“Angels,” I’d told Alizar when I was eight and freshly appalled to discover I was his saint, “are assholes!”
And always have been, Ish, said Alizar. You have no idea.
I had the idea, just from looking at the titles, that C.S.E. Cooney’s 2023 novel The Twice-Drowned Saint was going to be similar to her book Saint Death’s Daughter. But other than Cooney’s talent for creating an engaging story, irresistible characters, and dazzling and elaborate worlds – complete with their own religion, entertainment, and snacks – these two books couldn’t be more different.
Gelethel is a city of angels, ice, and salt. Ever since its founding, the city has been kept safe from war and starvation, locked behind towering walls and watched over by fourteen angels and their many saints, all of whom were chosen by having the ability to see the angels in the first place. The Seventh Angel has only one saint, but no one knows it because eight-year-old Ishtu Q’Aleth had no interest in being cloistered for the rest of her life, and Alizar the Eleven-Eyed thought having a secret saint sounded like more fun than he’d had in centuries.
By the start of the book, Ish has reached the age of thirty-eight without anyone knowing that she’s anything other than the owner/operator of the city’s only movie theater, and the daughter of the most respected woman in Gelethel. She’s got a life many people would envy, certainly better in a thousand ways than the lives of the poor refugees crowding around the cities gates, willing to murder or risk death for the chance to become a citizen. So it will come as quite a shock to everyone when the appearance of a new saint puts events in motion that will lead to Ish attempting something that breaks every law in Gelethel: getting her and her family out of Gelethel so they never have to deal with the horrifying angels again.
Rathanana of Beasts, all matted fur and bloody fang, snarling maw, curving claw; Murra Who Whispers: Wurra Who Roars; Zerat Like the Lightning; Childlike Hirrahune, solemn and sad; Thathia Whose Arms Are Eels; Kalikani and Kirtirin, the Enemy Twins; Impossible Beriu and Imperishable Dinyatha, who had only one heart between them.
C.S.E Cooney’s writing is slightly less gothic here than her previous novels, but just as deliciously detailed, and quite surreal in places. One of the elements that really makes the city of Gelethel stand out is all of its contradictions. This is a city ruled by religion, with high feast days and pedal-powered chariots and a form of currency that’s based on angelic benisons (or “benzies”). And yet the world outside the walls has been moving forward for centuries, so you keep getting surprised with references to things like bombing raids, chrome-plated motorized bikes, and Super 8 cameras. The angels that rule the city are unknowable beings with Lovecraftian forms closer to a Biblical version of an angel than something from a Nativity scene. And yet for all Alizar’s strangeness and tendency to sprout extra eyes and feathers and flowers, the Seventh Angel and Ish are the best of friends, sharing long conversations about cinema, making snarky complaints under their breath about the other angels, and basically being the secret bad influences all the good people warn them about.
The angel Alizar sometimes looked like a human-shaped paper lantern, or a sudden release of soap bubbles, or a cloud. He glowed on the inside as if he’d swallowed a hive of horny fireflies, and on the outside, he looked as if a toddler with a glue gun had gone wild with the craft buckets…
Ish’s family has an equal number of contradictions. Ish’s father is a pilgrim, a refugee from another war, highly regarded for the treasures he brought to the angels and never actually considered as good as a real citizen. Ish’s mother is a compulsive liar and secretly head of one of the biggest smuggling rings in the city. She’s also an upstanding citizen who’s beloved by all the angels, and you’d think that would be worth something, but it really, really isn’t. Because as Ish has known for most of her life, the angels are responsible for the very worst things that ever happen in the city.
No longer could the Invisible Wonders who ruled Gelethel rest content with a steady snack of life-long worship from their long-lived worshipers. And why should they, when they could just mainline pilgrims instead?
Cooney gradually reveals all of the lovely details about the city and how it works, and that includes all of the ways that being ruled by angelic fiat is actually awful. The angels love movies, and they insist on having regular showings. But they won’t let any more be made, so just try to imagine how that works. Angels could heal any illness or injury, but they also don’t want overcrowding in the city that no one’s allowed to leave so…sorry? Having access to a population desperate to get inside means angels can indulge in a form of worship that’s much tastier than prayer. And every few chapters there’s a new moment of “ohhhh, crap, this is bad” where you find out what Ish’s family has had to do in order to stay under the radar in a place where giving charity to outsiders is almost as illegal as trying to escape.
There’s so much to love about this book, which I devoured in a matter of days. I love having the sharp-witted resourceful Ish as the main character. Every chapter heading is a different direction from a screenplay as Ish tells herself her story in movie format. The magical abilities of the angels are endlessly fascinating, from angelic possession of their human tools, to heavenly gardens and walls of ice, all the way down to blessed popcorn and hotdogs (you heard me). Fair warning, you do have to brace yourselves for some atrocities that aren’t described in detail, but are pretty harrowing nonetheless. Just think of the worst things that Biblical saints have had to endure when being martyred. Nope, worse than that.
Enhanced interrogation techniques aside, Ish has an unbreakable devotion to her family, which means she keeps pushing through long after most people would have run away and hidden under the bed. Ish’s growing friendship with the – appealingly foul-mouthed – new saint is surprisingly touching and provides a lot of hilarious moments. And you can just imagine what a battle for the soul of the city looks like when it’s being waged by an angel that doesn’t have to follow the laws of physics and a pair of rebellious saints.
Interior illustrations and stunningly beautiful cover art by Lasse Paldanius.