Review by Booklist Review
Emezi's tenth book masterfully combines the magical realism of their previous work, Somadina (2025), and the passionate depth of their earlier You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty (2022). Emezi's only predictability is their unpredictability. Galilee Kincaid was raised by a formidable clan of women. Although all of the Kincaids have been "touched," Galilee knows and has always known that she is different. Enter Lucifer Helel. From their first searing touch, Lucifer and Galilee are bound to each other. And theirs is the kind of love that questions loyalties, unearths secrets, and brings the king of Hell to his knees. There is no greater antihero than the devil, and Emezi flips traditional narratives of heaven and hell to question a damning God and a damned angel. Yet they return to the timeless tale of divine self-sacrifice for humanity. The faces may change, but the core story remains the same. This is a novel of intricate motives and deep relational dynamics. Be warned, though, the intimate scenes are explicit in the extreme.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This over-the-top spicy paranormal romance from bestseller Emezi (You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty) follows Galilee Kincaid, the daughter of a large Southern family of supernaturally powerful Black women led by matriarch Nana Darling. Even among her kin, however, Galilee has always felt different. When she moves to the city of Salvation with her two best friends, Bonbon and Oriaku, she enters the orbit of Lucifer Morningstar. He's the leader of an elite security team guarding a mysterious Nigerian artifact collected by Oriaku's wealthy father--and he's also the literal devil. It's lust at first sight as Galilee wrestles with the intensity of her feelings for the possessive and dangerous Lucifer. Meanwhile, his underlings, the princes of hell, work to keep them apart, especially the brooding Leviathan, whose own relationship with Galilee eventually takes a heated turn as well. When Oriaku's father's artifact threatens to open a gate to hell, Galilee must confront dark secrets from her past and embrace her identity to save the world. The reveal of Galilee's origins feels fairly expected, and the abundant sex scenes, while scorching, occasionally border on gratuitous, but it's satisfying to see Galilee own her power and her desires. There's nothing particularly revelatory here, but it's a solid outing and an exciting new direction for Emezi. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Galilee "Gali" Kincaid was born to a line of women who kept no men and bore no sons--but even among her wild family, Gali was considered strange. She ached and wanted in a way no other family member did, so when she turned 25, Gali left the Kincaid land for a life on her own in nearby Salvation. While at a friend's party, Gali meets Lucifer Helel, the security guard for an ancient artifact. Gali makes a deal with Lucifer to view the artifact and unknowingly bargains with the king of Hell. Lucifer is immediately drawn to Gali, a human with the power to incinerate him with her touch, but to his princes, she smells like a harbinger. As Gali uncovers the secret of her creation, she and Lucifer must battle the powers of heaven and hell in order to stay together. Emezi's (Little Rot) skillful storytelling is lush and evocative. Gali and Lucifer's desire for each other is a ruinous love, and Emezi's signature prose is haunting. In a time of overwhelming choices for romantasy books, this deeply seductive novel stands out with a visceral allure. VERDICT An absolute must-have for libraries.--Maria Martin
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An esteemed author tries romantasy. All the Kincaid women are powerful, but even these exceptional women regard Galilee with awe and, sometimes, resentment. It's only after venturing out into the world beyond her hometown of Salvation that Gali begins to discover who she is, and it's only after a brief, mind-blowing sexual encounter with Lucifer--yes, the devil--that she gets a sense ofwhat she is. Nigerian author and visual artist Emezi has an eclectic bibliography. They've written award-winning, critically acclaimed novels for adults and young adults that range from realism to speculative fiction. Emezi has flirted with romance tropes before--notably inLittle Rot (2024) andYou Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty (2022)--but this is quite straightforwardly a romance novel. How readers react will largely depend on how and why they pick up this book. Fans ofThe Death of Vivek Oji (2020) will appreciate that the author's voice is as vibrantly lyrical as ever. Fans of paranormal romance will be pleased that they have embedded a forbidden romance within a high-stakes conflict, and the sex scenes are undeniably hot. The author's deft way with queer characters and queer relationships should please both audiences. The plotting, though, doesn't quite work for romance, both because the timeline is too short and the pacing is too slow. The main action takes place over the course of a couple of days, during which time Gali and Lucifer experience what romance fans call--generally derisively--"insta-lust" and "insta-love"; Emezi asks readers to invest a lot in leads who are basically archetypes. This might also prove to be an obstacle to those who are new to this genre. The right readers will love this book, but those readers might be in the minority. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
