I am so obsessed with how fantastic this book is. The prose is insanely good, the premise is such a great hook and it is executed perfectly. Each character feels so real and distinct, half of the horror of this book is the horrible things people do in wartime and beyond. The skill with which Kraus makes us feel the depths of emotions in these characters is so impressive. Even before the angel shows up, you're invested. The stream of consciousness single unending sentence style writing lends itself very well to the WW1 setting, you really feel as if you're there in that hell. Be warned, there is lots of body horror, blood, death and generally disgusting stuff as WW1 was a gruesome affair and Kraus does not shy away. The last third gets a bit metaphysical and mindf*cky, but it brought everything together for me as it's not just a war novel, it's an angel novel. I will definitely be checking out more of his work. This is up there in my top 5 horror novels and it's not even really a horror novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Atira Books for providing the eARC and physical ARC! I loved being able to annotate and tab this as it's truly one of my faves of the year.

TW: blood, body horror, death, war, vomit, gore, pretty much any gross thing you can think of tbh

The format of this book is something completely different from anything I have ever read. I was definitely skeptical at first as to whether or not I would like it, but I ended up really enjoying it. It was so unique the way only commas were used at the end of each paragraph--no periods whatsoever--and if not done correctly, this book could have been horribly written. However, the way the author lays it out, it worked so well! I can see a lot of people not liking it as much as I did, or at all, but I found it so well-done that I couldn't help but thoroughly enjoy it, and after a while, you get so used to the odd punctuation that it doesn't bother you.

I liked the main character a lot. I liked his relationship with a few of the side characters–both his dislike and like for them–especially the young character Arno. The main character's quips and wit made me laugh and made me like him even more. He was charismatic and intelligent, and was surviving both the war and himself--mainly his own demons.

The war was covered in gory and vulgar detail, but that's war. It was incredibly vivid, and if you have a weak stomach, I don’t know how you can get around reading this book since there’s really no warning when something cruel or disgusting is about to happen. That did not deter me from reading it, though, and I found that, in some cases, this made it even more realistic.

I was on the fence–and still am–about the character of the angel and the situations involving her. She was vital to the story, yet I felt like she could’ve been used in different and better ways. I liked the idea of her appearance, and the scene of how they discovered her was incredible. However, parts were unclear at times with her and what she was or what she was doing there.

As for the ending, it did feel a little rushed and a bit odd at times. I think it could have been wrapped up a little better. But overall, this book really took me for a ride and I would easily recommend it to others.

I’ll start by saying this book is a masterpiece.

What caught my attention immediately was the way it’s written, each paragraph beginning with the word “and.” At first I looked for missing pages, then I skimmed the book asking myself, “is the whole thing written like this??” Yes. Yes, it is.

Within a few pages I forgot about how weird I thought the book was and became completely absorbed in the story. The characters all spring off the pages, written with such care and depth. This is a war story and it’s graphic, but the violence brings the war to life and puts the reader on the battlefield.

Once the angel comes into play, the story became so captivating that I read the remainder of the book in one sitting.

Go into this without too much information, and don’t let the writing style turn you off. This is one of those once in a lifetime books.

Thank you to the publisher for the digital and physical copies. I cannot wait for everyone to get their hands on this!

One of the best books I have ever read. I could not put it down.

Beautifully written, every word feels placed delicately and with purpose that keeps you propelling through the intensity of the setting.

Characters are thoughtfully developed, the main being one of those great characters you will likely never forget- a flawed man who represents us all.

There are some really intense and hard to read parts (gory) but the language used imbues it all with a strange beauty that fascinates rather than disgusts.

The overarching theme of the book being the conundrum of humanity told through the horror and hope of war hits so presciently; thought provoking, terrifying and profound.

I can’t wait to read it again and highlight all of the passages that felt like a hug and a slap at the same time.

Beautifully done. Bravo.

Wow, what a book.

This was not an easy book to read. The horrors of war scream at you from the page, and at times I felt completely lost. At first, I thought it might be due to the format, with no solid endings or beginnings of passages. But as I read further, I realized I was MEANT to feel that way, as war is chaotic and other-worldly. The one long sentence took on a different meaning.

There is another war at play in this book as well, of good vs. evil, angels vs. demons. Very well done.

I look forward to reading this again upon its release. I anticipate I could find even more meaning in its words the second time around.

