The Seven Deadlies (Demon: The Fallen, Book 2) [Mass Market Paperback]

Greg Stolze (Author)

Book Description

Series: Demon the Fallen | Publication Date: April 28, 2003

Trilogy of the Fallen
'Turn over any of the rocks in Greg Stolze's mind, and be prepared to stare in wonder and fascination at the many-legged, yet disturbingly human, awfulness revealed there.'
- Kenneth Hite
"Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner"
Gaviel, a smooth-talking demon who made his way out of Hell, finds himself playing the part of Noah Wallace, son and heir apparent to a televangelist mission with bulging coffers. A perfect cover for a devil on the make! Not everything can go according to plan, however. The mad demon Avitu is looking to recruit Gaviel, while the avenging angel Usiel just wants to send him back to Hell. And all the while, the spirit of Noah Wallace is clamoring for its body back, and getting just a little stronger with every day.
Even a devil eventually pays his dues.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 285 pages
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing (April 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588468062
• ISBN-13: 978-1588468062
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,539,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Demon Goodness, May 11, 2003

By 

Frank Mccormick "Bookworm" (Williamstown, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Seven Deadlies (Demon: The Fallen, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I just finished Book Two of the Trilogy of the
Fallen, "The Seven Deadlies." Greg Stolze continues to
astound with his poetic paens of hope and redemmption and
the dark depravities of both the human and divine heart.
The story begun in "Ashes and Angel Wings" continues
apace, though this time the focus is on the Devil Gaviel,
Lord of the Summer Sun (instead of Sabriel and Hasmed),
with Usiel and Avitu again bringing up the rear. There's
again lots of juicy philosophical soul-searching and
psychological observation that's my favorite part of Demon
(one wonders if Ghosty is one of Mr. Stolze's alter-
egos). Not much actually HAPPENS (relatively speaking),
but then it is the middle part of a trilogy. One doesn't
really mind, though, because Stolze is such a great writer.

In the end, however, I didn't really enjoy it as much as
A&AW. For some reason, I don't really like Gaviel. He
says some good stuff, but he isn't quite sympathetic. But
I don't really like Hasmed, either, so I'm not sure why
that matters. Still, it's a good book and I'm very much
looking forward to the conclusion and much more Demon
fiction, or fiction of any kind, by Greg Stolze.

A few nagging questions...

What's in East St. Louis? A vamp, I presume, but I was
thinking some other bit of WoD lore I'm not aware of might
give the definitive answer.

Where the people who held Rabbuddun (or whatever his name
is) the demon hunters we're going to be seeing soon?

What's Lucifer REALLY up to? Is the guy Usiel is
encountering REALLY the Morningstar?

3.0 out of 5 stars FLAWED, BUT NOT STOLZE'S FAULT!, July 24, 2007

By 

Alexander Scott (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Seven Deadlies (Demon: The Fallen, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

It pains me to give a mediocre score to anything that Greg Stolze writes. He is a great novelist and writes compelling narrative, and his work on DEMON: THE FALLEN was masterful in developing an RPG through narration. His first book in the Demon trilogy, ASHES AND ANGEL WINGS, is highly recommended, as are his VAMPIRE: THE REQUIEM books.

Like Greg's previous novel, THE SEVEN DEADLIES is about a demon escaped from Hell and bent on not going back. It follows his plans to acquire power, both temporal and spiritual, as well as developing some other character plots from the last book. The demon in this story is less sympathetic to me than the prevous one, although I suppose it has to do with the kind of story the author wants to tell. My major complaints are these:

-At the end of chapter 2, we are introduced to a big metaplot point for DEMON which is the big quake in LA. The next few chapters dance around the fact that the characters in this novel have already been scripted for action in LA in LUCIFER'S SHADOW. We are left with some big holes in the narrative and a lack of continuity. I got the strong impression that we were supposed to go out now and buy this other book in order to follow along. Since the author could have started after the quake with only the loss of his first chapter, I am left with the impression that he was asked to write a tie-in to another product. Besides the damage done to the narrative flow, I resent the implication that I should buy other books to plug holes in the one I just bought.

-The fact that Lucifer pops in and out of the storyline. I'm pretty sure that this was a requirement to keep up with metaplot, but it detracts from suspension of disbelief. This is the second most powerful being in the universe after Gold Almighty, and he drops by bars to administer plot points? He ought to be ineffable and instead comes across as banal.

-Too many characters. This I will attribute to Greg; much as I admire his writing, it is my observation that he does his best with 1-2 central characters with which to explore the world.