To Reign in Hell - Stephen Brust

When he set out to expand upon the Christian Creation myth by incorporating apocryphal accounts of the war in heaven and the nature of hell, John Milton believed with unwavering arrogance that his ‘Paradise Lost’ would take a significant place in the literary canon, and the blind poet could have been confident that his epic would still inspire writers over three centuries later. Like many modern fantasies concerning the events that transpired before the Earth or humanity were created, Steven Brust’s novel ‘To Reign in Hell’ borrows heavily from Milton in terms of its premise (the war in Heaven, and its aftermath) and controversial sympathy for the traditionally ‘evil’ ...  Read the complete review

What an ambitious project! A novel about The Fall, the mythical battle between Satan and the Angels in paradise, as later immortalised by Milton in Paradise Lost -- which is where the title of "To Reign in Hell" came from. (If anyone doesn't know the story, the short version is that Satan and his followers lost, and were kicked out of Heaven.) Yes, it's _that_ story. An ambitious task for a young writer, to take that starting point and put together an interesting story without hitting all the anti-religious or satirical buttons. "To Reign in Hell" has the trappings of a typical fantasy novel, but it is that story, with those ...  Read the complete review