evnlibrarian's review
4.0
Note: I read this in 2005 and wrote a review on Amazon that I just realized I never put here. So here it is:
To appreciate Heaven's War, I had to give it a few rereads. First off, though CS Lewis and Tolkien are important characters, the story's central figure is the lesser known inkling, Charles Williams. I can't speak authoritatively, having never read Williams, but it apparently is written in his style and follows the themes of his books. I suspect some fans of Lewis and Tolkien will be slightly disappointed, but for what the author is attempting to accomplish here, I have to admit it works.
In short, Aleister Crowley is seeking secrets of the Rennes-le-Chateau and is pursuing an aging Arthur Waite for answers. Waite fears for his life and the secrets he believes he has nearly uncovered, and calls on Charles Williams for help. By association, this involves Lewis and Tolkien as well. Essentially, Crowley wants to find the gate to heaven and affect the battle between good and evil at the heavenly realm, with heavy repercussions for those on earth.
If you're immediately familiar with Crowley, Waite, Gnosticism and the Holy Blood, Holy Grail theories and such, you've got a great head start on understanding the plot. The focus on these pseudo historical and anti-Christian theories is concerning, though after reading the annotations in the back of the book, I'm confident that he views the claims made by such theories as essentially false. They advance the plot, but we're not supposed to assume that when Waite discusses Gnostic cosmology that he's describing the truth (in fact, without spoiling too much, a guide in heaven notes that the Gnostic Cathers find heaven disappointingly "sensuous"). The details of all this is mostly over my own head, I'm afraid. More familiar to me was the imagery Harris uses in his descriptions of heaven, though I didn't catch all this until reading the annotations.
The flow can be confusing if you're the sort to impatiently skip long pieces of dialog. This is not an easy reading book, if you haven't figured it out yet. The central conflicts are ideological, not physical (no, Tolkien doesn't pick up a sword and attack Crowley while he casts some black magic spell, get that expectation out of your head), the philosophical assertations of Lewis, Crowley, etc. drive the it, and in fact Lewis' idea of evil (as recalled by Williams) vs. Crowley's rather "post-modern" view is the driving point of the final climactic "battle."
The drawing is probably the weakest point of the novel, unfortunately. Of course this isn't an action based comic, so the story itself is a limiting influence, but the black and white with no shading just isn't that interesting to look at.
In summary, I liked it but I had to work at it to do so, which is something most people don't come to a graphic novel expecting to do. Having no prior knowledge of figures like Waite and Williams and only a "pop culture" knowledge of Crowley hurt me more than a little bit here. Still, a solid 4/5 star rating. I'm now interested in reading some of Charles Williams' work.
To appreciate Heaven's War, I had to give it a few rereads. First off, though CS Lewis and Tolkien are important characters, the story's central figure is the lesser known inkling, Charles Williams. I can't speak authoritatively, having never read Williams, but it apparently is written in his style and follows the themes of his books. I suspect some fans of Lewis and Tolkien will be slightly disappointed, but for what the author is attempting to accomplish here, I have to admit it works.
In short, Aleister Crowley is seeking secrets of the Rennes-le-Chateau and is pursuing an aging Arthur Waite for answers. Waite fears for his life and the secrets he believes he has nearly uncovered, and calls on Charles Williams for help. By association, this involves Lewis and Tolkien as well. Essentially, Crowley wants to find the gate to heaven and affect the battle between good and evil at the heavenly realm, with heavy repercussions for those on earth.
If you're immediately familiar with Crowley, Waite, Gnosticism and the Holy Blood, Holy Grail theories and such, you've got a great head start on understanding the plot. The focus on these pseudo historical and anti-Christian theories is concerning, though after reading the annotations in the back of the book, I'm confident that he views the claims made by such theories as essentially false. They advance the plot, but we're not supposed to assume that when Waite discusses Gnostic cosmology that he's describing the truth (in fact, without spoiling too much, a guide in heaven notes that the Gnostic Cathers find heaven disappointingly "sensuous"). The details of all this is mostly over my own head, I'm afraid. More familiar to me was the imagery Harris uses in his descriptions of heaven, though I didn't catch all this until reading the annotations.
The flow can be confusing if you're the sort to impatiently skip long pieces of dialog. This is not an easy reading book, if you haven't figured it out yet. The central conflicts are ideological, not physical (no, Tolkien doesn't pick up a sword and attack Crowley while he casts some black magic spell, get that expectation out of your head), the philosophical assertations of Lewis, Crowley, etc. drive the it, and in fact Lewis' idea of evil (as recalled by Williams) vs. Crowley's rather "post-modern" view is the driving point of the final climactic "battle."
The drawing is probably the weakest point of the novel, unfortunately. Of course this isn't an action based comic, so the story itself is a limiting influence, but the black and white with no shading just isn't that interesting to look at.
In summary, I liked it but I had to work at it to do so, which is something most people don't come to a graphic novel expecting to do. Having no prior knowledge of figures like Waite and Williams and only a "pop culture" knowledge of Crowley hurt me more than a little bit here. Still, a solid 4/5 star rating. I'm now interested in reading some of Charles Williams' work.
revslick's review
4.0
If you know anything about the Inklings or Charles Williams you'll be immediately engaged otherwise it might take someone a bit to catch on to this cleverly researched, cerebral encounter with the occult.
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