Wayne BarloweGod's Demon

Reading God's Demon totally re-imagined my vision of Hell. Makes me think that there is nothing greater than hope. So I 'hope' that all who read this book enjoy it as much as I did. I gave it a 5 star rating due to its fast paced and exciting narrative. Never a dull moment!

I don't know what to say to convince you to read this, but you should. It's breathtaking. Barlowe has created a mythos of Hell that rivals the Inferno itself, and even Paradise Lost. It's truly incredible, bereft of creativity, a true artistic wonder. 11/10

Really good book, the atmosphere is amazing

This story sands out as one of 'thee' most memorable works of fiction that I have ever read. There aren't many for me. Lord of the Rings, most Star Wars novels [not the new stuff], and maybe the trilogy 'The Blade Itself' by Ambercrombe. God's Demon, even to this day, is right close in my thoughts. In fact, I cannot say this for anything else other than for certain scenes as depicted in certain Star Wars novels. I tried reading the second one and did not like it. But THIS one, the original story about 'Hell' and its various High Ranking amidst hellish intrigue and goings on really is one of a kind. Though a quick, non overly complex read, it's characters are just right as depicted and given. ..I cannot see it ever being outdone by anything ever to be written again because the way it is written managed to 'capture' my imagination and emotion in a way that is unique. This may not be so for all who read it. But for me, I so much liked the book, that I bought is a second time after years of not having it because my original hardcover from so long ago was stolen from me. For a while, hardcover copies of this were selling for over $200., so when I saw a brand new one for sale for less than $30 I had to buy it immediately. .. I consider myself a picky person when it comes to fiction. I hardly ever finish a fiction book, unless it is a Star Wars novel, which, for me, are all great because for all the infamous characters [not the newer ones...which I don't care for at all]. One can only read Lord of the Rings so many times, and besides, it is rather grim and can be long winded. Hells Demon, though grim, is not long winded, and, is also intriguing, and, as well, ends up being heart felt due to the main character's struggle to regain the honor of his Goodness even if without any type of expected reward for so doing....

I’ll admit it straight up: I really, really enjoyed this book, and I wasn’t actually expecting to. It was written by the famous Wayne D. Barlowe, who’s known primarily for his wonderful art. He’s one of the best artists in the world when it comes to fantasy creatures and scifi aliens! So I bought his first and so far only prose novel just to support him, and I didn’t think he’d be as good with the written word as he was with the paintbrush.Boy, was I wrong!I’ll try to spoil as little as possible in this review, so I’ll first give an outline of the novel that doesn’t delve into important plot details. Barlowe paints (heh) a portrait of Hell that’s heavily inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost. In his Hell, the various demons were originally angels cast down there after following Lucifer in a failed rebellion against “The Throne,” though Barlowe carefully avoids any specific mention of Christianity. It’s also clear this is very much his own vision of Hell.The story revolves around yet another rebellion in Hell itself, with the intent of getting back to heaven! Lord Sargatanas, a mighty and powerful demon lord (Major Demon) is our protagonist. He has spent millennia in Hell, has grown tired of it, regrets following Lucifer’s rebellion, and now wants to return…which means he must raise an army against the current reigning lord of all Hell, Beelzebub, who took over after Lucifer disappeared. Quite an interesting premise, eh?Barlowe runs with it extremely well. His vision of Hell is populated with a variety of characters, ranging from powerful Demons Minor, super-powerful Demons Major (like the protagonist Sargatanas), the unfortunate damned souls who also serve as building blocks for Hell’s buildings, and even Abyssals, Hell’s “native fauna” which were driven away when all the demons fell. As an aside, most of the demon names, like Eligor, Valefar, Agares, etc. come from the old famous book of demons, The Lesser Key of Solomon, which I thought was a cool touch, though I’m biased–my favorite upcoming Kickstarter game, Bloodstained, is heavily inspired by The Key of Solomon as well 😉 But anyways, this setting means that God’s Demon has a lot of elements of politics and battle strategy as well as the standard swords and sorcery fare one might find in a fantasy novel. Sargatanas has to raise an army, meaning he has to woo demons away from under Beelzebub’s banner, and then lead those armies in battle, requiring many strategems and such. All that is fantastically portrayed, the big battles and their tactics were impressive and gripping, and the individual fights were fantastic–Barlowe isn’t quite R.A. Salvatore, but he’s not too far off either, and I was very impressed to see an artist write swordplay and action so well.While reading books like Barlowe’s Inferno and Brushfire: Illuminations from the Inferno will give you a clear idea of what the characters look like, AND (very important!) spoil you massively for God’s Demon, Barlowe’s prose also does more than enough for the task. He does an excellent job of vividly describing the many creatures he’s invented, whether the incredibly creepy way millions of flies compose the primary antagonist and leader of Hell, Beelzebub, or the way other demons shift their bodies to their whim, growing eyes and limbs in accordance with their needs as they send up spells and magic glowing sigils and glyphs into the skies to command their armies of summoned creatures or even damned souls. And Barlowe certainly makes it clear this book isn’t for kids…some of scenes of horrible deaths suffered by demons and other important characters are thoroughly spine-tingling and stomach-churning, minor spoilers but I recommend avoiding the later parts of the book if you have a fear of flies!Again, no spoilers, but I’ll cap off this review with, at last, some praise for the characters themselves. Sargatanas is a wonderfully sympathetic protagonist to root for, Beelzebub is a suitably villainous antagonist to root against, the love story and scenes were great, there’s a surprising reveal about one of the damned souls that would have really caught me by surprise if I hadn’t been spoiled by Barlowe’s Inferno ( ;_; ) and the final battle had me at the edge of my seat, though it all concludes satisfactorily. A great read all in all, I heartily recommend it!

