Angel Down is a brutal, lyrical, and deeply unsettling descent into the madness of war—shot through with the eerie shimmer of the supernatural. It’s a war story wrapped in a fable, or maybe a fable wrapped in shrapnel, and either way, it lands hard.

The novel centers on Private Cyril Bagger, a conman in a uniform, who’s stayed alive not through valor but through cunning and cowardice—qualities that suddenly feel less shameful and more essential when he’s sent on a supposed mercy mission into No Man’s Land. What follows is anything but merciful. The "wounded man" they’re sent to euthanize turns out to be something otherworldly: a fallen angel, radiant and broken, lying in the mud like a miracle shot from the sky.

This discovery detonates the group dynamic instantly. What begins as a war story takes a sharp turn into allegory, but never loses its grit. The angel is less a savior and more a mirror, reflecting the rot that war—and perhaps humanity—has buried deep in each soldier. Greed, fear, envy, pride… every vice spills into the open as the men begin to see the angel not as a symbol of peace, but as something to exploit or possess.

What makes Angel Down exceptional is its balance: the writing is literary without being inaccessible, poetic without softening the horror. The battlefield is rendered with grotesque beauty, a landscape of churned earth, blown bodies, and unrelenting tension. Each soldier has a distinct voice and a tragic trajectory, giving the story a chorus of conflicting motives and moral ambiguity. There's no hero here—just men cracking under pressure, each one convinced he's the only sane one left.

And yet, despite its grim tone, the book doesn’t feel nihilistic. There are flickers of grace. Of what could have been. Of what might still be, if the angel means anything at all.

If you're a fan of The Things They Carried, Pan's Labyrinth, or The Road, Angel Down will grab you by the throat and whisper something awful and beautiful into your ear. A war novel for those who know that the real horror isn’t just in what we face—but in what we carry with us when it’s over.

Special thank you to #NetGalley and Atria Books via Simon & Schuster for this ARC.

Gripping. Intense. Moving. Angel Down has a quality few novels possess where you become fascinated, and ultimately invested in their characters’ fates. The WW1 theatre provides a near perfect backdrop to tell a story that cleverly winks at our current day and age. Daniel Kraus is virtually firing on all cylinders here, as Cyril and his band of malcontents provide some of the most engaging and curious characterizing that has you turning the pages faster and faster. I cannot remember being so held by a game of paper, rock, scissors, until now.

Private First Class Cyril Bagger has spent the Great War conning himself into backline duty. When a persistent shrieking on the battlefield has everyone’s attention, he gets assigned with a ragtag group of no-goodniks to ‘take care’ of the problem. That problem, however, happens to be an angel, and the ramifications that ensue will have you burning through the story to find out what happens next.

The one proviso, that everyone talks about, is Angel Down has the novelty of being, as is said right at the opening chapter, “it’s a sentence in a book careening without periods, gasping with too many commas,” The allegory works, in my opinion, as Kraus just muscles out an engaging tour-de-force of imagery that holds your attention from beginning to end, regardless of the amount of “and,” The author can write a bullet-point instructional on painting walls and I bet it would be riveting. The ending I would leave with you, the reader however, to discern if the experience is rewarding or not. I personally was kind of left with a raised eyebrow, but the honest truth with Angel Down is this is a pure blockbuster in all the right ways. Kraus swung for the hills, and he’s hit the upper deck again.

A surrealist tragedy—a funeral dirge for the future of humanity. Absolutely stunning in its style and content, Kraus takes the pain of father and son from Whalefall and applies it to the whole world. This book is visceral, violent, and a heartbreaking. It is also funny and strikingly beautiful. The language rolls along like tank treads that never stick in mud. Brilliant and horrifying and beautiful.

Thank you to the publishers for providing me an advance copy of Angel Down. I promise that my opinion wasn’t swayed by anything but my own big, dumb feelings.

I really appreciated the uniqueness of this book. Truly like nothing I’ve ever read. However, it was a bit too dense and I had a little trouble getting through it. Daniel Kraus always writes such different styles and I love when an author is willing to take chances and use their art.

