to come clean to the court. Mariel confesses that she was the one who killed the Virtue man, who was her lover and had impregnated her. The Virtue man’s widowed wife offers to take Mariel in, rehabilitate her, and raise the child. Mariel agrees to go live with this woman, and asks Celeste to not visit her so she can learn to live without her sister’s overbearing presence.
In the end, Celeste loses everyone. While I felt that this story could have been more engaging had it been
longer and more detailed, I don’t think that was the point. I think the point was to show a woman who, despite having the best intentions of just saving her sister from execution, ends up losing everyone and everything, and is completely alone. I think this story is simply meant to put an aching feeling of loneliness and emptiness into the reader, and leave them to wrestle with that feeling.