3.0
Angel Mage
ByPublisher Description
A new epic fantasy masterpiece from Garth Nix, bestselling author of the Old Kingdom series.
More than a century has passed since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite, fleeing the Fall of Ystara. But she emerges from her magical sleep still beautiful, looking no more than nineteen, and once again renews her single-minded quest to be united with her lover, Palleniel, the archangel of Ystara.
It’s a seemingly impossible quest, but Liliath is one of the greatest practitioners of angelic magic to have ever lived, summoning angels and forcing them to do her bidding. Four young people hold her interest: Simeon, a studious doctor-in-training; Henri, a dedicated fortune hunter; Agnez, a glory-seeking musketeer; and Dorotea, icon-maker and scholar of angelic magic.
The four feel a strange kinship from the moment they meet, the beginnings of a found family, but do not suspect their importance. And none of them know just how this morally grey heroine plans to use them, as mere pawns in her plan, no matter the cost to everyone else . . .
Fans of Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, and Leigh Bardugo will fall in love with Angel Mage, a feminist fantasy of magic and monsters that takes place in an alternate European world ruled by fearsome magic and deadly passions.
* PW Best Books 2019 * Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year (2020) *
- Angelic Magic: Discover a world where icons of ivory and gold are the key to summoning fearsome angels—and forcing them to obey.
- Musketeer Fantasy: In an alternate Europe inspired by the swashbuckling tales of The Three Musketeers, a glory-seeking cadet must navigate deadly court intrigue and even deadlier passions.
- High Stakes Fantasy: A single-minded quest to reunite with a lost love could either save the world or unleash a second magical plague, and the heroine doesn’t care which.
- Unwitting Pawns: Follow a doctor, a fortune hunter, a musketeer, and an icon-maker who feel a strange kinship, unaware they are merely pieces in a century-spanning game.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesAngel Mage Reviews
3.0
“Don’t mind me I’m trying out .5 ratings for the first time 🫣 Feeling a bit saucy… edit: went down to 3 because I don’t have time for all that
You know what I’ve noticed is that whenever I write a review about a book I didn’t like or feel conflicted about, I always start it off by explaining why I read it in the first place. So I suppose I’ll keep up the tradition!
I’ve been reading the Hebrew Bible and recently I finished the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel is roughly dated to only a couple centuries before the rise of Christianity, with the back half of the book being written during the Maccabean Revolt. I won’t talk too much about it because this is not a review of the Bible. The most interesting thing about the Book of Daniel is that it is one of the only biblical books which names angels and incorporates them in a significant capacity. Two types of angels are shown, both with a human form: messenger angels and national representative angels.
Gabriel is the messenger angel who interacts most closely with Daniel. He is described as “a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” (Daniel 10:5-6)
We also learn about the archangel Michael who guards the nation of ancient Israel. When Israel wars with Canaan, Michael is engaged in angelic battle with the angel of Canaan.
In the first thousand years of Judaism polytheism was common, but there were also groups who were strongly against it. For presumably that reason, the early books of the Bible didn’t go into much detail about angels because the authors were afraid that if the angels had personalities and names, people might start worshipping them. In the days of the book of Daniel, that was no longer a concern, so… we got a little more detail.
Angels in the Bible are thought to have originally been either physical manifestations of the Abrahamic God or representations of gods from other cultures (demons also serve that role). In Ezekiel, which I haven’t read, the author apparently describes the “biblically accurate” angels people are really into these days: the spinning wheels, etc. In the original Hebrew I think the heavenly creatures described by Ezekiel vs the humanoid angels described by Daniel are meant to be different “species”. However, in English we only have one word for heavenly creatures, which is angels. So they’ve all become the same thing.
Anyway I was really interested in angels after reading the Book of Daniel and I wanted to read a fantasy incorporating them. I found this book. Since it was by Garth Nix, who wrote Sabriel (which I really enjoyed), I checked it out.
The angels in Angel Mage are noncorporeal entities which must be summoned by the use of an icon crafted in their traditional “image”. Each has their own “scope”. The archangels are the angels whose scope encompasses the entire nation. There are different ranks of angels which align slightly with Ezekiel’s descriptions of them; the more powerful the angel you summon, the more time you drain from your own life.
