Angels After Man

Angels #3

by Rafael Nicolás

A Queer Retelling of God's Apocalypse

The angel Dina is both young and ancient, every human epoch breezing past his home in Heaven as he waits for the end times. When the archangel Uriel reveals the truth about God’s first creations, however — Dina ventures out to find a beautiful, seductive star who urges him to bring about the apocalypse for the sake of destroying evil once and for all. Lovesick, Dina agrees.

Bordering a nation like Babylon, the human Tadeo has suffered and died to uniquely human horrors. But resurrection bestows newfound powers onto him that he’s convinced derive from God. While on a saintly path to free his town from war, Tadeo meets the angel Dina, who appears with a dark omen.

The end of the world will come soon — but who really is it that wants the apocalypse?

Genres: Queer, Fantasy, Retellings, Adult, Angels, Mythology, Fiction

518 pages, Paperback

Published December 23, 2025

Reviews

[Faye 🫀 · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Why does god divine punish? Divine hurt? Divine ache”

RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

I do fear this is my least favourite of the Angels universe, but it is okay because it was still beautiful and I still loved a lot about it.

Positives:
- Just Rafael’s brain my dude….. oh to have a solid yap sesh and absolutely pick it apart
- so many quotes in here that actually stopped time for a second as I read them & made me gasp or release a breath I didn’t know I was holding etc etc
- the best part of this book was Lucifer, Michael, & Baal in my opinion. Whenever these characters were on page the vibes were 5⭐️’s
- same with the other angels in general, I was just so invested in all of their journeys across this series and it was such a beautiful and also devastating thing to look at where they all started vs what they all became & see how each of them views religion & life & love & sin and and and and……
- this whole series is an absolutely epic character/religion study utilized through a queer & trans lens & it just has so much to say about the real world & how it uses religion to oppress so many….
- a book/series that positively blares the fact that if God is in fact real, he is fucking EVIL & the real god & worship that humans lost along the way, is love. Also, a beautiful message of embracing freedom from rigid oppressive constraints that bind, manipulate, control, assault, and traumatize.

Negatives:
- I do think in comparison to Rafael’s other instalments, this one felt significantly more disorganized & not that this really matters, but there were lots of punctuation/capitalization/spelling errors that I simply couldn’t shut my English degree brain off too?? This almost just felt rushed and a bit forced even & could have truly benefited from some more time & editing perhaps
- I’m so sorry because I do think this portion of the plot had so much to say, but I felt the human portions dragged on sometimes in the pacing


The first half of this I was in between 2-3⭐️’s & feeling scared, the second half I was in between 3-4⭐️’s & was a lot more invested for sure.

Though I do have some thoughts and critiques, I still think this was a beautiful ending to what has been an absolute triumph for Rafael Nicolas…. Thank you for giving us these beautiful and twisted little rageful reclamations of a religion that has traumatized so many of us

[lauren :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

hooooooly shit ohhhh god oh god oh God. rafael i’m in love with you. let’s kiss. you make me nauseous.

okay Real review:
how do i even start to describe this book? how do i sum up my feelings into a teeny tiny goodreads review? what can i say that will be sufficient enough to describe this beautifully intricate work of art? i always adore rafa’s writing, but i find myself especially in love with this work. it is astoundingly moving and stunningly written, and i was positively addicted from the first page. rafa has such a way of creating a love for all of his characters, and i feel privileged to have gone on this adventure with his cast. i was genuinely physically nauseous half the time, but i could not for the life of me stop reading. i pulled over to the side of the road to read it when i got the notification rafa had sent it to me. i don’t think i’ve ever fallen so totally in love with a set of characters before. rafa’s writing is magnificent. i can feel the love and care he poured into this work, and im certain you will too. i don’t think i’ll come across anything like this again in my lifetime, or any lifetime after. this book is a treasure. i’m so grateful i got to read it. god. i’m going to think about this book forever.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

rafa why

Oh my god it hurts worse the second time

[ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

rafael nicolas, you have done it again. i cannot even begin to describe how thoughtful, stunning, and heartbreaking this book is. i feel so incredibly grateful and lucky to have been given the opportunity to read this before it's official release. i've lost track of the amount of times i had to step away while reading this just to process everything that happens and how intensely i feel for these characters he's created. the way raf writes is so raw and unapologetic — i think i will forever be floored by his work ethic and the care that goes into his writing. throughout this series he has made me cry, laugh, and want to run around in hysterics over these angels of his. this final book solidifies the respect and awe i have for him as a writer — its beautiful and devastating and my new favorite. im speechless. everyone say thank you, rafael. how special this all has been.

