This is a hard book to characterize, and even more difficult to sum up in just a few – or even a few dozen – pithy phrases. But I’m certainly going to try.

A big part of that difficulty is that it isn’t just one story. It’s three stories that are loosely linked – even though that’s not obvious at the beginning – centered around three individuals who do not know what they have to do with each other any more than the reader does.

They’re also not experiencing the same thing – or even the same sort of thing, although the first and third are closer in that particular than either of them would ever imagine.

But there is one thing that they share from the beginning. All of their stories, all of their histories and hopes and dreams, take place in San Francisco, a place that has carried the hopes and dreams of so very many since long before the city boomed during the California Gold Rush.

In 1906, Li Nuan, 16 years old, sold by her parents into slavery, forced into sex work, whose very existence is proof that slavery was not eradicated by the Civil War, is ‘in service’ to one of the Tong bosses who ‘owned’ pre-Earthquake Chinatown. And the earthquake is coming, the end of the world as Li Nuan knows it. But she’s seeing visions of the quake, the fire that follows, and the death and destruction that results. And those visions have told her that she can seize the freedom she yearns for in the chaos – if she’s willing to do whatever it takes to claim it.

Nathan Zhao in 2006, an up-and-coming tech designer, is busy living his very good life without taking too much care for the consequences to the world he lives on. He’s a good man, a good person, he’s got a great job, is in a happy long-term relationship with his boyfriend, they’re free to be openly gay – which he knows is a privilege – and life is, well, good. The vision that he gets, both of Li Nuan’s past and of the environmental destruction to come in his near future, opens his eyes and sets his life on a different course than he’d originally planned.

The reason that both Li Nuan and Nathan are having these life-changing visions is Maida Sun. Maida is a historian and more importantly, is gifted with psychometry in a future where a significant minority of the population has been gifted with psionic powers of one stripe or another. Maida can see the past of any object she touches, and she’s working on a cultural reclamation project in the ruins of what her post-apocalyptic society calls ‘The Precursor Era’. In other words, us.

And that’s where all the links get filled in – and pushed out into the future. Nathan and his friends buried a time capsule in 2006, a capsule that is uncovered as part of the project Maida is working on. In that capsule, along with photos, memorabilia, a few personal items and a bit of outright junk, is a jade tea cup from the mid-19th century. A cup that passed through Li Nuan’s hands, down the generations to her great-grandson Nathan, and into that box only to emerge a century later under the hands – and into the powers – of Nathan’s great-great-niece, Maida.

At a point where Maida’s post-apocalyptic world is on the cusp of descending into the dystopia they initially avoided. But only will continue to do so at this terrible, hopeful juncture if Maida can seize her day and her freedom as decisively as her ancestor Li Nuan did hers.

Escape Rating A-: This is one of those stories that made me think pretty much all the thoughts and feel like it brought up all the readalikes. Which is only fair as it’s not one story but three stories and they aren’t as similar as one might expect in a single book.

At the same time, it did feel as if all the stories revolved around the idea of ‘carpe diem’, even though the days that each person in the change needed to seize were very different. Still, when they each grabbed hold of that day out of hope for the future, they each moved the story forward into the hope that they reached out for.

A virtuous circle rather than the vicious cycle that begins each of their stories.

Li Nuan’s story is the most harrowing – not surprising considering the conditions under which she was brought to California. Nathan is honestly having a lot of fun in his part of the story – at least until he sees that his world is not only due for a great big fall – but a fall that he’s likely to live to see and and can’t continue his own personal revel toward the cliff even if he can’t do much to fix the wider world.

But the story is centered in Maida Sun’s early 21st century post-apocalypse. Initially her world seems filled with hope of a brighter day for everyone – even if most people are still cursing the ‘Precursors’ (meaning US) for leaving such a big damn mess to clean up.

Still, the human side of Maida’s world is filled with hope. The ‘Collapse’ of the Precursor civilization in the 2050s, the climatic changes, the wars and death and destruction that followed, set humanity up for a more cooperative future – with the help of the great ‘Bloom’ of auroras that surrounded the planet and gave rise to psionic powers among a percentage of the population.

