Customer Reviews
Average - By: xenofan, 06 Sep 2006 
This is the story of the revoltin heaven against God, & the casting out of Satan. I expected a fairly typical telling of that event, & got something quite different.
This is a story of the Warin Heaven & eventual Fall from Grace, both sides are told from a non-judgemental point of view, & neither God, nor Satan are all good, or all bad.
There's a fair bit wrong with this book though, & I really do wonder what's with the five star ratings. I've read better, & though perhaps it's still quite rare for an author to tackle the theme of angels, the fact this one does does not make it necessarily a worthy read.
Overall, I found the beginning & end of this book to be engrossing, the pacingin the middle was slow though. The writing quality varies, & there are some extremely poorly written sentances. Dialogue is pretty good (sometimes excellent) for the most part, but the book consists of about 90% dialogue. Pages & pages of dialogue, sometimes with three or more characters speaking, & requiring of some concentrationin order to follow who's saying what.
Characters aren't really developed immensely-yes, each one has a different personality & is motivated for different reasons, but there's no real understanding behind why they do what they do.
Satan is portrayed as being a victim of circumstances, rather than the troublemaker that went out & actually intentionally caused a rebellion. This is an interesting take on the idea, but Satan's role as troublemaker is taken by another angel, who spends the entire book causing misunderstandings & miscomunication between the sides of God & Satan.
This made the book frustrating, though perhaps it was trying to get accross a strong point-so much tragedy & conflict caused just because people don't talk to each other. But a whole book where the plot relies on one miscommunication after another?
I really don't know if this book was supposed to be funny, but it kinda was, just for how silly the whole conflict got.
In To Reignin Hell, Stephen Brust portrays quite a different idea of what heaven was likein those early days. And, to be honest, I found myself dissapointed. The place read like a medieval fantasy world, & I couldn't help wondering at why this was. Would have been nice to see something more different.
Another issue I had with this book is that it needed an editor. Some of the writing is attrocious, & there are some noticeable errors.
So. Read this book if you'd like to read an idea of the warin heaven. If this book hadn't used Angels, God & Satan to tell its story, this probably wouldn't have been as well received as it has. It's not that well written. I don't regret buying it, but don't expect a masterpiece.
The fall of the angels - By: , 14 Sep 2001 
This is about the time when Satan, Baal, Beelzebub etc were all together with the other angelsin Heaven. How did they all fall out so badly? This book tells that story, sometimes with a tongue firmlyin the cheek, sometimes poignantly. Steven Brust is a great observer of people, & it resonatesin all his stories. His worlds are peopled with characters that seem far more real & self-consistent than most, & he is not afraid to take chances either.
I would certainly not call his books 'speculative fiction'in the manner of Brian Aldiss's "Report on Probability A". However anyone who can make a central character of an assassin (Vlad Taltos books) & still get your sympathy, or write a bookin a highly stylized language style (The Phoenix Guards) or a book that is essentially an exchange of letters (Freedom & Necessity) is not afraid to take on the very tricky subject of God.
This is not a fast paced book. If you want pace, try Glen Cook's "The Black Company" (first book of a long series) or Barry Hughart's "Bridge of Birds" (if you can find it). Both are 5 star books, but if you love quality, "To Reign In Hell" has it oozing like honey from every page.
Good theme but didnt do much for me - By: , 10 May 2001 Perhaps it is the fault of various theological films ive seen but this book really didnt do much for me. It is a great theme with a very novel look at things but i find the authors style far too drawn out & the plot frankly dull. He takes far too long developing the characters & at the same time under-developing them (more references to various religious dogma would have been appreciated) & stickingin bits of quite uncaptivating plot. The book is simply too short for what he is trying to do & it suffers. Either a lack or research or ability to make this into a longer & more interesitng piece. Get the amber series by zelazny & then wonder why he raved so much about Brust.
Place at front of shelf. Mark as MANDATORY reading - By: percypython@hotmail.com, 07 Dec 2000 This book is truly awesome; the storytelling is simply superb. It's utterly readable & re-readable. Justice was finally served when this book was brought back into circulationin July '00; it took me 10 years to find a second hand copy. Taking this book out of print was pure heresy. Not so sure the new cover design wins any prizes either. Although I loved this book I've never taken the time to read Brokedown Palace (out of print), probably for fear of disappointment.
There are more reviews of this book on Amazon.com's site, so don't just take my word for it. This book is firmly at the top of my GOAT (greatest of all time). I shouldn't post links to web pages, so email me to get a look at the original cover art.
