Angels and Mages and Blood Plagues Oh my!
- Cat
- Jul 13, 2019
- 4 min read
New York Times bestselling author and fantasy master Garth Nix delivers a masterpiece with Angel Mage, the story of an ageless young woman with terrifying angelic powers, bent on reuniting with her lover—no matter the cost to anyone else.
More than a century has passed since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus, 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.
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. It is four young Sarancians who hold her interest: Simeon, a studious doctor-in-training; Henri, a dedicated fortune hunter; Agnez, an adventurous musketeer cadet; and Dorotea, an icon-maker and scholar of angelic magic. They are the key to her quest. All become pawns in Liliath’s grand scheme to fulfill her destiny and be united with the love of her life. No matter the cost to everyone else. . . .
Cat's Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I can honestly say that I have not picked up a Nix book since I finished, what I thought, was the Abhorsen trilogy in Middle School, so that would have been around 20007/2008 probably. I was getting into heftier stuff, I had started the Drizzt series after pilfering the first six off of the bottom of my middle brother's shelf, and they noticed nothing was entertaining me in my middle school library. I had also read the Golden Compass series too, so they told our mom that I'd probably like Sabriel! I absolutely did, I remember taking a while to chew them up and get through, as compared to the speed at which I normally devour books. But above all, I remember loving them and wondering why no other books in that age range read the same.
Then I discovered the rest of YA and dove into that, sticking entirely to women authors because I felt they better captured the experience of a teenage girl. I don't think I even really noticed the rest of Nix's books sitting in the YA section, because I surely would have read them, but still.
When I saw the arc for Angel Mage, I already loved the cover(Yes I judge by the cover first, who doesn't?) but then I saw it was a new Garth Nix book! I snatched it up and took it home and then unfortunately had to set it in my organized shelf of arcs so I would finish the ones I needed too first before I let this one consume my mind. But, I've read it now!
Angel Mage was the perfect way for me to get back into Nix's books, and I imagine it might be the same for anyone else who was the same!!! For fans of Nix, this book absolutely will be a return to the magical way that he writes, the way he creates worlds that feel so real, like you could reach out and touch it, like you could turn around and see one of the characters passing by.
For first time readers, it will still be a phenomenally enrapturing read that calls home to the Three Musketeers, that sense of camaraderie and found family that is rarely written well in YA, but is all too common. To growing up surrounded by some kind of religion that used to be so much more magical when you were a kid, yet it doesn't let the dust bunnies hide under the rug. The church is flawed but it's also a genuine way for the powers that be to interact with the world, something that's rarely addressed in fictional religions.
The fashion, the architecture, the culture, all of it sings so strongly of 1700s France, on the precipice of great change. There are a people being exiled and oppressed for their blood, a powerful Queen ruling with a cardinal guiding her hands, and above all, a strong woman who reminds me so much of Joan of Arc's story, and four young people brought together by strange circumstances. Yet, despite all these similarities to real world events, this is it's own beast, entirely new and entrancing.
Women are regularly in power, it is no strange thing to see them everywhere doing as they please. My favorite part is the ease with which Nix diversifies his writing, his characters just are, and that's so incredibly refreshing. One of our main four has a beautiful romance with the head of the Cardinal's guard, a woman named Rochefort who knows how to wield a sword and command her men more than she knows how to flirt. Other than this delightful WLW romance, there isn't really a hint of it anywhere else except maybe in the fact that the Queen has favorites with ladies at court, one of such coming in is the protagonist, Lilliath. So, though I adore romance, it was nice to read a period drama esque romance between these two ladies while everything else was just the relationship between the other four main characters, this found family.
This is a love letter to history lovers, to readers, to writers. A love letter to young women that struggle still to see themselves in the backbones of fantasy worlds because writers still struggle creating these kind of stories, even female authors! It's a gentle reminder that love is love, and a story is a story, and we are all just here to bear witness and spread the tale after.
Garth Nix has done it again!
Comments