“Be Not Afraid”; these are the words passed to mortals by angelic beings as they appear in the bible and other spiritual texts. Given how these beings are often depicted – as wheels of fire or rings covered in eyes and sprouting seven wings – it makes sense that a mortal’s first instinct would be to run screaming. But in “Angel Country” by Alex T. Singer, that impulse might just be the right one, because in the alternate history of this novel angels are not just terrifying, but deadly.
Overview of Angel Country by Alex T. Singer
The
When her research partner betrays her and steals her work, he leaves her in a shallow grave with a gut wound. It is not just her rage that drags her back to the land of the living to seek her revenge, but an unstable physical transformation brought on by her proximity to the Angels and her prototype – a device designed to let her speak to and even control the unstable divine beings that inhabit “Angel Country”.
As she travels with her similarly transformed ex-lover, they face constant and increasingly uncontrolled physical transformation and mental deterioration. They move from place to place in the American Northeast, encountering a myriad of forces, each seeking her discovery for their own purposes: from rich railway barons to religious leaders, from government officials with eyes full of manifest destiny, to even the circus magnate P.T. Barnum. At every turn, Ada must contend not just with those who want her creation for themselves, but the destruction her prototype wreaks everywhere it touches down.
Initial Thoughts
The story winds its way through a non-linear plot, with Ada’s mind often spinning back into memories out of order, especially when she’s in danger. The story explores the realities of women in science, especially in the 20th century and before. Ada is often forced to pose as an assistant on her own projects, and few of the papers she authors can bear her name—or when they do she cannot be credited alone. This is a real element of scientific history, which lends our protagonist a more grounded sense of outrage when her betrayal becomes even more complete.
The novel also paints a complicated picture of the intersection of ambition and obsession, drawing an interesting comparison with themes of faith and madness. Angels in the novel put out a force called “grace” which can cause humans to mentally and physically change, but the greater the will of a human the more dramatic their change, or “canonization” will be. As Ada furiously pursues her lost prototype and her vengeance, her own physical form changes more and more dramatically – leaving her less and less recognizable compared to the version of her we see in flashback throughout the story.
“I’d done such dreadful things to create it, I’d made such terrible compromises, and now I was separated from it. The prototype. My prototype. Its absence burned like the crawling flesh in my abdomen, knitting back together, but sharp and prickling. I had created it to speak with the angels, with any luck, hear their reply, now it was gone, gone, gone and I could do nothing to stop them.”
This book is a powerful and engaging story about the cost of obsession and vengeance, and the risk of ambition. Fans of cosmic horror and body horror will especially like the blend of mental and physical corruption presented by the Angels and their “grace.” History buffs too will find a lot of interest in this alternate version of the 20th century in which angelic creatures have stifled the United States westward advance.
The jolting back and forth nature of the narrative can at times become a little confusing, though usually the transitions are well marked enough to follow without too much difficulty. The epistolary nature of the novel makes it feel more visceral, but some readers may find the crossed out words or rambling footnotes distracting if they prefer a more straightforward read. Despite that, readers with experience with epistolary novels or cosmic horror will likely enjoy the not-quite-reliable narrator presented in Ada Franklin’s maddened notes.
This book will leave you feeling as mad as its characters. Remember to keep your eyes down, wear a bell to repel them, and above all: “Be Not Afraid.”