What an interesting little book this was. What I picked up for a Romance Book Club ended up feeling at once very much like a romance and nothing at all like the romantasy that’s being put out now. I do wish I’d read it at a time when I had more brain power to throw at the book, because I appreciate how this book didn’t neatly fall into any categories of stories in my mind. Come for the optimistic vibes, stay for conversations that refreshingly don’t feel like they’re from a reality dating show.
The Premise:
In a vaguely utopian future, a company has gotten a handle on reviving you from accidental death (for a small monthly charge). Metatron is the AI who runs Limbo and consoles the souls of those waiting for new bodies. He’s desperately in love with one of his current charges, however. Meanwhile Sasha has a new body, but can’t get a fresh start at a new life because he keeps feeling Metatron’s love pangs as physical sensations in his new body. He decides to take a job at the company to ask Metatron to tone it down, and ideally get his life back on track.
Read if You Like: Romances with parallel couples, characters making up for past mistakes, consistent empathy, casual diversity
Avoid if You Dislike: ambiguous worldbuilding, characters who make mistakes, unconventional romance structures, upbeat portrayals of capitalism
What Worked For Me:
Hess doesn’t hold your hand with the worldbuilding in Yours Celestially, which makes for a bit of an abrupt landing when you open the book. There’s no long monologues about how we got to a future where some buildings have moss for floors, prescription and recreational drugs are delivered via emoji pins (and can be mixed for those stupid enough to experiment), and the celebration of people with disabilities, indigenous folks, and more! Once I got me feet under me, I enjoyed the talking trams and weird blend of culture elements that seemed to just flow together nicely. I think part of why I needed a transition is because I didn’t actually read the blurb, so I thought I was in for an actual angel, not an AI who has adopted the visage of a biblically accurate angel.
Seriously though, that all was really fun. Metatron and Limbo were handled well as a flexible space designed to provide comfort and stability to people whose life was ripped away from them. Rodrigo (Metatron’s love interest) wears emojis for faces almost all the time, and Metatron’s ‘orgasms’ involve him exploding into feathers and silver dust. There’s an emotionally unstable man who tortures Metatron, and what happens when the man gets resurrected looms over a reality that warps itself to his whims. And then there’s Sasha playing arcade games in the real world with his daughter popping antacids because Metatron’s crush gives him indigestion. The whole world is this weird blend of nostalgic, bizarre, and comforting, but Hess weaves it together really well.
While the setting is great, the real star of the show was grounded and interesting relationships. Most of our characters are carrying baggage that feels realistic. Sasha’s a recovering drug addict, and we see him struggle with how his past choices continue to affect his ex-wife and his daughter. Hess avoids most of the low-hanging fruit: there are functional relationships all-around, and this is one of the few m/m romances with a parent main character where there’s healthy and good co-parenting happening. There’s lots of discussions between Sasha and his man about communication and conversations when one person’s ADHD is firing on all cylinders. A lot of those talks felt like one’s I’d had in my relationship, and it all felt very natural and part of how adults talk to each other as they tangle with complicated issues. Realistic, tasteful, relatively unique in the speculative fiction space. A delight.
What Didn’t Work for Me:
I did think this book sat in a weird place with workplace culture. Arthur (the CEO, not a love interest) leans into the nontraditional workplace vibes that used to be more popular. Take naps whenever you want as long as you get your work done! It never quite gets subverted, despite Hess also kind of wanting to address how the corporate structure puts the souls in Limbo in jeopardy (it’s a whole plotline that six souls can’t be resurrected while litigation is pending), and Hess radically underestimates the amount of money that gets thrown at startups. This book sort of wants to celebrate a utopian company and also critique capitalism in the same breath, but I don’t think the core contradictions are acknowledged, let alone addressed.
Then there was the whole deal with Sasha’s man. He’s a bit of a pariah at the office, and it gets revealed that (for understandable, if perhaps not ‘good’ reasons) he chucked a pot of hot coffee at his coworkers, and the coworkers are the shit-heads for not wanting to be around the guy anymore. Even if it were the most justified reason in the world – and he has a good one – that’s a red flag that should be investigated a little more thoroughly than Sasha ever tries to.
Finally, for all that this is a Romance novel, I think the Romances themselves were on the weak end, especially Metatron’s. The tension resolved at the drop of a hat, which didn’t leave me very satisfied. Sasha’s had a lot more happening that I enjoyed, but this book is never going to hit the list of my favorite romance plots. Ironically, my favorite relationships were all platonic: mostly between Sasha and his ex-wife, daughter, and roommates. So in my head I shelve this as a human-interest sci fi in a vaguely utopian world with a romance subplot. But I don’t think its fair to pitch the book that way to other people.
Conclusion: a little bit of an odd duck, but this Romance has great characters, a weird world, and and upbeat perspective.
- Characters: 4
- Setting: 4
- Craft: 3
- Themes: 3
- Enjoyment: 3
Marked for Plot 