But by Maida’s 2106, the new normal has been normal long enough, and the devastation of the collapse is just far enough back in time and memory, that some people are starting to think that the ‘good old days’ were better than they were – at least for THEIR sort of people. Whatever that might mean. And, because humans are STILL gonna be human, there’s always someone just watching and waiting to take advantage of that impulse. By creating a new scapegoat, giving a new generation someone to hate and fear, and telling as many big lies as they can to weaponize society so that a new authoritarian regime can rise and start the whole terrible cycle all over again.

It’s hard to miss the historical parallels, because the playbook being used is old and familiar and all the more frightening for being followed right this very minute. What gives Down in the Sea of Angels its hopeful ending is that Maida Sun and the psions are finally living in a time when more people seem to want the world to get better for everyone – or alternatively that she and the psion community have the truth on their side and the opportunity to nip the forces of regression, repression and evil in the bud before the tide has turned completely in their favor.

More than a few of all of those thoughts I mentioned at the top before I close. One of the reasons this story worked as well as it did is that San Francisco is a bit of a liminal place and its history as well as its reputation for being a bit ‘out there’ for multiple definitions of that phrase fit the story. (For an entirely different fantasy featuring San Francisco’s liminality take a look at Passing Strange by Ellen Klages.)

Maida’s particular early 22nd century was fascinating because it didn’t follow the usual patterns for post-apocalyptic stories – or at least there was clearly a delay between the apocalypse and the dystopia – or we missed the first wave of dystopia and this is the attempt of a second dystopia to take hold. It’s a very different post-apocalyptic vision from either The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed or The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow and the contrasts are quite interesting.

As much as the rising tide of authoritarianism in Maida’s time resembles both the rise of Nazi Germany AND the present political situation in the United States, the way that the anti-psion sentiment is created and promoted by the powers-that-be owes more than a bit, in the fictional sense at least, to the anti-mutant sentiment in the X-Men movie series.

I’ll confess that I picked this up because I absolutely adored the author’s debut novel, The Circus Infinite – and I was hoping to get a similar feeling from this book. In the end I did enjoy Down in the Sea of Angels very much, but not quite as much as Circus, and I think that’s because of the split story lines and how long it took them to figure out that they were part of each other. Howsomever, I did absolutely love the audio narration by Eunice Wong, and it was lovely to hear her voice again, telling me a marvelous story.

What if history existed out of time?

I just finished reading Down in the Sea of Angels a Sci Fi & Fantasy book written by Khan Wong. I read the AudioBook published by Dreamscape Media. NetGalley gave me a copy of this book. I listened to this book on NetGalley. It is a stand alone book.

This book is a must read if you like: Social commentary, post Apocalyptic Themes, deep subject matter, and thought provoking fiction.

We follow a woman with a unique gift, she can sense histories of items with a single touch. But when one item gives her visions so strong it is like she is experiencing them she has to figure out why and how to help people in the past before she looses her future.

This book is well written with a moody, serious tone. The main character is pragmatic while the others she channels are drastically different. Each of them is going through a new awakening.

This book was almost too intense for me. Be sure to read the content warnings. I fast forwarded one part (though historically speaking it was not as intense as it could have been). I also struggled with the ending feeling too simplistic.

This book was different because i could see this sort of apocalypse happening. Though it had fantasy elements, it very much felt real and like a commentary on our society.

I loved the journey of the character in 2006. I think his struggles are struggles we can all relate to.

The ending did not satisfy me. I don’t want to give spoilers, but it felt like I was missing the last quarter of the book.

I felt the narrator was clear and connected well with the story.

As a whole I'm glad I read this book, but I would not recommend it to everyone. In addition to the content warnings there are very clear statements of political stances where certain characters are referred to as stupid or absurd if they didn't align with a certain political view. However it has some beautiful writing and the way the plot is weaved worked very well....until the climax.

Content Warnings: Rape, adult language, Sexual content, death, racism.

