Infernal Angel

Rating:
Summary: Cassie's Return
Review: Edward Lee, keep it going...Infernal Angel was really good. The ending was sad but was a good book.

Rating:
Summary: good, dark and good
Review: I actually didn't read the first book, but suprisingly enough I followed along quite well, although sometimes confused, but mostly I got it. I enjoyed this book throughly. With its dark humor and shocking images I reread it time and time again. It dosen't really influence the way you think of god or really pit you against good versus evil. Somehow they blended seemlessly together, while good had a dark side and evil a light. I found it an entrancing book and recommend to anyone...except small childern, weak of stomach, or easily offended people. It's not a book for you if you are one of the three I listed. It's witty and funny, while it does have blood it's more of a shock than a disgust(though there's some of that too). It creates images in your head you never really thought about and shows you the darker, and lighter side to things so diffrent from our normal views.

Rating:
Summary: Return to the infernal pits
Review: I am an unabashed Edward Lee fan. Although I have only read a few of his novels, the smorgasbord of unsettling violence, intense erotica, and whiplash prose make his writings enormous fun for a dedicated horror fan. The biggest problem facing a potential reader is how to acquire many of his books and short stories. Nearly all of his old mass-market efforts are out of print, many other novels and collections are available only through wallet crushing small press editions, and the subject matter of a majority of his tales virtually insures much of his work will remain in obscurity. In other words, I am an Ed Lee fan insofar as my meager funds allow. It does appear a ray of hope is about to break on the horizon: Lee now writes novels for mass market Leisure press, and a few of his earlier works are starting to reappear in slightly more affordable trade paperbacks. "Infernal Angel" falls into the mass-market cheapie paperback category. The novel is a sequel to Lee's 2001 effort "City Infernal," a book that, just like this one, tones down the usual over the top gore and stomach churning seediness in an effort to pander to a general audience. No problem, though, since I will still take a watered down Ed Lee any day.

Don't worry if you haven't read "City Infernal." Lee fills in the details about the first novel at the beginning of this one. You'll discover how Cassie and her twin sister Lissa separated, how Cassie learned she's an Etheress with special powers and abilities, and how she spends her time seeking out her deceased sister for forgiveness. "Infernal Angel" picks up about a month after the first novel ended, with Cassie now locked away in an asylum facing a murder charge over her father's untimely demise. She can still travel to Hell anytime she wishes, but in the meantime she spends her days trying to explain her unusual powers to shrinks. Unfortunately, Lucifer and his minions haven't forgotten about Cassie's wondrous powers. The Dark Prince, always plotting the downfall of God's little creatures, hatches a nefarious plot that could very well install him as supreme overlord of the human race. The plan, involving a place called the Atrocidome, time travel, and Cassie's special powers, might just work. Of course, our heroine knows nothing about any of this until she runs through the requisite number of trials and tribulations in Hell with Angelese, her Caliginaut angel guide from heaven. For Cassie, the importance of returning to Satan's domain revolves around her wish to reunite with Lissa and expunge her guilt over her hapless sister's untimely demise.

In case his plans for Cassie turn sour, as all good plans hatched in the bowels of Hades usually do, Lucifer has a backup plan in the form of Walter. This geeky guy is a genius college student who thinks he cannot make any friends until he runs into the gorgeous Candice. Unfamiliar with how to handle women (do any of us ever figure out how to do this?), Walter falls for the oldest trick in the book, namely doing Candice's homework while the young lady "acts" like she's his girlfriend. Walter's wealthy brother Owen tries to tell his clueless brother what's really going on, but the kid won't listen to reason. He contemplates taking his life when he finally discovers the truth, but a series of increasingly disturbing events and a heck of a revelation from brother Owen convince Walter he has a higher-or lower, as the case may be-purpose in life. Lee throws in the usual inventive cast of characters and ghastly experiences in Lucifer's city to entertain the reader. This time around, we get something called an Intestisaur, umbra-specters, Alexander the Great's main squeeze, and the usual wacky spells and incantations that make the underworld such a wonderful place to spend a few days.

"Infernal Angel" has taken a lot of criticism from readers, and to some extent the book merits it. Lee's outing this time isn't as interesting as his first foray into the pits of darkness largely because the story doesn't spend as much time roaming the black alleyways and malefic pits of Satan's city. Most of the action takes place with Cassie in the asylum and Walter at school. There are lengthy segments of explanatory dialogue between Angelese and Cassie and between Walter and his own guide where nothing much happens. Moreover, complaints about the banal dialogue and paper-thin character development hold a lot of water. I particularly found Walter's character a source of great annoyance. Here's a guy who's supposed to be so smart and he can't figure out anything on his own. Too, we don't spend as much time in Hades as we would like. Actually, many of the problems I expressed about "City Infernal" pop up in spades here. Nonetheless, "Infernal Angel" is still an entertaining, imaginative read.

