The Devil Is Dead

Rating:
Summary: Strange Wonder
Review: For genres that pride themselves on "sense of wonder" and "weirdness," science fiction and fantasy have a depressing habit of presenting the same views of the future over and over or using a generic "fantasyland" that is a kind of idiot step-child of Tolkien's Middle Earth.

R. A. Lafferty, however, is breathtakingly different. I can guarantee that you haven't seen the world the way Lafferty does--and you'll enjoy the experience.

THE DEVIL IS DEAD is some of his best writing and most inventive strangeness. Sure, the plot doesn't really (I think) go anywhere, but recursive endings and silly loops are welcome any time they come packaged in this delightful and enlightening a read, with such a motely crew of Lafferty outlaws, drunks, monsters and sailors. The Promantia alone is worth the price of admission. If you want a book that's hilarious, deep, wise, frightening and beautiful, look no further. If you want a conventional plot or tidy resolution, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Strange Wonder
Review: For genres that pride themselves on "sense of wonder" and "weirdness," science fiction and fantasy have a depressing habit of presenting the same views of the future over and over or using a generic "fantasyland" that is a kind of idiot step-child of Tolkien's Middle Earth.

R. A. Lafferty, however, is breathtakingly different. I can guarantee that you haven't seen the world the way Lafferty does--and you'll enjoy the experience.

THE DEVIL IS DEAD is some of his best writing and most inventive strangeness. Sure, the plot doesn't really (I think) go anywhere, but recursive endings and silly loops are welcome any time they come packaged in this delightful and enlightening a read, with such a motely crew of Lafferty outlaws, drunks, monsters and sailors. The Promantia alone is worth the price of admission. If you want a book that's hilarious, deep, wise, frightening and beautiful, look no further. If you want a conventional plot or tidy resolution, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Exquisite prose-poetry fantasy explores the devil within.
Review: I've read several of Lafferty's books - this is easily the best. Lafferty is an odd genius who went right up to the edge, took a look, a long look, and may have done his writing from the other side. The language is an unpredictable delight. The protagonist ( Finnegan ) wakes up from a mind-blanking drunk and soon finds himself a hand on a mysterious yacht. The people on board are not what they seem, some of them are perhaps not people, and evil erupts soon after they leave each port. And may you too not have the mark just below your left wrist? The mark just barely visible, but waiting to break through the skin? The mark of a older race who were usurped, but hid in a very clever way. Perhaps you should check your wrist again. His introduction alone is worth the price of most books. A good drunk.

Rating:
Summary: A Journey You May Be Sorry You Took
Review: This strange and intense novel is a little known treasure among a few science fiction fans. Too bad. I personally rate it as one of the best novels ever written. It basically mythologizes the alienation theme into a dark tale of returning Neanderthals in the post World War II world, bent on the destruction of mankind. Lafferty's use of dreams and storytelling to bring out the beauty and mystery of his characters heightens the intense poetic effect of the tale as it works its way to its just short of climatic conclusion. There is a sequel (of sorts) to this novel called "Archipelago" which is also very good.

This is not plain old science fiction. This is a journey into our dark psyches as painted by a master storyteller.