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Here is the description on Amazon’s web site about the book:
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"Lucifer’s War, which damned legions of angels to Hell, is an ancient and bitter memory shrouded in the smoke and ash of the Inferno. The Fallen, those banished demons who escaped the full wrath of Heaven, have established a limitless and oppressive kingdom within the fiery confines of Hell. Lucifer has not been seen since the Fall and the mantle of rulership has been passed to the horrific Prince Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies. The Demons Major, Heaven’s former warriors, have become the ruling class. They are the equivalent to landed lords, each owing allegiance to the de facto ruler of Hell. They reign over their fiefdoms, tormenting the damned souls and adding to their wealth. One Demon Major, however, who has not forgotten his former life in Heaven. The powerful Lord Sargatanas is restless. For millennia, Sargatanas has ruled dutifully but unenthusiastically, building his city, Adamantinarx, into the model of an Infernal metropolis. But he has never forgotten what he lost in the Fall-proximity to God. He is sickened by what he has become. Now, with a small event - a confrontation with one of the damned souls - he makes a decision that will reverberate through every being in Hell. Sargatanas decides to attempt the impossible, to rebel, to endeavor to go Home and bring with him anyone who chooses to follow . . . be they demon or soul. He will stake everything on this chance for redemption."
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Obviously, I was struck with the idea of a demon/fallen angel trying to gain it’s entrance back into Heaven. It is an easy concept to come up with, but quite hard to fathom creating an actual novel out of. At first, the idea really grabbed me. I put this book on my wish list at Amazon, only to delete a couple of months later. It had not been released yet, and I was unsure now that I really wanted to read it. Only after it’s release did I go back to it and start to read the reviews. What really struck me was people that were big admirers of Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno actually saying how well this book holds up against these classics. It sparked my interest in it again.
One reason, I am sure, that this book holds up well is it’s style. Barlowe’s writing is as imaginative as his artwork. His prose is flowing and graceful, or harsh when it needs to be, without being a first time novelist trying too hard. His descriptions are breathtaking, whether the scenes around Hell, or those describing “life” in Hell. To add, some of his concepts, especially what can happen to the damned souls of Hell, is very original (to me) and quite terrifying (if you really think about it). He took things that were simple, made them seem complex and in a bigger scope then could be imagined, yet was concise with his presentation of it in the story. It is quite impressive.
As for the story itself, he does a good job giving the reader something to really hold on to.
The story gives us a few battles, and the military machinations that are needed with it. So at times it is part action story. Those scenes, like many in the fantasy genre before it, hold up quite well. I am not an expert, or really read many books with battle scenes, but from those I have read, these are well put together.
Some of the sequences in the book were not well defined as far as time elapsed in the story. Out of the gate there seems to be feel that it is very recently after The Fall, and those that have fallen are figuring out what they want to do and how they will build their cities. But soon we are many millennia down the road. There are new characters brought in and talk of how it has been hundreds of years since they have seen each other. Most of the time there is no good grasp of how time is progressing. And though sometimes it had me shaking my head, it seems so completely appropriate. After all, do we really know how time will elapse in the afterlife? Considering it’s eternity, in many respects it doesn’t matter.
The characters were well displayed and showed some depth. Some I felt could have used more. Especially Sargatanas considering his discovery of what his feelings were and what he wanted to do about them. A lesser demon, a military leader for Sargatanas named Eligor, and one of the main characters of the story, has more depth then the main figure. Also, one character changed in the middle of the story, though it can be seen as appropriate, it still kind of bothered me. He is a soul trying to get Sargatanas’ attention, then finds out who he truly was in life. This part also had me thinking it was a little too forced or convenient. The soul turns out to be a famous military general and is asked to train and lead an army of souls into battle. Though given Sargatanas’ feelings towards life in Hell, and the idea of redemption to those fighting the dark forces, even the souls, is very much in line.
A lot of what I liked in this book was the visual descriptions that Barlowe gives the reader. I tend to really like well thought out “worlds” in fantasy and science fiction. But the biggest draw for me is the sheer audacity that Barlowe had for even thinking to write such a story. And overall he does it well. His writing skills really hold up throughout. Part of that is the story, too. That audacity the author showed carried over to the main character, and with his supporting cast, it made for a great novel.
9/10