I'm just happy for the chance to read another Edward Lee novel that only cost a few bucks. Personally, I prefer Lee's darker books, like "The Teratologist," "Bighead," and "Portrait of the Psychopath as a Young Woman" to these toned down works aimed at mass audiences, but I understand that an author like Lee must write books that will pay the bills. I'm hearing rumors that another book will soon emerge concerning the further exploits of Cassie and Lissa, but I'm not sure how that will be possible after reading the conclusion of "Infernal Angel." I heartily recommend Ed Lee's "Infernal Angel" if for no other reason than the book might inspire an intrepid few to seek out his harder to find grotesqueries. If you're ready to move past Stephen King, this novel could well serve as a bridge that will lead you to the nightmarish realms of extreme horror.

Rating:
Summary: Just doesn't cut it!
Review: I am at this moment whipping myself, for the blasphemy I am about to commit. Ed Lee is my all time favorite author, and the prequal City Infernal is my all time favorite book, but this, so-called sequal dissapoints. In the first book you fall in love with Via, Hush, Xeke and the fallen angel Ezoriel, then in this book you are just told they juast aren't around anymore, the father was killed and that Cassie is in an insane asylum. Lee basically throws practically the enitire first book away. This book is still a decent read, it would be a good book on it's own, but not a sequal. Another problem I had with the story was Walter, he is, in my opinion, completely useless. He serves a purpose in the very end, but Lee could have had that event happen another way without boring us with a hollow and worthless character. It took since the beginning of time to now in order for an Etheress to show up, it was even considered a myth and to not really exist. Now all of a sudden there pops up the male version called an Etherian within a year of the previous storyline, I don't buy it. There is supposidly a third book on the way, (I don't see how the story could continue) If you want to read all of them then read this, if you've read the first and loved it, you may want to stop and picture your own ending, it will probably be more satisfying. Ed Lee is still my God, but he failed on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good sequel
Review: I just got done with Infernal Angel and I think that is a pretty good sequel to City Infernal. It has lots of action and suspense to go along with a solid story. Cassie returns to continue her quest to find her sister Lissa. I have to admit though that I was very disappointed that Via and Hush wasn't in the sequel. They really helped make City Infernal a great novel. I also wished Lee would have completely explained what happened to Ezoriel. I thought he would be one of the central characters in this book, but it never really brings him up. I was really disappointed by that, but those things aside if you liked City Infernal you wont be disappointed by Infernal Angel. It isn't quite and good as the first but it is very good in its on right.

There are a lot of new characters and its takes you to new parts of Mephistopolis. Lee is becoming one of my favorite writers.

I am just starting Monstrosity right now and if it is half as good as these two books were I know I will enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Lee's Hellish vision fades from red to gray in this sequel
Review: In the prequel to this book, City Infernal, Edward Lee introduced us to his imaginative and chilling version of Hell, The Mephistopolis. A huge sprawling city, earthlike in its usage of power plants, garbage collection, restaurants, brothels, nightclubs, transportation, streets and alleys; yet Hellish in its brutal and grotesque mockery of these familiar urban scenes. We were introduced to Cassie and discovered that she is an Etheress, a living human able to walk through hell.

In Infernal Angel, Lee continues his tale of Cassie's search for her sister, who is in hell because she committed suicide. But Lee's mastery of his vision of hell is much, much weaker in Angel; and the characters are more lacking than ever.

The story picks up with a couple of short forays into hell with some side characters, which are pretty good, but then go into a lengthy repeat of City Infernal. This annoyed me, because I have already read the first book. I find no reason to repeat chapters when a shorter form of "catch-up dialogue" could be used.

When we find Cassie again, she is in an asylum for the insane, under psychiatric care. Here she meets Angelese, an angel from the Order of the Seraphim, called a Caliginaut because they have their wings removed and can descend into Hell as spies. The addition of Angelese, in my opinion, was a mistake, because I found her flat, two dimensional, and annoying.

Believe it or not, you are already 100 pages into the book without really going anywhere. But we have also just met a second new character, Walter, who is an Etheran, a male version of Cassie, and with him is his own version of a guide from hell called No-Name. Walter is more fleshed out than Angelese, but still too weak to capture my interest, and No-Name simply equaled No-Interest.

You will be at least halfway through the book before Lee takes us back into the streets of the Mephistopolis, but again you will not find the treasure here that was present in City Infernal. There was no taste, no smell, no underlying currents of slime dripping wetly from severed limbs and broken souls.

Instead, it consisted of broken, flash-in-the-pan descriptions and shallow skimmings of moments that perhaps should have been savored, but flew by in too few words; sacrificing substance and style for rapidly fired staccato scenes that never allow us to dive back into the squalor that we wished to live in once again.

Angelese and Cassie "nectoport" everywhere, so hell is mostly seen from above with a few touch downs that are brief and overloaded with too many images; going for instant and shallow shock rather than the descriptive "sink your teeth into" grotesqueries available in the first book.

The dialogue is flat and lifeless, Cassie does not really grow much, though she does hold a surprise for you, and Angelese was grating on my nerves every step of the way. Infernal Angel has the look, texture, and taste of a book that was simply produced as padding between City Infernal and a third book. Nothing is really resolved in Angel.

