Rating: 
Summary: Pratchett + Dante + impeccable timing = Brust
Review: The revolt in heaven as told from all perspectives, this book is written at two levels - one for entertainment purposes, and another as a "historical" lesson. When one can see an issue from all sides, one is more enlightened. Plus, it cracked me up!Pratchett + Dante + impeccable timing = Brust
Rating:
Summary: To Reign In Hell
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: execellent
Review: this was a nice surprise. usually books about biblical matters are repetitive and boring, but brust masterfully weaves intrigue and life into each and every character. there is no good or evil, only each individual's personal intentions. this is an execellent book and any fan of brut's previous works should read it.
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