History Literature / ToReignInHell

* BalefulPolymorph: Getting damaged by the Cacoastrum can cause angels to be stuck in a single form. One is a dragon. Another is a dog.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech

* ShadesOfConflict: The conflict starts out as a clear [[GoodVersusGood White vs. White]] and at best strays into [[WhiteAndGreyMorality White vs. Grey]] toward the end. Even the one character responsible for the conflict's escalation is terrified when he (unintentionally) takes a life for the first time, and is hardly a clear-cut villain.

* ShadesOfConflict: The conflict starts out as a clear White vs. White and at best strays into White vs. Grey toward the end. Even the one character responsible for the conflict's escalation is terrified when he (unintentionally) takes a life for the first time, and is hardly a clear-cut villain.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Kyriel and Sith, a pair of lesser angels who show up throughout the plot to have [[{{Hamlet}} Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]]-style conversations about the events.

* SpeechCentricWork: As a way of parodying RogerZelazny's tendency to feature large stretches of dialogue [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue without speech tags or any other additional text]].

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: A very tragic one, as all the main actors are actually very good people. Even the primary antagonist, who does everything he can to confound others' communication, is acting out of deep-set fear and psychological scars - if he only let go of his pride long enough to confess his fears to another, so much tragedy would have been avoided.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: From ''ParadiseLost'', which the book draws heavily upon:

->Yaweh nodded. They both stood at once, as if a hidden message had come to them, and embraced. "I don't see you often enough," said Yahweh.

''To Reign in Hell'' is a 1984 fantasy novel by Creator/StevenBrust that retells the story of Yahweh's creation of Heaven and Earth, and Satan's creation of Hell. It is notable for its simple, yet compelling cosmology, its witty use of language, and its depiction of the War in Heaven as an avoidable catastrophe that was tragic for all concerned.

* ItsPersonal

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: They're mostly human in composition and mentality, though they have control over magic through a substance called illiaster (which is basically ordered primordial chaos), and some have taken on unusual forms. When they die, they don't leave a body behind, but instead disappear.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:During the last Wave, Abdiel was trapped for a time in a bubble of stability surrounded by raging Cacoastrum, coming inches from being destroyed by raw chaos. Now, faced with the possibility of dying during the construction of a new, stable world out in the flux beyond Heaven, he starts justifying every act taken to find a way out from having to ever face the Cacoastrum again, from lying to brainwashing to outright murder.]]

* NotInThisForYourRevolution

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope

* GodIsEvil: Or at least horribly misguided.

* {{Brainwashed}}
* DeadpanSnarker (Mephistopheles, among others)
* DirtyCoward: All of the manipulation and civil strife in Heaven is caused by [[spoiler: Abdiel]]'s fear of dying during the execution of the Plan.

* FloweryElizabethanEnglish: most of the angels speak modern English, but Beelzebub must speak in flowery Elizabethan flavor, like a character from Creator/WilliamShakespeare, due to damage from the Cacoastrum.

* GodIsEvil (or at least horribly misguided)

* LiteraryAllusionTitle
* ManipulativeBastard [[spoiler: (Abdiel)]]

* OurAngelsAreDifferent

* ReallyGetsAround (Lilith)
* SatanIsGood (or at least good-intentioned)

* StealthPun ([[SpearCarrier Spear Carriers]])

* PaintingTheFourthWall

* LastSecondWordSwap: Ariel is requested to speak in other than rhyming couplet. In response, a limerick:

That you are naught but an ass-et to the Heavenly throne,

That you are naught but an asset to the Heavenly throne,

* FloweryElizabethanEnglish: most of the angels speak modern English, but Beelzebub seems to prefer the flowery Elizabethan flavor, like a character from Creator/WilliamShakespeare.

* DirtyCoward: All of the manipulation and civil strife in Heaven is caused by [[spoiler: Abdiel's]] fear of dying during the execution of the Plan.

* FloweryElizabethanEnglish: most of the angels speak modern English, but Beelzebub seems to prefer the flowery Elizabethan flavor, like a character from {{Shakespeare}}.

* GodKartingWithBeelzebub: God, Lucifer and Satan (all of them, really) start out as friends and brothers.

That you are naught but an asset to the Heavenly throne,

'''This novel provides examples of:'''

----

That you are naught but an asset to the Heavenly throne,\\
wherefore I leave you alone.''

That you are naught but an asset to the Heavenly throne, wherefore I leave you alone.''

''To Reign in Hell'' is a 1984 fantasy novel by StevenBrust that retells the story of Yahweh's creation of Heaven and Earth, and Satan's creation of Hell. It is notable for its simple, yet compelling cosmology, its witty use of language, and its depiction of the War in Heaven as an avoidable catastrophe that was tragic for all concerned.