Pulling the Wings Off Angels, K.J. Parker
Received to review via Netgalley
When I saw this up for request, I clicked pretty much right away: I’ve enjoyed K.J. Parker’s narrative voice in the past, and found the ideas interesting — and novellas are always fun!
Depending on your point of view, it might be fortunate or unfortunate to hear that the narrative voice of this novella is much the same as in a handful of Parker’s other works (I’m not sure if it’s the same as all of them). Irreverent, a little anachronistic, self-serving, just-an-ordinary-dude… all of it rang so familiar from other books I’ve read by Parker, and that kind of spoiled my enjoyment. If you love it, or if you’re not already familiar with it, it might work great for you! I don’t mind the irreverence in the least, though some might; it’s just much less fresh when you’ve read it before.
The plot was, well, it feels like a bunch of different philosophical hypothetical scenarios thrown together to see what shakes out, which is interesting as an intellectual exercise, but didn’t quite work for me as a plot. Novellas may not need to have much of a plot, and your mileage may vary as always, but for me I felt it all hung on that narrative voice and a couple of “what ifs” about God and beliefs.
It was okay, but… shrug?
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