I received this book as an ARC in exchange for posting a review.
This book starts off by introducing the main character Augustine and her “A’aruin” Alderian. A’aruin are guardian beings, invisible to the humans they protect. A human and their A’aruin are attached by a silver thread and constantly change places in an unending cycle where they can never interact, but only take turns watching each other.
Until the day when Augustine has a near death experience and comes out of it being able to see all the A’aruin, including her own. That awareness is forbidden and the closer she becomes to Alderian, the more she interacts with his world, the more the secrets that hold them apart begin to unravel.
This is a really unique take on the concept of angels and I find myself fascinated by the world-building here. There are obviously so many things that the A’aruin culture and hierarchy have forgotten and it seems to me that ignorance in entirely intentional. Somebody changed things, leaving the A’aruin a cold and colourless world that has no space left for love and relationships, only duty. I find myself wanting to know so much more about the history and how it relates to our myths of angels and demons.
One of the things I found genuinely hilarious about the book was the juxtaposition of Augustine’s life as a college student against what was going through with Alderian. There is college kid drama with dating and betrayal and back-stabbing and oh yeah, also there are shadow monsters and mysterious silver women trying to kill you. I really want to see more of Augustine’s friends – her real friends – becoming involved in the plot and finding their own happiness and freedom.
This is a truly unique story and I can’t wait to see what happens next.