The City in Glass

by Nghi Vo

In this new standalone, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.

A demon. An angel. A city that burns at the heart of the world.

The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.

And then the angels come, and the city falls.

Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned.

She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever.

Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.

The City in Glass is both a brilliantly constructed history and an epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire strong enough to burn a world to ashes and build it anew.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance, Novella, Audiobook, Adult, Queer

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2024

About the author

Nghi Vo is the author of the acclaimed novellas The Empress of Salt and Fortune and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind. The Chosen and the Beautiful is her debut novel.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a beautifully written book about how after a bunch of angels destroy a demon's city, the demon curses one of the angels and then they fall in love.

i love nghi vo, but i've always disliked these sort of star-crossed ill-fated romances because they feel instalovey to me. if the stakes are this high there isn't going to be like banter to be charmed by, and in fact this was mostly biting and sky fighting and throwing bits of rotten corpses at each other.

until this became a love letter to a fictional city.

i still didn't love our characters (who felt more like figures than people) or their relationship (you can keep being frenemies creating a culture together as far as i'm concerned), but i love the strange short fantastical books nghi vo keeps coming up with.

bottom line: whatever nghi vo is writing, i'm reading.

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

what if you were one of the angels responsible for destroying a city built up over centuries by a demon and she cursed a bit of herself to follow you forever so you are ostracized by your own kind and return to the rubble of a city forgotten where the SAME demon labors to build it back up again and you can’t help but aid her in that endeavor but she lashes out and tells you to go away for 50 YEARS and you do (because devotion) but return having known humanity better and with a group of refugees fleeing the destruction of their own homes and she makes you BEG for them to remain within the city and NOT ONLY THAT but gift her your wings so you can no longer be free to flee and you allow her to sever your wings willingly and eventually the two of you find peace and raise a trans disaster child together….and that’s not even the end of the story but i’m stopping here bc you all must read this!!

nghi vo you GENIUS

“I want,” he said carefully, “for you to love me as I love you.”

Bookstagram | Blog

[EveStar91 · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the topmost tower of the observatory to the floating docks on the beach, the city of Azril lit up with paper lanterns, with candles, with girls throwing flaming knives and boys in firefly crowns, with passion, with desire, with hatred, and with delight.

This first sentence is representative of the whole book The City in Glass - beautiful writing, extensive imagery and little story. The book follows Vitrine, the demon of Azril, as she guides the rebuilding of the city she loves and her relationship with the angel who caused its destruction.

I enjoyed the flowing lyrical language, but the book seemed too hollow - indeed, like Vitrine's glass cabinet - and I soon found myself impatient for the book to conclude. The premise of forming a city around Vitrine's ideas did keep me invested to finish the book however.

The characterization of the demon and the angel, along with several secondary characters were done well, even if they rarely did something truly interesting. This combined with the lackluster world-building and slow story arc leaves me to think of the book as vignettes of a few people.

As he dug, Vitrine watched with interest as the angel’s shoulders shook. She wondered if his kind, so set on how perfect they were allowed to make the world, could cry, and if so, what emotion might move him to it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Tor and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The audiobook narrated by Susan Dalian was performed very well and suits the tone of the writing.

🌟🌟
[Half a star for the premise and the whole book; 3/4 star for the writing; Half a star for the characters; 1/4 star for the world-building; Zero stars for the story - Two stars in total.]

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The City in Glass is a slow, thoughtful examination of many lifetimes in a city through the perspective of the immortal demon who loves it and watches over the people who inhabit it. And the angel who once destroyed it and is now trapped by a part of the demon. He also will learn to love the city and love her. By turns melancholy and biting, I would definitely call this literary fantasy. It's filled with evocative prose, and the bittersweetness of time. Cycles of life and death, destruction and rebirth. It's not going to be for everyone but I thought it was beautiful. I'm not a fan of the audio narrator for this one. I started listening to it, but ended up deciding to just read it physically. I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own.

