Review: "Devout: An Anthology of Angels" edited by Quinton Li

First things first: thank you to Quinton Li for the free ARC of this anthology that I received in exchange for an honest review!

The Breakdown:

✦✦✦✦✦ 4.75/5

Pacing: N/A

Mood(s): dark, emotional, bittersweet

Genre(s): fantasy, horror, paranormal, romance, mythological, science fiction

TL;DR:

👼 angels, angels, angels … in a variety of forms

🔥 heat, both literal and figurative

💅 holy queerness

Review:

Now that the cover has been revealed, I can finally post this review with the cover included (although I will say, the ARC cover was entertaining, but doesn't beat the beautiful work of Alex Patrascu). This review will be a bit of a longer one because this is anthology, so this post will be a long one! I'll break this down into my overall thoughts first, then a set of mini reviews! Normally I refer to them as TL;DRs (hence the tag), but in this particular post I'll be changing my normal formatting for compiled posts to better suit this review. I won't be rating each individual story because the stories play off each other so well that rating them individually isn't as effective to me and how I think about stories, if that makes sense.

DEVOUT is an angel-themed anthology edited by Quinton Li and featuring Freydís Moon, Dorian Yosef Weber, Angela Sun, Ian Haramaki, Tyler Battaglia, Daniel Marie James, Morgan Dante, Cass Trudeau, Aurélio Loren, Rae Novotny, Rafael Nicolás & Emily Hoffman. Normally I put each author as a post tag so there's a tag for all my reviews for each author, but this amazing cast of writers far exceeds the 200 character limit Blogger imposes on tags (I feel like some of the AO3 accounts when the 75 tag limit was first implemented …) so we must survive simply not creating a tag for each of them. Anyway, DEVOUT is a collection of stories (fiction and nonfiction), poetry, and art, which will be out August 29th, 2023. I have trouble annotating digital copies of anything — even though digital annotations are far easier for writing reviews in my experience — but if you've seen any of my posts on not-Twitter, I have been filling my copy of DEVOUT with comments and highlighted quotes. Overall, this collection is beautifully cohesive, from some authors contributing multiple pieces with through-lines to each piece being masterfully written and edited. Don't get me wrong, this cohesion doesn't detract at all from the authors' voices; instead, it is a mark of the lovely curation and editing Li dedicated to this work.

This is an anthology I can tell I'm going to go back to. I know I have a few favorites (which I may or may not have not-tweeted mid-read because I simply needed to share my thoughts), but I enjoyed all of these pieces. I will say I had a harder time with the poetry, but that's because I truly need a physical copy for poetry if I want it to really sink in. DEVOUT, like many anthologies and collections, has a delightful mix of content that would appeal to a variety of readers, although that variety, of course, falls under the same broad umbrella.

Content notes:

While each piece has it's own content warnings, the anthology as a whole has a list of content warnings on its Carrd. This list includes: abusive parents, alcoholic parents, animal death and cruelty, bodily fluids, body horror, cannibalism, deadnaming, death, domestic violence, eating disorders, emetophobia, fire, gender dysphoria, gender self-actualization, gore, grooming, misgendering, misogyny, murder, panic attacks, religious fanaticism, sex, sexual assault, strong language, suicide, transphobia, and violence.

Now, let's get into each piece!

"The Angels at Harvest Church" by Freydís Moon

"… you were born in a leftover place where an ageless angel healed the sick and turned daughters into sons."

Freydís Moon was one of the first indie authors I followed on Twitter, but I haven't yet gotten a chance to read any of their work, so this was exciting to read! This piece is is a fantastic opening story, setting the tone for the works to follow. "The Angels at Harvest Church" is a reprint, originally appearing on Moon's Medium, filled with worship, servitude, and imbued with being trans and queer. Moon's writing is beautiful, with quotes I adored and so many complexities just underneath the surface. This story follows a trans man and his relationship with the angel/pastor/[redacted] that helped him transition. This main character, Cristiano, is relatable to me; we both seek/sought transformation and both have lost connection to the language our ancestors had to learn. Moon weaves nuances and layers into Cristiano, portraying feelings that show the interplay between culture, identity and religion. "The Angels at Harvest Church" is written in second person, my favorite POV, making the reader an active participant; you are the one saying hallelujah under your breath, you "feel [your parents'] grief like an eternal bruise." This story shows the aftereffects of a different kind of immaculate conception, the rebirth instead of birth. It sticks with you, the last line turning this into something more haunting.

