The Wings Upon Her Back

Starred review from February 12, 2024
Mills debuts with an intricate and intriguing science fantasy set in the divided city of Radezhda. Five sects each serve one of five gods who sleep behind portals floating high above the land. After a brutal civil war, the mecha sect, a group of human warriors with their nerves wired into mechanical wings that allow them to fly, reigns supreme, led by power-hungry Winged Vodaya. After Vodaya’s closest confidant, Winged Zemolai, returns home tired and aching from a month of border patrol, she makes what is perhaps the worst mistake of her life: letting a spy go free. Cast out of the sect and left to die on the streets of Radezhda, Zemolai is miraculously saved by another sect, forcing her to decide whether to beg Vodaya’s forgiveness or betray her people. Toggling between two timelines, Mills juxtaposes Zemolai’s adult regrets and childhood hopes to devastating effect. Much like the winged warriors it follows, the story begins on the ground and takes flight as the characters attempt higher stakes battles and plans, eventually achieving a complete aerial view of Zemolai’s life and the full history of Radezhda. This cathartic adventure will stay with readers long after the final page. Agent: Lisa Rodgers, JABberwocky Literary.

Starred review from February 1, 2024

DEBUT Five gods brought wondrous gifts of technology and knowledge to the city of Radezhda, then left its citizens behind and went to sleep. Now the denizens of the Five have built towers to the celestial rifts, where their Voice--the one person who can speak with the gods--relays the commands and information shared by the gods when they wake. Zenya was the child of scholars but only dreamed of having the wings of the Mecha god's soldiers and ran away to fulfill that dream. She became Winged Zemolai and spent most of her life fighting for what her mentor, and future Voice, said was right. Then one merciful act casts her from her place. Now Zenya must discover the truth: about herself, her actions, and what the gods want their people to do. Readers see not only Zenya's current journey to self-discovery but also the past timeline that brought her to where she is now. VERDICT Mills's debut novel is complex and haunting, filled with beautiful prose and timely themes of political and religious upheaval and personal journeys.--Kristi Chadwick

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2024
In the city-state of Radezha--a towering metropolis constructed vertically to reach the five slumbering gods in the heavens--discontent is stirring. Devoted to the mecha god, patron of the city's warriors and keeper of the law, Zemolai has spent 26 years rising in the ranks of her sect until she receives the ultimate sign of devotion: mechanized wings attached to ports along her back. One fateful evening, returning home from a brutal, month-long mission patrolling Radezha's borders, Winged Zemolai performs a single act of mercy that results in the destruction of everything she has ever known. Zemolai is shunned by her god, and the wings are ripped from her back, leaving her permanently disfigured. With no one to turn to but the rebels that she unknowingly saved, the Once-Winged Zemolai's disillusionment continues to grow as her eyes are opened to the increasingly fascist state she has spent her life defending. The Wings upon Her Back is a triumphant debut novel. The complex narrative examines the intricacies of blind devotion, self-image, and the hidden motivations behind martial control. For fans of C. L. Clark's The Unbroken looking for a timely perspective on the human cost of destructive nationalism.

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Starred review from May 15, 2024
The debut novel from Hugo and Nebula Awards-winner Mills is a nonlinear science-fantasy following one woman's redemptive journey after a devastating loss of faith. Growing up in the blessed city of Radezhda--a towering metropolis that was built to reach the heavens and the portals leading to the five sleeping gods--young Zenya dreams of one day becoming a Winged warrior. But Zenya's parents are scholars, and in a strictly stratified society whose populace is divided into five sectors--fighters, farmers, engineers, scholars, and workers, with each sect worshipping a different god--her future is all but predestined. With tensions between sect leaders a virtual powder keg and a civil war looming, Zenya follows her dream and eventually makes it through torturous training to become Winged--a warrior with mechanical wings that connect to ports surgically opened in her back. With a fanatical and demanding leader named Vodaya pushing her to her limits, Zenya (now named Zemolai) begins to see the world from a different perspective. Where she once saw honor and freedom among the Winged warriors, she now sees treachery, lies, and the underpinnings of a fascist state. When an error in judgment gets her exiled, a now wingless Zemolai begins a perilous journey to uncover the truth--revelations that will literally shake the towers of Radezhda and the very heavens themselves. Mills more than compensates for slightly two-dimensional supporting characters with masterful worldbuilding, brisk pacing, and stand-up-and-applaud action sequences, but the real power here is in her exploration of finding one's true path, the dangers of blind faith, and weaponized zealotry. All these elements combine in a narrative that is virtually impossible to put down. An absolute must-read--to paraphrase a line from the novel, fantasy fans will find themselves in literary heaven.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.