Fiction is an excellent medium for asking Big, Unknowable Questions. The limitless aspect of the human imagination allows us to ponder questions that we can’t answer in the real world. Finding an angel or sitting on a bench with God just isn’t something done outside the imagination (as far as I know). But fiction allows us to do just that; it gives us space to pose Big Questions and then attempt to answer them. K.J. Parker does just that in his latest novella for Tor.com. Pulling the Wings Off Angels treads into some theological musings while the narrator tries to save his own skin. The threat of death is just the beginning as our narrator tries to save his soul from eternal damnation in this fun, philosophical novella. Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker doesn’t disappoint.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker is an excellent novella that will keep you glued to the page. Florio, a thug, is looking for an angel, and he found a man with one in the family. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
Pulling the Wings Off Angels is a madcap adventure brimming with the ethical quandaries and sardonic wit of The Good Place by World Fantasy Award-winning author K. J. Parker
Long ago, a wealthy man stole an angel and hid her in a chapel, where she remains imprisoned to this day.
That’s the legend, anyway.
A clerical student who’s racked up gambling debts to a local gangster is given an ultimatum—deliver the angel his grandfather kidnapped, or forfeit various body parts in payment.
And so begins a whirlwind theological paradox—with the student at its center—in which the stakes are the necessity of God, the existence of destiny—and the nature of angels.
Review: Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker
Pulling the Wings Off Angels opens with an unnamed narrator being tortured by a gangster named Florio. The narrator owes a lot of money, like enough to buy a warship. But Florio is willing to wipe the slate clean if the narrator gets him an angel. (Yes, an angel’s worth is surprisingly low.) An old tale that’s spread around is that the narrator’s grandfather trapped an angel. While some take it literally, the narrator thinks its a metaphor for how his grandfather met his grandmother. The narrator, however, is wrong. On his family’s estate, in a hidden room, there’s an angel. And she’s pissed. Florio wants to be king. The narrator simply wants to live and not go to Hell. Thus begins a quest that deals more in philosophical aspects of religion than expected. Parker muses on concepts like true repentance, forgiveness, God’s omniscience, and the concept of sins of the father passing on to his children.
Pulling the Wings Off Angels is a first person Point of View novella that relies heavily on absurdity and philosophical musings. Parker balances both in such a way as to keep the reader glued to the page. This is a short work of fiction, listed as 144 pages, and I think that’s the right length. This was a fun, philosophical story.
Religion
Religion is a touchy subject, and people take criticism of it personally. To be fair, a lot of criticism of religion comes from snarky, condescending people. Parker, however, has treated religion fairly. Parts of Pulling the Wings Off Angels are absurd, but nowhere in the story does Parker make it seem like religion is absurd. He critiques some of the rules. He criticizes some of the arbitrariness of it. But he never dismisses it.
Will this book piss off some religious people? Of course. But, to me – obviously, Parker handled this sensitive subject with respect, even if the ending is a gut punch.
Characters
The shorter the story, the less time an author has for character development. Parker pulls off great development in this novella. By the end, readers see multiple sides of Florio and of the narrator. I can’t say that I liked either of them by the end, but they felt like real people doing the best they can in life.
Florio is the better character in this story. He’s a thug who thinks he can put one over on God. It’s never clear if he did or didn’t, and I liked that. Whereas the narrator feels a bit like a human chess piece – guided by forces largely out of his control, Florio has agency and is following his own path.
A Larger World
Parker has set Pulling the Wings Off Angels in a world reminiscent of renaissance Italy. This book looks to be in the same world as, at least, one of his previous novellas for Tor.com. It looks like this takes place in the same world as The Devil You Know and maybe Prosper’s Demon and Inside Man. I haven’t read any of those, but now I want to. I hope they’re in the same world because I enjoyed the world building Parker did here.
Conclusion
K.J. Parker’s Pulling the Wings Off Angels packs many big ideas into one little story. The philosophy and characters strain at the seams of the novella. This is a book with a lot to say in a very entertaining way. Highly recommended.
Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker is available from Tor.Com on November 15th, 2022.
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