| Author: | Steven Brust |
| Copyright: | 1984 |
| Date Reviewed: | 5/15/85 |
| Rating: | 8.0 |
Synopsis: The first born were created during the First Wave when entropy reversed itself and Heaven was created from the flux. Instinctively, they fought to retain themselves without knowing why. The first born are Yaweh, Satan, Michael, Raphael, Lucifer, Leviathan and Belial. The Archangels were created during the Second Wave and many who survived did so because of the fight put up by the First Born. With each Wave, the beings created are weaker. The Third Wave saw the creation of the angels. The Waves create but they also destroy and alter. During one wave, Leviathan is transformed into a sea serpent and Belial becomes a dragon. During the third wave, Hurut, friend to Leviathan is blinded, Ariel, also a friend of Laviathan's, becomes an owl, and Beelzebub friend to Satan becomes dog.
When the story begins, Yaweh has a plan to create a place (Earth) which will forever be protected from the Waves. There are great benefits to the plan but also great costs; many angels must be sacrificed to the flux for it. Yaweh assigns Satan the task of ensuring that the hosts all do their part. However Satan is not comfortable with not letting the hosts decide for themselves and embarks on a trip to the center of Heaven to tell Yaweh this. Through a series of misunderstandings perpetrated by an evil angel Abdiel, Satan is led to believe that Yaweh will not see him and vice versa. Convinced by Abdiel that Satan is about to rebel, Yaweh orders up his own personal army and delivers a sermon on the mount claiming himself as the true creator of Heaven. Using the powers of the angels, Yaweh creates a son, Yeshuah, and proclaims him King of Heaven.
Although Satan is not yet ready to rebel, the first born on his side, including Lucifer, Lilith, Leviathan and Belial, hold a similar meeting at the Southern Hold, Satan's home. Their aim is to claim the truth. During the speeches, Yaweh's army attacks and burns down the hold. Sufficiently angered, Satan gathers his own army and marches toward the center. Satan and Yaweh eventually meet and discover that Belial is to blame for the whole affair. However the damage is done. Yaweh demands that Satan apologize for wrongs he has not done but Satan refuses to take part in any more lies. Satan travels west with his army to await the final battle. The inevitable battle happens but just as Yaweh's forces begin to retreat, the Forth Wave begins (started by Abdiel and continued by Yaweh). By now the only option is to go ahead with the plan. Heaven is split in two, and Satan is captured and cast out. He survives the flux and comes to Earth. For all eternity Satan and Yaweh will now fight over this prize and the new angels created during the Forth Wave.
Review: I have a lot of mixed feeling about "To Reign in Hell". On one level it was very well written and very difficult to put down. "To Reign in Hell" is a fantasy of gigantic proportions. I thought about the plot often while not reading it and I believe I even dreamt about it once (or at last I woke up thinking about it). It is also interesting that the author, Steven Brust, is a Netnews contributor so immediately after reading the book, I read some criticisms of it and the author's replies. I agree with the Netnews critics that there were some really cheap shots taken. The worst part of the plot was the Abdiel character. The plot portrays tens of good angels and one really evil one. Since this evil one was really a minor angel, it is hard to understand how he could perpetrate so much evil. According to the author, events would have taken place even without Abdiel but I don't believe this. A dozen times during the story the escalating war could have been stopped if only Abdiel was discovered and the opponents had a chance to talk. The story would have been much better if there were instead a wider range of good and evil and self interest. Although hard to put down, looking back the plot did become laborious several times. Most of the book simply followed a few characters as they traveled from one regency to another. In this way "To Reign in Hell" suffers from some of the same problems as "Pontifex Valentine" by Robert Silverberg.