How does Rebecca Roanhorse do it? Her skill and creativity are like a constantly replenishing fountain or an underground spring and what bubbles up is consistently magical, unique and unexpected. This time she has served up a Western noir novella featuring the eternal faceoff of angels and demons in the mining town of Goetia. The battle has been won long ago, leaving a deep schism between the Elect, those zealously aligned with the angels and the ruling power structure, and the Fallen, who have ringed eyes, special talents, limited futures, and largely inhabit the poorer, shadier, parts of town. They also are able to detect mining lodes, which power technology and invention in Goetia; of course, the mines are owned by the Elect, who largely despise the Fallen.

It is also the tale of two Fallen sisters, of the dependence and decadence of one, and the fierce loyalty and paternalism of the other. Mariel is a gifted songbird belting out numbers and frequently taking a belt or something stronger in an infamous bar on Perdition Street where her watchful sister Celeste, is a dealer at a farro table. Celeste, whose eyes resemble an Elect, has her own ghosts and secrets, among them her former lover Abraxas, a captivating demon who collects favors and souls. But when Marial is accused of murder and mutilation, and the murder is of an Elect Virtue member, the militaristic Order of Michael soldiers bear her away. Celeste and the other Fallen know, after a sharm trial, she is destined for execution.

The trial will be an examination into Marial’s “spiritual fitness.” But the odds of heaven and earth are stacked against her. According to Abraxus, Celeste’s philosophy-loving demon, “The Virtures are sanctimonious, but they make a fine point. If she is Fallen, she is sinful by fault. There is no innocence in her making.” Celeste, convinced of her sister’s blamelessness must somehow gain entry to the heavily guarded Elect courthouse where Marial is being held, and pass tests with holy water and logic. And yet, Mr. Ibrahim, the shifty head of the order of the justice Keepers, appoints her as Marial’s defender, which comes with its own deadly trial of sorts; she has less than 48 hours to prepare her case.

As with any cracking good noir story, things quickly get more gummy and complex the more Celeste starts to uncover, even with the help of Abraxus and an unspecified bargain. As Celeste explores the roots of this killing, she is led to news hungry reporters, discoveries about conflicts and power struggles within the mines, and to the identity of the murdered Virture. She also finds assumptions, personalities, and allegiances changing faster than a deck of marked cards.

The courtroom tests of truth will leave you with your heart in your mouth, though in this case it’s a lethal golden mechanical insect, the Gloria, wielded by the Virtues, who use it to compel truth from the speaker. But Celeste has another plan… So what is on trial here, as in any top-notch noir novel, are the many shades of grey, of equivocation and circumstance, as the storyline unfolds. And the ending delivers the force of a sudden rockslide: unpredictable and upsetting, veined with characteristic noir cynicism. It is well-earned and utterly absorbing.

There is not a wasted word in this exquisite novella, Ms Roanhorse has paired the narrative to the essentials, and still it shines. Recommended for those who like mashups by a master and those who get smitten by a perfectly crafted story.

I really enjoyed this short novel! It is set in a town that sort of reminds me of a Gold-Rush Era western city meets Old Las Vegas, which I am here for. The main character, Celeste, is determined to solve a murder that was pinned on her sister before her sister is executed by the town leaders, who happen to be Angels. The whole setup of the world pits Angels versus the Fallen, and of course, the Fallen are considered "less than", which obviously shows a lot of parallels to our own society.

I was worried that the world building would confuse me, especially when laid out in such a short number of pages, but I really didn't have much trouble deciphering it. While I think there is a lot of room to delve deeper (which seems like the plan for subsequent books, though I am not sure), it was also fairly easy to follow. I also really enjoyed the characters, and how wonderfully flawed they are. Celeste herself often refuses to acknowledge her own blind spots and biases until she is forced to face them head on. I loved how realistic they all felt, especially in a matter of two hundred pages.

I really hope that this becomes a series, because I absolutely need more time with these characters, and exploring this very creative and intriguing world! It was faced-paced and I really could not put it down, excited to find out all the answers. I also loved how the author infused bits of humor into this otherwise rough world and situation.

Bottom Line: Exciting and well-constructed, I simply devoured this genre-defying mystery!

This is a bit of a change of pace for Rebecca Roanhorse, and I really enjoyed it! It's got elements I like and it came together for me pretty nicely. This is a fantasy western murder mystery with angel and demon mythology, in this case being used for commentary on race. It's not a combination I would have come up with but I think it really works.

Celeste could pass as Elect (those descended from angels) but is actually half Fallen (if you guessed this is those descended from demons, you would be correct). Unsurprisingly, society is segregated along these lines with the Elect being at the top. She works at a gaming house, along with her visibly Fallen sister who she would do anything to protect. So when her sister is arrested for the murder of a Virtue (the highest class of Elect), all bets are off and Celeste is even willing to work with the demon who broke her heart to prove her sisters innocence.

This is quite a short novel and I might have liked it to be a bit longer, but overall I enjoyed my time in the world, liked the mystery, and found it to be quite satisfying. Worth a read if it sounds up your alley! I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

"Tread of Angels" by Rebecca Roanhorse is a fast paced fantasy story set in a land of angels and demons and those in between. When Celeste's beloved sister is accused of murder, Celeste knows she will do whatever it takes to prove her innocence, even if it means putting herself in danger. I was sucked into the world the author created from the very first page and finished this short novel in just two hours. While it was an entertaining read, I was left wanting more, particularly from the ending, which was fairly predictable. I think the book would've been better if it had been longer; I would have loved more details about the characters and the very interesting world in which they lived. I felt like I was reading a book that was part of a series, and that I hadn't started with the first book. I needed more world-building. Overall, this was just an average read for me and i don't think it will make any lasting impression on my mind.

I do appreciate the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, and I thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this opportunity.

I've read The Sixth World books and the Between Earth and Sky books by Rebecca Roanhorse and loved them all. I can't wait for further books in those series. When I saw that she had a novella coming out I requested it from Netgalley and was happy to be approved.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this novella. It felt rushed and a bit confusing, and like a lot of characters had no back story that gave them any meaning. I may also not be the right audience for stories with fallen angels and demon lords who are supposedly sexy - it's not usually a subgenre I go for so that's on me.

I did see that the author wrote on Instagram (in a story so its probably gone now) that this novella actually has a slightly different ending in the published version than it did in the ARC. I read the ARC so I'm curious if my opinion would change if I read the final published version. But i had to force myself to finish this so I probably won't go read the final version.

Tread of Angels is a short novel by Rebecca Roanhorse. This novel(la?) follows the story of Celeste and her sister who has been accused of murder. In this world we have the Elect (angels) and the Fallen (decedents of the fallen angels). Celeste and her sister are Fallen, though Celeste can pass as an Elect due to her mixed heritage and lack of facial markings.

As I am writing this I realize there’s an analogy that can be made between people of color and the Fallen. Celeste is like a person of color that can pass as white due to lucky genetics.

There’s also an undercurrent about relationships, who we become within our family systems, and who we want to be if allowed to be ourselves.

Overall, it was too short to really delve into the concepts being introduced; Elect, Fallen, pieces of divinity, demons, etc.

'Tread of Angels' has everything I like: fantasy western setting, a whodunnit plot, sibling dynamics, just enough romance to intrigue and et in a world of angels and demons. As I was reading I kept thinking of the 2010 film Legion, especially when it came to the depiction of angels/demons and their hierarchies. I also really enjoyed our main character Celeste and her dedication to her sister. It seems like a classic set up but there were plenty of twists to keep you guessing. And it's not found family so much as found enemies? Celeste is complicated and I love her.

At first I was excited to see it was novella length but I think the story would have done well to be a tad longer. The reveal of the whodunnit might have been a bit more powerful with some extra time to really connect to the character(s). That's really the only thing stopping me from giving it a five star. I really enjoyed it and hope for more set in this world. Rebecca Roanhorse is steadily becoming one of my most dependable auto-buy authors.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Gallery Books- Saga Books for an advanced copy of the this fantasy novel set among the angels and demons of the wild west.

Older siblings have a responsibility to younger siblings. An older sister or brother needs to make sure that there younger charges don't make the same mistakes they made, don't fall in love with the wrong person, and to keep the mean old outside world away, with all its temptations and teases. And when the youngest sibling is accused of murder, murder of a ruling class that happens to be angels, well you go all out to get them free no matter what the Heavens might throw at you. Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse is a fantasy set in an alternate world with demons and angels existing among humans who are both innocent and touched be sin, but all trying to get by.

Celeste is a Keno dealer at a local watering hole in the town of Goetia, Colorado in the year 1883. The town is a mining town, with the only thing coming out of the ground being an ore called Divinity. Celeste is quick with a card, her knife, her tongue and even quicker with her anger especially when it comes to her sister Mariel, as singer at the same place. The town is a tad rough, with both itinerant miners, descendents of demons called the Fallen, good people known as the Elect, and the leaders and elite of the town, Angels known better as Virtues. Celeste can pass as a member of the Elect, Mariel can not so spends her time singing in run down bars, under Celeste's watchful eye. Until Mariel wakes up with a dead Virtue next to her, covered in its blood, and arrested for the crime. Being Fallen, means that the decision is already made, Mariel is guilty. Celeste must find away to clear her sister, while learning new things about a town that she thought she knew everything about.

