Today Obscurists we’re returning to Anna Mocikat’s cyberpunk dystopian future in “Fallen Angels” book two of the “Behind Blue Eyes” series.
***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***
What I love about this book:
I’ve said this before, elsewhere out in the interwebs, but “Fallen Angels” is really more of everything I loved about the first book in the “Behind Blue Eyes” series—with a few caveats.
Mocikat explores all new territory in the book, not just with locations but with seeing characters in different circumstances than we’re accustomed to. This isn’t really too much of a spoiler—but I never thought I would see a vulnerable Metatron. My paranoia is such with that character that I kept thinking, “this isn’t happening, not for real-real. This is all some elaborate miss direction.” It was right about when I was starting to think about saying something about a false flag that I had to stop myself and think, “wait a minute, what have I become? Now I’m the crazy conspiracist? Oh—fuck you, Metatron, you magnificent bastard.” I guess what I’m saying here is that I love to hate this guy, and he gave me plenty of opportunities to do that.
So in my review of the first book in this series, I mentioned that Nephilim was by far my favorite character. And without going too much further, let me say I still have a soft squishy organic part of my heart for her—but Detective Siro Ferreira-Nunes is my new favorite. I was surprised by this because typically, with any book series, I make my imaginary friends early on and am standoffish toward any new characters introduced. My internal wiring is very much—I have my friends, I don’t want new friends, which is probably a deep-seated character flaw of mine.
In any case, Siro won me over quickly, sort of like Pedro Pascal did with his interpretation of Prince Oberyn Martell in “Game of Thrones.” Siro isn’t any less self-absorbed or constantly horny like any other Olympias citizen, but he is authentically who he is all the time. It’s not that Siro is above lying or deception—he isn’t. It’s that his motivations are clear, and he makes them clear to everyone around him. He loves his job, he moved to Olympias I for a better life, he likes coffee and getting laid. In a world full of duplicitous super assassins working all the angles, there’s blessed Siro, entirely out of his depth, doing the job of a homicide detective just because he loves doing it and being himself.
What I don’t love about this book:
This pains me to say this because she was my girl all of “Behind Blue Eyes,” but Nephilim 2.0, the good company girl of the Angel Corps, I just don’t like her as much. I loved Neph the rebel, the idealist, the freedom fighter—even though given this novel’s universe, that’s super impractical. But alas, the darlings grow up, and sometimes they become middle management at the cyborg assassin factory, and I guess that’s OK too. I still love Neph for all her exciting action scenes in this book, and even though she’s towing the company line more these days, she still finds little ways to remain loyal to those she cares about—even if that includes Metatron now.
There is some repetitiveness in this book, beats that repeat from the first book, which I’ll discuss in more detail in my analysis, but mainly I found it to be in the dialog between the characters. There are many “you’re super hot” or “incredibly sexy” and variations of that, and the first time a character expresses that about another, sure, valid. The second time OK, we’re cementing that point. The third time and on—we know. They’re hot. Can we get onto the next order of business, please? Also, there is an inordinate number of “are you OK?” questions even when not in battle or fresh from one—and I consider myself a caring individual—but she’s a killer cyborg! I love her to pieces, but she can’t possibly be that emotionally frail, or she wouldn’t be the best damn killer cyborg in the corps.
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Author's Website: https://www.annamocikat.com/
***The Spoiler part of this review***
***Ye be warned to turn back now***
The quick and dirty synopsis:
“Fallen Angels” starts on a beat underscoring how literal the title is because someone is hunting, mutilating, and murdering members of the Angel Corps. We’re introduced to two human homicide detectives, Ferreira-Nunes and Spider—rare is it that I think spider and detective at the same time outside of “Along Came a Spider,” but I digress.