[Melanie (meltotheany)]

new nghi vo? *smashing the want to read button with earth-shattering speed*

blog | instagram | youtube | kofi | spotify | amazon

♡ 1.) The Empress of Salt and Fortune ★★★★★
♡ 2.) When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain ★★★★★
♡ 3.) Into the Riverlands ★★★★
♡ 4.) Mammoths at the Gates ★★★★
♡ 5.) The Brides of High Hill ★★★★★

☆ The Chosen and the Beautiful ★★★★
☆ Siren Queen ★★★★

[Samantha (ladybug.books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This book is a very interesting, very pretty contemplation of grief, anger, history and so much more. But it leans a bit too far towards “all vibes no plot” for me and I didn’t really feel the romance aspect of it which made the ending fall flat.

It kind of gave me This Is How You Lose The Time War vibes which I appreciate.

[Ricarda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had an angel begging at the feet of a demon, so of course I'm rating it 5 stars.

[KSIĄŻKOWISKO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, lyrical and utterly captivating. It will end up in my top 10 of 2024 for sure, although I think the style in which this book is written won't be for everyone. After loving "Siren Queen" from Nghi Vo I had quite high hopes for this one and it surpassed them. I loved seeing the world from the perspective of eternal beings, what love, hate, devotion and time means to them... The ending was beautiful and even though I hoped for a different direction, I fully recognize that it wouldn't have been right for this particular story (it was just my wishful thinking). I'm exiting this tale with awe and a broken heart. Thank you, Nghi Vo!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

[P. Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read about a vengeful demon, a cursed angel, and the surprising bonds they make. This was a fantastic read!

[Lexi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overview:

🪽 Angels and demons
🎼 Lyrical prose
⏳ Multi generational story
❤️‍🔥 Enemies to lovers
🕐 Slow Burn
📚 No Plot Just Vibes

Check out more of my opinions on Enemies to Lovers books AND read some quotes from this book on my blog Enemies To Lovers Source

To try to describe this story would be like trying to define grief. Vitrine is an demon who has adopted a city as her own, watching it grow from the seed of a city into something great. Until the powers of heaven burn it all down. Among the rubble and rust of her beloved city she vows to bring it back, and curses one of the angels who destroyed her home.

The City in Glass...oh my. What can I say about this work of art? Reading this beautiful novella is pain, pain and overwhelming grief. It is a book about a mourning that can not be quantified with real world content. Its the story of a city being born, dying, and being reborn again. You follow Vitrine through multiple glimpses into the lives of human beings in the city who are somewhat, almost dreamily aware of her presence. You also follow her trying to put her city back together.

This novella is often non linear, but always comes back to the demon Vitrine in her city of dust, and the angel who won't leave her to mourn alone.

There are two central romances in this story, between Vitrine and her beautiful city, and between her and the man who destroyed it. Never named and simply known as The Angel, he comes in and out of her life through her grief and the two develop a tenuous and complex understanding. While this is NOT strictly a love story, its truly one of the most beautiful enemies to lovers stories i've ever read. much like a city rises from the ashes, a love can be born of the greatest hate imaginable.

The gravitational pull Vitrine and her angel have ripped me apart just as much as the beautiful relationship she had with the thousands of citizens that he murdered. Ive never read a romance framed with such an apocalyptic bleak optimism.

I truly love a good angel and demon story and this is one of the best i've ever read in my life, if not the best.

The City In Glass may not be for everyone because of this. Its a painful and sorrowful read structured like a eulogy and so hard to put into words.

I recommend this book for anyone who loved A Dowry of Blood, The Lies of Ajungo, and This is How You Lose the Time War. If experimental, emotional stories about cities, worlds and pain are your thing, this book is for you.

[lisa (fc hollywood's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

heart is aching, tears are swelling and nghi vo has hit me in the face again :D this is definitely not for everyone but this was nothing short of breathtaking for me

[sassafrass · Rating 2 out of 5]

this felt so self indulgent, in the absolute worst way. a collection of creation myths and character concepts that didn't work in singing hills so were lumped together here. it felt amateurish, complete style over substance, which is why i'm so bitter and annoyed here - i KNOW vo can do better, in fact i know she can do better with this very formula, because she's done it a dozen times over with singing hills!

