The Shivered Sky

The Shivered Sky by Matt Dinniman. I don't usually like military fiction, but this had me hooked. It's fantasy-- the premise is that Heaven and Hell have had the last big war and the angels have lost. Heaven is a very dangerous place to be, but there's a prophecy that brings some hope for Heaven's survival. Enter the heroes-- 5 humans who wake up after their deaths on Earth and find themselves in the very middle of the end. I raced through the first 250 pages, then slowed way down for the last 50 pages because I didn't want it to end. It's been a long time since I read a book that made me want to savor the last few pages. This one was excellent-- I can't recommend it enough to fantasy and even science fiction fans (Dinniman makes the show more daring assumption that angels engineer stuff, too-- weapons technology has not halted at the bronze age). It's a little pricey at $19.99, but you can usually find it for $15, and it packs as much in as a paperback trilogy. What's more, the publisher is a smaller, independent press, so you can feel good that the author's royalty is actually fair. Dinniman is also a NaNoWriMo participant, though I don't think he wrote this in a month (though if he did, he must have spent more than that editing and polishing it, because it's very polished!) show less

This is an interesting take on the fall and the war in Heaven. It is well written and easy to read (although could have done with a final edit pass, but the issues are minor). It takes a while to get going, but once it does clips along at a fair pace. A good read.

This is an interesting take on the fall and the war in Heaven. It is well written and easy to read (although could have done with a final edit pass, but the issues are minor). It takes a while to get going, but once it does clips along at a fair pace. A good read.