It's hard to put my finger on what didn't work for me about this book, because there were so many things about it that did work. I loved the magical western setting, the interesting worldbuilding, the whodunnit plot.

I think what it comes down to is that Roanhorse's worldbuilding style--which is to dish out rich details and interesting tidbits over time, rather than to frontload everything readers need to know--falls a little flat in the novella format. There's not enough room for that kind of worldbuilding AND to create well-rounded characters that readers can connect with. So the result for me was that I was really into the world Roanhorse created and utterly uninterested in the characters.

That being said, I'd definitely read another book set in this world if she decides to write more, but I could see this story being a one-off, too.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars—

Rebecca Roanhorse is one of *the* best contemporary fantasy authors, so I wasn’t surprised that I enjoyed this novella. However, I *was* a little bit surprised at just how strange and dark and unsettling this story is. If you need happy endings and likable protagonists, then this one isn’t for you.

The world is divided along racial lines—the Elects, who hail from angels, and the Fallen, who have distinctive eyes and are descendants of demons who fell to the angels in an ancient war. The remains of the demon leader is now mined as an energy source that powers all technology. In this strange and hierarchical world, two half-Elect, half-Fallen sisters work at a seedy gambling house in a mining town—Celeste deals cards and Mariel sings. Celeste is wracked by guilt over the fact that she—unlike her sister—can pass as fully Elect, and for this reason, was favored by their Elect father. Her guilt drives Celeste to do everything in her power to save her sister’s life when Mariel is arrested for the murder of an important Elect man.

At the outset, it’s easy to root for Celeste as she tries o move mountains to free her sister. However, as she resorts to more self-destructive and malicious means of doing so, it becomes harder and harder to sympathize with her actions. This becomes even more the case as the reader learns more about Mariel and the crime she’s accused of. When I finished the book, I didn’t like Celeste, but I certainly pitied her. For such a short book, Roanhorse has crafted a complex world, and even more complex characters.

On a side note, I couldn’t shake the feelings that much about Tread of Angels felt familiar. I eventually realized that it reminded me very, very much of P. Djèlí Clark’s ”A Dead Djinn in Cairo”—which happens to be a favorite novella of mine (along with his novel in the same universe, A Master of Djinn). Alternate historical setting, kinda steampunk, murder mystery, angels.

Many thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Novella in a new universe—sort of 1800s mining town crossed with the aftermath of an angel/demon war. Celeste is a half-breed, daughter of a Fallen and an Elect, who can pass as Elect, though her sister Mariel can’t. When Mariel is arrested for the murder of an Elect, Celeste has to take on a dangerous job as her advocate, requiring her to bargain with her former lover—a demon—and confront uncomfortable truths about herself and her sister. It was basically fine but too short to get into the worldbuilding details that I was interested in—it’s set in a mining town where the substance that runs the world is mined from the corpse of a fallen major demon, and I had all sorts of questions about that.

Rounded to 3.5 stars.

CONTENT WARNING: violence, blood, misogyny, murder

After loving the Between Earth and Sky series, I was primed to fall in love with this novella. It's a fantasy western setting, with elements of angels vs. demons, and there's a mystery at its core. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't quite it. However, there were aspects that I enjoyed, and some that just didn't do it for me.

I did love the setting, which was well-done and beautifully created. It incorporated the best elements of a western, with the added bonus of angels and demons, and the stark divisions between the two different classes. Our MC (Celeste) stands right on the division, being half angel and half demon, while being able to pass for angelic, while her sister is a Fallen. When her sister is accused of the murder of an angel, she's willing to do anything to save her. But her investigation uncovers more than she ever expected, and forces her to pay a price that might just be too high.

While there's elements of romance, this certainly isn't a romance. Celeste is smart and determined, but for someone who lives in demonic territory and has had an affair with a literal demon, she's so incredibly naive. It felt like the novella format wasn't really the right fit for this story, because there was so much more that I wanted to know, and it just seemed like there wasn't enough time or room to really get to know all the characters in depth, or to really get to know Celeste deeply, so I struggled with her at times. She's street-smart for so much of the time, and then so innocent other times.

The pacing was great, remaining fast-moving and full of action for a lot of the story, but some of the plot twists were rather predictable. Personally, I think this could have really been so much more if it wasn't crammed into a novella-length story, especially since I've seen what Roanhorse is capable of with a book-length story.

As always, Roanhorse's world-building is totally on point. This book is part Western, part fantasy, with some Christian mythology and steampunk elements. The mystery is intriguing as are the glimpses of the relationships between the characters we get to see. However, I did feel like they were just glimpses. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that I wish a book was longer, but in this case, I do wish there was more time to develop the characters and their relationships with each other. Altogether, well worth the quick read, though. If Roanhorse decides to create more stories in this world, I will absolutely read them.

Thanks to Gallery Books/Saga and #NetGalley for letting me read this as an egalley in exchange for my honest review. It's rating is more like 3.5, edging to 4 for its tour de force setting and characters.

I love Rebecca Roanhorse, and being inside her imagination is always a wildly interesting place to be.

