A review by naiadtales
Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

dark emotional funny sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I'm a bit conflicted on how to rate this book. The first half was some of the most beautiful writing I've read in a while and I enjoyed witnessing Lucifer's growth but the second half was where the confusion comes in. I understand that it may have been written this way to depict Lucifer's declining mental state but boy was it still hard to follow along. Also some of the choices/paths that the characters took were so nonsensical to me it felt like I was reading 3 different books
Asmodeous raping rosier?? Why ? I get the corruption but I felt like it was already alluded to that they had this kind of relationship from the jump so why was this necessary?
 

I enjoy stories where non-humans are showcased doing human things and I this was one of the things I enjoyed about ABM. It was cool watching the angels discover themselves and jumping through dozens of hobbies in a bid to pass the time. Another thing I enjoyed was the snippets we got of the time before realization(that may not be the correct phrase) but the stories that we got from the time of the first angels like Uriel (who should honestly needs to get a damn life). It was sad though that these bits came between mentions of other events and was in some cases such a jarring jump from what was actually happening.
My favorite scene is when Rosier admits to never having seen god, or even given much consideration to his existence. He just knows that he is real because of all the splendor that he sees.
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