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Angel Bobby Dollar sets out to rescue his girlfriend Casimira being held hostage in the netherworld by the demon Eligor while also trying to elude an undead psychopath named Smyler.Tags
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LongDogMom Similar feel and style, both deal with angels, demons, Hell, betrayal and love.
LongDogMom Angels and demons, betrayal, Hell
Member Reviews
Our main character angel, Bobby Dollar, travels to hell in order to rescue his demon girlfriend in this adventure that is one part Hieronymus Bosch, and another part a gritty noir crime story. I liked this one more because it transforms from an urban fantasy noir story to a straight-up horror novel while he is in Hell and Tad Williams' imaginative depths knew no bounds in creating suffering. It's definitely not for the faint of heart and the tonal switch may turn off some readers who enjoyed the noir feeling of the first book. Bobby is a bit of a tragic character (and he whines about it, which does get tiresome), but there are some interesting philosophical questions asked here, but they never bog down the main quest story that Bobby is show more on. I'm looking forward to the third book a bit more now, even though it will probably approach more of the tone of the first book, which was okay, but I didn't enjoy it as much as this one. show less
I can't say I was too happy with the ending of this, and I agree with some other reviews which pointed out that the amount of description of Tad's version of hell overwhelmed the plot and disrupted the pacing, but that description *was* different than some of the other takes I've read, so I was nonetheless entertained throughout, and didn't feel like putting it down until I was finished.
This installment starts from where it ends in the first book. This time he thinks up a plan to get into Hell to save the love of his life, Caz the Countess of Cold Hands. The journey into Hell is very vivid and descriptive (like all of Tad’s work) and really immersed me in the story. I took my time reading this savoring the sights, sounds and smells of Hell.
The other side line story of a Heaven conspiracy made you think when you read it. Theories abound and I’m interested to see how it plays out in the next installment. It’s really a love story underneath it all and touched me. The things you do to save the one you love can be terrifying and intense.
References to Dante's Inferno really interested me. The thought there are many show more different layers of Hell is hair-raising and thought provoking. The denizens you see in Hell give you an provocative look into a person's soul. This book has similar storytelling aspects to another one of my favorite authors, Clive Barker.
I'm giving this 5 stars because I really love the plot and storyline and I really connected with the characters of the book. Thought-provoking and riveting story that really appealed to me. It touched my heart strings and was nerve tingling at times. I look forward to reading the next installment. show less
The other side line story of a Heaven conspiracy made you think when you read it. Theories abound and I’m interested to see how it plays out in the next installment. It’s really a love story underneath it all and touched me. The things you do to save the one you love can be terrifying and intense.
References to Dante's Inferno really interested me. The thought there are many show more different layers of Hell is hair-raising and thought provoking. The denizens you see in Hell give you an provocative look into a person's soul. This book has similar storytelling aspects to another one of my favorite authors, Clive Barker.
I'm giving this 5 stars because I really love the plot and storyline and I really connected with the characters of the book. Thought-provoking and riveting story that really appealed to me. It touched my heart strings and was nerve tingling at times. I look forward to reading the next installment. show less
This book was kindly donated for review by the Penguin Group.
Bobby Dollar, Heaven's slightly problematic angel, is having another ill-advised adventure in Happy Hour in Hell. In this book, Bobby decides to go to Hell to rescue his demon girlfriend Caz. Luckily, a higher level angel wants Bobby to do a little errand for him in Hell, so Bobby learns how to get down below. What proceeds is an adventure through Hell that only Bobby Dollar would venture through.
This was a fun second installment in the Bobby Dollar series. I felt that Bobby Dollar's voice was stronger in this installment. Also, the writing in general seemed a bit cleaner. In other words, the first-person narrative didn't grate on me like the first book.
I feel that Hell was show more described very well, and the place became a three-dimensional world for me. The land was not just fire and brimstone, but came alive with Tad Williams' writing. I must admit that the adventure seemed to drag a bit at times. It seemed that Williams' wanted to describe every facet of Hell, but the descriptions were interesting, so I kept moving forward. I wish that the book had focused a bit more on the Third Way conspiracy; however, I think this is going to be discussed more in the next book.
This was a fun book, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Brief Note: I want to let people know who are sensitive to sexual violence in books that there is a rape scene in the book. It is not a focus to the book and the scene can be skipped without missing any major plot points to the book. show less
Bobby Dollar, Heaven's slightly problematic angel, is having another ill-advised adventure in Happy Hour in Hell. In this book, Bobby decides to go to Hell to rescue his demon girlfriend Caz. Luckily, a higher level angel wants Bobby to do a little errand for him in Hell, so Bobby learns how to get down below. What proceeds is an adventure through Hell that only Bobby Dollar would venture through.
This was a fun second installment in the Bobby Dollar series. I felt that Bobby Dollar's voice was stronger in this installment. Also, the writing in general seemed a bit cleaner. In other words, the first-person narrative didn't grate on me like the first book.
I feel that Hell was show more described very well, and the place became a three-dimensional world for me. The land was not just fire and brimstone, but came alive with Tad Williams' writing. I must admit that the adventure seemed to drag a bit at times. It seemed that Williams' wanted to describe every facet of Hell, but the descriptions were interesting, so I kept moving forward. I wish that the book had focused a bit more on the Third Way conspiracy; however, I think this is going to be discussed more in the next book.