This is a book that makes me wish I could crawl into the author’s mind.
Because it is clearly a wondrous (and maybe terrifying) place. Daniel Kraus is clearly on another level of consciousness.
Angel Down is the story of a ne’er-do-well conman turned reluctant soldier, sent on a doomed rescue mission with four of his inept comrades. Rather than a fallen soldier, the mission recovers a mysterious biblical entity that may hold the key to escaping the Hell of the battlefield. But what are its terms?
I consider Angel Down to be in the same class of novels as the Southern Reach series by Paul Tremblay, Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie, and Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman. These are the kinds of novels that stretch my mind like a rubber band and ask me to question ideas & constructs I had never thought to question before.
The structure of the novel is extraordinary and exemplifies that Kraus is a master of not just horror writing but a master of the craft as a whole. It won’t be until the end of the novel that you’ll be able to fully appreciate the style of the novel, but I promise it’s mind blowing.
If there’s a superpower that Daniel Kraus possesses, it is his ability to juxtapose beauty alongside carnage. If you haven’t read The Living Dead, it’s such a great example of this and a forever favorite of mine. Kraus’s characters are real and whole and you don’t realize you’ve fallen in love with them until they’re in peril. By the ending you feel as if you’ve taken the journey alongside Bagger & Arno; you’ll feel all of the horror and whatever hope may still remain in a world such as this.
Angel Down is a modern masterpiece, a high point in any writing career. At the same time, it also feels as though Daniel Kraus is just flexing his knuckles, gearing up to give us so much more.
And I personally will let him take me to hell and back.
Again.

10/10 red leather bibles

Thank you to Netgalley for the early digital ARC and SS Atria Marketing for the physical ARC!

I was so privileged and lucky to obtain this ARC, a masterclass of storytelling in the most interesting of prose, this novel is written in one, never ending, run on sentence,

and when you read this book, you come along the roller coaster ride of WW1, through the tenches and the mud, dodging the shells and the bayonets,

and when the boys find her, the Angel on the battlefield (is she an Angel?), you watch the world come crumbing down, the men become greedy, the war becomes heightened, the death count rises,

and when you finish this book, you think about it, a lot,

and

and

and

I totally recommend it.

While I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book, I'm very glad I read it. It feels like one of those books that can change you. The unique structure took a minute to adjust to, but after that I didn't mind it at all. In fact, the prose is quite beautiful, at odds with the constant gore and literal dirt.

I'm not a fan of war stories as a rule, but the story was wild and emotional and devastating. Kraus captures the horrors of war, both the up close death, and the long term destruction. Bagger is certainly a flawed protagonist, but you will cheer him on all the same. All of the characters feel real and raw and tragic. There is a lot to process, and I'll definitely be thinking about Angel Down for a while.

Angel Down is a gut wrenching rumination on the war machine and the cyclical nature of human history. Kraus runs through the story in a "single sentence" that feels reminiscent of biblical literature while working through a tale of the predictability of human behavior and the monkey's paw style twist of fate of desire. Kraus builds tension throughout, following the shift in morality of a grifter and gambler willing to stake it all on what he believes to be right, a statement and position any reader will be able to identify with, reminiscent of the ending of The Last of Us Part 1: you are forced to make a decision alongside the main character, but given the option, what else do you choose?

I’m a fan of Daniel Kraus, having loved The Living Dead (5 stars) and enjoyed Whalefall (3 stars), but Angel Down was a massive letdown. The writing style—endless run-on sentences with "and this, and that" structure—grated on my nerves from the start. It felt chaotic and lacked any sense of flow, making it impossible for me to connect with the story. The graphic, gory details were the only highlights, but even those couldn’t save the book. I couldn’t push through and had to DNF. Disappointing, given Kraus’s talent.

I received a DRC from Atria books through NetGalley, and an ARC from Atria Books. This review is my own and reflects my honest thoughts and opinions.

There's idea and there's execution, and it's rare that a book so thoroughly nails both as Angel Down does. A company of soldiers that find an angel in No Man's Land on a WWI battlefield is somehow both unique and timeless as a premise. Kraus approaches war from a thoughtful, harrowing, and at times, darkly funny perspective, manipulated in such a thoughtful manner, that it's hard not to imagine the book joining the ranks of stories like Heller's Catch-22. Though it would be easy to dismiss the single sentence narrative as a gimmick, readers would do themselves a disservice to either let it deter them, or overanalyze. The construction of the prose serves to create a pervasive rhythm, one that makes Angel Down sound like the kind of song you've never heard before, but you know you'll never forget. It's the first time hearing Charlie Parker plays a line over I've Got Rhythm.
It's worth noting that the last two Kraus books, this and Whalefall, both feel like modern classics. Immersive stories that utilize form to Trojan-horse raw emotion and stunning commentary on the human condition.
Kraus is easily one of the best writers working today, and Angel Down is one more reason why you should be reading him.