Folk tales and folk wisdom re-imagined or reanimated is a big part of her work, and here we have John Milton, Paradise Lost, plus what appears to be the early history or Utah, or some mining town, combined with a mystery and a very unusual romance.

But you read Roanhorse mostly for the characters, and for what will happen next, because you can't possibly guess. But do pay attention to the names.

Celeste's sister has been accused of murder. Celeste is sure she is innocent, and sets out to prove it. She will do anything to save Muriel -- but will she sell her soul?

Recommended for fans of philosophical speculative fiction. This is basically a novella, and it moves very quickly.
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# fantasy, #religion-and-philosophy, #romance, #speculative-fiction, #sisters, #mystery

In a world where angels and demons have fought wars in the Wild West, TREAD OF ANGELS provides a weird west tale where hell is the stakes.

This book really has nothing in it, for me. A bit sad, because I enjoyed some of Rebecca’s other works, but this story is banal at best. This book starts out with a card game (which could have been interesting if I knew anything about cards), which seems to be intended as a stand in for opening with action, but not even opening with action works is you give no reason for the reader to be invested in the stakes. If you’re gonna spend the first 10 pages detailing a game, I should walk away with at least enough to remember who won or lost—spoiler alert, I don’t despite having read this yesterday. I wish I could say this was an opening anomaly but it sets the tone for the entire book. It seems a trend with fantasy authors to decide that the easiest plot to do within a novella is a mystery, but make only the minimum attempt to write it well or interestingly. The main character Celeste, represents a tired archetype, the long suffering older sibling, and not even the twists to her story are enough to save it. As a matter of fact, the twist itself was weak, with Celeste manifesting a personality change largely out of nowhere, if she had started the book with an awareness of her resentment to her life, it may have given the character some teeth. Final point, the worldbuilding, I can’t say it’s nonexistent, because its there, and it effects the plot, but again its so run of the mill. There’s nothing particularly interesting, or new done here, in that aspect of any other. The kindest thing I can say is that this is a quick read.

3.5 stars

To be honest, I was expecting to like this much more than I actually did. The beginning felt very slow to me, & if I hadn't gotten an ARC, I don't know that I would have continued. However, the final 40% or so was fantastic, and seeing the moral complexities of the characters was the most fascinating & compelling part of the story for me. All that being said, I would absolutely love to see more set in this world -- Roanhorse's writing itself is good & interesting, & I think there's much more that could be done here, if we're lucky enough to see that in the future!

This extraordinary work explores an alternative universe loosely based on a mining town in the the Old West. It brings in theology and the way religion gets twisted by those in power. There are those known as the Fallen, the Elect, and the Virtues as well as demons, but everyone of them is a nuanced character with surprising twists to their actions. This is a wonderful, thought-provoking story with a surprise ending that begs for a sequel. I highly recommend this book.

I loved Rebecca Roanhorse's Between Earth and Sky series but this was just okay. I am not a fan of romance and I think this had just a touch too much for me. I would be interested in seeing more material set in this world.

Tread of Angels takes the ambiance of an 1800s gold rush town and fills it with - literal - angels and demons. Prospectors mine the body of the fallen Abaddon, which can be used to fuel steampunk industrial tools which are ready to jettison humanity into the future. Amongst the Fallen rabble and favored Elect, Celeste is a card dealer whose mixed heritage allows her to float between the castes. When her sister is accused of murder, she has 48 hours to prove her innocence before she is sent to Hell.

This novella is full of fascinating concepts, but I’m not sure that a novella was the most successful way to explore them. I loved the way Roanhorse played with Biblical imagery and concepts and used this story of seeking justice to highlight the real world hypocrisy of many who claim to be on “Gods’ side.” However, there is a ton of info-dumping at the beginning and it was very, very confusing. You are thrown headfirst into a very complex world without any time to get to know the characters or what is going on. For as much thought as was put into constructing this world and its history, I would have loved to see this expanded out into a full length novel so we could have had more time to explore the characters and the plots at play here. It felt rushed, and another 100 or so pages might have given it the breathing room to fully explore the excellent potential here. If Roanhorse returns to this world, especially with full length novels, I would eagerly read them.

Likely just me, the story just felt a little disjointed and lost its momentum a couple of times. Still think the author is A+ five stars.

My thanks to Gallery/Saga Press.
It's just a fact that I'm a Roanhorse fan.
But...This story just wasn't my groove.
Whether it was the time or people, I couldn't tell. But, I struggled to get through it. And in truth, I actually didn't finish it. I'd read a few pages at a time, and dread having to come back and read more. So, after 2 months of the struggle...I'm done!
No. I didn't read this short story. Matter of fact, as a short story, it was overly long for me.
I'm giving this a middling rating.. Why? Because I can! Also, Rebecca is a fantastic storyteller. I just didn't like the timeline.

