| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The descent to Avernus is easy -----Virgil...,
By
This review is from: Letters from Hades (Paperback)
I am hooked on Jeffrey Thomas, one of the most talented new writers I have come across in ages. His stories in both Punktown and Punktown Third Eye left me slavering for more.
Letters From Hades has satisfied that hunger. I enjoy well-written books that deal with an author's vision of what that fiery hell will be like, and Jeffrey Thomas lets you actually feel the despair and hopelessness that permeate The Great Below. Written in the form of a diary, we follow our nameless protagonist as he learns the ropes in Hell. He awakens in hell after his suicide, and immediately sent off to the Avernus University, where he is forced to learn that every pain that lies before him is deserved, and that repentance is futile. After his crusifixion at graduation, he is set free to find his place in hell. And through his journeys, he keeps his diary. Thomas's vision of hell is unique, with many different types of daemons; from eight foot tall skeletons with green fire coming out of their heads, to pale white, human like winged creatures. He sets out for the city of Oblivion, making his way through and eerie purple forest, and past the Harvesters that plow through a field of human heads, and meets up with Chara along the way. Chara is a near human demon, impaled to a tree and left to die. Our protagonist frees her in a burst of compassion, and unwittingly sets off a destructive trend in Oblivion. He also falls in love with Chara, a forbidden love that neither of them can deny. With time running out and the revolution of damned against demon heating up, they must flee Oblivion and find a place where they can be together. The story itself is very good, but you will find more than a simple tale in Letters From Hades. You will laugh as you witness a motorcycle gang of Angels descending into hell to participate in drive-by shootings of the Damned, you will shudder at the sight of the Black Cathedral as it materializes in your neighborhood, you will feel beauty as you watch a purple praying mantis crawling over purple leaves, and you will tremble in terror at the sight of the Torture Plants. This is a fully fleshed out fantasy land of a dark and twisted nature, one that will leave you enriched for having walked its treacherous sands and traversed it's blacked pathways. Enjoy!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quite wonderful.,
By
This review is from: Letters from Hades (Paperback)
Jeffrey Thomas, Letters from Hades (Bedlam Press, 2003)
Despite the ambiguous way in which Thomas ends his narrative, it's entirely possible that the astute reader will turn the last page with one main question in his mind. Thomas' narrator muses, a few times, about the possibility of getting his manuscript back out of Hell and into the "real world." But no mechanisms for doing so are ever detailed. So how is the reader reading this manuscript? This is a good thing. Thomas has done a fine job of suspension of disbelief in this exceptionally odd mix of Dante's Commedia and the first few acts of Romeo and Juliet (with intriguing dashes of A Clockwork Orange and The Dogs of War thrown in for good measure). The plot is simple: a man has committed suicide and gone to Hell where, after some basic schooling, he's left to fend for himself. He journeys around, sees things, gets involved in stuff, gets a job... a slice-of-life story, except that everyone in it is dead. It's an amusing enough idea, and carried off with style, but what really sets Letters from Hades apart from so many other novels to be found out there in the wide world is that Thomas' narrator actually has a brain. He doesn't react to things like the typical horror-novel (anti-)hero. There's no quaking, screaming, falling down while running away from something nasty, or conveniently forgetting important facts when they're necessary. It's a travesty that such a sensible, pragmatic hero is such a rarity in the world of fiction, but at least when you run across such a character, you appreciate him all the more. A fine piece of work, well worth your time. ****
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pleasant Surprise,
By A Customer
This review is from: Letters from Hades (Paperback)
Being an avid reader, I often find myself growing weary of the mainstream sort of stuff that comes out of New York and London, and will turn to smaller, independent presses and the lesser-known writers that they publish in the hopes of finding something new and intelligently written to appease my appetite. Often these books are costly and come only in limited editions, and often they disappoint. Intrigued by the premise of the story, I opted to shell out some dollars and give Mr. Thomas a chance. I sure am glad that I did."Letters From Hades" was new and different, and I thoroughly enjoyed the world that was created, and Mr. Thomas' attitude towards religion, as evidenced by who some of the denizens of Hell are. I had a good laugh at some of the sorts of people you'll find there, and what their "sins" were. I can't think of much to say about the actual story that won't spoil it for future readers, so I'm just going to praise that it was well-written, and that I would look forward to reading future works by Jeffrey. Thomas. In fact, I'm going to start scouring the out-of-print market to see if I can find some of his earlier works. I only wish the book was longer; I finished it in one sitting. Hopefully the author will return to this Hell again for future projects. I highly recommend this to any reader looking for something new and enjoyable, and wish the author the best of luck in his writing future.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|
|
