The Brothers by Chris Stewart

Genre: LDS Adult Fiction

One Word Review: Underwhelming

First Line: Michael, the commander, stood at his window, his huge shoulders barely moving as the shudder passed through his chest.

Synopsis: As Peter read the charges against Lucifer, the enormous chamber remained deadly still. Everyone knew what the charges would be, for there were no more secrets among the children of God, and the evidence was damning, entirely whole, and complete. Satan was indeed in open rebellion. He was seeking not only to destroy the souls of all who would follow, but to bring down and destroy the society of the Father, to take His kingdom and power and glory and claim it all for his own. And because it was evident, and because he no longer denied it, there was no doubt of the outcome of the Council of God. Lucifer had to be defeated, his rebellion disbanded or crushed. He could not be reasoned with. There was no common ground. His followers had to give up their sedition and quit converting God's children to their dark paths or be cast out and expelled from the presence of God. Ammon shivered as he listened to the words Jehovah read. Damned for eternity. Denied their second estate. Cast out, never to be with the Father again. And so it was that the battle with Satan began.

Jess’s Review: I hardly even know where to begin my review. This book's target audience is people who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm unsure on what other religions believe, if anything, about our life before we came to earth. To sum up my church's doctrine we believe we lived in heaven, with God, before our earth life and that Satan rejected Christ and the Plan of Salvation and was cast from Heaven. This book centers around that conflict sometimes referred to as the War in Heaven and is purely a work of fiction.

To be honest The Brothers was a book that just made my head hurt. I can't understand eternity even in a novel. While reading I had a difficult time gaining a sense of time and space. The characters who are supposed to be so connected to one another just seemed to fall flat for me and all in all the book was poorly executed. The prologue and afterword were so strange and it was difficult for me to tie them in with the body of the book. I think I have a bias against male authors, in general, and this book made me realize why. Male authors tend to have little dialogue and what dialogue they have is forced. This could not be more true for this book. The descriptions were long and boring and the characters cheesy. The concept is fascinating however and the book did offer me a new perspective on the pre-mortal life and really got me thinking. I think writing a novel based on something that we know so little about would be challenging and Stewart was on the right track. I think I will give the rest of the series a chance because they take place on earth and although the prologue to The Brothers didn't fit in, it was extremely well written. I think Stewart was bogged down in a difficult subject matter.

Book One: The Brothers
Book Two: Where Angels Fall
Book Three: The Second Son
Book Four: Fury and Light
Book Five: From the End of Heaven
Book Six: Clear as the Moon