In Ferren and the Angel Harland reworks the trope of celestial intervention into a dystopian future where Heaven and Earth have been at war for hundreds of years and both are all but destroyed. Humanity’s few remaining tribes must now endure a pre-industrial existence, where outside oppressors forcibly recruit young men and women to fight. As yet, no tribe member has ever returned. When the time for the next recruitment draws near, the strangest of things happens: an angel falls to Earth. Seemingly clueless, helpless and fragile, her presence is as much problematic as miraculous.

Ferren is almost of age. His curiosity and willingness to question traditional beliefs risks turning him into an outcast. When he discovers the angel and decides to help her, his eyes are opened to enemies who lurk in the most unexpected of places. Ferren must now step away from his familiar life and face horrors that even the angel could not imagine.

There is so much to love about this newly revised, Richard Harland classic. Along with a fast-moving story and excellent world-building are little details that made me smile, eg, the everyday relics from the present world of the reader, revered as treasures by Ferren’s people, much like we, ourselves, value — and at times puzzle over — everyday relics from our own distant pasts. At times, it is difficult to tell who is friend and who is foe, and therefore it is most satisfying to see the main characters develop and grow as they struggle to learn.

Ferren and the Angel is an enjoyable coming of age story, in a society that has unknowingly reached a turning point. Can the survivors reclaim the glorious years of their distant ancestors? Or will they discard their humanity and devolve into something unrecognisable?

Published 6th November, 2023 by IFWG. Click here for more details and purchasing options