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The Ninth Circle
Written by Alex Bell
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Average Score:
56(5)
A man comes to on the floor of a shabby apartment in the middle of Budapest. His head is glued to the floorboards with his own blood. There's a fortune in cash on the kitchen table. And he has no idea where, or who, he is. He can do extraordinary things—speak any number of languages fluently, go three days without food or sleep, and fight with extraordinary prowess. But without a name, without a past, he's isolated from the rest of the world; a stranger to everyone, including himself—until a chance encounter with a young scholar leads to his first friendship and his first hint that someone out there knows more about him than he does. Someone is sending him clues about his past. Photographs hidden in books and crates of wine. Cryptic clues pointing towards a murdered woman. And clear warnings against Stephomi, his only friend. But that's not all; Gabriel Antaeus is seeing strange, impossible things: a burning man is stalking his dreams and haunting his mirrors, his dreams are filled with violence from the past, and his pregnant young neighbor is surrounded by an extraordinary golden aura. Something dark and violent in Gabriel's past is trying to resurface. And as he pieces the clues together, everything points towards an astounding war between angels and demons—a battle not just for the future of the world but for the minds and souls of everyone in it.
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Book Details
Fantasy
Paperback,
304 Pages
Published
by Gollancz on June 01, 2009
First Published by Gollancz in 2008
ISBN-10 0575084650
ISBN-13 978-0575084650
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Reviews
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SFRevu
| John Berlyne
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Review Rating: 80
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In Alex Bell there is the promise of further intelligent and commercial novels -- a prized, cherished and all too rare combination in today's genre marketplace.
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The Wertzone
| Adam Whitehead
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Review Rating: 80
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The Ninth Circle is, by SF&F standards, a relatively short book with a fascinating story told through by a conflicted protagonist.
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Strange Horizons
| Tanya Brown
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Review Rating: 60
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Flaws aside, though, there's considerable potential and creativity evident in The Ninth Circle. Bell is confident with plot and pacing, and she blends elements of history, legend and theology--Keats, Nostradamus, Raphael, Faust--into a coherent, if occasionally sketchy, secret history.
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SFX
| Rhian Drinkwater
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Review Rating: 40
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There are some interesting ideas here, but they ultimately collapse into a big messy heap.
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Stephen Hunts SF Crownest
| Martin Jenner
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Review Rating: 20
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...'The Ninth Circle' isn't a particularly well-written novel.
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