Three stories, from 1906, 2006, and 2106, are united by an object - a jade teacup. In 2106, Maia is a psion who can “read” objects, and she understands the past of the teacup’s previous owners: a young girl sold into slavery in 1906 San Francisco and a carefree young man in 2006 who spends much of his time preparing for or recovering from Burning Man. Yet people with powers like Maia are in trouble in 2106, and she must find a way to protect herself and what she knows about the past.
I enjoyed the different timelines of this novel, especially the 2106. It was interesting to contrast the lives of the young people in the different centuries. The audiobook narration was very good. 4 1/3 stars!
My thanks to the author, publisher, @DreamscapeLore, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook #DownintheSeaofAngels for review purposes. Publication date: 22 April 2025.

I am very grateful to netgalley for giving me the chance to review this audiobook.

Told from 3 different points of view and time lines the story flows very well and the pacing is great. I was invested in each character and their specific struggles.

A lot of impactful topics are covered in this audiobook and listeners are advised to pay attention to the trigger warnings at the beginning. I particularly felt Nathan's ethical dilemmas to be reflective of those faced by most people living in the world today.

The narrator of the story did a fantastic job of keeping the listener interested to the end.

I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in global issues and ethical/moral issues.

I haven't read this author's previous novel, however I would be interested to read/listen to it after listening to this.

Down in the Sea of Angels layers multiple timelines like a quilt. The stories integrate and stand alone. Themes of the book serve as warnings of our societal future and cautionary tales from the past. I was gripped by the story from the start, following multiple characters as they navigate their own time periods.
The writing is beautiful- descriptive enough to build a convincing San Francisco, but also not overly detailed (Ever read a book by an author that lives in a particular city, and feel like they know TOO much, and you feel like an outsider because of it? This book doesn't do that!). Characters have layers and depth. Each once feels like a distinct person-- even if I missed the chapter opening while listening to the audio book, it was easy to quickly figure out which character was being featured.
The narrator did an excellent job keeping the exposition just as gripping as dialogue. Her voices for the different characters came across genuine and had enough variance to make it easy to track who was speaking.

Khan Wong builds alternate worlds and captures our current world at the same time. There's an ephemeral quality to the story that had me completely ensnared. The book hangover is real; I miss the soothing-but-riveting narration of the audio book already.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

3.5 Stars
I will admit that I picked this book solely for the time travel vibes, as I'm entering my sci-fi/fantasy era. However, I felt that with this book, I really connected more with the historical fiction elements rather than the sci-fi/fantasy vibes.

In this book, we follow three people across three different periods linked by a teacup - one in 1906, one in 2006, and one in 2106. Our futuristic girl, Maida, possesses psychic abilities that allow her to connect to people's histories through various objects. Her abilities enable her to see into Nathan's 2006 life and Li Nuan's life in 1906. Nathan is experiencing an environmental awakening in 2006, and we follow him as he becomes a social justice warrior, which didn't interest me. Li Nuan's story was difficult to read as it explores her ordeal with sex trafficking and the accompanying sexual violence.

Li Nuan and Maida ended up being my favorite POVs, but I felt we barely spent enough time with each of their stories because of the frequent switches, which caused me to lose focus. Be sure to check out the trigger warnings before picking this one up. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy multi-POV sci-fi/fantasy with a touch of historical elements.

There seems to be a trend of books that offer political commentary but without telling any kind of interesting story with engaging characters; I'm happy to say that Down in the Sea of Angels didn't forget this element. The three different time periods are all compelling and the sci-fi concepts are explored and depicted in neat ways.

A jade teacup connects Li Nuan in 1906, a sex-trafficked Chinese immigrant in a brothel in San Francisco, Nathan in 2006, a tech-designer and hedonist, and Maida Sun, a psychometrist who is able to touch objects and know their history, in 2106.

The main storyline focuses on Maida, who lives during a time after the Bloom, where people developed different psyonic abilities ranging from clairvoyance to telekinesis to her own ability, psychometry. Maida finds herself at the crux of yet another historic culture shift as the politicians reigning over the area once known as San Francisco seek to curtail the power of psyons. Each main character in their timeline finds themselves at the crux of their lives - Li Nuan has been forced to transition from being a housemaid into the brothel, and Nathan is forced to recognize his contribution to the underlying and hidden horrors of capitalism.

