A new 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 … 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 but do not suspect their importance. And none of them know just how Liliath 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 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) *
more
This is clever, fun, and has marvellous roles for all sorts of characters. A triumph.
Garth Nix returns readers to a fantastical realm following various characters that ultimately, do not pull the reader in.
Angel Mage has an incredible and gripping prologue and opening chapter as it launches readers into the premise of the novel. However, once Lilliath awakens from her long slumber, the novel starts to drag as it brings in the other key characters and their importance of the plot. There is a lot of world-building staggered throughout the opening sequence of the novel, but most of it fails to gravitate and pull the reader it. It slows down the pace of the novel drastically.
The novel splits up into four parts, and at a glance, each part is significance. However, it seems like there is so much going on, making it seem as though there are two novels here instead of just one. The way the story splits up into segments donates so much time to introduce the reader into the history of the world and the characters. However, the pacing lacks the energy to keep the reader invested in the story.
It appears the novel would have been better served as a duology so that the story could move faster without being hindered by all the backstory and history.
As for the characters themselves, there is little in the room for character development. The characters are well defined, but they are almost flawless, which denies them the chance to develop as characters. Their dynamics with one another certainly do grow and flourish throughout the novel, but again, if this novel had been a duology, more time could have been spent developing the characters. They balance each other well enough, but their voices lack the energy to captivate the reader. Only Lilliath grabs the reader’s attention because of how the plot is structured, tying her to the history of the land.
Ultimately, while interesting, the pacing of the story lacks the energy to keep the reader invested.
Angel Mage is the best written book I’ve read this year. Garth Nix is a painter with words, everything in this world was vivid, interesting and exciting, combine this with an unique magic system and impressive characters like Liliath, Rochefort, Dorotea and Agnez and the result is an amazing story that kept me engaged until the very last word.
The world building is absolutely epic, there’s angelic magic, a magic “plague”, a mysterious mission, lots of angels summoned, 4 characters (Agnez, Dorotea, Henri and Simeon) that have a bound they can’t explain which leads them to a loyal friendship, a rivalry between Pursuivants (the cardinal’s soldiers) and Musketeers (the queen’s soldiers) and I couldn’t put my Kindle down. This story enthralled me completely, I was invested in these characters’ stories and there was actually a time I found myself rooting for Liliath but also rooting for Agnez, Dorotea, Henri and Simeon. I think this speaks volumes about how deep Garth Nix managed to pull me into this book. I loved this society, how there were so many female strong roles and also the diversity in the story. Yet, I’m rating this book 4 stars and not 5 because there was too much information, too much happening at the same time and I think that I would love this more if there had been more depth to some story lines, for example I wanted much more from Rochefort (and her feelings for Dorothea) and from the rivalry between Pursuivants and Muskeeters. I think this story shouldn’t have been a standalone, I’m hoping that Garth Nix will give us more from this world. I NEED more! Overall, I highly recommend this book and, after writing this review, I am going to order a physical copy from BD because I need this book in my bookshelf so I can reread again and again.
*I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Garth Nix, Katherine Tegen Books and Edelweiss for providing this copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. *