Content Notes:

This story's content warnings include: explicit sexual content, mention of snakes/snakebites, and off-page transphobia. To this, I would include power imbalances and the use of the adjective crippled (in reference to an injured immigrant).

"I Know My Father" by Dorian Yosef Weber

"the sages say our father knew an angel, / but here in the light of the dawn, there is only a man."

This is the first poem, and it is packed with meaning. "I Know My Father" is a kind of retelling of Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebecca, (particularly Genesis 32:22-28). I am not really religious in a way that would use these holy texts, but I was raised in it (although I was kicked out of my first communion — long story), so I had a passing familiarity with some of the names and stories. This poem got me to read part of the Bible, which I frankly never thought I would ever do again (although I looked at the translated Masoretic Text instead of whatever version my grandparents' keep at home), so that in and of itself if a feat to me. Dorian Yosef Weber weaves in so many references to Genesis without making a reader unfamiliar with it excluded; without knowing the story of Jacob/Israel, this was a complex story filled with meaning, and knowing this part of Genesis adds further meaning. I look forward to receiving the paperback I pre-ordered so I can fill the margins with annotations and do a kind of side-by-side reading of the two.

In this poem, Weber really capitalizes on the eroticism that's almost inherent with wrestling. In this, worship and holiness are euphoria and pain in nearly equal measure.

Content notes:

This poem does not include any content notes. I would note that this poem includes violence.

"Seasons of God" by Angela Sun

"In the reddening light of sunset, they looked like canine teeth jutting out of the ground, a mouth closing around the whole bloodied sky."

This was a slower read for me, mostly because I kept rereading sections to try to wring out every last piece of meaning. Angela Sun's imagery is stunning, creating some lovely foreshadowing and parallels. This is a story of a victim winning, although there's not much focus on Rui's hard-won next steps. "Seasons of God" ends at Rui's beginnings. Sun's story deals with ghost marriages, which haunts Rui to the point that she goes to Francis, one of the missionaries sent to her area, to help her. This results in Rui devoting herself to God, like Francis did when he was young.

I wish this story had more, a bit more space to breathe. Parts of the story, like the section about the village's poverty and food scarcity, needed extra time to really impact the reader. I wanted to know more about the angel, born of the son who died at the beginning of the story (I think). Sun makes up for this with the astounding prose. I loved her descriptions, turning this story almost lyrical. I also like the hints of hope and recovering at the end of the story, once the church is removed from the equation.

Content notes:

This story's content warnings include: suicide, graphic violence, body horror, undertones of sexual harassment and grooming, mentions of rape, misogyny. To this, I would add power imbalances, Christian proselytizing, ethnocentrism (missionary devaluing/degrading Chinese language, culture, etc.), and undertones of colonization.

"Resta Con Me" by Ian Haramaki

"Of course the Lord would bless his angels handsomely. He'd felt it in the alley, he'd had faith, but sometimes seeing was believing."

Ian Haramaki did not disappoint with this story! I appreciate the kind of twist at the end, which adds complexity upon rereading. Elia is a younger priest, willing to serve all in his community, unlike most of the clergy. Through Elia, we meet Dani, an older priest moved to work in the archives, and Nicola, the bishop who is meant to be Elia's teacher. Many of my favorite parts quickly spoil the entirety of the plot, so I won't get into too much detail, but know that I adore this story. Haramaki fills this gold, warmth, and fire, entertaining and heartwarming all in one. I also enjoyed the extremity of proselytization and the perversion of religious "justice."

Content notes:

This story's content warnings include: graphic descriptions of dead bodies, mentions of alcoholic/abusive parent, violence, open door smut. To this, I would add classism and slut shaming.

