A review by teereadsbooks
Angels Before Man by Rafael Nicolás

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This gave a lot of Song of Achilles vibes, but I liked this a bit more. We know how the story is going to end, but the journey was still so gripping and interesting. This starts as a truly pure coming-of-age story where we see the creation of Lucifer and his journey to discovering so many things for the first time. This queer retelling was done with a very light hand. We really don't see much obvious queerness until after the 50% point, but once again, it's part of the journey. This story felt very profound as someone who grew up going to church and has distanced themselves as an adult. This felt healing in a way. We truly see Lucifer as the complex character that he is, not just the evil Satan Christianity has led us to believe. There's depth and emotion, and so many things that a lot of people can relate to. His struggles with shame really hit home for me. All in all, I had a great time. Maybe it's the blasphemer in me, but I wanted more queerness than we got, but I understand why the story was written the way it was. This is a wonderful story, with poetic writing and really interesting characters. I'm so glad I finally picked this up.