All the Dr. Greta Helsing books have serious business going on under a light coating of froth; for my money, "Strange New World" is the standout so faAll the Dr. Greta Helsing books have serious business going on under a light coating of froth; for my money, "Strange New World" is the standout so far.
It's like this: After the events of book 3, Heaven and Hell have detente, aka the infernocelestial Accords, so everything should be peachy, except of course that it isn't. Heaven's signatory, the archangel Gabriel, is increasingly self-isolated and irritable, and someone's shooting poisoned darts, which inconvenience angels but land demons in Erebus General Hospital. Oh, and the blip in reality resulting from the near termination of the universe last time has produced some data anomalies that have drawn attention from a brainy researcher: coverup urgently required.
How often do you happen across a plot that is simultaneously (a) scary and fun; (b) a MacGuffin in its entirety? I can't do more than hint at the payoff without spoiling the whole thing, so I'll leave it at this: Keep an eye on the angel Adariel. And when you're finished reading, see if you don't find yourself with the phrase "I am that I am" rattling around in your head like the world's most philosophical earworm.
Thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the ARC....more
Full confession: I balked, briefly, at the opening line: I urgently wanted to cut the words "and left her life behind," because to my ear they weakeneFull confession: I balked, briefly, at the opening line: I urgently wanted to cut the words "and left her life behind," because to my ear they weakened that arresting "On a full moon night, after a day of fasting, the young bride Sorel Kalmans leapt from a window." But When the Angels Left the Old Country was among the best novels I read in 2022, so I persevered, and even if The Forbidden Book's first sentence was a misstep, it was pretty much the last one.
Who are you? is the question at the heart of this novel, and it presents itself almost at once: Sorel, caught like a fox (watch that metaphor as you read this book) in the trappings of a wealthy Eastern European Jewish bride, looks in the mirror:
She might have found the face pretty, had she not been trying to see it as her own, and beneath the plucked brows and lip and the delicate brush of powder over her freckles, she couldn’t find any trace of herself.
But even after she bolts, dresses herself in the clothes she has stolen from a stableboy, and cuts her hair, she's not quite herself, or she's more than herself. Can I tempt readers if I remark that The Forbidden Book is in part a murder mystery, and that it may not always be desirable to get rid of a dybbuk?
I can't discuss what for me was the most intriguing aspect of The Forbidden Book without a major spoiler, so: (view spoiler)[What shall we make of the (implied) future relationship between Sorel and Adela, considering that Isaac's spirit has taken up permanent residence in Sorel's head? Sorel is clearly smitten with Adela; Adela looks at Sorel heatedly more than once, but Sorel believes those heated looks are really for Isaac. And Sorel's appearance seems to shift subtly from time to time, depending on how front-and-center Isaac is. (hide spoiler)]
So identities are mutable and so are desires. Even the Angel of Death turns out to be not one but two, and each Angel is both destructive and salvific in nature.
The Forbidden Book, like When the Angels Left the Old Country, is a road-trip novel, although this time the characters travel back and forth within narrow bounds -- until the end, when, to put it as vaguely as possible, they're about to break free.
What else can I say except that you should hurry off and read this. Thanks to NetGalley and Levine Querido for the ARC: I feel lucky. ...more
A murder mystery, in a remote setting called the Bastion and in what's presumably a distant future -- oh, and the victim is a pope. Said pope has callA murder mystery, in a remote setting called the Bastion and in what's presumably a distant future -- oh, and the victim is a pope. Said pope has called a conclave at which he means to propose that all established religions be abolished, "put[ting] religion directly back in the hands of the people," whatever that means considering that "people" have form for creating organized religions so I'd expect them to get right back to it. Anyway, this pontiff is not only surprisingly naive about human history but also dead and it's not clear who, among the inhabitants and visitors to the Bastion, holds the trifecta of motive, means, and opportunity.
