CITY INFERNAL

by Edward Lee

ISBN-10: 0843949880

ISBN-13: 978-0843949889

published by Leisure Books

reviewed by Adam Armstrong

04.04.2008

You ever have a really grand idea but you can’t seem to get it out where it makes sense?

Hell has evolved. Instead of brimstone and fire, Hell is a bustling metropolis, or Mephistopolis. It has everything that a major city would have and a few things you’d hope would never be in a major city. When identical twins are separated by suicide, the living twin, Cassie, finds a physical door into hell and uses it to locate her sister and beg for her forgiveness.

The idea behind this book and the imagination that went into developing this story were truly grand. The ideas seem so huge that they began to fall apart under the strain of the words used to describe them. The book is loaded with Asimovian info-bombs where the characters spend more time explaining what is going on than the author does showing. This annoying little facet runs through two-thirds of the book. More time is spent on the milieu than on the characters or the plot. And to top it all off, there seems to be a deus ex machina every time the characters run into any problems.

This is only the second book I’ve read by Lee (the first being a great novella ‘In The Year of Our Lord: 2202’). The first work of his that I read really set up some huge expectations that didn’t pan out in this novel.

I applaud his effort and imagination though: 3 out of 5

Purchase this book on Amazon.com: City Infernal