there was perhaps one moment in the book that i genuinely felt captured some magic where vitrine ripped the angels wings off in a scene that was a mix of horror and eroticism so good i had to stop and re-read it three times but outside of that it was largely made up of what felt like quotes designed to look very good in photosets or taken out of context to be posted on instagram. she even did the deeply cringe sin of triple repeitition in italics: 'a signal waiting for one person who needed to see it, spoke holy and holy and holy. i expect this from tumblr and people trying to hard on ao3, not from this author. and 'had had' turned up twice within about 5 pages of each other, which smacks of laziness to me.

the demon also did not feel particularly demonic. there were occassionaly moments of...extreme pragmatism, i guess. but i think its a pretty poor use of a demon if pragmatic is the best you can do. and before anyone starts on the 'it might not be christian!' then why is there an angel??? why have that dichotomy?

the end note mentions this was written in lockdown, so i'm going to assume vo read a lot of middling destiel fanfiction and hope like the rest of us she has now moved on to something else. hopefully something better, like dune, or one pie-[i am attacked by a thousand bees]

[Jan Agaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a 2 until the beautiful ending 😍 but I think I've finally accepted that I'm far too dumb for Nghi Vo's brilliant writing

[Mai H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

ANHPI Heritage Month 2025 #9

Confirmed Nghi is not the author for me. I don't like THE SINGING HILLS CYCLE series, and this purple prose is not it. That's not to say I never like purple prose. Sometimes I do. To the reviewer that said, "All vibes, no plot," I salute you.

I started and re-started this three times. I rewound sections, but found myself zoning out repeatedly. The premise is exactly up my alley. Angels, demons, and a fallen city? A love that shouldn't be? Say it isn't so.

But it is so. And it was boring. And it was definitely not for me. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be for you. So as always (actually, no, sometimes a book is just bad - but we're not doing that right now), read what you like. I'm not here to police that.

🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio

[John Wiswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Exquisite" keeps coming to mind to describe Nghi Vo's prose, but The City in Glass reminded me why I hesitate to say that. The prose is not merely pretty; it is meticulous, carrying meaning one can unpack, but also which has immediate impact. Details and implications of history lurk in so many descriptions. It is a pleasure to walk into a new world from Vo, just to experience all the new outlines forming a new space. The central character is Mitrine, a demon who once loved a city, watched it destroyed by angels, and now plots a path of revenge. But any pursuit of the superficial plot abandons the evanescent experience of seeing that love blossom, and the many small relationships pop and fade. I would have happily laid in the world for far longer than the pages permitted, save that Mitrine's desires are so palpable that one must follow them. It is a book that swallows you up, sentence by sentence.

The audio is well-produced, with the sort of crisp and restrained narration that matches how I'd imagined the book sounding on the page. It is easy to listen to, quiet and undemanding despite the power underlying the story.

Through NetGalley, I received an Audiobook ARC from the publisher in return for my thoughts.

[Althea ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“it ain’t much, but it’s honest work” - a demon that reminds me more of a greek god actually

for those who have ever fallen in love with a city, something too grand to ever absorb and constantly evolving, it’s yours as much as it is everyone else’s. you’re a part of it all the same. fast-paced and something i would call angsty gothic hopecore fantasy that traverses time. interpret that however u will but those are the kind of books i’ve been reaching for recently.

nghi vo’s unusual but tenderly whimsical writing mixed with paranormal fantasy is a sight to behold. an incredibly well-realized world and novel for a standalone that’s less than 300 pages. i’m kind of speechless….

“No one loves a city like one born to it, and no one loves a city like an immigrant. No one loves a city like they do when they are young, and no one loves a city like they do when they are old.”

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

the way these two can not understand social cues is so relatable ngl

[Para (wanderer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful story of grief and rebuilding and maybe even redemption. Vo's prose is stunning as always and Vitrine loves her city so achingly much. She protects it and nurtures it in her own capricious demonish way, and when the angels comes to destroy it, she curses one of them in her despair. Confined to the human world and guilt-ridden, the lone angel tries to atone for the destruction, no matter how much Vitrine hates it.

Though this is technically a short novel, it reads a lot more like a novella. The narration is quite distant, with large time skips, not a style I tend to like, but it didn't bother me too much. Angels and demons are immortals, after all, so it made sense. And I loved the undercurrent of hope among grief. In the afterword the author says it was her pandemic novel, and it shows. No, things will never be as they were, what's been done cannot be undone, and it's devastating, but something new can be built out of the ashes. It feels timely.