I really enjoyed the concept of this novel - looking at different characters through time while they're each separated by one hundred years and imagining how California would change as the story goes into the dystopian setting of 2106. Additionally, I learned a lot about the horrific treatment of Chinese people during the early 1900's and the bait and switch that occurred for young girls who immigrated to the US only to find themselves forced into sex work.

I found myself having challenges with how the characters worked through their situations - the inner monologues of all three characters felt repetitive and as a shortcut to explicitly tell how the characters felt and how bad each of these situations are rather than showing through the actions of the characters and those around them. Some of the monologuing felt melodramatic after a while and Nathan's story in particular did not feel nuanced in terms of how to handle the realities of capitalism and chiding folks for how they live in capitalism.

I did listen to this as an audiobook and really do enjoy Eunice Wong's storytelling - this is a big book with a lot of emotional depth, but just didnt quite hit the mark for me.

Thanks very much to NetGalley and to Dreamscape Media for the Advanced Copy.

Three individuals separated by 200 years are linked by their physical connection to a jade teacup in this dystopian sci-fi novel. In 1906, 16-year old Li Nuan is a victim of (sex-)trafficking, fighting for her freedom in the slums of Chinatown. In 2006, a man working at the Burning Man’s festival confronts the societal inequity and climatological collapse of his time, as he’s composing a time-capsule that is to be buried during the festival. In 2106 in a post-climate-collapse future, a woman with the psionic ability to “read” an objects history looks into the past of a jade teacup, whilst being scrutinized by the authorities for her skills.

What I liked:
This book was a mixed bag for me. Although I really liked the themes the novel addresses, and liked parts of the stories individually, I felt like the whole was so much less than the sum of its parts. It’s a novel with strong ideas, which I appreciate. There’s a lot to contemplate after you finish the final page, and the novel is written in such a way that it makes these themes accessible to readers that are relatively new to them. I liked the plot well enough, and enjoyed puzzling along with the characters to unravel how their stories might become connected.
In terms of accessibility: the book is released in e-book, paperback and audio. I can recommend both the audio and the e-book, but the audio in particular has excellent narration that elevated the story for me.

What I didn’t like:
For a novel that’s hinges on the idea of connections through time, the connection between these three storylines felt incredibly flimsy. Switching between timelines often felt more like interruptions in the flow of the story, than adding to it. I also had a strong preference for some of the stories over the others. Maida’s story was probably the most interesting to me, and I’d have preferred it to have taken centerstage, whilst offering the other two stories more so as flashbacks. Li Nuans story has the potential to be incredibly powerful, but does not get enough page-time to delve into the atrocities that it “namedrops”. That made it very hard to read for me personally. We get glimpses at horrific sexual- and racial violence committed against minors, but there’s too little time to explore it with the care and attention it needs. I would’ve loved a full novel on Li Nuan, but as a smaller part of this narrative, I felt the incredibly heavy topics weren’t handled with the care I’d have wanted.
Nathan was just insufferable as a character. He came across as incredibly naïve to me; a grown man, only now realizing that social injustice and climate-impact are a thing…?! I understand the story that was being told here, but it had too strong ‘woke-privileged-teen-in-adult-man’s-body-vibes” to me.
Again, it overall made it into an unbalanced whole that was less than the sum of its parts.

What didn’t help:
On multiple occasions, the marketing draws comparisons to the work of Emily St. John Mandel. It’s in the tagline, the press releases and even the title (Sea of Angels/Sea of Tranquility seems almost deliberate). I don’t think that comparison does Down in the Sea of Angels any favours. I have to admit that it was a big part of why I requested an ARC, as Mandel is one of my all-time favourite authors, but that parallel was part of my disappointment in Sea of Angels. It simply lacks the nuance and literary mastery that Mandel has honed over years of writing, and selling it as “for fans of Emily St. John Mandel” might just not get it in the hands of an audience that is going to love it.
Something similar can be said about the cover. The bright and colourful art would be more fitting for a cozy-sci-fi, which is a tonal mismatch to the actual story’s content.

