To Reign in Hell

1984 fantasy novel by Steven Brust.

To Reign In Hell takes the biblical story of creation and Lucifer's fall from heaven and turns it inside out.

Brust avoids all the obvious and trite pitfalls that this material inherently invites. He doesn't draw caricatures. Instead he fleshes out his characters with true desires and personality.

Satan becomes the reluctant rebel, Don Quixote tilting at windmills. We know how this must end. It's the road travelled and the traveler's observations along the way that keeps our interest.

An excellent book if you can find a copy.

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cordelia alerted me to the fact that TRIH is back in print. It's being made available as a trade paperback. On the cover it is billed as:

A classic of modern fantasy, back in print at last.

The Time is the Beginning.
The place is Heaven.
The story is the Revolt of the Angels --
a war of magic, corruption and intrigue
that could destroy the universe.

An excellent work of fantasy by Steven Brust, telling the "story behind the story" of how Heaven was created, how God and Satan came into being, and what happened that caused Satan to rebel and, eventually, be cast out of Heaven.

The book is best approached from a very open-minded perspective. If you're a church-goer and believe everything you were taught in Sunday school, you will throw this book at the wall and scream about it being sacriligous and blasphemous. And then I will hit you.

But if you come at it from a neutral point of view and willfully accept the book's portrayal of Yaweh and Satan, I'm pretty sure you will find it very rewarding.

I've long held the opinion that God was a fucking bastard and Satan was just a humble angel who got fucked for not putting up with God's shit. This book confirms that point of view. Read it.