"Seraphim" by Ian Haramaki

This is the second piece by Haramaki and first art piece of the anthology, and it is so beautiful. I would love to know what medium this was done in, the linework is amazing and the eyes (of which there are many) are so lovingly rendered. It's almost hypnotic, drawing you in to the patterns and semi-psychedelic pupils. I can't wait to see it as a physical copy. I will note it might trigger trypophobia for some people.

"With Wings Like Madeleines" by Dorian Yosef Weber

"There was no fire and sulfur for me. Maybe there would have been if I was able to be more like an angel."

This is the second piece by Weber, and the first piece of creative nonfiction. In this, Weber narrates aspects of life as a disabled Jewish person; the limitations imposed by our bodies upon ourselves and our faiths and cultures. Similar to "I Know My Father," this story contains many references to biblical events; unlike his first work, I am not familiar enough with all of it to know what to look for. I don't think this necessarily detracts from the impact of this piece, but I wish I had the knowledge to deepen my understanding. The writing style of this is interesting, with a kind of flatness I can't quite describe. I don't have very much to say for this, because it is such a deep examination of Weber's connection to G-d, which I can't exactly relate to our analyze due to my personal lack of knowledge. Despite this, Weber has such impactful writing, this story stuck with me for a while.

Content notes:

This piece's content warnings include: references to eating disorders and sexual assault/abuse.

"And the Mountains Melt Like Wax," "The Mountains, the Mountains, the Mountains," and "We Suffer in Fire" by Tyler Battaglia

Tyler Battaglia has three pieces in this anthology back-to-back, two stories and one art piece. They act as companions to each other, so I'm grouping them together for this. These pieces were really touching in ways I can't explain — I found myself borderline crying alongside Abel, sinking into the feelings imbued in this by Battaglia. I loved this set of work, and I cannot wait to read more work by Battaglia.

"It felt like magic. It felt like forgiveness. It felt like redemption"

The first piece by Battaglia, "And the Mountains Melt like Wax," features Abel, a firefighter on leave, climbing up a freezing mountain with his service dog Cain. Abel had a traumatic event at work, leading him to panic around fire, so he's had the time to reflect, leading him to the mountain that becomes suspiciously warm. With nothing but Cain to guide him, Abel has a life-changing experience filled with enchantment. Battaglia's work is an acknowledgement of the importance of all kinds of love, and of apologies that need not be catch-alls. Although our traumas are different, I found myself relating to Abel, and Battaglia's writing is filled with tenderness. This work is filled with contrasts, the kind that are found when the mind is faced with something incomprehensible; Abel's experience is with something miraculously hellish and ordinarily Godly.

"The Mountains, the Mountains, the Mountains" is the art piece, depicting an angel of sorts atop a mountain, towering over all. I don't know what else to say other than that I love it and want it as a poster for my dorm room.

"I no longer wait for God's hand to guide me. I decide. I act.

I burn."

"We Suffer in Fire" is the last of these pieces, and covers the perspective of the fire-starter that Abel encountered the last time he was at work. Similar to a character in "Resta Con Me," there's a kind of twisted religious "justice" at work. This piece follows Moses, a man who can start unnatural fires as a way to "lead the world out of its self-made Hell and into salvation." Unlike Abel, Moses lacks a wholehearted believe and conviction in what he sees. Here, Battaglia tackles an unreliable narrator masterfully. I almost feel bad for Moses, despite knowing the horrors of what he has done.

Content notes:

"And the Mountains Melt Like Wax" has content warnings that include: fire, death, panic attacks, and body horror. "We Suffer in Fire" has content warnings that include: fire, death, murder, religious fanaticism, monster/body horror. To this I would add (human) sacrifice.

"Divine Body" by Daniel Marie James

"Do not be afraid / Yet you tremble"

This poem is short and sweet, an examination of divinity. I love reading it even if I feel like I don't fully understand it; in fact, that feeling makes me want to read it more. I want to mark it with all of my thoughts on potential double meanings, the divinity of breaks and renewal.

"halfway to heaven" by Freydís Moon

"My love is one-sided and I'm sorry if it's heavy, but I'm tripping, babe, I'm falling."

