What if God died? What if his brother took over the entirety of Creation? These are the two questions the author is setting off to answer in the new novella from A. Lee Martinez.

Like his home, the form adopted by Desaphanus was designed with one thing in mind: to terrify and impress upon friend and foe alike the scope of his unimaginable power. He had several shapes he liked to wear, but this was the most used. The golden dragon’s carcass was fifty miles from snout to tail with wings that could, quite literally, block out the sky and talons capable of rending continents. His tail could crack open the world with a casual swipe, and a single whispering breath could reduce Wa’suria to barren ash.

I kinda liked the book even though it’s a bit fairytale at times and a bit whimsical in others. I suppose all religion is sometimes.

The two characters (the old God and Pira, one of His Deceased Lordship’s angels) travel through heaven and hell and talk to demons and let the world know their maker is dead. In the meantime, Kalb makes a grab at power. Steals the old god’s cat and the old god finally figures out that nothing was created by his brother out of nothing but they did in fact auto-canibalize themselves in creating man, the universe and all the intricate workings.

Interesting shot but at the end, I took a star off as it didn’t quite take the idea off the ground into better realms. I liked Ann Rice’s approach to angels and Demons in Anne Rice – Memnoch the Devil – The Vampire Chronicles and a few other books I can’t remember the title of. It’s ok but not great.