To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust
Read in January 2010
Brust’s second published novel, To Reign in Hell, seemed to me almost an alternate history/legend/mythos to Milton’s Paradise Lost. Not having read Milton’s works thoroughly, I probably missed much of Brust’s subtleties, wit and demonic humor. I still smiled at his quirky repartee among the bit characters. He coaxed me into sympathizing with the traditional enemy host, illustrated that truth can be in the eye of the beholder and perception is everything.
I read the novel quickly and the story kept me turning pages. My only complaint stems from the over abundance of dialog. It reads more like a screenplay (without any indication of whose speaking nor stage directions). I got used to all the dialog by the end of the book, but I struggled through the first third of the book because of it.