Daniel Kraus has a knack for taking ideas that sound absurd on paper and turning them into something profound. *Angel Down* might be the best example yet. Set in the mud-soaked horror of World War I, the story follows Private Cyril Bagger—conman, survivor, and unreliable narrator—on a mission that quickly veers from grim reality into something mythic and otherworldly.

What starts as a dark wartime fable—five soldiers sent into No Man’s Land to euthanize a dying comrade—unfolds into a surreal moral crucible when they discover not a man, but a fallen angel. The stakes shift from life and death to meaning and belief. Can this divine being end the war? And can these shattered men rise above their own worst impulses long enough to make that happen?

The narration feels breathless, immediate—like someone desperate to get the story out before it slips away. It’s disorienting in the best way, echoing the chaos of the trenches and the unstable psychology of men pushed beyond their limits. Kraus doesn't just drop an angel into WWI for shock value; he uses it as a metaphorical detonator, cracking open questions about faith, corruption, beauty, and the monstrous absurdity of war.

If you’ve read *Whalefall* (which I personally think is the best book of the last 50 years), you’ll recognize Kraus’s signature style here: take a seemingly ridiculous premise, treat it with deadly seriousness, and uncover unexpected layers of truth, myth, and wonder.

*Angel Down* isn’t just a war story, or a supernatural one. It’s a meditation on what we lose in the name of survival—and what strange, fragile grace might still be left behind.

Thank you Atria for my free ARC of Angel Down by Daniel Kraus — available Jul 29!

» READ IF YOU «
🪖 love unconventional horror/literary blends
😈 can get down with some inner demons
🎖️ appreciate genius (I said what I said)

» SYNOPSIS «
A reluctant WWI soldier is tasked with staying back to rescue a fallen comrade out in No Man's Land. A deadly venture, most likely, which is why he's been assigned, along with four other worthless grunts. But what they find is no man at all, it's an angel, and she may be the secret to bringing this awful conflict to a close once and for all—that is, if the soldiers can overcome their inner demons.

» REVIEW «
This is one of those books that I'm actually terrified to see birthed into the world, mostly because I fear that people won't "get it" and then rate it poorly. The fact that this story is one single sentence is ACTUAL LITERARY GENIUS, and the mere thought of Dan's incredible feat being under-appreciated makes me want to start fights.

But I digress.

I, at least, worship this book and all its stellar literary devices. Cyril as a main character is perfection, mostly because of his myriad of flaws and how he deals with them as the story progresses. I loved seeing his softer side in one particular area, but it also almost destroyed me? I mean, I don't know what else to say here, y'all. The setting, the characters, the story, the ending, the themes, the structure, the PROSE—it's all just flawless. Angel Down contains absolutely everything I want in a book and more, and that's why this will be one of my all-time favorite reads, without question.

If you like a blend of horror and literary fiction, wrapped up in a story that will haunt you, you will adore this book. And if you don't, don't tell me, because I will not listen.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautifully written, stellar concept, and a true testament to what writing can be. I was really scared about the whole "a book in one sentence" thing, but Kraus nailed it. The whole thing was unputdownable and easily one of the best novels of 2025 if not the last 5 years. I am having a hard time putting together this review because it was a truly transcendent experience. Kraus is very clearly one of the masters working today.

I loved Whalefall which is why I requested this ARC. It was pretty different from Whalefall, which I loved, but this a really good book. Thanks for the ARC!

A horrific and yet redeeming story of the terrors of War and the evil that humans do to each other. Told in graphic detail with imagery that is engrossing as it is unsettling, Mr. Kraus weaves a thrilling and captivating war story that includes violence, desperation and redemption that captures WWI and the gruesomeness of trench warfare. Pvt. Bagger and his 4 compatriots all have reasons for what they do and it is up to the reader to determine who is good and who is bad or is every character just a shade of gray that we must look at and decide if how we live as a people is terrible and on a collision course to the eventuality of destruction, or can we each find our own personal redemption. I couldnt put the book down and feel that is an amazing feat of writing.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Angel Down is unlike anything you've read before, wholly unique and suspenseful as all get out. Bagger was a fully fleshed out character that you loathe, root for and empathize with. All of the other characters really fill out this mashup of military WW1 horror.

