JH Lillevik
The Dirty Streets of HeavenWriter of fantasy and sci-fi
I have to start this review with this fact; I love Tad Williams’ books. So if this review reads as though it has been written by a fanboy, I have at least warned you.
The Dirty Streets of Heaven revolves around the angel Doloriel, who is known on Earth as Bobby Dollar. Bobby works as an advocate for the recently deceased in the city of San Judas. He and his best friend, Sam, defend the dead person’s soul in a celestial court room where it is decided whether the soul is going to Heaven or Hell. The prosecutors are demons from Hell.
As Sam takes an apprentice of sorts in the young angel Clarence, Bobby gets called in to defend the soul of Edward L. Walker. Bobby shows up at the man’s house, but as he gets there he gets a strange message; the soul is missing. This starts a chain of events that drags Bobby deeper and deeper into a dark conspiracy and close to a new war between Heaven and Hell.
This book automatically gave me a feeling of stepping into a film noir or into a 40s detective novel. Williams has chosen to write the story as though it is a memoir and the dark and damp streets almost leap of the page. It has all the elements of a good film noir; a deadly femme fatale in the Countess of Cold Hands, a loyal friend and confidant in Sam, the young and innocent man in Clarence and the old love interest in the angel Monica.
Hell’s minions are cast almost as the wise guys in your typical 40s detective novel. They have you basic thug in Howlingfell, the duplicitous Grasswax and the boss himself Eligor. The deeper Bobby goes, the more questions are raised and his loyalty to Heaven is questioned by himself and others.
I loved every part of the book and the more I read it, the harder it was to put away, as it often is with Tad Williams’ books. I can highly recommend taking your time and do as I did, love every page.
JH Lillevik 
And not long now until the sequel comes out – I’ve had the honour of reading it already, and… wow. Really dark, but really good, too.
Wow. You’re lucky. 🙂 I’m really looking forward to that one. Did you like the review?
I did. 🙂 I think you described the “atmosphere” of the book really well (which I had trouble with, since I don’t read the sort of detective fiction Tad wanted to emulate.)
If you’re interested, I should be posting my review of Happy Hour in Hell in the next couple of days.
And I don’t mean that as self-promotion, I just love talking about Tadbooks with people! 😉
I would love to read that review when you are done. 🙂 Have you read a lot of them?
Everything but for a few short stories and comic books. If you are worried about sounding like a fanboy… I am worse. 😉 I’m actually working on a post about Tad right now (not the review, though.)
I haven’t read any of the comic books, but I want to. The short stories are great. 🙂 It feels good to have a couple of favorite writers. 😉
Cool. 🙂 I would love to read that post.
I should probably go to bed so I’m rested enough to finish it (and the review) tomorrow.
I’m currently on a roll writing my book, so I have to finish my train of thought first. You have a good night. 🙂
I hope the writing has been successful.
Here is the post I was talking about:
http://ivynettle.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/the-dogly-one-and-the-dragon-days/
It was. 🙂
Cool. I’m going to read it a little later. 🙂
And the Happy Hour review is finished, too:
http://ivynettle.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/its-scary-in-tads-imagination-happy-hour-in-hell-by-tad-williams/
I just read it. Brilliantly written. 🙂