This poem is Moon's second piece in this anthology, and is notable in that it has a different, smaller font. I have a little bit of trouble reading text with this font style in smaller sizes (thank you astigmatism), but it wasn't terrible, so that was nice. This piece is lyrical, filled with spacing choices and line breaks to really add to the reading experience. This, however, is unfortunately the poem where I noticed Google Books changing some of the lines a little, so I'm excited to see it in the paperback. I want to read it more and really fall into the bones of this poem.

"Fade to Black" and "Misery in Company" by Morgan Dante

"… isn't it incredible that there are billions of little worlds floating around just on one planet?"

Since reading this story, I've started Providence Girls by Morgan Dante, and I can definitively say I adore their writing. Dante has two pieces back to back; much like Battaglia's pieces, they are companions to each other. I adore the relationship between Perse and Meph (short for Mephistopheles). The dynamic of someone summoning a demon for company is always one I enjoy, and this is executed beautifully. Meph portrays himself as debonair and almost smug, but "Fade to Black" reveals layers of him to both Perse and Meph. Dante weaves in a muddled stream of conscious when Meph has a flashback from a movie, changing the spacing and capitalization, showing the confusion Perse experiences and the pain they both feel as a result of it. In this first piece, Meph is so flamboyant and, as one of the annotations I wrote in July say, so gender.

"Leave the caring to God, who loves all, except for him."

The second piece, "Misery in Company," is a part of Meph's past, making you feel bad for the tender demon who cares a little too much but feels he can't. Here, we are introduced to his soul at the time and eventual-lover, Heinrich Faust (a reference to Mephistopheles/Mephisto's original appearance as a demon in Faust). In this, we see glimpses of Meph before he was fallen, and further insight on his life before Perse. I loved so many quotes in this, but I yearn for Meph to be happy. Both of these stories feel bittersweet, they made me cry over the resignation Meph has for his life, to the point he settles for a one-sided love. I know this story doesn't necessarily work with it, but I want Meph to have a happy ending.

Content notes:

The first story's content warnings include: mentions of heavenly violence, aka angel face-melting; mentions of nonbinary transmasc character dealing with deadnaming and transphobia and misgendering; and emetophobia. To this, I would add disordered eating/an unhealthy relationship with food. The second story's content warnings include: death and mention of offscreen violence.

"Enfleshed" by Cass Trudeau

"His coole touch clung as you tender / hand life from loam, midwife earthe into bloom."

This poem starts by with a quote from Paradise Lost. I don't have much to say about that quote because I haven't read that epic yet, but I want to start with saying that it's there just as Cass Trudeau started with it. I don't think I really got this poem, but I enjoyed reading it; Trudeau uses more "archaic" spellings and language, which I love seeing. I want this written onto my inner eyelids so I can keep thinking about it.

Content notes:

This poem's content warnings include: internalized gender dysphoria and discussions of gender self-actualization.

"Swarm Behavior" by Aurélio Loren

"Veins curled and coiled around themselves, attracting each other like lost lovers."

I'm going to be honest, I kind of love bugs. Not in real life, no, but the idea of them, the beauty of iridescent wings and the horror of larvae pressing against you with no escape. Suffice to say, I loved this piece by Aurélio Loren. In this, Loren alternates between two times in Jesse's life, his present starting in the strip club he works at and his past in the forest, having a life-changing experience. Jesse's has notes of a victim's vengeance, which I loved, even as his past made me wish him better than the pain he was going through (had gone through?). Loren wove such an enthralling story, I found myself captivated.

Content notes:

This story's content warnings include: sex, body horror, vague mentions of sexual assault, and gore.

"Recovered Contents From an Angel's Stomach" by Rae Novotny

"And its wings, its wings—sharp, and white, like immodest fangs. It’s so much more gorgeous than he’d remembered. God, he thinks, is a pervert."

