Book Review: The Road to Hell by Christopher C. Starr

• Review: The Road to Hell
• Series: —
• Author: Christopher C. Starr
• Edition: Kindle
• No of Pages: 286
• Release Date: August 9th 2011 by Sanford House Press

Synopsis:

You talk to someone about Lucifer and you already know what they’re thinking: he’s the Devil, Satan, Prince of Darkness, whatever. Truth is he wasn’t always bad; he didn’t start out like that. In the beginning, he was spectacular and the Father loved him. But he made a mistake: he got jealous and ungrateful and then he got defiant. He forced the Father’s hand and all his efforts to make it right only made matters worse. He started a rebellion and a civil war. He broke the Father’s heart. But we should let him tell it.

What’s happening:

This story starts with God and he is lonely. Yes, he knows and feels everything but why can’t God get lonely? So he creates Lucifer, and much like a Father, God feels as if he doesn’t have to explain much to his child. He doesn’t understand when Lucifer is starting to get rebellious because Lucifer tries over and over to explain to him that it’s great and all that he was made, thank you so very much, but can I do something other than watch you make wonderful worlds?

In reaction God makes yet another Angel. The Watcher, Gabriel. Lucifer goes from frustrated and bored to jealous and angry. As God knows everything you think that things could be so different for Lucifer but God continuously puts him in situations where he chooses wrong, but he doesn’t really have a choice to choose correctly! And that’s his point throughout most of the book. God makes his children and knowing they will make mistakes, leaves them to their will, but them punishes them for the very mistakes God let them do! It’s quite the conundrum to be in.

Creation is, for each of us, something different. It is a collection of joy and pain, of tears and smiles, of experiences and hope. Methods, too, are unique to the souls involved. For the Father, creation is little more than the realization of intent–the blink of an eye. For me, it was the culmination of deep-seated desire to ease the angst of my loneliness. — Lucifer

My thoughts:

Before I delve too deeply into my review I want to say something about this book. First, it’s awesome. Secondly, I love when people think outside of the box. Third, it’s a story! This is not a “here’s how it really happened”, it’s not supposed to be taken as gospel (ha I made a punny), it’s supposed to be enjoyed as a story of fiction. And seeing Lucifer’s side of things is quite an interesting story! Don’t let yourself miss this one because you think it’s religious when it’s really technically not. There’s blood, lots of it, there’s also profanity. Not quite as much as say, Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, but up there enough to keep my attention.

Ok, I don’t want to say too much. But I will say I loved so much about this book. I knew exactly what was going on and where they were. Christopher C. Starr has a way of not only setting a stage but putting you on that stage. The scenery is set in such a way that I felt like I was watching a movie. His imagination truly holds no bounds, he was able to get into the mind of how it would feel to be God and into the mind of how it would feel to be Lucifer and the other Angels that God makes and he lets us into their psyches. Not only is the scenery AWEsome but the fights are epic.

The plot was also seamless. Although I kind of knew what the outcome was going to be but only because we all know this story.  But this could easily have went either way, he writes it that well. The only criticism I may have is about the characters. I fell in love with Sela and funnily enough Lucifer, my heart went out to him throughout the entire story, but the other characters were a bit two dimensional for me. That being said I knew why each character did something because even though we didn’t get a lot about each of them, Christopher gives us enough to know why they believe the way they do. So most of their choices make sense.

Christopher’s writing style is very fun but I am probably a bit biased because I do tend to lean more towards first person. But he writes fiercely, delving into the heart of the story and grabbing it by the throat, as well as us and he never lets go! Definitely a very fun read and one that I plan on reading again and recommending to friends. The only downside, the second is not out yet! But we heard it straight from Christopher’s mouth (well really fingers) in the interview that comes out today:

For my fans, hang out with me, the sequel is coming. Promise. And if you want to know where we’re going, just ask. Let’s talk about it. For those who haven’t read my book, check it out. It’s unlike anything you’ve read before—like Lucifer says, “You’ve never heard this story before—not from me. Others have tried. None of them got it right.” Check it out, join the conversation.

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