The Silence in Heaven

Rating:
Summary: Heaven, you ain't whistling dixie!
Review: Great book with none of the pretenses of other writers who try to right the alternative divine story and end up sounding like everything else. there are few who have master the craft of divine literature such as this. first Dante, of course who is as great as Dante. Then there is T.P., and of course Wolfe.

Rating:
Summary: Just finished reading it.
Review: I have to say I enjoyed the book despite some frustrating aspects. I loved the whole concept of the fallen angels and the focus on their imperfection and human like faults was interesting, yet I longed to know more about their uniqueness. What the author did get into about their physical and mental uniqueness was facinating, the whole concept with the harmonics and "perfect pitch" was great! But again for the most part the angels were perhaps too faulted and human, loosing the supernatural allure. I was quite frustrated at times with the whole vampire connection(although quite creative!), it was just a bit too much like Anne Rice's characters, and if I wanted to read Anne Rice, I would! I have to say I have read a lot of Anne Rice, and this book got too similar to the vampire chronicles with some characters and story lines in places. The author was truly going someplace interesting with the fallen angels, I wish it could have focused perhaps solely on them and their interactions with humans as well as eachother. I do look forward to the next one, and hope to learn more about the angels, we all know quite enough about vampires! All in all, I most certainly enjoyed reading it, could'nt put it down actually... I recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: Help
Review: I just want to know if there is ever going to be a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing characters kill an interesting concept.
Review: I was excited when I found this book--I love angel stories, and to me it sounded like a really unique point of view from which to write a novel, from that of a fallen angel and his travails through the earth.

The novel starts out blandly, and doesn't stop there, unfortunately. The main characters are, in a word, unlikeable. I couldn't muster up any feelings whatsoever for Tashum, Paladin, Fanny, Dickey or even Victor except for distaste. Even Misha didn't strike me as particularly angelic.

The story is a let-down as well--none of the conflicts in the story are resolved at all, rather the author just slaps them onto an ever-growing pile of "Things to do wrap up later" and you're basically left with a 472 page prologue to the next book, full of guns, vampires, high speed chases, unethical people, and very little of angels.

I had high hopes, and while I actually finished the book instead of putting it down in disgust, I can't say that I will pick up his next book. I didn't like any of the characters enough to care if they make it to the next episode of Mission:Impossible 2--oops, I mean Silence in Heaven 2.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise, dull and wrongheaded execution.
Review: Just a few comments: The author failed to make his characters compelling or believable, even in a fantasy setting such as the one featured in this novel. Meaningless, overly cute dialoge abounds. Ridiculous vampires, one of which, as written, is so astonishingly boorish that finishing the novel might be something of a chore (the other two vampires are merely boring), take up too much of the novel's time. Quizzically, the author tries to force a comparison between the two male vampires and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

I do not understand the jacket comments praising this novel. Most claim that Lord-Wolff has done the miraculous in reinventing angels, much like Anne Rice did for vampires. But there are only four angels in the book, one of which isn't seen after the first chapter. Seriously, if one third of all the angels in heaven fell to earth, as the novel implies, one would think the writer would present a few more of them.

Rating:
Summary: BREATHTAKING
Review: The Silence In Heaven is a truly breathtaking vision of what might happen if one third of all angels were banished from heaven, brutally cast out of the light and cursed to live among a mortal world they have no love for. Stripped of their wings and forced to dawn flesh they each set off on a quest for redemption and the answers that will lead them back to the light. Through the centuries the fallen angel Tashum spans the globe in search of his celestial brother Paladin. Devastated by their separation and desperate to return to heaven, Tashum searches for the clues that will reunite him with his brother and restore them to their former glory. Peter Lord Wolf masterfully blurs the lines between good and evil as Tashum weathers the seas of emotion that plague him as he walks among mankind. Peters fallen angels are thrust into a delicate balancing act, consorting with vampires and coping with human temptation while trying to keep one foot in the light. A truly epic story, vibrant characters and the writers spellbinding word craft make this book a true fantasy masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Nice concept, horrible execution
Review: There's another reviewer on this page who sums it up pretty well, but let me chime in:
The cover blurbs are the best part of this book. The rest is pretty disappointing. I suppose it started out ok--I liked the fall of the angels, and the marooning of the main character on the island, and his contact with prehistoric man.
And then the author skips time (and so many possibilites) thousands of years, to meet up with vampires.
It started to go downhill from there. Unless vampires are done well, which this isnt, it starts to get pretty cheesy.
We get a few chapters set in this era. Then we jump time again into the present day! I was almost screaming at the author at the sheer laziness of missing the opportunities of having the whole of human history as a backdrop.
Anyway, then the whole thing develops into a B movie, with weak characters, weak plot, the book obviously padded out so the author can meet his contract as well as set himself up for a sequel, and by the end I didnt care.
In conclusion: Good concept. Poor execution. Wishy-washy characters you care nothing about. Boring B-movie plot.
I'm going to ditch my copy of this book as soon as possible.
I suppose the one good thing I can say about this book is that it should give hope to the thousands of struggling, unpublished writers out there today--if this excuse for a book can be published, take courage!

Rating:
Summary: Unique!
Review: This book explored a lot of possibilities and "what if's" and was most refreshing! I couldn't put this book down. One interesting point made is the how and who created vampires! Definatly worth the read and I can't wait to read the next one!

Rating:
Summary: Ouch. Yikes. Run for your life.
Review: What starts out as a very interesting premise devolves quickly into a battle between (almost) good and (almost) evil, though it doesn't even quite succeed at even that. "The Silence In Heaven" begins with a number of angels being purged from heaven and forced to be earthbound. Then it tells us that it was these angels who "created" vampires with their celestial blood. Can you see what's coming? Yes, the angels must battle the vampires for control of the world or mankind or something. And there might be a love story (almost) involved, but since angels have no reproductive organs, it's more of a frottage* story, I would imagine. Anyway, if you're looking for a summer read that doesn't involve a brain or any common sense, then by all means read this book.

*The act of rubbing against the body of another person, as in a crowd, to attain sexual gratification.