This was a fun book, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Brief Note: I want to let people know who are sensitive to sexual violence in books that there is a rape scene in the book. It is not a focus to the book and the scene can be skipped without missing any major plot points to the book. show less
Tad Williams does Dante's Inferno! At least, that's what I think Tad was doing here. In the second book of this series, Bobby Dollar (the advocate angel Doloriel) goes to hell in the form of one of the damned with the intent of freeing his true love from the clutches of his arch-devil enemy. In the course of his journey Bobby experiences the full hellishness of several levels of Tad's loose interpretation of Dante's hell. Gone are the circles of Hell, replaced by levels that are accessed by an elevator of sorts.
This book is dark, dark, dark. That's not surprising, considering its set in Hell, but Tad goes a little too far. Instead of observing, Bobby Dollar gets to experience several of the agonies of Hell in person. Along the way he show more helps to encourage some 'lifters' who hope to be let out of Hell as Bobby speculates often on the cruelty and futility of the concept of eternal damnation. Those parts of the book may disturb readers who take their bible interpretations very seriously.
Overall, i wasn't as happy with this book as I was with book one. Effectively it was a tour of Hell with a lot of torture and not much else, which didn't appeal to me much. The characters and overall plot are fascinating as is Tad's speculation on morality and theology. It was worth reading, but at times it was hard to get through. show less
This book is dark, dark, dark. That's not surprising, considering its set in Hell, but Tad goes a little too far. Instead of observing, Bobby Dollar gets to experience several of the agonies of Hell in person. Along the way he show more helps to encourage some 'lifters' who hope to be let out of Hell as Bobby speculates often on the cruelty and futility of the concept of eternal damnation. Those parts of the book may disturb readers who take their bible interpretations very seriously.
Overall, i wasn't as happy with this book as I was with book one. Effectively it was a tour of Hell with a lot of torture and not much else, which didn't appeal to me much. The characters and overall plot are fascinating as is Tad's speculation on morality and theology. It was worth reading, but at times it was hard to get through. show less
This was not a hollywood happy ending. That being said, and disabusing any potential readers of some theoretical hero successfully dragging his girlfriend out of hell, we've now got a chance at an exploration of hell that was both imaginative, full of plot, and chock full of similes. I honestly liked it, and thought hell was done very tastelessly. I rooted for the hero, felt his pains, knew his situation was pretty hopeless, and still hoped that the bad guys would keep their word.
Our MC took one hell of a journey. This was one of the best hell-based novels I've ever read. That being said, it's really a niche market. You really have to be open to feeling pain. If you are, please enjoy this!
Our MC took one hell of a journey. This was one of the best hell-based novels I've ever read. That being said, it's really a niche market. You really have to be open to feeling pain. If you are, please enjoy this!
Tad Williams sure does spin a good yarn!
Happy Hour in Hell takes you on a journey you don't really ever want to go through, as Bobby Dollar puts on a demon body to traverse Hell to try and steal back his demoness love from her captor.
I liked HHIH a lot, and I'll be looking forward to the next book!
Happy Hour in Hell takes you on a journey you don't really ever want to go through, as Bobby Dollar puts on a demon body to traverse Hell to try and steal back his demoness love from her captor.
I liked HHIH a lot, and I'll be looking forward to the next book!
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Author Information
128+ Works 54,722 Members
Tad Williams Tad Williams grew up in Palo Alto, California. He didn't go off to college after high school, he was more interested in living on his own and supporting himself. Williams therefore began a long string of collectively bad part time jobs. He stacked tiles, made tacos, sold shoes, peddled insurance, collected loans not all at the same show more time and worked at other things in his free moments, such as writing, as well as, several years in a rock band, hosting a radio talk show, making commercial and uncommercial art, acting, and others DAW was the first to publish Williams, accepting "Tailchaser's Song," which became an big success. It never occurred to Williams that his books wold not sell and indeed they have not stopped selling since the beginning. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Happy Hour in Hell
- Original publication date
- 2013-09-03
- People/Characters
- Bobby Dollar; Duke Eligor; Duke Niloch; Gob; Riprash; Casimira (show all 8); Sammariel; Temuel
- Important places
- Hell
- Dedication
- The first Bobby Dollar book was dedicated to my dear friend David Pierce. Since Dave left us, several other people I really care about have also departed—Jeff Kaye, Peggy Ford, and Iain Banks, to name just a few.
I'm... (show all) glad Dave's got such good company, but it breaks my heart they didn't all hang out with the rest of us a bit longer. - First words
- A moment comes in pretty much everyone's life, or afterlife in my case, where they can't help but wonder, What the fuck am I doing here?
- Quotations
- Of course I kept my cool, because I knew the worst thing to do was start freaking out before I knew the facts. I calmly began shouting, "What the Jeezly fucking Christ is going on here? Somebody help me!" loudly and repeatedl... (show all)y.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Sometimes it's more complicated than that," she told me.
- Publisher's editor
- Gilbert, Sheila; Wollheim, Betsy
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- Members
- 401
- Popularity
- 77,727
- Reviews
- 23
- Rating
- (3.60)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 7