A different kind of fantasy novel with characters and creatures that are new and different, and exciting to learn about. The world unfolds gradually, sometimes a little too much, and it might take a few pages until the reader goes, ohh I get it. However the writing is so good and the ideas so different that I am glad there was no info dump, as you get a better sense of the characters and what they have to deal with all their lives. Thought the book is not long, quite a lot happens in it, and I admit that I am part of the chorus that would have liked a longer story, just to learn more about the town, and the world that it takes place in. The characters are well developed, the angels carry their eliteness well and the demons that we meet do act like demons. Celeste is a well written character, thought you forget she has a bit of demon blood in her, until she starts acting a little evil.

A very good story, one that I would like to see more of, though I don't want this taking away from Roanhorse's Between Earth and Sky series, as I am a huge fan of that and very selfish. A promising introduction to what could be a very good, very big new series.

"Celeste, a card sharp with a need for justice, takes on the role of advocatus diaboli, to defend her sister Mariel, accused of murdering a Virtue, a member of the ruling class of this mining town, in a new world of dark fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse.

The year is 1883 and the mining town of Goetia is booming as prospectors from near and far come to mine the powerful new element Divinity from the high mountains of Colorado with the help of the pariahs of society known as the Fallen. The Fallen are the descendants of demonkind living amongst the Virtues, the winners in an ancient war, with the descendants of both sides choosing to live alongside Abaddon's mountain in this tale of the mythological West from the bestselling mastermind Rebecca Roanhorse."

Since I read Black Sun I've been interested what else Rebecca Roanhorse had up her sleeves.

unfortunately i did not vibe with this sorry to rebecca roanhorse who i love. this just felt more cliche then i was interested in reading. i love tropes i am not anti trope i just wasn't connecting with it here

While the concept of the fantasy world in this book was certainly interesting ( a sort of western-inspired industrial-age society with angels instead of humans), I think the short format really diminished the quality of the world-building. There simply wasn't enough of it to make the world feel believable.

Additionally, the plot of the book was oversimplified in order to fit into the length of the book, and therefore, it lacked tension. It also wrapped up far too simply and easily, with what felt like a totally random twist coming in at the last second to tie up all the loose ends.

The cast of characters was interesting and varied, but again, the book was so short that none of them were developed over the course of the story, and many of them were two-dimensional because they didn't have the space to be properly characterized.

Overall, the premise was fine, but this should've been a novel rather a novella.

I love Roanhorse's characters and world-building, so I immediately fell into this slim, pacy novella. The action is present from page one, and doesn't let up as Roanhorse builds a compelling drama. This story gives the energy of a CW paranormal drama—themes that might be a little too obvious but plots and characters engaging enough to keep you hooked. There was little nuance in this story of the blessed and the damned, but I was hooked until the bittersweet end. A really fun, quick read from an author who I look forward to reading more from.

I loved Black Sun from the very first line. I don't intend to compare Roanhorse's works to each other for no reason, but they are within the same genre and should be a testimate to the growth in her writing. I didn't love Tread of Angels after the first line, the first page, or the first chapter. I went in with zero expectations but I can't help but feel like this isn't the same prose potential that Roanhorse demonstrated in the series that made me such a huge fan. I'm reading this rather slowly instead of quickly under the sheets of my covers. I don't think about it when I have other things to do. I can't tell you much about the characters as this point, by the content I have and have yet to read and whether I find them memorable or not. I feel as though this was written before Black Sun even if it was published after. I will update my review with final thoughts once I finish.

I have some definitely mixed feeling on this and I'm not surprised to see that early reviews are mixed as well. I really enjoyed Roanhorse's writing as I have with her other books and despite this book being just over 200 pages, she manages a lot of world building an plot. However, I never really got invested.

Celeste is a passable main character and I always like a sibling dynamic but because the story starts off right away, you never get to see the two together or get to know Celeste before the story is well under way. I had a hard time really routing for these characters that I didn't really know prior to their run in with the Virtues. The blurb refers to Celeste as a card sharp but aside from the first few pages, that is never explored and she doesn't have the personality I expect from that description (she's no Ferius Parfax).

I also was not expecting this book to lean so heavily into the religious themes. I realized from the blurb and title that there were angels and demons and such but it was much more prominent than I expected and being someone who doesn't know my religious stories well, I kept thinking this was a retelling and that I was missing something. It had that feeling of trying to use an existing story to fit more into a small book. I still have no idea if it did but it made me feel out of the loop and even more disconnected from the story.

The world itself was pretty cool but I wished there had been more on the technology side of it and less on the Virtues/Fallen piece. The glimpses into the workshop and hints at mining has me intrigued and that was never fully explored.

I was ultimately at deciding between 3 and 4 stars and the ending made me settle on 3. I kind of liked the ending but it was in no way satisfying.

* I received a free ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *

Like others, I only wish this was longer! A novella is iust enough to make you want more in this universe. This was easy to get into and I was eager to know where it was going. I wish Rebecca Roanhorse would write more in this world!