The way this book is written aimed it impossible to get into. A giant run on sentence made it so difficult to even try. I could be temped to try it as an audiobook book sometime because I think that format may be better for this writing style.

When I started reading Kraus’ newest novel, I wasn’t sure if the format would work for me, but it ended up being one of the most engrossing reading experiences I’ve had in a while.

Set during World War I, Angel Down follows a group of soldiers who stumble upon something unexplainable in the middle of a battlefield: a fallen angel.

They decide to bring her back to their trenches, and from there, things unravel fast. Her presence triggers fear, wonder, obsession, and desperation, and the group begins to fracture under the weight of what they’re seeing and what they believe it means.

Told in one very long, unending sentence, the narrative is lyrical, propulsive, and engaging, and not at all what I expected, but it’s absolutely a five-star read for me. I think this is going to be a huge hit.

Thank you Atria books for the e-galley!

While the writing in this book could annoy some readers I had no problem with it my life is a run on sentence. In the thick of France during WW1 a group of lowly soldiers are tasked with finding and taking out a soldier that’s screams are not stopping and upon finding them Bagger and the crew realize it’s not a soldier at all but an angel. This book is steeped in history while examining the morality it such a unique and amazing book. I immediately bought whale fall after reading this and enjoying it as well. 4.5 stars

Angel Down is the third book from Daniel Kraus I've read, the first being Whalefall (which I loved), the second being Rotters (which I still don't quite know how to feel about). Angel Down falls between these two books for me.

The book has a strong premise— a band of reject soldiers are tasked with finding the source of a great, unceasing shriek not far from their encampment in war-torn France during WWI. The sense of setting is strong, and the history is both interesting, and thought provoking. Angel Down wrestles with America's role in World War I in a non-America centric way. It wrestles with how black Americans were treated as civilians, and soldiers. It wrestles with humanity's propensity for war. In these respects, Angle Down shines brightest.

My largest critique of Angel Down is its prose. I adored Whalefall's prose and structure, but I found Angel Down's to be too stylistic.The entire book is written in one unending sentence. And despite the book addressing the 'why' in the first chapter, I still thought it would have just been better as highly stylized, rather than completely stylized. For every time it worked, there were several times where it didn't. I also felt there were many times where the word choice (off the wall vocabulary), coupled with the entire book being written in one sentence, coupled with WWI jargon (though, I must admit I enjoyed the WWI jargon) muddled the clarity of the writing.

Beyond the prose, and the decision to write the entire book in one sentence, most of my critiques are minor. Angel Down didn't' move me emotionally like Whalefall did. Once the angel is found, I think the book follows a very predictable path. I wish it would have been a little weirder with the angel— what it was, how it worked, how everyone reacted to it.

All in all, I enjoyed the book very much. I found the WWI setting worked well, and that Daniel did a great job taking the reader there. I think the premise is strong, the characters very real and fleshed out. I'd recommend Angel Down to anyone looking for a historical speculative fiction book during the world wars, any fan of Kraus, and anyone who reads the premise and is intrigued.

Ok, Where to start. This is my second Daniel Kraus book. thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. the style of writing was a little tough to get used , but when the paced picked up it became easier. so, Private Cyril Bagger and four other soldiers are sent on a mission to "take care" of what's thought to be a suffering soldier. what they find is an angel. trying to not give to much away, each of the 5 soldiers have their own ideas as how to "use" the angel. the description of trench warfare and how the soldiers dealt with it, is extreme. the range of strong emotions you feel as the pages fly by is incredible. one of the best books of the year, no doubt.

Overall:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Prose: stream of consciousness
Pacing: fast
Scary: not
Gore: extreme
Character Development:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Atmosphere:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

***Caution Potential Mild Spoilers and Quotes follow***

Angel Down was such an unusual war story. I might go so far as to call it genius. Initially it took a minute to absorb Daniel Kraus' use of run-on sentences to convey Bagger's stream-of-consciousness story.