Enjoyment: 4/5
Execution: 4.5/5

More reviews on my blog, To Other Worlds.

[Christina Pilkington · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

The City in Glass is a short book, only 216 pages, but it took me awhile to read.

In tone, I found it very similar to This is How You Lose the Time War. It's poetic, has a dream-like quality to the writing, can be abstract, is surreal at times and has an unconventional love story at its core.

At first I didn't know how I felt about the reading experience. It's not a page turner, the characters weren't that likable and for a short book, the story takes place over hundreds of years, so it was hard to be invested in the plot or characters.

But the gorgeous language and the deep themes slowly immersed me in the story. At its heart, The City in Glass is about rising up after tragedy and rebuilding, knowing that though things will never be as they were before, it doesn’t mean you can’t rebuild and shape the future into something beautiful.

Nghi Vo swept me away with her prose, and I will remember the message of this story for a long time. Highly recommended.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for the digital arc. All opinions are my own.

[Kalena ୨୧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars 🌟

Thank you to Tor Books and Tor Dot Com Publishing for a physical arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Let me preface this by saying I had heard of Nghi Vo countless times for their Empress of Salt and Fortune novella series that so many people in the community love, and won several awards, but I had never read anything by them before. I do want to read that series eventually, but it hasn't been very high on my tbr as I was under the assumption 'how much impactful story can you really fit into those tiny books.' Also, when I received this arc I was thrilled to be chosen by the publisher, but I was feeling the same way as this is a novella too. I was also skeptical because Angels vs Demons isn't always my favorite kind of story, it just hasn't always struck my fancy in the past.

Let me say, that I was SO wrong. This novella fits so much more impactful story into it than any other novella I've read and even some full-length novels. I became completely enthralled and guarantee this would have been read in one sitting if I was not working a job over the summer. There's so much to love about this book and if you've had any doubts about reading any of Nghi Vo's work before, I say try it.

This book, as much as I loved it, won't work for everyone. It's short, and the story really doesn't have a super involved plotline, it's a lot of just vibes and following the memories and actions of a demon trying to rebuild her city. I did like how the story switched between memories she had about the city and about what she was doing now to rebuild it. But for people who need a super-involved plot to read a story, this might not be for you. I've always been a character-driven person and a world-driven person, so while the plot is nice most of the time, I have been known to love books like this in the past. I wasn't expecting it to be that honestly, as the synopsis makes this sound like there is so much happening, but I ended up not really minding it. I think it helped connect me more with the main characters than a plot-driven novella of the same sort would have.

There also isn't a lot of worldbuilding outside of the city of Azril, which is the main city where Vitrine (a demon) watches over it until angels come and destroy it (where she begins to rebuild). There was so much focus on the city and I ended up really loving it, I felt so connected to the people that had been there, I felt all of Vitrine's grief for them, and fell in love with the ruins that were left. There's a lot of info dumping, that you don't really need to remember, and that's how I like my worldbuilding honestly (I know I'm in the minority here), but a story like this really doesn't need the whole world outside the city to be built up. It was obvious the author still gave thought to it and had mentions of places around the world, but the main focus was on this one place.

Vitrine herself is an unlikeable main character, solely because in my opinion she is a demon, but even then she's not a traditional demon. It's complicated and I think it's better for one to experience what I mean for themselves in the story than for me to explain it. The angel himself in this story too feels a bit like a side character, but he's very interesting as he influences pieces of the city and Vitrine, just as she influences him in turn. The romance in this book is incredibly slow burn, enemies to lovers and I fell head over heels with how the author wrote it. There's no spice, it's just written so well I felt it in my soul, it's so poetic. The angel in this book set the standard and my expectations for future books. If the guy who is in love with the main character doesn't use his magical essence to turn himself into a library that will never crumble, be destroyed, or disappear for the main character after her favorite city has been ruined over and over again, I don't want it.