[Krys (spicy.spine.breaker) · Rating 5 out of 5]

They’ll ask if this is what it means to be God. I won’t answer. And they’ll ask if I still worship. I’ll tell them I do. I do worship myself; I worship my love. The only God is love.

Sobbing so hard I might actually puke, which is pretty on par with this trilogy. The only words for this is ‘religious experience’

’Make me your God, make me create for you, for us.’ Create what? Satan didn’t know anymore. New sins. The end of all things.

FRTC.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

how am i supposed to read another book after this

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

changing my name to azazel cause this book ripped my heart out 😭 can't wait to re-read the series and do it all again

[sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

man fuck u what the hell

[Cyrielle Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am NOT okay
this book was a wild ride

i'm going to scream for a thousand years now thank you good night

[Dusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 Angels After Man is a beautiful piece of work in every way. Prose, themes, characters, plot. I annotated this book and I could pick a page at random and write a whole essay on it. Almost every sentence is beautifully rich. There are amazing parallels here. I loved every moment of reading this. Beautifully tragic. Nicolás has become one of my favorite authors this past few months. He continues to impress me over and over again. He is criminally underrated and I hope I can look back on this review one day and be wrong about that. I will read everything he ever puts out and you should too.

My only complaints about this book are that it is slow (not my favorite type of novel personally) and Tadeo. Overall, though, he is fantastic character like all the rest. This is really amazing stuff. I can’t recommend it enough.

[dănuț · Rating 5 out of 5]

having the privilege to read this early means I can't post quotes just yet, so I'll keep my mouth shut a little longer. but know I am actively losing my mind, this was amazing he has done it again people!!!

Dina I love you so much you are so special to me you weird little freak that you are

PLEASE READ THE ANGELS TRILOGY PLEASE

[✧₊⁎Haru • 🦦🪷⁎⁺˳✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If we could fall together, I want you to land over me. Break me, my bones. Love begs for pain. To be held too tight, to cry out as if hurting, to bruise beneath puckered lips. Love demands a grave; come lie in it with me. Angel, choose death over eternal life. Turn away from creating and kill us both.”

sono senza parole, non so davvero come descrivere la bellezza e le emozioni che mi ha trasmetto la lettura di questo romanzo, conclusione perfetta di una saga che vivrà per sempre nel mio cuore. potessi mi cancellerei la memoria per poterla rileggere da zero, rivivere istante dopo istante ogni singolo capitolo.

5⭐️

[Revy · Rating 3 out of 5]

did i finish the book or did it finish me

ill leave this unstarred for now because i have too many confusing feelings and the book is very, very, very depressing and i might not have been in the best headspace to read it rn, like i knew there was no way everyone was gonna make it but damn

at least Michael finally got that devilussy, right? Lmao


edit. gonna put this one at four stars, but def the messiest out of the three, maybe mostly because of the sheer number of characters and things happening and how we barely got any moment to breathe. (angels before man is still my fave one out of the three, it wasn't as overwhelming as the others since we mostly followed sweet baby Lucifer..)

Michael and Baal fighting over Lucifer every moment was fucking hilarious though, they become a pair of little boys 🤣 like i know he is the most beautiful sluttiest creature in the universe but oh my god the world is ending can yall FOCUS

fourth star mostly thanks to the fact that now we know Lucifer fucked Emperor Nero, that Asmo and Rosier got married multiple times, that the only true god of the universe is love and that Michael and Lucifer finally went all the way sockpsnxöslxps the sexual tension for millions of years was gonna kill both Michael and me

edit. I gotta say I am not the biggest fan of the ending since it is left to so much of your own interpretation. I prefer endings that give me.. something. This is a bit dissatisfying sadly, which is why I am taking away a star. Would be three and a half stars but gr doesn't do half.

