2013 read #92: Prospero In Hell by L. Jagi Lamplighter.

Prospero In Hell by L. Jagi Lamplighter
347 pages
Published 2010
Read from July 13 to July 15
Rating: ★★★ out of 5

When I had a dream about this book series the other day, I figured it was about time to crack open book two.

I wish I had taken the time to write down my dream while it was still fresh, because I think I'll have to give the dream a slight edge over this book. There are plenty of set-piece scenes here that made for a memorable, enjoyable read -- apocryphal Christian mysticism, the hierarchies of demons and angels and so forth, is a spectacular fantasy environment, if nothing else. But the first half of Prospero In Hell is dragged down with innumerable repetitions of the same basic mysteries facing the main characters. I swear the same list of mysteries gets rehashed almost every chapter, if not multiple times in the same chapter, every time a slight bit of new information comes to light and revises their understanding of the situation. And then after the halfway point, it's like that list of questions doesn't matter any longer, because Lamplighter goes all out with the "Everything you thought you knew was wrong!" plot twists, which got annoying after a while. I think one character ends up having three different mistaken identities by the end; one character thought returned from the dead had not, while another character thought dead from the beginning of the series was not. It became very soap opera-ish.

Plus I'm troubled by the emphasis on womanly chastity as an important magical/supernatural power. Yeah, I know, that sort of thing is prevalent all over mythology and mysticism, but still, it goes against my grain. Especially with where that leads in this series so far, it has uncomfortable implications. Which is true I guess of the source mythologies, but whatever. This is the 21st century. I'm kind of over that crap.

Overall I think I enjoyed this book more than the rating would indicate, but I do think I should fault it for technical and thematic shortcomings. It really picked up toward the end, finishing with an actual climax and cliffhanger for once, so I have moderate hopes for the conclusion of the trilogy.