The premise is good. But it is more a series of difficulties to overcome than a story. ( )

When I first started THE FALL OF HADES, I wasn't too sure about the book. It struck me as derivative of Edward Lee's CITY INFERNAL. At the same time, I was not extremely engaged. However, my curiosity was piqued.

A woman who later becomes known as V wakes up and finds herself trapped in a concrete block. A concrete block that after endless years has started crumbling away and allows her to escape. She finds out from a talking gun that she was part of a war between Angels and Demons and that she is in the devastated remains of Hell. That sentence alone was enough to make me wonder where the rest of the story was going.

There were a few parts at the beginning of the book where V is wandering through Hell describing the atrocities she sees that seemed semi-pointless. But they also turned out to set the mood for the rest of the book which was more interesting. In total, I would say that the story grew on me and became a good read. It also had a great ending that fit very nicely with the world that was established and the lessons being learned by the characters. Others might have seen it coming but for me it ended up a nice surprise that I figured out only shortly before it was revealed. One more thing, while this book is a sequel to LETTERS FROM HADES!, I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not having read it. There was probably back story that would have made me feel more "in the know" but I didn't feel left out. Maybe if I didn't have so many other books to read I might find and read LETTERS FROM HADES! but I don't really see it happening. ( )