To Reign in Hell

Summary

Firstborn, archangels, and angels have survived three waves of chaos and built a heaven to hide in. And a plan to form a more permanent refuge for future angels starts with the best of intentions. How, then, does it all go so wrong?

Review

To Reign in Hell may well be the first Steven Brust novel I read. It may have been Jhereg, but it may equally have been this, especially with an introduction by Roger Zelazny to draw me in. In any case, I recall being just as sceptical as Zelazny of the subject matter. But, like him, I was wrong. Along with Jhereg, this was the book that convinced me Brust really knew what he was doing. I just wish he’d kept at it.

You wouldn’t think, even back in the 1980s, that there was much new to be done with Abrahamic mythology. But you’d be wrong. This is brilliant, carefully constructed omedy of errors. It’s fun to read, with just the right touch of wry humor. It’s by far the best treatment of the concept I’ve seen.

Brust does cheat a bit in places. He splits Satan and Lucifer into separate beings. And where here both are show in a sympathetic light, a key catalyst in some ways takes their place by being venal and selfish without much cause.

But overall, I think this is great, and I enjoyed it as much on this re-read 40 years later as when I initially read it. Then, Brust was largely unknown to me aside from Liavek and possibly Jhereg. Now, I think of him as an extremely talented writer who just stopped trying a long time ago. But this early book is still terrific – from that early period when he was trying, and when his books were fantastic in all the right ways. It didn’t last long, but the reason he’s still around is because of books like this one.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.