I posted about this on not-Twitter, but this is one of the stories that had me frantically messaging everyone I know about it. I actually cried about this one; Rae Novotny has filled this with so much emotion. As I said on Twitter, Novotny is more than welcome to live within my bones as long as I can read more of their work. In this, we follow Angel, a starved creature, confused and lost to all but the pain of hunger. The secondary character, the fugitive, is meant to capture him, I think? But, like Angel, we know less of that and instead are kept in a haze.

There is this intense love between the two, but they're star-crossed; Novotny creates such profound emotions in this that I feel the grief Angel feels, the simultaneously tender and merciless love, the confusion and realization. If you know me, I have a soft spot for cannibalism in relation to love — it's one of the themes I come back to over and over in my own personal writing — so I was destined to fall in love with this story. I want Angel tattooed upon my thigh.

Content notes:

This story's content warnings include: mentioned animal death & cruelty, bodily fluids, body horror, cannibalism, death, gore, and strong language. To this, I would add medical abuse/trauma.

"An angel song from the ether" by Rafael Nicolás

"God has always cursed the lovers / to chase / and even within each other, they chase  —"

Rafael Nicolás has created such a beautiful poem here, filled with sensuality and ruin. Drawing from Dante's circles of hell, Nicolás focuses on the second circle (lust). Here, lust and time lead to forgetting love, struggling to reach one another. This poem reads as cursed lovers making a space of their own without what was meant to paradise, joyous in the moments they can find. Nicolás turns this into a subversion of the idea that angels are those solely of love; angelic love is not the same as what the lovers have. There's so much homoeroticism in this, adding to the sense of embracing being "cursed" or "sinful." I have feelings but I cannot articulate them, reading this creates feelings nearly tangible but entirely indescribable.

Content notes:

This poem's content warnings include sexual content and some violence.

"Hashem Yireh" by Dorian Yosef Weber

"… the title felt like a skin stretched too tightly over a body holding more soul than it had room for."

This is the third piece by Weber, and I loved it, just as I enjoyed the others. In this, Yitzchak is the child of two prophets. Avraham, Yitzchak's father, received a message that they must worship at the top or Mount Moriah. I don't want to spoil too much of this, but I love the way Yitzchak's gender dysphoria is explained, and the angel's tenderness in the face of a solemn sacrifice for G-d. This story finds beauty in the face of what would typically be a horror, and I adore that. This is definitely a story I want to return to. I love Yitzchak with all my heart, a testament to Weber's skill weaving beautiful characters in a short amount of time.

Content notes:

This story's content warnings include: gender dysphoria, restraints, and a father nearly murdering his child. To this, I would also add disassociation.

"Pieces" by Emily Hoffman

"'Pain is part of what makes someone human, I have no wish to numb it.'"

This story was relatable to me, as it follows a body broker who was pressured out of the arts and into medicine. This is common, and I was/am not exempt from that pressure. Kieran, the aforementioned body broker, is further relatable to me because I have plans to get my associate's degree in mortuary science. Even without this connection, "Pieces" is beautiful in such a gentle, heartbreaking way. Wyatt's character is one I adore, falling into the same vein as a relatively large amount of characterizations I tend to love — plain, literal, just a little too clear for the average person. He is clear, full of integrity in many ways. If I wasn't embarrassed to, I would put down an AO3 link with a character written very similarly, but I will say I have read that story at least once a year for … a while (all 500k+ words of it), so "Pieces" is another story I was bound to love. I can't wait to read more of Emily Hoffman's work when I get a chance, but for now I can reread this and fall in love a little more each time.

Content notes:

This story's content warnings include: gore. To this, I would add mentions of homophobia and religious trauma.

"Paradises" by Rafael Nicolás

"'I've always loved. I've really always loved too much.'"

This is Nicolás's second piece, and the closer for this anthology. This one feels like love in many forms. "Paradises" tackles aging gods, maintaining love even when one who is supposedly infallible becomes fallible, and the joys of falling into paradise. Gabriel's feelings anoint this story, and I loved being able to press against his love, so full it fills the spaces in-between reality. Nicolás tells of a child doing what is best for himself, and wanting the best for his parent, and I can't help but to enjoy it.

Content notes:

This story's content notes include: graphic sex and referenced abuse.