Excellent character development! The story was a refreshingly different take on demons and Hell. Of how hope and dreams of being better can move even demons.

I discovered Wayne Barlow through his artwork, in particular the imagery of Hell he created for this book. When I discovered that he wrote a book involving those characters I immediately bought it. The book draws a great deal of inspiration from Paradise Lost and the Divine Comedy. As anyone familiar with me knows that I'm a huge fan of Paradise Lost. I also enjoy people's different interpretations of it and this is a good one.The author's realisation of Hell is outstanding with a great attention to detail. As can be expected it is a brutal domain, but it's a cold and unfeeling Hell. Hell existed with its own denizens before the Fall and the arrival of the cast out angels and condemned human souls transforms the landscape.Beyond the well crafted setting there's the core story of the search for redemption with one of the Demon Lords wanting to return to Heaven. It's a grand quest and one that involves the first true war in Hell. The campaign follows a familiar path, however there are some twists and turns and imaginative use of the demons and souls abilities to keep things interesting.The tale is told from a few different perspectives, each carrying a different theme. Lilith's is a fascinating story, mainly because it differs from the others considerably. She's also the only female character of any significance in the story.While I enjoyed the story a lot it does have some issues. The first is that the author doesn't wield words quite as well as paintbrush and the writing has a ponderous feel to it. It captures the scale of the events, but provides a bit of barrier for the first few chapters.Considering the subject matter I expected more on the philosophical side and in particular more about the war in Heaven. It's mentioned as background and Lucifer is portrayed as the bad guy - he takes no part in the story directly though. He has mysteriously disappeared and I hope there is a future book revealing more about that.Overall I liked it a lot. There are some flaws with the book, but it's a fine and imaginative read.

I loved Barlowe's illustrations, which is why I bought the book (not many illustrations in the paperback, by the way). There were a lot of themes and plots that seemed to be going somewhere but were never properly resolved in the end. It's worth an idle read but it's no masterpiece.

Haven't finished yet but it's very good so far. It's at least a 4-star but probably even better.It's a very vivid description of Hell and it's protagonists, with an engadging story of one Demon Major change through the millennia and its consequences in all of Hell.A must read for fantasy fans.

This is a Hell of a good book about Hell. Surprizingly gripping and well developed characters lead us to a wonderful conclusion. Nay sayers can go to some other Hell.

This is an awesome, wonderful and beautiful book. I cannot wait for read the second part.