Home :: Books :: Literature & Fiction  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction

Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
War in Heaven

War in Heaven

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $10.50
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Century's Overlooked Masterpieces
Review: Williams has often been -- unfairly -- compared to Lewis and Tolkien. Both the other writers are much loved and well-read. Williams' books, however, were very different. Deeper, in many respects; far more serious as literature; and far more committed overtly to Christ. He wasn't a great stylist and sometimes you feel he wrote too quickly, but the intensity of his books is unmatched. WAR IN HEAVEN starts off as a murder mystery, but later becomes a Grail quest. It's the sort of book people of faith should write more of, and the sort of book by a person of faith the secular world should read and praise -- but won't.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Definitely in the same league as the rest of the Inklings
Review: Williams' ability to craft a great story nearly escapes the reader because his style is so subtle, and the narrative flows so seamlessly. It is also brilliantly and creatively imagined. He weaves the deft mystery style of Chesterton and Doyle with his own religious background and spiritual experiences. Were it written today, this story might be mistakenly tossed into the same bland, agenda-driven genre of evangelical "spiritual" thrillers, but Williams avoids such a trap by giving his spiritual hero, the Archdeacon of Fardles, a sometimes wavering confidence in his chosen path, and a battle with his own desire to give up.
While the book is certainly not one for those who feel immediately alienated by religious context and setting, it does not require or expect conversion or spiritual agreement in order to be enjoyed. Williams is the forgotten member of the Inklings (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others), but his writing, especially War In Heaven, stands toe-to-toe with the other great works to emerge from that group.



<< 1 2 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates