City Infernal

I know what I am supposed to write in criticism of this book, which I rated one star to: Ooooooh, I was soooooo shocked! It was so horrifying!! Golly gee, what a bizarre and brutal place Hell is!!!

The truth is, I wasn't shocked, I wasn't horrified, I wasn't offended: I was just bored. To paraphrase Iggy Pop......I was the Chairman of the Bored when I read this book.

One good thing learned from this experiment: do not assume that you will like any horror genre book; read all the reviews, even the ones with spoilers before reading. I'm getting pretty good now at cutting out the deadwood while searching for a book and I won't make this mistake again.

As the first novel by Lee that I read, I will have to say that he does just as good as all of his short stories. It's something to very much enjoy and seek out. I know that I will be seeking out some of this other books.

This one involves Cassie, a goth teenager from DC with a twin sister who committed suicide. In their escape from DC and the tragedy there, Cassie and her father unknowingly move to a house on a Deadpass, a place where the dead can pass between the real world and Hell. Cassie discovers this out at the same time that she realizes that she has unknown powers that allow her to travel to Hell. Wanting forgiveness and understanding from her sister, Cassie joins up with three souls trapped in Hell and visits the city of Hell, show more an city that evolved at the same speed as humans in the real world.

Now that might sound like a lot of co-incidence and maybe too much to take but it really doesn't come across quite that bad in the novel. It all flows and makes sense. But if you are afraid of being overwhelmed, then there is another reason to not read this book: it supplies horror on top of horror, enough to be quite graphic. Considering that they are visiting Hell and all of its methods of tortures, it only makes sense. The only thing that I didn't really like about this book is all the deus ex machina. There were too many incidents of a power or ability being presented just as it was needed. I understand that Lee was setting up many of the rules as to how Hell operates but it came across as too convenient. The real story though is Cassie's growth from an ignored teen through depression and then into acceptance of who she can be. And that is done brilliantly. show less

Cassie and Lissa are twins. Lissa commits suicide so what's the only logical thing a sister can do? Travel to hell with 3 ghosts to save her sisters soul of course! Cassie finds out that Hell is not what people going to church think it is. It has became a evolved evil metropolis of the damned a labrynth of atrocities and nightmares. Time is not measured in horrors and pain. Sorcery is their science.

This book paints beautiful, dark and gorey imagery, which is classic Edward Lee. Deep descriptions and memorable characters that you want to know in real life (Cassie, maybe not all the demons) This is definitely not a typical urban fantasy novel made for the squeamish. Hold on to your seat and take a heart regiment! If you're grossed out show more easily or faint hearted this is not the book for you. show less

Edward Lee again goes full frontal on the gore assault front. This beginning of a series is worthy with it's world-building, unusual premise, and build-up.

Since I'm more of a character-orientated reader than a plot-driven one, the characters being a bit one-dimensional wasn't welcome. Cassie's powers seem to come too easily without training but again, that belongs in the story. She's reasonably likeable, although her sister is not. The dad is also enjoyable but was kept in the background as fodder. Cassie's sidekicks were amusing for the most part with their dialogue lines and motivations, although that can amp up the cheese sometimes.

The monsters? Creepy as can get. Lee takes time to focus on a large assortment of horrifying demons, show more abilities, scenarios, and gritty details - things he gets kudos for. The internal battles are particularly interesting and work well with the world building he's constructed.

I can't complain on the pacing at all - from a surprising family drama in the beginning to almost constant horror through a creative hell. Lee is talented with convincing dialogue but I'm hoping the second book makes me warm up to the main players more. show less

With the great scenes and small details of Hell's streets, this has become my favorite of this series.

As mush as I love the Infernal series, Edward Lee's redneck horror and his few sci-fi books are my favorite works of his above this particular work. That isn't to talk this book down, I only state this because I've read a lot of Edward Lee!

This book knocked my socks off the way any good fantastical tale should. While exploring the fallen Morning Star's efforts at generating power and control in the Mephistopheles the reader is introduced into a dimension where physics are changed and not even the screams of a single damned soul is gone to waste.

Not a horror, more of a supernatural/paranormal story without a lot of horror, but some elements of gore.

Supernatural in that the story takes place in Hell. However, Hell isn't as scary as you would think. It's more like what life here would be like if Demons, satanism and all that go along with it were the norm.

This is a quest story about a young woman whose sister committed suicide in the opening (she shot herself when she found her boyfriend cheating on her), she learns that because of certain circumstances of birth and whatnot she is some major deal "Etherness" basically a type of Saint in Hell. She makes friends with a few not-ghosts but other people who at one point lived in Hell but are now "ex residents" and live in the house show more that Cassie moved into.

Said not-ghosts talk her into going into Hell with them because she wants to see her sister (who ended up there). She has to hide the fact that she is still alive (only the dead are in Hell), but those dead people are still "alive" and have a body that can die again. Just think of it like a parallel universe that only the people destined to go to Hell end up, basically starting a new life there. Eating, working, living, buying things, keeping out of the way, etc. Sure there are a lot of bad things that happen, but it's just all in the normal way things go there. It's not underground its a huge city that runs in an alternate bizzaro way where everything bad is good and Satan runs the show from his penthouse- we never meet him, but we meet the faction that is trying to overthrow him.

Meanwhile this Cassie is trying to find her sister for reasons, and it's a quest to find her, to hide the fact that she's an Etheress - some great mythological being that ended up being true.

There are funny parts, gross parts, action parts, sexual (but not sexy) parts, it's a regular read. However the story was fun, always had me interested, and I am now reading the second part.

So don't think this is some dark, super horror. Its supernatural in that we are dealing with demons, and hell, but think of the paranormal stories and this is pretty much like it. show less

Lee's new vision of hell as a huge metropolis is very creative--and believable. Though I would've liked a bit more character development on Cassie and her new friends, the City itself is the central and main figure of this story. It makes you hungry for the sequel. Highly recommended!