The Inaccessibility of Heaven

by Aliette de Bodard

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Short Stories, Mystery, Science Fiction, Fiction, Magic

58 pages, ebook

First published August 1, 2020

About the author

Aliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris. She has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award, a British Fantasy Award and four British Science Fiction Association Awards, and was a double Hugo finalist for 2019 (Best Series and Best Novella).

Her most recent book is Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. She also wrote Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press), a space opera where a sentient spaceship and an upright scholar join forces to investigate a murder, and find themselves falling for each other. Other books include Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and its standalone sequel Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.), fantasy books of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.

Reviews

[Sahitya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been waiting to read this novelette since it started getting acclaimed and nominated for all the top SFF awards, but I just never got around to it. I’m glad I’m finally reading it before the end of the year.

I love the Dominion of the Fallen trilogy, so this felt like a fun addition to it but slightly different. The awe for the City, the despair of the Fallen and their hope to get a glimpse of it once more - this story might be a murder mystery but it’s the emotional connect that keeps one going. I loved Sam and O’Connor and how they kept their conviction to help solve the problems despite knowing that they are just humans meddling in Fallen affairs. As always, I’m in awe of Aliette’s writing and how much magic she creates even in such few pages. The ending is heartbreaking but also maybe hopeful and it definitely left me feeling a lot. Definitely deserves all the accolades.

[Pujashree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aliette de Bodard is always a hit or miss for me but I am always in awe of her writing. What I don't enjoy is the tendency to drop you into the middle of what seems like an ongoing story of characters that we don't have the first or last acts of. Sometimes you get enough in the narrative to fill in the blanks or look past it, and sometimes you don't. I enjoyed this more than some other examples of this problem, but not as much as some of my favorites. But always the quick and effortless worldbuilding is masterful. This one right away reminded me of the TV show Lucifer, which I adore, but a way more melancholic version, and I am not mad about it.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A murder mystery set in a world in which the Fallen angels of many rebellions live with humans and witches.

The strongest elements were the strange mix of the Fallen's relationships among themselves, and with humans that they value but can't quite think of as equals. I was also intrigued by the idea of there being many rebellions in heaven over the centuries. And yet, this story, unlike most plays on fallen angels, treats "The Light" as a powerful, hopeful, loving source, and makes clear that interaction with the Fallen ensures a belief in a benevolent power. I liked it. The basic message that all of creation is one, and small before the power of creation itself, resonated for me.

[Shiva · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as part of The Hugo Award 2021 Finalist - Best Novelette.
A few Fallen angels, a couple of witches, and a human are caught up in this murder mystery. The storyline is good, but that’s Just it, so I am giving it 2 stars, I needed more somehow. I at least needed Sam and Cal’s characters to be much more developed and maybe more mature. Sam is a too emotional and clingy character and Cal has a snobby persona; and what is going on between them? This shallow pull and push; lovers’ quarrel? Not my cup of tea, thank you!
2 Stars
⭐️⭐️

[Cass · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: read as part of the Hugo 2021 voter packet.
So, this story starts off as a noir murder mystery, but with fallen angels. It’s littered with the tropes of the genre, like the protagonist being warned off the investigation by both mob bosses and her girlfriend (who happens to be Fallen). It’s only lacking a scene in which she throws her police badge away, and that’s only because she not a cop…
The first half is great and engrossing. The characters are engaging, and there’s enough world-building for the plot to make sense without overloading it. The prose flows and carries the reader forward. It only gets three stars because it doesn’t end in a satisfying way. It segues from being noir to having dashes of Gaimen’s Neverwhere, to the ending suddenly happening in a way that’s Ineffable.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novelette is kind of in the same universe as de Bodard's Dominion of the Fallen series, but it's not part of the sequence and is meant to stand alone. It has a lot in common with that series--fallen angels and all--but with different characters. Our protagonist is a mortal dedicated to helping those fallen angels, and is enmeshed in their politics but trying to be authentic in it.

This is a somewhat less breathless tale than those in Dominion of the Fallen, though not a lot. It comes from a somewhat different place than the main series, and I'd say I liked it better. We actually got a little taste of motivation--of how the angels fell. I'd like to know more about that in the main series.

[Emy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her Fallen world, and honestly didn't notice at first that this isn't strictly the same universe as her series. An enjoyable mystery and sufficiently interesting characters to drive it on on their own. I did make the initial mistake of assuming Sam was male, probably due to having just finished Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super with a male Sam as the main protagonist... My fault entirely there!