It took me a minute to wrap my head around Rebecca Roanhorse’s fantasy western novella, Tread of Angels. Some part of my brain is still immersed in her Between Earth and Sky series so I was a bit resistant to the Western town setting. But, as always, Roanhorse delivers a gripping story.

Celeste Semyaza and her sister, Mariel, are half-Fallen (their mother was descended from the Fallen Angels) in the mining town of Goetia. Celest can pass as an Elect, and deals cards at Eden. Mariel cannot pass, and is the singer at Eden. Mariel is found covered in blood next to the body of a murdered man, a Virtue. She is arrested, not by secular law enforcement, but by the Virtues. Celeste is certain her sister is innocent and pulls together all her resources to save her.

TMr. Ibrahim invites Celeste to take on the role of Advocatus Diaboli, where she will speak from the heart to convince the celestial court of her sister’s innocence. What’s understood is that because Mariel is Fallen, she is presumed guilty.

In just over 200 pages, Roanhorse pulls together a world every bit as rich and complex as the world in Black Sun. We just see less of it. Celeste is an interesting character, but I can’t talk about the things that make her so compelling. She is a wrecking ball in her certainty that she is right. By the end, everyone has a little more clarity. The events in Tread of Angels feel like a tipping point in the world. I don’t know if this is the start of something or a stand alone story, but it is brilliant.

CW: Murder, attempted murder, brutality, betrayal, death of a baby bird, imprisonment.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Saga Press and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

3.5/5
Thanks to Saga Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

I want more, that's all I kept thinking about as I read this story. I want more time and depth with these characters(especially Abraxas), more about Divinity and the magic system and just more of the great wild west setting(as a Coloradoan I appreciated very much the mine being the Tabor). This whole world in the aftermath of a battle between Heaven and Hell just calls to me for more. There were definitely points where the story move so quickly and I wanted more pages. I would certainly have read a full length novel in this setting!!

Set in 1883 Colorado years after the battle and the fallout between the warriors of each side, society has divided itself into the halves, the Elect, the have-nots, the Fallen and the Virtues, who rule in judgment over all. Celeste and her sister Mariel work at a Fallen gambling hall when ,Mariel is arrested for the brutal murder of a Virtue. Celeste works to prove her sisters innocence and save her from execution and in doing so, unearths secrets and conspiracies.

Celeste and Mariel are sisters. Both are half-breeds— Celeste, who can pass as Elect, had a comparatively privileged upbringing with her father, and Mariel stayed in the Fallen slums with their mother. The sisters are now reunited and both working in a gambling and drinking establishment called Eden. Celeste, wracked by guilt about leaving Mariel, is her fiercest protector.

Tread of Angels is a standalone novella from one of the writers creating some of the most interesting worlds in fantasy right now. It's quite different from The Sixth World and Between Earth & Sky books— it's set in a fantastical take on the Wild West, and our protagonist is both more innocent and less honest of a narrator than the main POV characters.

It's a quick read and an interesting set-up. I enjoyed it. The combination Wild West + dark fantasy set-up was unusual and fun, but we see relatively little of it and it's paired with a pretty predictable mystery. I think it may work better as a novel— more pages would have given the characters/plot room to flourish and to smooth out the exposition dumps.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The concept has so much potential but feels unfinished.

I have read and loved novellas in the past, but the scope of this one felt more suited for a novel format. I wanted to know more about this western-inspired fantasy world; it is gritty and dark and atmospheric, but it lacks complexity. For example, there were mentions of a war in the past, but not enough context regarding the ideals of the opposing sides or the consequences as the war played out. I wanted more about the mechanisms of government, the magic(?) system (is “divinity” magic or alchemical?), and the characters. The small glimpses we got into the love affair of Abraxas and Celeste had me practically foaming at the mouth for more, but ultimately many characters felt flat.

I suppose that wanting more is as much a weakness of this novella as it is a testament to the author. It’s clear she is a talented storyteller. The pacing moved at a delicious clip and the dialogue felt real and urgent (as Celeste rushes to save her sister in a single day). With more development, this could have been a masterpiece. It touches on some current issues (church vs state, discrimination based on race and class, corruption in government) in really interesting ways. I appreciate that Roanhorse doesn’t shy away from heavy topics, but again, I just needed more in order for those ideas and themes to feel fully realized.

This is by Rebecca Roanhorse, the author of Black Sun and other books as well. This is very much in a whole different genre, not only because it’s a novella so a short book but it’s a western whodunit mystery. So it takes place in a historical setting about a long ago war between God and Lucifer and we follow two sisters but one of them is accused of murder and taken away by the angelic justice system and the other sister has to save her. This is unlike anything I’ve seen from this author so I’m curious how this story will go for her fans. I personally enjoyed it!