I was looking forward to a pleasurable read. That was not to be. I may have missed something, but I had a very hard time getting through this. I like this type of story. I like to read books that make me think. But - this was a chore to read. It seemed to be repetition followed by repetition. Perhaps I'll try it again someday (but probably not - too many others on my to-be-read shelves).

This book did not live up to any of my expectations. The dialogue was difficult to follow and boring. I would have to say that for such a potentially exciting topic; this book is a real waste of time.

To Reign in Hell is a book that I have known existed for a long time. I hadn't read it, but had been saving it up for a rainy day. I had actually expected to like it. Brust is a writer that I kind of generally admire. Zelazny *really* liked this novel. And I *really* like Zelazny. All in all, it seemed to me a book that I was going to enjoy, or at least not hate.

So as you can guess, I hated it. I nearly didn't finish it, and I finish pretty much everything that I read.

It was a clever enough conceit, but the characters were terrible. The motivations and reactions were so childish and predictable that I was nearly physically annoyed at a certain portion of the book. Particularly in the sections involving Abdiel, it was like reading five year olds trying to plot. Dreadful. I guess since we all know how the story ends (the book is a loose retelling of the Fall of Satan), Brust did not particularly care how he got us there. Too bad.

The book isn't entirely bad. Like I said, the conceit is nice-- the general concept and plot are good. I often liked the tone; I'm a fan of dry. I guess that I can see what Zelazny saw in it. But not enough of what he saw in it, I'm afraid.

Admittedly, I'll give Stephen Brust kudos for tackling an ambitious project: a telling of the Angelic Fall that is both novel and original. I also found it mildly ironic that the most sympathetic characters in this book are the ones traditionally considered "bad" - Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, etc. - and the characters traditionally considered good" - Yahweh, etc. - come off poorly. That alone should tell you if this book is for you, and I suspect accounts for much of the 1-star reviews: there is a high probability that TRIH will offend the religiously sensible/closed minded. Of course, there are other reasons not to like it, which is where my griping comes in.

For starters, I didn't care for Brust's prose at all. I found his writing style dry, repetitive, and descriptively spartain. His dialogue seemed especially weak: characters speak in almost monosyllable sentences, and again there is a heavy redundancy. For some reason, Beelzebub spoke Shakespearian English, which especially grated on me.

Of course, one can dislike an author's prose yet still like his plots - several of my favorite authors actually fall into this category! Unfortunately, his handling of the plot was my other major stumbling block. To justify that would require my delving into spoilers - something I refuse to do in a review - so please pardon my vagueness. Suffice it to say that key aspects (such as the nature of creation, Waves, etc.) struck me as internally inconsistent. Maybe I missed something, but there is just too much in this novel that is left unexplained. This left me feeling disenfranchised at first, and cheated by the end.

My other main problem was that much of the plot conflict relied on one conniving angel whose motives I never did fully grasp. Without giving too much away, he's able to do a "Jedi Mind Trick" to cause a lot of misunderstanding that just snowballs out of control. This seemed a weak convenience, especially since there were enough opportunities presented throughout where the misunderstandings could very easily have been cleared up. Obviously that would have stopped the novel in its tracks, but it still felt forced and contrived to me.

All in all, TRIH had some potential but just didn't live up to it. If you're interested in speculative theological fiction and have a lower threshold for contrivance and weak writing than I do, then *maybe* give it a go. It's a fairly quick read, so you'll know within 50 pages if it's for you or not.

This is the WORST book I have ever read. It slams God over and over...Its stupid and I hope it never gets to anyone else.

Arlene Bradshaw