One of the nice things about being a reviewer is that sometimes you receive books to review before they reach retail stores, and such was the case when I received The Seven Deadlies, the second book in White Wolf's Trilogy of the Fallen series. Given how well-written the first book was I wasted no time reading the second installment, devouring it all in a single afternoon, despite being in the process of reading two other books for review. I found that while the book has some good points, it doesn't reach the same level of quality as the first novel.
The focus of the novel is Gaviel, a demon introduced in the Demon RPG rulebook, who has taken over the form of a famous televangelist's son, and is establishing his powerbase on Earth. As his plans unfold he encounters the cast of characters introduced in the first book, some of whom are trying to build themselves up just as Gaviel is, while others want him dead, and still others want every human on Earth lobotomized for their own pleasure.
Stolze has put a lot of work into this novel, and it shows. There is a lot of detail in his writing, and he both introduces several interesting new characters and brings back some really cool individuals from the previous book. The human characters really steal the show away from the demons that are supposed to be the stars of the novel, having enjoyable and realistic personalities, with the exception of two male characters who seem to be the bad "sex is what men are all about" stereotype. He also makes an effort to explain some of the limitations that demons in the RPG have, and does so in such a way that the tale continues to flow smoothly, rather than making you feel like he put it in there because his editor told him to. I felt he did an exceptional job depicting how demons view the faith of humans, explaining it far better than the RPG does.
Being a trilogy novel the book expects you to be familiar with the characters and events from the first novel. There is a little bit of information on what has come before, but even with that this is not a series you can jump into midway through.
It should be noted that there is a lot less humor in this book than in the first novel. While it is in keeping with the tone of the story, the humor that is in this book tends to come up short compared to that in the first book.
Another thing that should be mentioned is the fact that this novel does not immediately follow the events in the previous novel. As near as I can figure, the first one hundred pages or so of the book take place around the same time as the events of the first book. I point this out because it is not very clear as you first read through the book, and it may become confusing when characters from the previous book show up, with their behavior and activities not meshing up with where they were at the end of the first book. Eventually there is a point in the book which basically says "OK, from here the story picks up right around the page of the last book."
The book suffers from several flaws, and unfortunately one of them is a perpetuation of one of the biggest problems that was in the first novel, namely important events that take place but are not covered in this book. At one point the character Gaviel goes off on a little adventure which is detailed in the Lucifer's Shadow anthology, but from reading this book you would have no idea that the story continues there. Another section is similarly lacking in detail, and I suspect that story will tie in to the upcoming Hunter: The Infernal RPG book that is slated to come out soon.
The most infuriating in this department, however, is an encounter with an unidentified supernatural in East Saint Louis. We're told Gaviel had a brush with it, and if they'd left it at that I would have shrugged and said "fine, I guess this ties into another book" and gone on about my reading. However, a fair number of pages are devoted later in the book to Gaviel's return to the unidentified creature's sphere of influence and his attempts to undermine its powerbase. The way the book is written I suspect more pages will be devoted in the final book to his battles with this creature. Why is it that the author saw fit to detail the middle of Gaviel's battles with this creature, and presumably the end of their fighting in the next book, but glossed over the beginning in a little over a paragraph? Setup is the most important thing in a tale, and that's very much lacking here.
Another problem with this book is the use of shock moments. There are about eight moments in the book where a major revelation or horrific act occurs and I'm sure the intent was to make the reader go "Oh, my God, I never saw that coming!" or "That's so gross!" Unfortunately the majority of these shock moments are telegraphed by the author, and you find yourself counting down the pages until events unfold as you predicted. Since in one case it takes about a hundred pages from the beginning of the event to the time the "shocking truth" is revealed the counting down can get rather tedious.
The thing that disappointed me most in the book was the use of cliches. The first novel in this series felt like a tale of the real world in which supernatural creatures had been introduced. That sensation is broken in this book, with the likes of "Wow, you look just like my long-departed lover from before time began, who also just happens to look like the loved ones of my host body. Despite the fact that you specialize in deception, and that it might be seen as a mockery of my love for those you mimic, let's forget our hostilities and start dancing."
No, really, that's what happens.
Considering that this behavior comes from the most tightly wound character in the novel and doesn't seem in keeping with his previous actions, I found it very annoying. Combined with a "Totally random phone call comes at just the right time to save two main characters" and other amazing timing coincidences I found my ability to enjoy the novel somewhat squelched.
I still think that the novel can be an enjoyable read, despite the problems I mentioned. But if you go in expecting the same high level of quality that was found in the first book I think you will be disappointed.