Our investigators are Scribe IV, an automaton who's in charge of the Bastion; Quin, an "unaffiliated investigator" (unexplained, but something like a private eye?), and Angel, an angel -- of the wheel-of-fire, thousand-eyes variety, but fortunately xe can shapeshift so appears to Scribe IV and Quin as human-ish most of the time. Angel's participation is especially helpful because angels somehow outrank the Drowned Sisterhood, an order of maybe-nuns who resemble anglerfish both physically and in their emergence from the deep sea, and whom you really, really don't want taking charge of any situation involving crime and punishment what with their fondness for subjecting the guilty (or "guilty") to Drowning. Drowning seems to be what it sounds like, only continuing in perpetuity.
Helpful supporting roles are played by Quin's younger sister, Lena, and Quin's sort-of ex, sort-of lover the angel Starling, aka Murmuration. (That's what I call inspired naming.)
Yes, okay, this is all wackadoodle. No, the worldbuilding isn't sufficiently developed. No, I could not stop reading, and no, I was not at any point bored. It would be sort of great if this turned out to be the prequel of a proper novel in which we find out what happens after Drowning Deep's open ending, but whatever this is I'll take it. Also, the means by which the murder is committed gets full marks for ingenuity.
Thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley; this is my baffled but honest review....more
[ETA, April 21, 2024: It appears that "Moon" has engaged in unpleasant shenanigans under a number of pseudonyms, and in particular that they aren't La[ETA, April 21, 2024: It appears that "Moon" has engaged in unpleasant shenanigans under a number of pseudonyms, and in particular that they aren't Latine, as they purport to be. The relevant gdoc, with screenshots, is here.
It's a pity for a number of reasons, among which is that the books I've read by this writer can stand on their own merits; there was no need for "Moon" to pretend to be anyone they weren't.]
Well, that sure is an interesting choice of title: the verse in question is "Thou shalt not have strange gods before me," as it appears in the Douay Bible if you're a trad English-speaking Catholic, or "You shall have no other gods before me" if you're going with the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. Who or what God is in this strange and wonderful novella is an open question, but one of the lovers is an angel -- fallen, like, he says, almost all of his kind.
When I say "an angel," I don't mean a pale personage with long, flowing locks, a white robe, and white wings. Ariel's form, when he's not in a human body, is far, far more alien than that. Also, even in full-out angel form he's brown, as is (er, obviously) the other MC, Diego López, who's the POV character. And as for gods of any kind, perhaps Diego and Ariel are both gods; at any rate, Ariel treats sex as worship and submission.
Lord, the sex in this story. So luxurious, so arresting. The elements of submission and ownership only make it better if you're at all inclined to like that sort of thing, which I absolutely am. I think I highlighted at least portions of every sex scene. "Ariel opened his mouth over Diego's center. Licked and kissed. He was unnaturally warm, tending to Diego's clit with his tongue, lapping at him, sucking eagerly at slickened, swollen flesh. Diego let his head hang heavy, face tipped toward the ceiling, panting and moaning. ... Ariel held the back of Diego's knees and pushed his legs toward his chest, widening him, spreading him open."*
By the way, Ariel in angel form has four arms. Enviable if you've ever been having sex and suddenly found yourself bitterly resentful of having just two.
There is, I might as well add, a plot here, which the title's borrowing the name of a biblical book might clue you in on. And there's ... a theology, I guess I have to call it, although it doesn't hinge on any entity recognizable from the big three monotheistic religions. I'm not even sure the word "spiritual" exactly applies to a faith so deeply connected to sexual desire. Shut up, I know there exist religious rituals that involve sex, but I'm 100% a materialist and the very word "spiritual" makes me cringe. Speaking of, I would rather not have read the author's bio page, because they very clearly are not 100% or probably even 5% materialist. But I forgive everything for the sake of a story so deeply in love with the flesh and with the world the flesh lives in, and you better believe (sorry) I'm going to read Freydís Moon's next book.
*Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention that Diego is trans, and the difficulties he's faced on that account do get a look into the story; but as far as I could tell he wasn't inwardly conflicted or whatever, so I kind of forgot about it till I was re-reading this review and realized it might rate a mention. Even though it's pretty obvious from the configuration of Diego's genitals?...more
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