Down in The Sea of Angels is told from the perspective of three characters: a young woman living in 2106 with the power to touch an object and see its history, a man living in 2006 at the start of the tech growth explosion, and an indentured teenager forced to work in a brothel in 1906.

Overall I liked this book but I found the different POVs quite disjointed. Li Nuan's was my favourite by a long mile, in fact, I would have read a book purely about her story. Nathan's was ok, it was a little boring and I wasn't hugely gripped by his revelations about the environment/human rights. (It felt a little basic to me.) Maida (the most prominent character) was actually my least favourite, largely because the writing felt so different to the other two POV's. The exploration of the futuristic and fantasy elements of this book were the weakest parts by a long mile, it was all very 'tell' and not a lot of 'show'. To the point that Maida's chapters could have been a YA book which was in strong contrast to Li Nuan's which were very well written and definitely aimed at an adult audience. All in all, I found the POV jumps a little jarring because of that.

Overall, not a bad book, I just think the scifi and fantasy elements were disappointingly basic and the futuristic world building needed richer development.

I thought this book was great. The concept and visioning were creative, and the plot and pace were exactly what I love in a book. The author did a great job of writing a distinct voice for each author, which was a real feat considering their differing societies and personal demographics. My only small critique would be that there is a bit of “telling” instead of “showing” — for instance, the sociopolitical foundations and norms of the new era are usually just explained by Maida, which is the least interesting way to discover a new world created by a gifted author, and really not necessary if the new world is demonstrated properly (and I think for the most part it is). In particular, I found it distracting that locations in Maida’s timeline were described by cursory reference to the past era (e.g., many lines like, “I went to the place that used to be the wharf”). This might be a shortcut for describing places, but in doing so, it undermines the distinction between the past and the new world, where we are told much knowledge is lost. It’s also not believable that Maida, who has been to SF twice in her life, has geographic recognition of the 100-year-old history of any neighborhood she happens to go grab drinks in. References to old SF locations are only useful to readers familiar with the area; otherwise it robs the reader of any meaningful descriptions. I think it better to describe the areas using typical world-building language and to identify the specific area, use references to landmarks; for those not familiar with SF, they get a feel for the place (which is lacking if the description is just a reference), and for those of us who ARE familiar with SF, we get one of the joys of reading speculative fiction: recognizing the location described, even though our narrator does not, because we exist in a time that is lost to them.

This book follows three people linked through time—one in 1906, one in 2006, and one in 2106. In the future, a cosmic event called the Bloom has awakened psionic abilities in some of the population, but it’s also caused a minor apocalypse. Maida, one of the psions, has the ability to see the history of objects she touches. When she picks up a tea cup, she glimpses the lives of two strangers from the past, setting the stage for three interwoven and compelling storylines.

I really enjoyed this book—it kept me engaged the whole way through. Each character’s journey was interesting, but Li Nuan’s stood out the most to me. Her fight to free herself from indentured servitude had real emotional depth, and I was most invested in her chapters. Nathan was fun; his “awakening” to the environmental consequences of 21st-century life was interesting but had the lowest stakes of the three which made it a little less engaging. Maida had some of the coolest moments, thanks to her powers and relationships with other characters, but her sections also had a lot of “tell instead of show.” There was a fair bit of lore dumping about how the future is somewhat of a collectivist utopia (despite the world having been mostly wrecked - people come together in times of need it seems), which slowed things down for me, especially at the very beginning and very end

Overall, this was a solid read with engaging characters and an interesting premise. If you like time-spanning narratives, speculative fiction, or stories about characters navigating shifting realities, this is worth checking out. Also the cover is really pretty.

It should be mentioned that this book includes abuse, slavery and sexual assault (including of minors, some graphic), as well as drug use and death.