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charlottehenleybabb's review
4.0
Morningstar Lightbringer is not your grandmother's Satan. A bit of a slacker, he thinks it's too much bother to torment those who turn up in his realm. Most of the dead are not willing, without said torture, to take up their anima balls and trek across the great unknown desert of the soul to get into Heaven.
So the landscape of Hell is more like a theme park shopping district on steroids, each era having its own sensibility based on when its denizens died. Then there's the Garden of Eatin' diner where Eve slings manna pancakes heaped with syrup. Trouble is, someone wants to bring it all to an end, and it's up to Morningstar to put a stop to it.
The more mythology you know, the more you will enjoy this as several pantheons come into play, including the Sumerian god of blacksmiths, Hecate and her cosmic Tarot deck, and the Aztec couple of death. Can Satan get his balls back, and what can keep the first brothers, Cain and Abel, from breaking down the pearly gates?
I received an ecopy of this book for an honest review from Novel Publicity Book tours.
So the landscape of Hell is more like a theme park shopping district on steroids, each era having its own sensibility based on when its denizens died. Then there's the Garden of Eatin' diner where Eve slings manna pancakes heaped with syrup. Trouble is, someone wants to bring it all to an end, and it's up to Morningstar to put a stop to it.
The more mythology you know, the more you will enjoy this as several pantheons come into play, including the Sumerian god of blacksmiths, Hecate and her cosmic Tarot deck, and the Aztec couple of death. Can Satan get his balls back, and what can keep the first brothers, Cain and Abel, from breaking down the pearly gates?
I received an ecopy of this book for an honest review from Novel Publicity Book tours.
buttontapper's review
5.0
Your journey through Angel Falls begins with a bang. This here's a comedy about hell written by Michael Paul Gonzalez. And here you thought hell was all screaming, torture, and fire `n' brimstone!
Satan has been a bit lax with the torture and such, given his general disinterest in being the Evil Overlord of the afterlife. When he finds out that a certain socialite has been trying to break into Heaven through shady means, God Himself tasks Satan with the job of stopping her. Oh, and did I mention the devil's lost his balls (a pair of anima crystals) and has to undertake this quest with the limitations of a mortal?
Bummer, dude.
Populated with a cast of characters that includes familiar faces from the Old Testament, as well as a round-up of ancient gods and goddesses from around the globe, Gonzalez's tale is quite the wild ride. Like a comic version of Anne Rice's vampire universe (back when vamps sucked blood and were badass villains - or at least hardcore goths, and not sparkly hipster douchebags seducing teenagers), the book riffs on the question "What if Satan weren't such a bad guy after all, just kind of misunderstood?"
As in Rice's Memnoch the Devil, it seems God and Satan aren't quite so different after all, and Gonzalez's devil is supposed to be helping the souls in his sprawling city of Angel Falls reach their ultimate destination, whether that's Heaven or insanity. Instead he's left the souls in his care to their own devices, leaving pamphlets at their doors with helpful tips on surviving the afterlife (a nod to Beetlejuice's Handbook for the Recently Deceased), and allowing them to make their own decisions. Free will at last!
As a reformed Catholic, I found the fast-and-furious Biblical references worked well, particularly when used to poke holes in the theology. As a former Anne Rice enthusiast, I also enjoyed the alternate take on Heaven and Hell, good and evil, God vs. Satan dichotomies. After all, are we not all equally good and bad, yin and yang, all wrapped up in the same fleshy package?
If you've ever wondered what earned Satan all his epithets in the first place, and found Milton's take just a tad too stodgy for your tastes, check out Angel Falls.
Satan has been a bit lax with the torture and such, given his general disinterest in being the Evil Overlord of the afterlife. When he finds out that a certain socialite has been trying to break into Heaven through shady means, God Himself tasks Satan with the job of stopping her. Oh, and did I mention the devil's lost his balls (a pair of anima crystals) and has to undertake this quest with the limitations of a mortal?
Bummer, dude.
Populated with a cast of characters that includes familiar faces from the Old Testament, as well as a round-up of ancient gods and goddesses from around the globe, Gonzalez's tale is quite the wild ride. Like a comic version of Anne Rice's vampire universe (back when vamps sucked blood and were badass villains - or at least hardcore goths, and not sparkly hipster douchebags seducing teenagers), the book riffs on the question "What if Satan weren't such a bad guy after all, just kind of misunderstood?"
