'To Reign In Hell' by Steven Brust

After enjoying The Revolt of the Angels (1914) by Anatole France, I thought I would read some more books that play around with myth of the War in Heaven from Paradise Lost (1667) and Judeo-Christian mythology. The Internet recommended To Reign In Hell (1984) by Steven Brust.

Brust's book is a fantasy novel set in Heaven, before the creation of Earth. Brust's Yaweh is not omniscient or omnipotent; he is the first of the Firstborn Angels, not a god. Heaven is a fragile island in a sea of chaos; Heaven's inhabitants are constantly worried about the chaos beyond the walls, which threatens to destroy them all. Yaweh comes up with a plan - the creation of Earth - to save the angels from chaos, but it transpires that many angels will have to die to carry out the plan. Doubts spread. 

The ideas in the novel have a lot of promise, but the execution is so irritating and disappointing. It feels like an early draft, an unripe fruit, a story born too premature from Brust's mind-womb.

TRIH is a fantasy novel with a map

The plot is carried along by Big Misunderstandings and Communication Failures. The war could have been avoided if the important characters actually spoke to each other a little bit more. Without speaking to Satan, Yaweh decides that his best friend is definitely out to get him. Without speaking to Yaweh, Lucifer & Co decide that their good friend is definitely out to get them (Lucifer and Satan are separate characters). As the misunderstandings build up, the plot becomes irritatingly farcical.

The characters are not developed. This review compares TRIH to a high school drama:

'Yaweh, Satan, Lucifer and Lilith are the cool student council kids of the book. The archangel Michael is the big, dumb jock who just does what the cool kids tell him to. Raphael is the nice, pretty chick who goes along with Yaweh because she doesn't know what else to do. Mephistopheles is that creepy, nerdy kid who listens in on everyone's conversations and knows way too much. And so on...

Yaweh declares himself student council president ("Lord of Lords"), which ticks off the other cool kids. Raphael and Michael go along with it, even though Michael really wants to punch Yaweh in the face. And Lucifer, Lilith and Satan decide Yaweh is a big jerk and they're going to fight him.'

Add to this underdevelopment the fact that some of the characters have irritating gimmicks. Beelzebub is a golden retriever who speaks in Elizabethan English for no reason ("Methinks all is not well, milord."). Ariel is an owl who speaks in rhymes ("O mighty one of the salty sea, word has come you've need of me."). Harut speaks like an American waitress ("Sure, honey."). It often feels like Brust is trying very hard to be hilarious.

The dialogue is irritating: it is too simple and casual for the subject matter and setting. Like the poor character development and plot progression, it makes the story feel like a high school drama:

"What kind of get-together, Harut?"

"Dunno. But everybody is supposed to show up."

"Hmmmm. What about you?"

"I'll be with Leviathan."

"I see."

"Afternoon, Mephistopheles."

"So long, Harut."

The scenes are irritatingly short. When reading, our mind converts the words we read into a movie in our heads, sort of. TRIH switches between POV characters too frequently. For sake of argument, assume that a page of the book would be 1 minute of screen time in an adaptation. Chapter 12 of TRIH is 12.5 pages long. Imagine how irritating all these transitions would be; imagine if Game of Thrones switched between characters this frequently:

Scene 1: Lucifer, Lilith, Asmodia, Michael & Harut; 3 pages, 3 minutes

Scene 2: Beelzebub & Mephistopheles chat; 1 page, 1 minute.

Scene 3: Abdiel & Gabriel; ⅓ page, 20 seconds

Scene 4: Gabriel & Mephistopheles; 1 page, 1 minute

Scene 4: Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer, Lilith, Asmodai & Michael; 3⅓ pages, 3 minutes 20 seconds

Scene 5: Kyriel & Sith; 1⅓ pages, 1 minute 20 seconds

Scene 6: Yaweh; 1/2 page, 30 seconds

Scene 7: Satan & Beelzebub; ½ page, 30 seconds

Scene 8: Abdiel & Gabriel; 1½ pages, 1 minute 30 seconds

Eight scene transitions in 12 minutes 30 seconds. This novel is so irritating.

Despite all this, I did manage to finish the novel. All the way to the end, I was tempted to give up. But I was curious where Brust would go with it; there are moments in the novel which suggest that if it had been redrafted a few more times, been left to ripen, been kept in Brust's mind-womb for a bit longer, it could have been spectacular. I would love a novel which retells the War in Heaven myth as the story of Heaven's transition from a quasi-egalitarian society to a military dictatorship, but where both sides are treated sympathetically: Yaweh the well-meaning tyrant, and Satan/Lucifer the well-meaning rebel.

"We are tyrants. That was what was so hard to come to terms with. We don't wish to be, but to do what we have to do, we must tell, not ask. And to tell the angels to do something, we must be ready to back up our words with force... I had to either abandon the Plan or become a tyrant." - Yaweh, page 203

"What I mean is this: I have decided to oppose Yaweh's plan. I think he's wrong, and dangerous, and the events of today have proven it. I mean to oppose him. I wish to see him cast down from his Palace, and I wish to see him no longer able to force his will on me, or the hosts of angels who are now under his dominion." - Lucifer, page 186

TRIH could have been great, but there is too much wrong with it. At best, it is worth reading as an interesting failure. For enjoyment, Anatole France's The Revolt of the Angels is more successful and enjoyable, and Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the best things ever written.

'The Knight of the Swords' by Michael Moorcock

Last night I read The Knight of the Swords (1971), the first book in the Corum series, and the first winner of the British Fantasy Award. I read it in one sitting (my edition is only 143 pages): it entertained me enough that I wanted to keep going, but it was trashy enough that I thought I wouldn't return to it if I didn't finish it that night.

They don't make 'em like they used to.

Corum is a prince of the Vadhagh (basically Tolkienesque elves), who lives with his immediate family in the isolated Castle Erorn. His father asks him to visit the other Vadhagh castles because they haven't heard from them for a long time. Corum finds the castles destroyed, and learns that a new species, humans, are exterminating the Vadhagh. He rushes home to warn his family, but is too late: Corum is the last of the Vadhagh, and he vows revenge against the evil human race.

Cue revenge-driven odyssey featuring magic, sword fights, flying mounts, a sinister sorcerer, demons, ancient artifacts, a castle siege, a damsel in distress, etc, and a confrontation with Duke Arioch, Lord of Hell, Noble of the Realm of Chaos, the Knight of the Swords.

This is Moorcock playing around with fantasy tropes: humans are the genocidal orcish baddies destroying the peaceful elven world; the hero learns that Not All Humans Are Bad, unlike the heroes of older fantasy novels, who never even consider that maybe Not All Goblins/Orcs/Trolls/Uruk-Hai/etc Are Bad. It's fun. It's silly. It's trashy. It's entertaining. It's a quick read. It's a bit different. It's not Moorcock's best, and it's not Moorcock's worst. I might read the sequels.