[remi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"how much i have grown to hate, but i know still to love. it lingers the greatest in my memory."

first proper read of 2026 and, i think, nothing will top it. what a wonderful, painful, beautiful, hopeful book.

i want to say things about it. i want to express what i felt reading it, but it feels impossible to do so. the words escape me!!

there is a quote, towards the end of the book, that says "at the end of the world, hate was all they had.", which ive been thinking about non-stop. the nihilistic part of me latched onto it. the sentence is placed perfectly, right in the middle of all the evil and unfairness the book tells about. even at the end of the world, people cared more about killing each other than the death of the earth. but! that is not the point!! the point is later, in the aftermath. the point is people still celebrating in the ruins of hate. the point is "i love you! i'll find you! stay there!"

i truly wish i had more to say than that. i loved the book so much. i was so scared i wouldnt. im always scared of the things i like. but i truly have no words to express how good it was... i think the greatest thing about it is that it tells about humanity. it tells about humanity, and it tells about struggle, and war, pain and imperfection but it also tells about love, about grief and nostalgia and regret. if i had to say one thing about this book is that it is human.

so, at the end of everything, i can only say i love you. if the greatest sin is love im glad i get to experience the pain of it

[bailey elizabeth smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️

"You've been taught all of your life that there must be some scapegoat behind the actions of evil throughout history. You've been made to believe there is a devil, one who exists to tempt you to evil, rather than confronting that maybe it is all human nature. Maybe it is man who hurts man. mothers who hurt daughters, neighbors who kill neighbors."

"One might ask what the purpose of all of this was -- the fall, the flood, and now the end. If we angels and demons were going to suffer the same fates of serving -- what was ever the purpose?"

"As we slumber, the others will see us. They'll ask if this is what it means to be God. I won't answer. And they'll ask if I still worship. I'll tell them I do. I do worship myself; I worship my love. The only God is love."

...

And now I am done.

While this may have been my least favorite in the series, this series was one of the most beautifully (and equally painful) I have read. Rafael's writing is so poetic, and it digs into your tender wounds, prodding at already bruised skin. And it will only root deeper if you have experienced religious trauma. However, at least for me, I found it cathartic as it helped me untangle things I didn't realize were still knotted.

This book was broken up into two parts. And since we are getting closer to the end of times, we are also focusing on a more modern earth nearing its end. We are met with new characters and brought back into the fold with familiar ones. While the new characters on earth had their purpose, I unfortunately never found them as captivating as my devils and angels. And as part one focuses more on earth, it did not really pick up for me until part two.

I think with some further editing, this would have been much stronger for me.

While I was satisfied with the conclusion and how it all came to a head, it was a little arduous to get there when the story felt dragged at times.

Anyways, thank you for a wonderful series, Rafael. I look forward to whatever you write next!

[lua ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i adore this series, though this might be my least favorite installment -- it's hard to finish a series like that, so comparing with the previous books, this one didn't hit as hard as the others.

the first half of the book was slow, dragging, and i was honestly bored: maybe it's my fault, i don't know, because even though i like the human characters, i find myself waiting for the moment the focus will be on the angels and demons. by the later half, i couldn't put the book down, waiting to see what was finally going to happen with all these characters we've followed for the past 2 books and the decisions they'd have to finally make.

i like this trilogy (and the novellas) a lot! i feel like i'll definitely revisit it in the future -- i mean, i DID buy all the physical copies and annotated them, that's how much i enjoyed it 😅 --, but this last book was the weakest one for me

[drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

ojalá poder encontrar las palabras para describir cómo me ha hecho sentir no solo este libro, toda la trilogía

rafael tiene una forma mágica de escribir sentimientos y emociones complicadas, de alguna forma te hace sentir completamente lleno y vacío a la vez

esta trilogía ha sido un viaje para mí, ha sido identificarme con varios personajes y reflexionar sobre mis creencias, a veces encontrándome más perdida, otras encontrándome

ha sido una experiencia personal e íntima que sé que aun no ha terminado, pero que estos libros me han abierto la posibilidad de explorar

gracias por escribirlos, rafael. voy a echar de menos este universo, voy a echar de menos cómo me sentía cuando leía. y definitivamente seguiré aquí, para tus futuros proyectos

[Minnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

No one is more disappointed and surprised than me.

This was one of my most anticipated books, I bought it as soon as it came out. The first two novels made me cry and had me in half an existential crisis. This one... left a bit to be desired to be honest. My main issue is that I really couldn't connect to the human part. The first half of the book is very, very slow, almost nothing happens. I quite honestly don't understand what Joanas part was supposed to be. I still loved the Angels part of it and the second half of the book, they became more present. I did not expect the ending and I'm not sure I fully understood it either. Nevertheless I enjoyed it but wasn't as amazed. I'm always very critical to series endings and it takes a lot for me to be satisfies with conclusions. I don't need a happy ending as long as it makes sense for me and excites me.