Many thanks to the Angry Robot and Dreamscape Audio for providing me with an (audio-)ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a unique sci fi/fantasy novel with an eccentric premise.
Our 3 main characters live in a time span 100 years apart (1906, 2006 and 2106) and they are all connected by a tea cup.
One character is a little girl sold to a Chinese brothel, the other is a scientist who likes to party, the third is a woman in our future with a clairvoyance.
Throughout the book we uncover why they are connected, we explore a lot of really cool sci fi themes, we talk about pollution and connectedness.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved the sci fi elements; the idea of humans one day developing physic abilities to heal the world from destruction through understanding. I loved the idea of using animals as conduits between worlds. This book hit a lot of those deep, spiritual topics and I love those thought provoking bits.
What I couldn’t appreciate in this book was the descriptive details given about Li Nuans’ abuse at the brothel. I’ve read a lot of books that show just how bad humanity can be, but this felt unnecessary. Knowing that a male had to visualize it then put it to paper was repulsive. Her character arc was welcomed, but it honestly wasn’t convincing. You can’t go from traumatized to savior without some serious healing or training in between.

I’m at a loss on what to rate this, 3 feels too low because I did enjoy a lot of elements in the book…but 4 feels too high since it had a lot of misses.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

This is a very interesting book it's scifi fantasy but we also focus on segregation and sex trafficking and racism this was so gripping I couldn't put it down incredible listening to each main characters stories and about how both their individual lives and connective lives develop

After the reorganization of the world that humanity nearly destroyed and with it themselves, was an event called the bloom. After certain people discovered they had unique abilities. One of these is a woman who can read the history of an object as it passed from owner to owner. Fresh from the academy with top honors she takes a job assisting in a historical excavation and restoration project. Unearthed is a teacup that draws her in so deep that it sets off a chain connection that won't let go even when she does.

In a time not so long before our modern day is an engineer who's becoming disillusioned with his job. When a series of protests wakes him to the destructive nature of our supply chain and consumer economy he suddenly feels not only like his work is meaningless but even his greatest passion and entertainment is also excessively detrimental. He becomes haunted at every turn unable to unsee how desperate the global situation is.

Near the start of the 19th century is a girl sold into servitude to the Chinese turf boss. More than territory, he holds the police that patrol it in his pocket. Forced into performing both domestic duties and sexual service, she is desperate to find her way out. She is frozen by fear of the consequences of failure. Yet she has an impression that there is danger for her beyond her captor and in it also hope. A fiery one.

“Down in the Sea of Angels” is a book that spirals through timelines. Within these coils is a story about stewardship, resistance, connection, defiance, and fellowship. While at its core it may be a climate-dystopia, in some ways the theme seemed more of a method to show interconnection that went beyond objects or bloodlines. It is equally a commentary on the repetition of the human behavior that has withstood time thus far.

For some readers this may come off as too on-the-nose of heavy handed. .Personally I think it is well worth a read. First and foremost I have to praise the strong character work. Each voice was not only distinct but each timeline was its own genre. The 1900s was a story of oppression. The 2000s was a philosophical and moral reawakening. The third was an all out sci-fi political drama with its own high adrenaline moments. The very method of laying out the different timelines felt fresh to other flip flopping or multi-generational tales. The cherry on top was the various friend and community groups. Each provided really great side characters that contributed not just as filler to the central character's stories but were active in it.

A really fun romp through time that is on occasion absolutely depressing and nihilistic.On the flip side it is also bittersweet, hopeful, and empowering.

This was such a great STORY with such important messages about misinformation, the othering of people we see as different, and the future of the planet. That being said, I found myself bored a bit of the time. Not all of the time, but some. I think perhaps it was the writing. Either way, these characters are phenomenal, and the plot is original and important. I feel like it's possible I could have done without the bits from the perspective of the oldest family member. I think those were the sections that bored me the most, and I wasn't really sure what they were contributing to the overall story except to add more emphasis on the mistreatment of people that we consider "other." The future/dystopian timeline so mirrored much of what is happening in our world today that it felt like humanity is doomed to follow the same destructive circuit over and over again, but I did feel like it ultimately ended on a happy note. Definitely an interesting read with important messages. I just wish it had been a little more gripping.