"...just like the war won’t ever end, like the carnage won’t ever end, it’s a sentence in a book careening without periods, gasping with too many commas, a sentence that, once begun, can’t ever be stopped, a sentence doomed to loop back on itself to form a terrible black wheel that, sooner or later, will drag each and every person to their grave"

After that adjustment period though I was off and running. The writing style gives you such a humorous introduction to Cyril Bagger's personality. This story warmed the cockles of my dark sense-of-humor loving heart with all the dark humor. There is extreme gore, as the reader is set face first into the muck of the First World War. Prepare for racist language of the time as well as violent animal death. In tone, it reminded me a little of the movie Inglorious Basterds. Shocking, philosophical, starkly poetic and funny; all in all this was an excellent read. It's well worth buying and reading.

“You know nothing of courage. Nothing of despair. Nothing of pain. You are children who arrive late to playtime believing there are games yet to play. Non. The games are over. And we have all lost, mon frère,”

"the scope of violence now as naked as him, the angel insisting that... [his] wish has already been granted, the end he pleads for is already here, the Great War a wheel set in motion that’s far too heavy to halt"

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced reader’s copy of Angel Down—quite possibly my favorite book of the year.

I’ve read a few of Daniel Kraus’s works before (Bent Heavens and The Living Dead are personal favorites), but Angel Down proves without a doubt that Kraus is a literary powerhouse. This novel feels like the culmination of years of writing, observing, and living—a work of pure, unfiltered genius.

Told in a single breathless sentence, with every paragraph beginning with “and” and the only period arriving at the end, Angel Down moves at a breakneck pace. It’s action-packed, emotional, violent, fantastical, and deeply human. Not once does it let up or allow you to come up for air.

I don’t typically go for war novels, but I was completely captivated. It’s gruesome and gnarly in all the right ways, placing you right in the trenches of WWI alongside the characters. The protagonist, Bagger, has insane character development that feels raw and natural.

But this isn’t your typical war story. Once the angel appears, the narrative veers sharply away from genre expectations and into something unexpected, shocking, and unforgettable.

Yes, it’s a challenging read—Kraus’s prose is verbose, and I had to look up more than a few words (I recommend reading it on an e-reader for that reason). But Angel Down is more than worth the effort. Give it a chance. You might be as surprised—and blown away—as I was.

Reviewed on NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon, and Indigo Books.

🪖👼✨️Private Bagger goes to War✨️👼🪖

Firstly, I would love to thank Atria Books for sending me a free ARC copy of the book as well as NetGalley for the e-book and lastly to Daniel Kraus for spewing a bit of his genius brain into this book and allowing us to experience this fever dream of a book, this review is my honest opinion

and with that being said, let's get into how this book is written, formatted, presented, displayed, this is a string of thoughts coming rapidly into page, like when you're in the group chat talking about what happened over the weekend on that event you and your friends went to, except is just you telling the story over sentences, words, thoughts being typed and explained, narrated, discussed and analyzed and as they're being seen, felt, viewed and presented,

and our main guy, hero, zero, MC, Private Bagger, who has in fact found himself in a pickle, conundrum, predicament, situation per say, see here he's in the middle of war, not any war, the first one, the war to end all wars, the conflict to end all conflicts, the first world war, and he is a nobody, a chum, a gravedigger, a side character, an outcast

and then him and his companions had been told before they can fall back they must retrieve all, no one gets left behind, no one is abandoned all must come back, have to get the shrieking soldier on the other side of the battle field

and with that, they set off on quest, pursuits, adventure, a search for the shrieker and madness ensues, a tale, anecdote, Saga of a quest to retrieve the shrieker, keep each other alive and survive the war

and I would love to say that this is gonna be an awesome read for everyone but I can see how some people be turned off by the writting style of this book, but speaking for myself I loved, adored, cherished the way this was written, it gives off anxious mind train of thought, very much how my brain works

and with that, I can say it was funny, heartfelt, giving Saving Private Ryan meets Monty Python and hope that other people enjoy it as much as I did, hope to see this one make it to the movie theater too

WWl trench horror meets fallen angel nightmare.
This book said, "What if divinity wasn't comforting at all, actually?" and then slapped me with existential dread and mud-soaked
madness.
You think you're getting a miracle?
Nah. You're getting war trauma, jealousy, and the slow unravelling of the human soul.
Daniel Kraus wrote this with a scalpel, not a pen. It's brutal, poetic, and disturbingly relevant.
Don't read if you're looking for comfort.
This one crawls under your skin and sits there.

A big thank you to Daniel Kraus for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book! I can’t wait to get a physical copy!