Overall this was a great first read of Nghi Vo's work for me, and makes me so excited to go read her other series and novels, I'm thrilled to know what they're like too. For a book that I picked up on a whim, I'm incredibly happy with how much I enjoyed it.

[TW: blood and gore, death of loved ones, severe illness, suicide mentioned, drowning, sexual assault mentioned, war themes]

[Drea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe my expectations were too high but this book disappointed me and not just because I thought this book would be sapphic and it definitely wasn't.

This book is like Good Omens and This Is How You Lose The Time War but if you took the weakest portions of the story and made a whole book about it.

It has the lyrical writing of Time War but none of the beautiful character development and seamless world building. Time War shows that you don't need heavy exposition or space to create an interesting world and focus on your characters, but this book built on the essence of Azril without providing enough context for the rest of the world.

This book is perfect for people that love Crowley in Good Omen, especially David Tennants performance but much darker. If you like the characters interactions in relation to humanity then you will love the second half of this book, unfortunately you will have to force yourself to read the first half of it. And even during the second half, it simply does not do enough work to build the relationship between our main characters to make up for the first 100 pages.

The main problem of the book is that the character of the Angel is as flat as a cardboard cut out. He is a straight edge character with no personality, interests, or motivations. Unfortunately the book really misses the opportunity to create an interesting and unique dynamic between the main characters.

TW:

[Zana]

DNF @ 10%

I don't think I vibe with Nghi Vo's style. Too heavy on the vibes and purple prose with little to no plot.

Don't get me wrong, the descriptions are absolutely gorgeous, but I'm someone who needs some semblance of a plot.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for this arc.

[lookmairead · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The bitterness rose up in his voice like the taste of clove through sugar candy, something sharp and significant. She liked him best with it, because sugar alone was so dull and plain and because once you have mixed a drop of clove oil into a vat of sugar, nothing in the world could take it out.”

Wow. Holy mother angel, now THIS raises the bar in the “enemies-to-lovers” category.

The Quick Pitch: An angel meets a demon and they are tied to a city for centuries. It feels basic, no? But Vo weaves a rich and intriguing tapestry of world building and surprisingly tender prose.

I didn’t expect to love this so much. I didn’t speed up the audio because I wanted to savor it.

My thanks to #MacAudio2024 for this months pick. I immediately bought a copy for myself, because I know already I’ll want to reread it one day.

5/5

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The City in Glass" is my first Nghi Vo - horrific, I know! I own one of her other books and I keep meaning to read it. So I went into "The City of Glass" with no preconceived notions, other than this was a tale of a demon and an angel and a destroyed city.

So first thing: the writing here is gorgeous. Sometimes a little too purple for me, but for every sentence I think is too much, there's a beautiful turn of phrase that lands so lightly on its meaning. This is very much "all vibes, no plot" in the vein of something like "This Is How You Lose the Time War", which people may enjoy or not depending upon their tolerance for very little worldbuilding. I like motives. I like knowing why people act the way they do. It was wholly absent here, the titular city destroyed within the opening pages by angels because... why? We never found out. It just needed to be destroyed, and so it was. Why are the demon and angel so immediately close? It needed to happen. And oh, what beautiful sentences to describe what they do!

But alas, I cannot feast on vibes alone. This one was about 200 pages and felt long.

[Eloise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This blew me away. I was already obsessed with Vo's writing from the Singing Hills Cycle, but this is an entirely new level. There are hundreds of years of love and pain and humanity in this short book, and at the center of it are an angel and a demon and their beautiful relationship.

Give yourself a few hours to forget about our world and lose yourself in this one. You won't regret it. I wish I could have the experience of reading it for the first time again.

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC.

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. If you love Vo's atmospheric novellas but wish they were longer, you will likely enjoy THE CITY IN GLASS. I found this book to be beautiful and poetic, with a fitting end that is also a bit unexpected.

The demon Vitrine is in love with her adopted city, Azril. We get a tantalizing taste of all this city is, but then angels come to destroy it. Vitrine curses one so that he becomes tied to her, and so he watches, and then helps, as she attempts to rebuild. Will she accept his help? Will they, maybe, move beyond an antagonistic relationship? Will the city ever be what it was?