I really liked this magic system, although a lot of interesting questions about it were raised in-text and I would have liked to have those questions actually answered. Since a major driver of the plot is a human being in love with an angel, I also would have liked to see more of the angels. Even just a few more hints of personality etc would have helped the angels seem more like beings with their own mysterious agenda rather than beings totally controlled by humans.
Angel Mage incorporates angels into its magic system, but it’s also a riff on The Three Musketeers. There are many thinly-veiled references to French words, regions and names, in the vein of “France” becoming “Sarance.” The story, setting, and characters are inspired by The Three Musketeers. I can’t say much on that because I actually haven’t read The Three Musketeers, but I definitely felt a strong influence which almost made me wonder if I should have done some background reading first… but that’s not necessary to understand the story.
I really enjoyed the 17th-century-ish setting of the book; it felt very fresh to me. We have early modern warfare technology like muskets (duh) and cannons, but the art of the blade has not yet fallen out of fashion. The society is strictly hierarchical, but our characters are all very bold and just a little bit edgy, as I imagine the original Musketeers were, so it has a bit of a classic “tale of adventure” quality to it. There are four different factions all vying for power within the capital city: the Queen, the King, the Cardinal, and the Watch.
And with our protagonists having four different professions (Musketeer; doctor; clerk; and icon-maker) we can see how angelic magic plays a large role in the daily lives of these people. To the extent that our doctor character is amazed people can do surgery without angelic intervention.
The other major difference to the world besides magic is that this is a very racially diverse society where gender discrimination doesn’t exist. This is more of just a fun thing (hey, it’s nice to read about women being respected in positions of power as a little escapism) than something that’s really thoughtfully integrated into the worldbuilding or anything.
The original plot to this book is a fun although simple adventure story. A group of people (“Refusers”) has fled their plague-ridden country. The refugees are heavily discriminated against because they have a biological resistance to angelic magic. They’re considered “cursed.” They’re treated honestly terribly and forced to do menial labor. I guess they’re a parallel to the Jews in Egypt during the events of Exodus. Their Moses, however, is a young woman with nefarious intent. Our four main characters somehow get wrapped up in all of this while just trying to do their jobs.
As to the Refusers, I thought their situation made sense (being magic-less in a world full of magic is grim), but I was disappointed that the wide-spread discrimination against them was a) never truly acknowledged by our main characters and b) actively practiced by them.
And with the evil savior figure… I thought the chapters in her perspective were fun. But something about the way she was written rubbed me the wrong way. She’s almost simultaneously infantilized, sexualized, and demonized. Honestly it’s something Joss Whedon could have written (high potential, gross execution) and that’s not a compliment.
Our four main characters, besides their complacency in the treatment of the Refusers, were enjoyable and their sibling-like bond was touching.
The writing style is readable. I actually learned lots of new words. Otherwise it’s very much a vessel for the story rather than being beautiful in its own right. I think that’s fine, since it’s YA.
All of this would have been worth a critical 4 stars (loved the setting; mixed on the plot + characters) except for one character: Roquefort. Roquefort is in a position of power over a 17 year old girl and performatively hates herself for being attracted to said girl (and yet doesn’t do anything to hide her attraction). Basically she’s the female version of all the most annoying male love interests ever. This was written in 2019. Garth Nix, I need you to know that this is still just as creepy when a female character does it. So yes, one character alone managed to drop this book’s rating down to 3 stars.
And if I somehow ever come face to face with Roquefort… it’s on sight.
Although I enjoy Nix’s worlds, I don’t think I’ll be venturing much more into his stories outside of the Abhorsenverse. However, I think I just bumped The Three Musketeers up a lot on my TBR.
Miscellaneous:
- I want to read more Christianity-inspired fantasy in the future. So far I’ve read this and Vespertine (sort of Catholic with the relics and saints and demons)”
“The most interesting part of this one is the magic system and how it relates to oppression in this world. Angel magic through iconography creates an aesthetic that the dark academia girlies will love. The plot meanders a bit, but ends exactly the way you think it should once the central conflict is revealed. An interesting read, but not as coherent as Old Kingdom.”
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