As in Rice's Memnoch the Devil, it seems God and Satan aren't quite so different after all, and Gonzalez's devil is supposed to be helping the souls in his sprawling city of Angel Falls reach their ultimate destination, whether that's Heaven or insanity. Instead he's left the souls in his care to their own devices, leaving pamphlets at their doors with helpful tips on surviving the afterlife (a nod to Beetlejuice's Handbook for the Recently Deceased), and allowing them to make their own decisions. Free will at last!
As a reformed Catholic, I found the fast-and-furious Biblical references worked well, particularly when used to poke holes in the theology. As a former Anne Rice enthusiast, I also enjoyed the alternate take on Heaven and Hell, good and evil, God vs. Satan dichotomies. After all, are we not all equally good and bad, yin and yang, all wrapped up in the same fleshy package?
If you've ever wondered what earned Satan all his epithets in the first place, and found Milton's take just a tad too stodgy for your tastes, check out Angel Falls.
thekarpuk's review
4.0
I can't be objective on this one. Michael Gonzalez has published more of my short stories than anyone, (which is only 3, but still) so I can't pretend like I didn't come into this with some knowledge of the guy.
Most of the writer's I've known both online and in person wrote fiction that was noir, transgressive, or transgressive noir, so this is probably the second book after Simon West-Bulford's The Soul Consortium that's something I might have picked up even if I hadn't known the author.
This type of fiction is sort of my thing, where myths of all sort collide with contemporary values. It basically describes half the series Vertigo has released over the years: Sandman, Preacher, Fables, Lucifer, etc.
Sandman and Lucifer make for an interesting comparison with Angel Falls, because in those series the protagonists never lose their god-like powers, so most of the drama comes from the massive amount of maneuvering they do with their forces.
But that's a pain in the ass to write, and at times a pain in the ass to read.
Gonzalez has taken a route that they often subject Superman to, where his powers are taken away so as to allow a proper heroes journey.
It's fun. Very little about it isn't fun. At the moment where Satan, Goliath, Eve, an angel head, and a Monkey god pile into a tiny car, I realized I was reading something that split the difference between Neil Gaiman and Hanna-Barbera. Which is not a thing I get to say very often.
I like cartoony style, and I seldom encounter it in books. So much of modern fiction is gritty and humorless, so it's nice to see something that doesn't take it's over-the-top premise too seriously. I almost feel like I could recognize the characters' silhouettes through the pages, they were so big and distinctive.
Most e-books could learn a lesson from how the footnotes were arranged here. You click the number, it takes you to the footnote, and at the end there's a link that takes you right back where you were. I've lost my place many times in Terry Pratchett books trying to do the same thing. Publishers should take note.
And if there's one big criticism I have, it's the title. I had to search through many titles with a variation of Angel, Falls, and even other books called Angel Falls. It makes me realize that every book title should be run through Amazon and Google before being settled on.
You should read this book. You'd probably enjoy it. Gonzalez made it very easy.
Most of the writer's I've known both online and in person wrote fiction that was noir, transgressive, or transgressive noir, so this is probably the second book after Simon West-Bulford's The Soul Consortium that's something I might have picked up even if I hadn't known the author.
This type of fiction is sort of my thing, where myths of all sort collide with contemporary values. It basically describes half the series Vertigo has released over the years: Sandman, Preacher, Fables, Lucifer, etc.
Sandman and Lucifer make for an interesting comparison with Angel Falls, because in those series the protagonists never lose their god-like powers, so most of the drama comes from the massive amount of maneuvering they do with their forces.
But that's a pain in the ass to write, and at times a pain in the ass to read.
Gonzalez has taken a route that they often subject Superman to, where his powers are taken away so as to allow a proper heroes journey.
It's fun. Very little about it isn't fun. At the moment where Satan, Goliath, Eve, an angel head, and a Monkey god pile into a tiny car, I realized I was reading something that split the difference between Neil Gaiman and Hanna-Barbera. Which is not a thing I get to say very often.
I like cartoony style, and I seldom encounter it in books. So much of modern fiction is gritty and humorless, so it's nice to see something that doesn't take it's over-the-top premise too seriously. I almost feel like I could recognize the characters' silhouettes through the pages, they were so big and distinctive.
Most e-books could learn a lesson from how the footnotes were arranged here. You click the number, it takes you to the footnote, and at the end there's a link that takes you right back where you were. I've lost my place many times in Terry Pratchett books trying to do the same thing. Publishers should take note.
And if there's one big criticism I have, it's the title. I had to search through many titles with a variation of Angel, Falls, and even other books called Angel Falls. It makes me realize that every book title should be run through Amazon and Google before being settled on.
You should read this book. You'd probably enjoy it. Gonzalez made it very easy.
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