There is really no more plot to the story than what I have briefly outlined above. Will we ever know what made Azril so wonderful to Vitrine? No, not really, except it was hers. Will we find out why Azril even deserved destruction? No. Will we know what role Azril played in the wider world, or what role the city that's tentatively built after it does? No. Will we understand more about demon and angel culture? A little - not much.

What we get instead is an epic story that spans hundreds of years that's about grief and recovery from trauma. We get flashes of the Azril of the past through Vitrine's memory, and we get painstaking moments of her rebuilding. It's about letting the past go and accepting what comes to you in the moment, with a very long timeline. Ultimately, it's about love, creation, and a very strange sort of sacrifice.

If I regret anything about this book it's that we don't get to see from the angel's perspective, it's all Vitrine. But ultimately, I think that's the right choice for this story.

People have compared it to Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (yes, but not as lighthearted) and This Is How You Lose the Time War (yes, but not as romance-focused). I would add in a deep cut: Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was. Mix all those together and you'll have a decent idea of what you're in for.

[Raquel Flockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What an impossible sky he would make, solemn without any hint of dawn or dusk to threaten his constancy. With a night like him, no one would worship the day.”

It’s always a delight to read something written in Nghi Vo’s beautiful prose and when I saw that she announced a new fantasy novella, it went straight to my list of most anticipated books. This is a story about a demon named Vitrine who loves a city and how she spends hundreds of years rebuilding it when the angels decide to destroy it. It’s a story about grief, but also about hope. A story about the behavioural cycles of the human race, how we build and destroy at will, about how a city can go from complete destruction to rising from the ashes. It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at once. I spent weeks reading it because I wanted to savor it slowly, and I think doing so paid off because I loved it. I see myself re-reading it in the future, falling in love with the city of Azril, its streets and its people all over again.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 5 out of 5]

"They need a home, and every city needs people," he said at last.

What a weird and glorious book.

It's perfection. Utter perfection. This is a top 10 read of 2024.

I'm in awe.

I received an ARC from NetGalley

[Machiavelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF for me at 40%. This just didn’t work for me… kept reading more but just wasn’t interested… finally pulled the plug… didn’t care about the world or the characters… may be because I just finished Babel and it was so good, so tough to follow?

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunningly lyrical, this meditative exploration of loss and re-growth is both visceral and ephemeral. Look, there isn’t a whole lot of story here. For centuries a demon has built up and served as patron of a city, it is entirely destroyed in a flash by angels with no warning or provocation, she commits herself to reclaim the ruins and build it again, and one angel lingers as she labors, at first begrudgingly, and then eventually less so. That’s the whole story, and yet there is such emotion and depth that it really took me by surprise. Our characters aren’t particularly detailed, either, or, more accurately, I suppose, all their details are shrouded in mysteries. Yet there is an honesty to them, as well as a playfulness and emotional depth that is striking. As she slowly rebuilds the city, and as new people come to her shores, we get almost vignettes with ancillary characters, living painful and glorious human lives against the incessant radiance of the demon’s eternal, immortal dark glow… and they are wonderful. So, the story has a few small slices of life scattered about, but those all really exist to help us understand our demon, and, consequently, our angel. They are at the heart of this city, and those things they hold dear and take into themselves for protection shape our understanding of value and meaning.

Contemplative, slow, and simply beautiful writing, descriptive and tactile but always with the slight veneer of a dream, as decades pass across paragraph breaks. I normally want more than just beautiful writing, I want character or narrative to pull me along, but I didn’t find myself wishing for that here. There is a heartbroken anticipation behind every word, a fear of beauty since it might one day be lost and the refusal to be penned in by that fear. This isn’t a story of narrative declarations but instead one of questions. When everything is violently taken from you, how can you repair that wound? Can you simply recreate what you had before, or is transformation necessary? What happens when your aims for rediscovering yourself are caught in moments of anger, jealousy, and fear? What does it mean to really know yourself, in all your complexities and contradictions, and to build a life around that knowledge? What do you hold dear, locked in your heart, supporting you even on those days you tremble too much to look at it? This is a story about loss, love, mystery, knowledge, and discovery. I don’t know that I have the words to really describe what this story unlocks, but I know it will stay in my mind for a long time.