The Dirty Streets of Heaven

Bobby Dollar isn’t your average angel. Sure, he takes the occasional trip to Heaven, but his job as an advocate – arguing the fate of the recently deceased – keeps him pretty busy on Earth, and he’s more than happy to spend the rest of his time propping up the bar with his fellow immortals. Until the day a soul goes missing, presumed stolen by ‘the other side’. A new chapter in the war between heaven and hell is about to open. And Bobby is right in the middle of it, with only a desirable but deadly demon to aid him.

The Dirty Streets of Heaven is the first book in a new urban fantasy series by Tad Williams, who we all know for his other great works including Memory Sorrow and Thorn, Otherland, the Shadowmarch Quartet and The War of the Flowers. His Otherland series was the very first fantasy series that showed me just how much fun fantasy books really could be! Having already shown the world that he can write great stuff this new urban fantasy novel further establishes him as one of the very best authors in the genre.

The book is really well constructed and humorous on many occasions. Told as it is through the first-person narration of Bobby Dollar allows the reader to haves feelings for – and be able to connect with – him as he experiences his many ups and downs. Bobby is given a wonderfully nonchalant attitude and he is also very funny, the jokes and puns that he makes are just awesome and the dialogue that occur between him and the advocates of Hell are laugh-out-loud.
The writing style is neat, slick, crafty and catchy. It definitely fits into this genre and the descriptions of the events that take place are just so brilliantly lively.

The Dirty Streets of Heaven isn’t the basic battle between Heaven and Hell. Yes, it has angels, Yes, it has demons, but there is more to it. It is a great and awesome book, totally different from the other books Tad Williams has written but he will attract an even broader audience than before due to this. The book is a light and simple read but that doesn’t take away any of the depth normally seen in his works. From its great introduction to its full-tilt gun action and great character/world building The Dirty Streets of Heaven is rock(ing)-solid! All I can say is, “How many nights do I have to tick off for book 2 to be released?”

A big thanks to Hodder & Stoughton @hodderscape for sending me out a review copy.

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