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3.0 out of 5 stars
Hell's Showing Its Age, April 14 2004
This isn't a bad book by any means, but it's very period (one gets the impression the author desires to shock, but, almost 40 years later, there's nothing here to ruffle your maiden auntie's delicate feelings, I assure you.)The book is brief, and tells a simple tale: a gentleman hires a magician to perform a task (after two earlier trials). There, that's it, that's the plot. Nowadays (not that now is better, but we're used to Now) that would be the set-up to the plot ... the book ends just as things are about to get interesting. There is a sequel, the Day After Judgement, which picks up immediately afterward but which also somewhat disappoints. Another fault--well, not a fault necessarily, but certainly a less-engaging choice--is that the horrors one might expect in a book about black magic are entirely played offstage, and only referred to. Imagine a Lord of the Rings with passages like "two weeks later they decided to go through Moria, where Gandalf died, unfortunately, fighting a Balrog. Still, with Lothlorien ahead, the Fellowship was somewhat optimistic." It's not a good thing. There is a demon fashion-show/parade near the end which is worth a chuckle, but it's still not scary. Blish' A Case of Conscience is much more compelling reading, so go there instead--unless you're a completist, or in the mood for a brief, non-unnerving look at the dark arts, circa 1967. Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually fairly good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.
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