Book Review: The Wings Upon Her Back

Wings upon her back
By Samantha Mills
Review by Mida

Set in a steampunk, grungy world fueled by religious fanatism and military zealotry, the story follows a disgraced warrior who has been fighting the same war for over 20 years. One day, destroyed by exhaustion, she makes a mistake – and is stripped of all her achievements and left to die.

I devoured this book in two days. Zemolai is a fantastic focal character, and her story is handled incredibly. The narrative flicks back and forth between her past as a young woman, filled with idealism around her future as a glorious soldier, and her present as a 40+ year old woman, exhausted and discarded, showing where all her dreams have led.

While Zemolai is a fantastic protagonist, her other half (who I won’t name for spoilers) is crafted to perfection to be gloriously hateable. Her relationship to Zemolai is ambiguously defined, but regardless of the label, it is incredibly compelling. There’s no doubt about her hand in Zemolai’s destruction. Mills pulls no punches as we get to see the steady downward spiral, both through flashbacks to her life before the war and the present as she grapples with her exile.

There is so much more that I could say about this book. It has ruined my standards for fantasy forever, purely because it is so damn good. Easily my favourite book that I read in 2024.

Perfect for fans of the Locked Tomb series and Six of Crows.