Reviews
Entertaining though not as riveting as The Alienist.
** spoiler alert ** At first I was sure I’d give this book 5 starts but for these reasons it didn’t get it: -the very boring + or - 200 pages of the case in court -the eternal and unnecessary praise for the United States of America. There was so much “oh, this great nation” and “oh, these bastards from other countries are nothing like us” and all that crap that came in speeches from the characters and also underlined through the story was SO irritating. Just chill dude you guys are not all that -the lack of diversity -the harmful representation of poc when they appear at the book (such as representing them as quirky, exotic, socially unaware, just there to serve the white people, which is disguised as kindness in Cyrus’ case and as eccentric on “El Niño”’s) -The character of “El Niño” was a problem for me because he served as a big plot device and his representation was really racist. He was enslaved by a Spanish man and when he decided to leave that man’s house (which, if he could, why didn’t he do earlier?), he went on to look for new masters and new people to serve, which in this case was our beloved main cast of investigators, but it still perpetuates the wrong idea that black people’s desires and purpose in life lead them to serve white people. Furthermore, he was very eccentric and always made the main characters laugh at his spontaneity. I understand the want to characterize him as a sweet and caring person who is also funny, but can be very dangerous and determined to hurt when messed with, but the fact that he was disposed when not “necessary” anymore shows that the author just wanted to use him as a plot device and as a second POC token character. Which made me very annoyed through the entirety of it. I also don’t understand why he never asked them to call him by his real name. This character consciously decided to keep the nickname his enslaver gave him even when he was “free” and that really bothered me. And every time someone mentioned him as “the arborigine” as if this was the only thing anyone noticed about him, was another thing that made this representation really bad and harmful. Despite these criticisms, which I definitely don’t dismiss lightly, I have to give this book 4 starts because I really enjoyed the plot. Also my LOVE for these characters and all their shenanigans gave me LIFE. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed them before they’d started coming up on the book. I also really liked this new perspective which was very unique and characteristic. It was also one of the reasons why the book was so fast paced and entertaining. This book just reinforced my love and care for these characters and how much they mean to me. I’ll hold them with me forever💙
Early on in the book, I thought I wouldn't like this as much as I did _The Alienist_. But what I didn't realize then was that this book has different strengths from the first of the Kreizler books. While the first was imbued with the details of period New York and the giddiness of then-revelatory new methods merging detection and the sciences, _Angel_'s strength is in drama. From the gripping highs and lows of the courtroom to Herr Doctor's internal conflict to the harsh emotional journey of Stevie Taggart, this book raked me over the coals. I want to simultaneously hug and smack Carr for what he put me through.