Highly recommended read.

this book was a wild ride. literally one long unending sentence. never read anything quite set up like this but it really worked. historical fiction / paranormal / horror novel set in world war one. anti-war, anti-capitalism, love and loss themes. beautiful writing and imagery while showing the horrifying and awful and disgusting parts of a meaningless conflict. felt like i was living in the main character's head. such a unique book

While I see where Kraus was headed with this, I feel like the writing style detracted from the overall message. War is hell. War is a machine that chews through humanity and destroys the world we’ve been given. All of this I agree with, and feel like was illustrated pretty well. All in all, 3 of 5 stars, and I’ll keep my review to here.

this is truly like nothing i've ever read before lol. I was intrigued by the synopsis although war storylines aren't usually my thing, and this one kept my interest throughout. if you like one-shot movies, especially 1917, you will like this; the writing style is descriptive yet rapid, and the intensity of every situation really permeates through every page. you might also find that it's not for you, though. this is a really random comparison but if you've read jeff vandermeer's absolution and struggled with the writing in the last part of the book, you will probably struggle with the writing here as well. still worth a try imo because this is really really good. perfect addition to the "one long shitty day/night" genre

It was an atmospheric, well written read though the writing style takes time to get used to. I had to personally put it down a couple times before I had the thought to read it aloud, which helped me to get into the rhythm of the book. Like others have mentioned it is written in much like a stream of consciousness but at the end of the day if you are up for a different writing style, atmospheric writing and some grotesque mental visuals this is a book for you.

An absolutely crazy book, but I expected nothing less from the mad genius that is Daniel Kraus. Angel Down is a book that preaches anti-war ideology yet explores the complex inevitability of generational hate that's developed since the Industrial Revolution. A fascinating look at human nature and violence in the name of patriotic heroism, and whether a post-war life is even a life at all. Amazingly done, risky but impressive in form and scope.

I don’t know what I was expecting but this was better. The stream of consciousness made me feel like I was in Cyril’s head and I was almost anxious the story was so suspenseful at times. Justice for Veck.

Thanks you NetGalley for the arc

This was kind of crazy from the start. Love this author and how he can twist Christian themes into gritty horror survival stuff such as this. Whalefall was david and the whale and in this one the army finds a fallen angel and uses him to try to win the war. This book starts really brutal and the MMC really emphasizes how gritty and disgusting it is in wartime and how some men have all the luck and yet none of it. This book is formatted in a really weird way and kept taking me out of the story but thanks to the actual content in here I kept reading despite it. I really love how Daniel Kraus just keeps coming with these hard hitting hits, let's keep them coming. Plus thank you to the publisher for also sending me a physical copy in the mail as well as granting me this ebook version as well.

A book with an interesting concept. There aren't many World War 1 novels around these days, and fewer still World War 1 novels that involve finding angels in distress. The provocative writing style is sure to engage the arthouse crowd, but will likely push away the average reader.

Whalefall was my first foray into Daniel Kraus’s writing and I could not get enough of it! It was only natural that I would then be just as ecstatic for his latest book, Angel Down. It took me a bit to get used to the style of writing that Kraus used for this novel which, at first, made it hard to enjoy and get into the story. Given the style it was written in, it made the whole novel feel like one long stream of consciousness which, to me, detracted a bit from the enjoyment of the story. Kraus used descriptions to perfection allowing me to picture the story in my mind like a movie and some parts had me chuckling to myself. All in all, Kraus tells a very descriptive and believable war story with characters you will either love or hate. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Whale Fall, I couldn’t quite get into Angel Down. I would still recommend it if you are a fan of Kraus, however.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read this ARC!

This book was incredibly interesting. I was all in on this one, until the very end. Things really went off the rails there and it was a bit much for me, but overall very good.