Celeste Semyaza is a dealer at Eden, Perdition's premiere gambling den. Later, her sister, Mariel, is scheduled to take the stage and sing. It is Aventum Angelorum, the High Holy Day in Goetia. But, Mariel is late and is discovered in bed with a dead body, a doctor, one of Goetia's Virtues, the cream of the crop. Both Mariel and Celeste are Fallen, the result of a war between Heaven and Hell, where Lucifer was defeated and Heaven now reigns supreme. However, Celeste has fallen in love with Abraxas, a demon lord, who threatens to take her soul if she will only let him. Mariel is dragged away to stand trial and Celeste does all she can to protect her sister. This was not as good as Roanhorse's previous books; the characters were not as developed, although the place setting is well done.

Rebecca Roanhorse is one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors, so I was very excited to be granted an opportunity to read her latest work. However, even before I finished “Tread of Angels,” I found myself disappointed.

The initial premise of a world where the heavenly war between heaven and Satan’s fallen angels was a real event whose effects continue to be felt everywhere (for example, the descendants of said fallen), was initially intriguing, as was Roanhorse’s decision to center this particular story in an old western mining town. However, the choice to make this tale novella-length meant that the introduction to this world felt shallow and unfinished, and I found myself wondering about quite a bit. For example, if the aforementioned Christian mythos is reality, what does that make for other faiths and peoples in the greater world? Are those even a concept here? I realize that suspension of belief is a necessity when engaging in this genre. Unfortunately, the little bit of world-building that I received felt underdone, and as a result it was frankly a little hard to carry on through the plot without various questions popping into my mind and getting in the way of the reading experience.

The fairly short length of “Tread of Angels” also made the actual story itself feel a bit busy, and also lacking in some depth that maybe several chapters would have helped with. I will also admit that given the very specific religion from which the book’s concept stemmed from frankly seemed a little jarring, given Roanhoarse’s several unabashedly Native American-rooted fantasy works.

The writing is still of an excellent caliber. I also found myself surprised by the resolution to this mystery. Roanhorse has also done good enough work that this could be either the start of a new series, or a perfectly fine standalone. But overall, it felt far from Roanhorse’s best work, and could have benefited from some further fleshing out.

3.5 stars - All the elements of this are SO up my alley: fantasy western setting, angel/demon magic, whodunnit plot, family dynamics, and a romantic element. I think, however, for this to have shone fully, it needed at least another 100 pages to let the story develop and breathe. I would 100% read more in this world if it had a sequel

A Christian mythos inspired murder mystery set in the late 19th century, I enjoyed the different take on angels and demons this provided. I wasn’t quite sold on the book until the ending, which for obvious reasons I can’t explain.

3 stars

The fantasy-western setting to this novel is very cool, and I especially love the way in which biblical allusions and grand, sweeping epic battles of the past are distilled into the old-west, frontier town setting of petty grievances and old grudges, particularly as the literal bodies of titanic demons are mined to power futuristic technology (theology-punk?).

Initially I was also sold by the novella length, because I think it’s an excellent soupҫon of idea-driven worldbuilding that doesn’t need a big plot to justify it. However, the hardboiled murder-mystery plot upset this delicate balance for me; I felt that this either needed to be a longer story to fit the plot, or a less dramatic plot to suit the short time in this setting. Because Celeste, our point-of-view character, only has a day and a half to prove her sister Mariel’s innocence, she has to shove a great deal of investigating into that time—and Rebecca Roanhorse also has to shoe in a great deal of worldbuilding in the same amount of time. The two goals (hardboiled mystery and conceptual worldbuilding) sit uneasily with one another. Celeste spends much of her time dawdling, to my mind, to let the reader learn about the world; and yet when she speaks with other characters, frantically, about her need to free her sister none of them seem to understand the urgency of the situation. The result is that the story does not feel satisfying; yes, the plot is wrapped up neatly, but it feels very fortuitous that Celeste stumbles (mainly by luck) into the conclusion, and the world feels more shallowly painted than I had hoped. I found myself thinking rather wistfully of P. Djèlî Clark’s Fatma el-Sha’awari novellas, which left me wanting more but nicely balanced its mystery-plot and alternate-history-fantasy-worldbuilding elements.

However, it is always fun to read a high-concept novella, particularly one with morally grey characters. I just don’t think all the elements were balanced in a way that left me feeling satisfied.

The newest novel from Rebecca Roanhorse takes place in a world where angels and demons are real and a very real war took place over Lucifer's Fall. An angel fell in battle outside the Colorado town of Goetia and the townsfolk now mine his remains for the Divinity that powers magical devices for the rich and powerful. Combining elements of the fantastical with the 19th century American gold rush, Roanhorse creates a world where the fanaticism and hypocrisy are on full display.

The main character, Celeste, is half Elect and half Fallen - the latter being the only ones who can mine Divinity but who are also abused and oppressed for their supposedly inherent sinful nature. While she can pass for Elect (the language of historical racism is not an accident here), her sister cannot and when her sister is accused of murdering a powerful man she will do everything in her power to save the only person she truly loves. While there are a few friends and an old lover she meets along the way, she burns a path through the world in her determination to save her sister. Things come together quickly in the end - while the mystery structures the novel, at heart this book is a commentary on religion, power, and how the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions.