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The time is the Beginning. The place is Heaven. The story is the Revolt of the Angels—a war of magic, corruption and intrigue that could destroy the universe.
To Reign in Hell was Stephen Brust's second novel, and it's a thrilling retelling of the revolt of the angels, through the lens of epic fantasy.
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"Consummate grace and genuine artistry" -Roger Zelazny
"Steven Brust just might be America's best fantasy writer." -Tad Williams
About the Author
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in a family of Hungarian labor organizers, Steven Brust worked as a musician and a computer programmer before coming to prominence as a writer in 1983 with Jhereg, the first of his novels about Vlad Taltos, a human professional assassin in a world dominated by long-lived, magically-empowered human-like "Dragaerans."
Over the next several years, several more "Taltos" novels followed, interspersed with other work, including To Reign in Hell, a fantasy re-working of Milton's war in Heaven; The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, a contemporary fantasy based on Hungarian folktales; and a science fiction novel, Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille. The most recent "Taltos" novels are Dragon and Issola. In 1991, with The Phoenix Guards, Brust began another series, set a thousand years earlier than the Taltos books; its sequels are Five Hundred Years After and the three volumes of "The Viscount of Adrilankha": The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, and Sethra Lavode.
While writing, Brust has continued to work as a musician, playing drums for the legendary band Cats Laughing and recording an album of his own work, A Rose for Iconoclastes. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where he pursues an ongoing interest in stochastics.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in a family of Hungarian labor organizers, Steven Brust worked as a musician and a computer programmer before coming to prominence as a writer in 1983 with Jhereg, the first of his novels about Vlad Taltos, a human professional assassin in a world dominated by long-lived, magically-empowered human-like "Dragaerans." Over the next several years, several more "Taltos" novels followed, interspersed with other work, including To Reign in Hell, a fantasy re-working of Milton's war in Heaven; The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, a contemporary fantasy based on Hungarian folktales; and a science fiction novel, Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille. The most recent "Taltos" novels are Dragon and Issola. In 1991, with The Phoenix Guards, Brust began another series, set a thousand years earlier than the Taltos books; its sequels are Five Hundred Years After and the three volumes of "The Viscount of Adrilankha": The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, and Sethra Lavode.While writing, Brust has continued to work as a musician, playing drums for the legendary band Cats Laughing and recording an album of his own work, A Rose for Iconoclastes. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where he pursues an ongoing interest in stochastics.
It's very appropriate that Roger Zelazny wrote the intro to this novel, as the novel itself uses a concept prevalent in Zelazny's works: that of pulling the myth out of a mythology and presenting it in another genre (such as Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness).
In TO REIGN IN HELL, Steven Brust tells the story of the revolt in Heaven from a fantasy perspective. This is the first book I've read by him, and I'm definitely impressed. He provides you with an answer for everything you were shushed for asking in Sunday school: "How was God formed from Chaos? How was Heaven created? What would cause a group of angels to rebel? Why would God let them rebel?" The outcome is the same, of course, but Brust's version of the story is great reading. All the expected (and a few unexpected) players are there, and Brust does a fantastic job of giving each of them very real personalities. The way he gives every character a distinct form of speech is brilliant, and he doesn't stumble once. An especially nice touch is the ongoing dialogue between two lesser angels, Sith and Kyriel, interspersed throughout chapters, which provides a "common man's" perspective on the events in the book.
The middle of the book does get a bit slow here and there, but the beginning and end are very well-written and will grab your attention.
Steven Brust is a phenomenal writer and if you have not read any of the Vlad Taltos series, I cannot recommend them highly enough to you. They are swashbuckling character studies of the finest regards. That said, "To Reign In Hell" is a fantastic story about the War in Heaven seen with a non-judgmental point of view. Devout Christians and Catholics may have some troubles, as to understand the text, a reader should put aside all preconcieved notions of the concepts of Good and Evil, God and the Devil and other Christian mythos. I am very glad to see "To Reign In Hell" brought back into print. I bought my copy, used, in a Minneapolis bookstore and found out a few months later that the scrawl in the front of it was an autograph from Brust. I am picking up another copy soon so I can afford to lend it out to friends. "To Reign In Hell" isn't Brust's best work by far, but it's also a marvelous read and well-worth your time if you can go into it with an open mind. If your concepts of religion are inflexible, read some of Brust's other material (I recommend starting with "The Book of Jhereg," a reprint of the first three Vlad Taltos books in one volume), but do not miss this terrific author. Brust is one of the greatest writers working today.
How to possibly describe this book. If you have not read it, I have to strongly urge you to get it. It is literaly one of the best books I have ever read. If you have read some of the other books written by Mr. Brust, then you know he is something of a talented story teller. But if you are expecting something similar to his Vlad series, or other fantasy, prepare to be amazed. The story is about the events prior to the creation of the Earth. The creation of the Angels, and the fall of Satan. Mr. Brust does an outstanding job of portraying all of the characters. After all, Satan was an Angel....there is no reason to suppose that he was born Evil, or in opposition to God. How did it happen. This book really makes you empathize with the various characters. I can not stress it enough, if you have not read this book....you are missing out on a wonderful experience.
for re-printing this literary classic. The cover alone is worth the price. This is the story of the revolt of angels. Satan's fall from heaven, along with all of his co-conspiritors. Each character is wonderfully drawn out and the plot is tight and fast. While reading,you get this horrible feeling of helplessness. For we all know how the story ends, yet we hope against hope that there is someway to change it. That is the bueaty of this work. It makes us question our beliefs and want to change the unchangeable. Its not the point of wheither it really happened this way or not - the point is that it COULD of happened this way. And that gives this work a serious/important tone. Which is not to say that its not funny. Quite the contrary, I found myself laughing out loud in places. But the serious tone makes the last third of book down right scary and tagic. I felt like I was tied down to the middle of a street with a bull dozer coming at my from three blocks away at three miles an hour. It also made me scared to death to go to heaven. At least the devil doesn't sugar-coat his wrong doings. Required reading for those interested in theology or just looking for an important book to break up all of the light beach reads this summer.
To Reign in Hell is deft and subtle in weaving a tale of conflict among friends -- the Firstborn of Heaven. Satan and Yaweh, archangels, and lesser angelic minions populate an Eden like Heaven. Conflict comes among them unbidden and grows. The heroes are not necessarily whom you expect from among familiar names. The basic premise of the book is pure genius, executed with dialog that infers far more and features some wonderful phrasing and playful language. I'm Catholic and an avid science fiction/fantasy reader. I rate few books worth as much thought or moral contemplation. When you are through you can ask yourself would you choose Heaven, Hell or Earth? At minimum you should ask Brust's question, how some of the angels come to fall from Heaven?
To Reign in Hell is engaging and thought provoking long after you finish. Highly recommended even though it offers more challenge and less resolution than many longer tales.