[Ash Reads Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

In "The Inaccessibility of Heaven" de Bodard presents an urban fantasy setting where Fallen angels roam. While the premise is kind of interesting, the main character felt too cliché and "not like other girls" for my liking - her inner monologues get really monotonous, really quickly, and I feel like de Bodard does too much "telling" and not enough "showing". Despite the plot being framed as a mystery, she doesn't give readers clues so we can actually solve it ourselves - feels like lazy writing, to me. Not to mention the worldbuilding felt oddly lackluster for a fantasy setting, and when interesting in-universe ideas were presented, they leaned too much on Christian mythos, lacking any originality to make them interesting to me. All in all, this was just really not my thing.

[William Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for 2021 Hugos
Another really cool story from de Bodard, about humans and fallen angels in a city where someone is murdering the Fallen. The execution and characters are really vivid in this story, but I felt a little thrown into things as this starts so much into the story that I stopped to look up if this was part of a larger series. There are references to past events that seem to beg for the reader to read that story, and some facts are introduced as if reminding the reader of a first book they'd read before. Still very enjoyable, however.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angels...? Well, okay. Actually, despite my initial apprehension, I read on because I've enjoyed de Bodard's other work. And it does pay off. It's more than a typical angel story (there are hints of multiple dimensions, for one thing), and the characters and setting are interesting enough. I'm not sure how this will rank compared to the other novelette Hugo finalists, but it might do well just for de Bodard's skill making me enjoy a story about angels (or maybe I've also been influenced by recently watching an even more untraditional take on the topic in the show Midnight Mass).

[A.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for the 2021 Hugos

I really like a good noir murder mystery, which is basically what this is. Of course, the twist is that the victims are fallen angels, and the character investigating is a human. It's a generally cool setting.

My only complaint, really, is that I think it's too short. I would have loved to see the relationships between most of the characters expanded and deepened.

If you like series like The Dresden Files or Bobby Dollar, I think you'll enjoy this one. Give it shot.

[Ken Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

A noir murder mystery with gothic trappings. With human cop, the victims, fallen angels. Oh, and the murderer may just blame the victims for their Fall. Aliette de Bodard's fine prose is a highlight, one picks the threads of story as they are casually dropped. The novelette is not quite part of the 'Dominion of the Fallen', as it is not set in Paris, but has many of the qualities of that fine series.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

procrastination story while i stave off my impending doom aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I liked the concept of multiple rebellions and the fallen co-existing with humans and whatevs, but the writing and story was mediocre imo. Wasn't invested in the main character and wish it was from the pov of one of the angels, literally would have been 9999x more interesting. the ending was the only semi-interesting part

[Vervada · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't really write reviews for short stories and this one was no exception until I realized that I'd just reread it for the third time. At that point I figured I should write at least a line or two. So, I really loved this, if the amount of times I've already read it didn't give that fact away. Aliette de Bodard writes angels in a way that I find deeply fascinating and the ending was both beautiful and bittersweet.

One of my favourite short stories.

[Kaesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the language in this -- a good blend of noir cynicism and lush weirdness. I could spend more time with these characters, and the author apparently wrote a prior story about them which likely won't be published, which is a bit disappointing, but the heavy sense of These People Have Backstory works without feeling like I'm missing something.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite excellent story, a novelette, by Aliette de Bodard, which is up for a Hugo Award this year. I have not read them all so far but this must be a contender.
In my opinion, Aliette de Bodard is one of the best of the new SF/Fantasy writers writing today.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, that really grew on me with every sentence.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugo 2021 reading. A mystery wrapped in fantasy taking place in an alternative-modern world. I enjoyed the character interactions. The characters have good depth.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my cup of tea.

[Merije · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whodunnit with Fallen Angels and witches. Bit of a Deus ex Machina at the end, but the rest was fast paced, short and snappy, well done.

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's a 3.5
Interesting concept, but it did not convince me fully

[Kristīne Vītola · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5stars. Read for the Hugos.

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugo 2021 Short Fiction reading

[Mary Kaener · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cheesy, but I appreciate that it didn't fall into an angel/human romance.

[Rin · Rating 3 out of 5]

What even

[melusine7]

Hugo voter packet 2021

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little novelette by an author I've read before, pretty good, I don't know how I felt about the ending, literal deus ex machina

4/5

[Heni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Novelette Nom 2021: 4.5

This is amazing! It's about the classic fallen angels who will do anything to be back to the heaven, or even take a glimpse at it. There's serial killing, investigation, twists. It's so very engaging, I love it. Gotta be my favourite among the novelettes nominees.