The War in Heaven (Mass Market Paperback)

by David Zindell (Author) "I know little of God, but all too much of that godly race of beings that some call man..." (more)
Key Phrases: devotionary computer, warming pavilion, ekkana drug, Mallory Ringess, Old Father, Civilized Worlds (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON

Danlo wi Soli Ringess has returned from the Vild, the first lightship pilot to escape that hellish region of fractured space and deadly supernovas where giant computer-gods make war on each other.

But the Civilized Worlds face their own threat of war. A fanatical cult has seized the fabled city of Neverness and plans to take over the galaxy. Though the cult worships Danlo's long-lost father as a god, he casts his lot with its opponents--and is sent to Neverness to try to reason with its leaders. Instead he must fight to survive: against the warrior-poet who has vowed to take his life, the madman with a star-killing weapon and a grim ultimatum, the charismatic leader of the cult--once Danlo's greatest friend, now his fiercest enemy--and his own unbreakable vow never to harm a living thing.

A contemporary master of speculative fiction and incomparable world-building, David Zindell continues his monumental epic that sweeps us from the outer reaches of the galaxy to the inner depths of the human mind, a stirring cosmic drama of a man of peace torn between the implacable cosmic forces of divinity and destruction.

From the Publisher
"Zindell is fashioning an astonishing epic of our distant and eerie galactic future."
--Robert Silverberg

"One of the finest talents to appear since Kim Stanley Robinson and William Gibson--perhaps the finest."
--Gene Wolfe

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (January 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553289675
• ISBN-13: 978-0553289671
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,743,430 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful ending to the best series I've ever read!!, September 30, 2000

By A Customer

In War in Heaven, Zindell has Danlo wi soli Ringess return to his home planet of Neverness to face his former best friend but now arch-enemy Hanuman. In what has become classic Zindell style, the prose is just the most flowing yet intense stuff there is - you'll totally get lost in the characters and in the writing. This book was a little more like The Broken God than The Wild, in that it is a little less sci-fi and more like a fantasy plot with larger-than-life characters in a small setting. I'd recommend anyone, sci-fi fan or not, to read this series. I should also note that if one does read any of these books, they are really meant to be read in order - it would be a little hard to understand what was going on in this book without having read The Broken God and then The Wild first. Five stars from me!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STILL answering questions with questions, February 5, 2001

By	Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Danlo alas keeps this sporadically annoying habit that's so much a part of his nature throughout what I think is probably the last in the series of books that began with Neverness (for everyone but Danlo) or The Broken God (for Danlo himself). While the last book was a strange, yet oddly intoxicating mixture of philosophy and SF, it lacked the intrinsic cohension that the first book had somehow managed to convey, maybe because of the sublime setting of the city of Neverness, about the finest and best detailed futuristic city in all of SF. Here, after a brief start, we're back in Neverness as Danlo tries to keep war from breaking out and tries, to various degrees of success, to also piece together all the fragments of problems he's either been involved in or created. Zindell sets up quite the dilemma for all the protagonists, not only has the Order of Pilots fragmented and is threatening to fight the other (one part's in exile, the other part is falling sway to a new religion started by Danlo's former best friend and based on the fact that his father might have become a god), the Warrior-Poets are trying to kill anyone who might become a god, Neverness is falling into riots as the Ringists are killing all the nonbelievers. Danlo has never seemed more human and less human here, his very much tries to keep to his vow not to harm anyone and for the most part keeps it, but he's sorely tempted otherwise. He runs into old friends and enemies and enemies who used to be friends (yeah, we're talking to you, Hanuman). This is the most brutal of the three books and Danlo doesn't have an easy time of things, however, as exhilerating as it is to have him succeed, the efforts almost make him seem superhuman and as the book winds to a close, you wonder if ANYTHING can stop this guy. Some points of the book also fall prey to Philosopy Syndrome, where Zindell drowns you in pretty prose depicting Danlo debating some inner struggle, which while great to read and has some absolutely beautiful writing, makes you want to shout at the book "Get on with it already!". But I can't say I didn't like this book, heck, I more than just liked it, this was a satisfying end to the cycle that builds on what came before and takes it to new places. Danlo is one of the best characters to appear in the last decade, and the rest of the people are all lovingly detailed, no one is all good, no one is all bad, everyone has reasons and motivations, some you agree with, some you don't. The clarity and scope of Zindell's ideas, enough to make you think without making your head hurt, are fascinating and his attention to detail, both in dialogue and description and philosophy, will make you want to read the entire series again and again. Even with Danlo's annoying question habit, this has to rank as one of the finest series of the last couple of years, without a doubt.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a guide to life!, January 17, 2000

By	"wsturley" (belgium) - See all my reviews

This is one of the, if not THE, most philosophical series that I have ever read. Sit back and enjoy, while at the same time ponder on how you see your life. I have read the series twice already and will read it all again in another 5 years or so. I realize that this is a review of the whole series but I think that every book in the series is worth 5 stars. This really is a MUST read for all serious readers of sci-fi or anyone that wishes to think about the path on which they tread through this life. Honestly and truly a Requiem for Homo Sapiens.