I'm still quite excited what Rafael Nicolas will publish in the future!

[Vrednik · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have to say ive love this series since the first book came out and ive been waiting for the finish for a while. each book increases in size and scope with this book being the biggest. the prose is beautiful but its a bit hard to understand. i feel like i might end up having to re read this book so i could fully understand whats going on and who is feeling/doing what. but overall wow what a finish for the series.

[mandarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

después de dudar mucho le pongo un 3, igual 2,5

los dos primeros tercios del libro infumables, parecían escritos por otra persona. Sobretodo los personajes humanos eran TAN aburridos y Dina como protagonista no daba nada

pero el trecho final es todo lo que esperaba, con un final horrible y triste pero también esperanzador, Lucifer stays the goat

[Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so sad this trilogy is over. This was soooo good. Every character is just perfect. It’s crazy how so many characters are still here and fully developed and having character archs while there is also new characters fleshed out in this one. I feel like I too am on a cloud wishing for nostalgia. Wishing I could go back to heaven, back to before the war. But I can’t. No one can.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a real review, I'm just taking the opportunity to praise the author. I will read everything that Rafael Nicolás writes. Anything he puts on paper or types out I will read it. Novella, short story, or full length novel I'm here for it. The angels series is poetic, heart-wrenching, and beautiful all at once. I will shout from the rooftops that everyone needs to read these books. Also shout out to the outstanding artist who creates these covers, I wish I could frame them. I can't wait for a physical version so I can add it to my bookshelf.

[sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

”sometimes I wonder if the apocalypse is not one moment, one day, but it's all of them put together. the world ending, over and over"

I think everything about this book is incredibly niche, in its plot, its themes, the way it's written, etc. and it is absolutely not for everyone. however! for the people that get it, you really get it. this is for the people who are turning up songs like tempest and family tree by ethel cain on a daily basis (me) and I love it

[Eira Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a horrifying, heartbreaking, and weirdly sweet conclusion to the Angels trilogy. I think Nicolás really stuck the landing! I would've been unhappy with another tragic ending or an HEA, but the ending was just ambiguous enough.

[Rachele Tarpani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn, Rafael…

[Gabiio · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE ONLY GOD IS LOVE. CRIED.
genuinely might be my favorite in the trilogy, and i didnt think anything w I uld surpass ABM. I really loved it so much

[lyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

i honestly feel sorry for the books i'll read after this one cause i know they won't be this good

[Lukas · Rating 5 out of 5]

this whole series deserves a movie adaptation. ive come to hold the characters dear to my heart along reading all three books. absolutely beautiful


favorite quotes


You will pray, drowned in the memory of just not
believing how you used to.


At times, I think there is somewhere worse than Hell. There are people worse than the devil. And they are here, dad. They are here with us.


Any man on the street was much scarier than a ghost.


’You saved me, Joana.’
‘I doomed you, Tadeo.’


We spend so much time waiting for the long lost.


Over the grave of their love, the angels had made a temple for worship.


”There’s nothing rational about you.”
“There’s nothing rational about love,” confessed Tadeo. “Haven’t you ever loved someone, devil?”


I do worship myself; I worship my love. The only God is love.

[Sarah Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

We can kill abusers, and we can change the narrative. Healing me from Christian hate one book at a time, Rafael 🤞🏻

[the.aquarius.booklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a full review- FRTC
Ive been crying and feel broken. I'm fully, completely in my feelings right now and I will be for awhile. Some books do that to you. You feel them in your soul and they change you. AAM is one of them. The writing is next level exquisite, otherworldly. Everything Raphael Nicolas writes is a work of art; a masterpiece. This is everything I never saw coming and never could have imagined. Read it. Read the whole series.
To read this book, you need to start with Angels Before Man. The series needs to be read in order; otherwise AAM will not make any sense.
I cant recommend this series, this book enough. I LOVED IT, LOVED IT..the writing, characters, the storyline. Nothing Ive ever read comes close to it. if I could give this more than 5 stars I would. I would give it all the stars across the universe.
** Before reading make sure you check your cw to make sure that this book is right for you.