To Reign in Hell

I rarely leave reviews, but this book was amazing. I am a fan of religious fantasy and love the telling of the war in heaven from a different perspective. Definitely recommend To Reign in Hell.

The accomplishments here are nothing short of spectacular. Imagine writing a book populated with some of the most well known characters in Western history: Yahweh, Jesus, Satan, Lucifer (yes, they are separate), and the archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. They all need unique personalities. If they're not, if they're retreads of biblical, Dante, Milton, or others, then the book fails. Then imagine creating a reason for God to create the Cherubs, Seraph, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, etc. Give all of them a purpose. Imagine creating Heaven, giving essence to creation itself - a Big Bang, in effect. Imagine giving reason for the Fall. Not just the reason given in The Book of Revelations, but a rewriting, of sorts, and one that absolutely has to make sense. This should seem impossible. Only the greatest writers in history have succeeded when touching this material. I'm not going to suggest that Steven Brust is one of the greatest writers in history, but I will emphatically state that he was unbelievably successful. And he did his homework. He dug deep into Christian mythology (I'm saying mythology because many characters come from Dante, Milton, or others, and were never seen in the Bible), and must have spent hours upon hours plotting this novel. It helps if you do your homework too. Luckily, I own a book called THE DICTIONARY OF ANGELS. You probably don't, so I'll help out a bit. Regarding having distinct Satan and Lucifer characters: there is no biblical evidence that supports the two share identities. I won't go into the various proofs, just take my word for it. If you have doubts, Wikipedia does a fine job explaining the difference between the two. Brust also does a terrific job with the character of Jesus and the relationship between father and son. I'm going to quote Wikipedia because they do a better job explaining the theory of creation than I could, and indeed, after I read theirs, I understood better what Brust was writing about. It was fairly complex. "In the beginning, there was cacoastrum, the stuff of chaos. As the flux shaped itself, it occasionally created illiaster, the fabric of order. A being of illiaster was spontaneously created, imbued with self-preservation, and this being fought against the cacoastrum. In the struggle, six more beings were created, and together, the seven created a vast hollow orb that temporarily sealed out the chaos. These were the Firstborn: Yaweh, Satan, Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Leviathan and Belial. During the Second Wave, the walls of Heaven collapsed, and the Firstborn fought again, rebuilding their stronghold, and in the process, hundreds of archangels were created. This happened yet again, and the ordinary angels were created." It helps to have information about some of the angels: (Disclaimer: I am not Christian, and do not believe in either angels or demons. This list is merely composed to help those who don't have access to other materials reference some angels and demons from t

This book is very difficult for me to describe, in spite of my having read it perhaps 40 times. It's a spectacular 1st novel, and is certainly one of the very best SF (Speculative Fiction) books I've ever read.(For other fans of Roger Zelazny, this reads as a Zelazny masterpiece--the abrupt shifts of place & time, the masterful manipulation of mythology, the heroic characters of single-minded purpose--it's all here. If you have ever liked any Zelazny story, then run-don't-walk to find this book.)Brust postulates with consummate skill something called "the Flux", a place of chaotic creation & dissolution where random chance spews forth conscious beings like you & I. These beings usually exist as long as moths flaming in a candle, as the Flux takes as quickly as it gives.Eventually one of these beings--calling itself Yaweh--coincidentally has a will to survive, and an inner drive strong enough to make it so. He pulls other beings out of the maelstrom, and comes up with a plan to construct a temporary place of refuge. Thus is Heaven born.This premise is ambitious beyond belief, yet Brust brings it off.The story here is about what happens when those other beings--Belial, Michael, Satan, Lilith & the rest--jockey for position in Yaweh's world. Exhibiting the all-too-human traits of jealously, loyalty, fear, love, & many others.As the plot advances, I find myself sympathetic but disapproving of a somewhat lost God & His ranks of Angels, and completely on the side of Satan & his minions. Does this sound whacked? You need to read this story, because it's not.The best description I can come up with is "archetypical". This book doesn't just postulate a possible beginning for the Universe, for Creation; it models most convincingly the human fallibilities that we have in this world around us, we see it here in the angels & the prototypes for all of humanity.Literally, it spells out our archetypes for us, in Zelazny-esque style, appealing to the most basic of human emotion & drives. This is one of the best books I have ever read.Thought-provoking, evocative, spectacular. Read it!

To Reign in Hell is deft and subtle in weaving a tale of conflict among friends -- the Firstborn of Heaven. Satan and Yaweh, archangels, and lesser angelic minions populate an Eden like Heaven. Conflict comes among them unbidden and grows. The heroes are not necessarily whom you expect from among familiar names. The basic premise of the book is pure genius, executed with dialog that infers far more and features some wonderful phrasing and playful language. I'm Catholic and an avid science fiction/fantasy reader. I rate few books worth as much thought or moral contemplation. When you are through you can ask yourself would you choose Heaven, Hell or Earth? At minimum you should ask Brust's question, how some of the angels come to fall from Heaven?To Reign in Hell is engaging and thought provoking long after you finish. Highly recommended even though it offers more challenge and less resolution than many longer tales.

for re-printing this literary classic. The cover alone is worth the price. This is the story of the revolt of angels. Satan's fall from heaven, along with all of his co-conspiritors. Each character is wonderfully drawn out and the plot is tight and fast. While reading,you get this horrible feeling of helplessness. For we all know how the story ends, yet we hope against hope that there is someway to change it. That is the bueaty of this work. It makes us question our beliefs and want to change the unchangeable. Its not the point of wheither it really happened this way or not - the point is that it COULD of happened this way. And that gives this work a serious/important tone. Which is not to say that its not funny. Quite the contrary, I found myself laughing out loud in places. But the serious tone makes the last third of book down right scary and tagic. I felt like I was tied down to the middle of a street with a bull dozer coming at my from three blocks away at three miles an hour. It also made me scared to death to go to heaven. At least the devil doesn't sugar-coat his wrong doings. Required reading for those interested in theology or just looking for an important book to break up all of the light beach reads this summer.

How to possibly describe this book. If you have not read it, I have to strongly urge you to get it. It is literaly one of the best books I have ever read. If you have read some of the other books written by Mr. Brust, then you know he is something of a talented story teller. But if you are expecting something similar to his Vlad series, or other fantasy, prepare to be amazed. The story is about the events prior to the creation of the Earth. The creation of the Angels, and the fall of Satan. Mr. Brust does an outstanding job of portraying all of the characters. After all, Satan was an Angel....there is no reason to suppose that he was born Evil, or in opposition to God. How did it happen. This book really makes you empathize with the various characters. I can not stress it enough, if you have not read this book....you are missing out on a wonderful experience.