Tread of Angels

Maybe more of a 3.5 though.

I've only read the author's Black Sun and a couple of short stories but they've always been fun, so I thought it'll be interesting to checkout this little novella. And it's been a while since I've read a fantasy novel (been quite a few slumpy weeks), so I wanted to ease myself in the new year with a shorter read.

And this was both interesting but dissatisfactory. The author creates a very cool world with familiar elements like the angels and the fallen, but also imbues it with some parallels from Old West and the mining towns of America and the lives of those who worked the mines - marginalized people who were only trying to survive amidst discrimination. But everything is just only implied and we hardly get any details because the book is too short.

Even the characters are barely introduced to us and we don't get enough time to get invested in their lives, but I still thought the author did a very good job creating a connect with them, especially Celeste. We can see that these people are morally grey and aren't just closed with each other, but are also lying to themselves. It's a quick chance to peer into these dynamics but I was mostly left wanting more, because ultimately it's a murder mystery and it gets solved too quickly. I wouldn't mind though if the author decides to set more stories in this world.