So, if you REALLY liked City Infernal, pick this up used and skim it. Otherwise, I believe you could wait for the third book and still not miss a lot by skipping this piece of middle-puff. I'm sorry Edward, but you really are better than this.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sequel to City Infernal
Review: Infernal Angel is a quick and enjoyable read set once again in the world of the Mephistopolis, the city of Hell. Edward Lee holds back a little on his regular helping of extreme gore, but peppers the story with enough digusting elements to satisfy his fan base and attract new fans. The clues of the main storyline come together very nicely at the end. It's a fascinating plot that has a big payoff and if you enjoyed City Infernal, you'll eat this book up quick. I heard a rumor that Lee has outlined a third book in the series. If that's true, and you would like to read it, simply write an email to Don D'Auria (the editor of Leisure's horror line) at Dorchester Publishing and let him know to greenlight the book.

Rating:
Summary: The Keystone Cops Meet The Hordes of Darkeness
Review: One has to give to Edward Lee who has almost singlehandedly created the tongue-in-cheek horror genre. His horror manages to be both over the top and downright silly at the same time. Where else could you find Sartre and nymphomaniac werewolves within pages of each other. Lee combines a vividly gross imagination with the intriguing plot idea of Mephistopolis, Lucifer's vast and terrible city of the damned.

Cassie Heydon, heroine of the City Infernal, is an etheress, with powers in hell that rival Satan's own. On Earth, however, she is locked up in an insane asylum undergoing evaluation as the suspected killer of her father. Lucifer never rests, though, and he wants Cassie - not for her gothish good looks, but as an ingredient in a recipe to establish hell on earth. The only thing keeping Cassie in one piece is Angeline - a caliginaut - one of the angels who spy on Hell for the powers-that-be.

A new character in this book is Walter Grey, a college student with an unfortunately high level of geekiness. With his love life in tatters, Walter is on the verge of suicide. But his destiny isn't to enter hell as one of the damned, but as an etherean - the male counterpart to Cassie. But rather than a half-crazy angel as a tour guide, Walter has a a head without a name for company. But in many ways Walter is like Cassie, indecisive and short on self-confidence.

For Satan, one of these two is the key to final dominion. Yet he seems doomed by their own ineptness to always just miss capturing them. Etherean and Etheress, following separate paths, must make the tough decisions that will either foil Satan's plot or ring in the apocalypse. All of this told in Edward Lee's inimitable and chaotic style.

Rating:
Summary: Now THIS is a Hell worth exploring!
Review: Opening with a scene that grabs your bowels and twists them, Lee explores a new kind of Hell, a modern Hell, run by a mix of technology and scorcery and powered by money [much like Earth]. Revolting imagry that would be over the top in straight fiction is not just acceptable, in Lee's Hell we realize we didn't even see the worst of it!

Lee's Hell has rules, his angel's are far from perfect [swearing and some are even considered insane], and his usage of the 'age old sin' of suicide as a tool is brilliant! It would be amazing to see a companion to this novel with full descriptions and sketches of some of his creations in the netherworld...

The pace is steady, almost unrelenting as this is a very fast read with no clean place to put the book down. The style is choppy blended with eloquence, just like real people talk. He is courteous enough to define things briefly during action and in more detail when time allows to speed things along and prevent the ever present danger of 'skimming' description.

The story is fresh, imaginative, and complex - but smooth. New languages, definitions, strange words... it's easier to read what you're familiar with, but it's much more interesting to delve into a new world! The atmosphere is definately intriguing. We're so accustomed to Hell being portrayed as fire and brimstone, uncivilized, evil terrain, etc. Lee's Hell is
not only civilized, it's a booming metropolis that gives a moderization to torture methods mixed with a fixation of sorcery that is just disturbing.

The only weakness of the book is the characters - while they are well drawn out and wonderfully fun to follow along, you really don't get a sense of emotional attachment and have no concern for their future. I absolutely loved the insane angel, but wouldn't have been upset if she died... it's a strange thing to have such vibrant characters that you can't identify with.

Overall, definately a 4 because of the character attachment issue... a solid story, an excellent read, and another example of Lee's amazingly twisted mind!

Rating:
Summary: Hell hath no fury than a Cassie scorned
Review: This is the first book by Edward Lee that I have read. I didn't even know this was a sequel. You don't need to read the first one to understand this one.

Mephistopolis is a city in Hell. It is a place filled with torture, pain, horror, and regret. Not a place you'd want to get a flat tire in.

Cassie Heydon is looking for her dead sister, Lissa, who killed herself and left Cassie feeling guilty. Cassie will need to brave the depths of Hell and all that entails to find her sister. She does get some heavenly assistance from an angel named Angelese.

This was a fantastic book. I loved it. It contained horror far beyond my puny imagination. Lee has created characters that are rich in substance. He has successfully created an image of Hell that is truly horrific. Where did he come up with some of this stuff? I stayed awake longer than I should have a couple of nights in a row to finish this book. It is well worth your time, but please note, this book is NOT for the squeamish! I will definitely look for more of Lee's works.