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A review by ericbuscemi
The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
4.0
Despite growing up reading all the fantasy novels I could get my hands on, and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn being a very well respected and popular fantasy trilogy from that time, I had never read any Tad Williams before this book -- which I will have to remedy in the near future, at the expense of my ever lengthening to-read shelf.
This book, and the forthcoming series, is not the sword-and-sorcery type of novel that Williams cut his teeth writing, but a modern, urban fantasy. But where most urban fantasies gravitate toward vampire, werewolf and other similar mythologies, this book substitutes Judeo-Christian mythology -- angels, demons, and other denizens of the underworld -- borrowing from [b:Paradise Lost|15997|Paradise Lost|John Milton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309202847s/15997.jpg|1031493] instead of [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula|Bram Stoker|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347251549s/17245.jpg|3165724]. But don't be mislead, this isn't simply Jim Butcher's Dresden Files rewritten with religious substitutions, the world-building here is very organic and well done, and their depth make the story that much more compelling.
I won't go into the plot, for fear of spoilers, but the tone was a perfect blend of seriousness and humor, with a snarky first-person narrator reminiscent of a noir detective novel. That narrator, earth-bound angel Bobby Dollar, is the singular highlight of the book, and the chance to revisit his character is enough to have me looking forward to the next book in the trilogy, [b:Happy Hour in Hell|13519596|Happy Hour in Hell (Bobby Dollar #2)|Tad Williams|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|19079485].
This book, and the forthcoming series, is not the sword-and-sorcery type of novel that Williams cut his teeth writing, but a modern, urban fantasy. But where most urban fantasies gravitate toward vampire, werewolf and other similar mythologies, this book substitutes Judeo-Christian mythology -- angels, demons, and other denizens of the underworld -- borrowing from [b:Paradise Lost|15997|Paradise Lost|John Milton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309202847s/15997.jpg|1031493] instead of [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula|Bram Stoker|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347251549s/17245.jpg|3165724]. But don't be mislead, this isn't simply Jim Butcher's Dresden Files rewritten with religious substitutions, the world-building here is very organic and well done, and their depth make the story that much more compelling.
I won't go into the plot, for fear of spoilers, but the tone was a perfect blend of seriousness and humor, with a snarky first-person narrator reminiscent of a noir detective novel. That narrator, earth-bound angel Bobby Dollar, is the singular highlight of the book, and the chance to revisit his character is enough to have me looking forward to the next book in the trilogy, [b:Happy Hour in Hell|13519596|Happy Hour in Hell (Bobby Dollar #2)|Tad Williams|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|19079485].