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Demon The Fallen #1
Ashes and Angel Wings
Hell to Pay
The gates of Hell have cracked and demons have escaped to walk the earth, dressed in human flesh. But when the ancient Scourge Hasmed finds himself in the body of three-time loser and mob bagman Harvey Ciullo, he finds the world a very different place than he expected. Using his demonic will, he begins to claw his way up the New Jersey underworld, determined to make it his own. The Angelic Host that locked him away seems to have vanished, but other demons are out there. And all the while, this hardened child of the pit can’t quite shake his affection for Harvey’s daughter, an instinct that could redeem his soul or destroy him forever.
The gates of Hell have cracked and demons have escaped to walk the earth, dressed in human flesh. But when the ancient Scourge Hasmed finds himself in the body of three-time loser and mob bagman Harvey Ciullo, he finds the world a very different place than he expected. Using his demonic will, he begins to claw his way up the New Jersey underworld, determined to make it his own. The Angelic Host that locked him away seems to have vanished, but other demons are out there. And all the while, this hardened child of the pit can’t quite shake his affection for Harvey’s daughter, an instinct that could redeem his soul or destroy him forever.
285 pages, Paperback
First published March 17, 2003
3 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Greg Stolze
146 books59 followersGreg Stolze (born 1970) is an American novelist and writer, whose work has mainly focused on properties derived from role-playing games.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 17, 2018
Probablemente sea comentario de lector viejo pero siento que este libro podría haber sido mucho mejor si contara con más detalle. Las descripciones de lugares son prácticamente nulas, y es raro viniendo de un sistema que pone tanto empeño en generar una idea de detalle y ambiente idóneo para la historia.
La historia está bien, pero siento que perdí mucho por no conocer el trasfondo de algunos elementos, aunque tenga una buena idea general de Mundo de Tinieblas. Al principio se me hizo muy confuso tanto personaje y que a veces se los nombrara por su nombre mortal o inmortal, me costaba recordar quién era quién, sobre todo en un libro que avanza y se lee rápido por carecer de descripciones.
Pese a todo esto el libro tiene momentos muy convincentes y cruentos sin caer en lo gore, pero no recomendado para lectores que no toleren torturas y sacrificios humanos
La historia está bien, pero siento que perdí mucho por no conocer el trasfondo de algunos elementos, aunque tenga una buena idea general de Mundo de Tinieblas. Al principio se me hizo muy confuso tanto personaje y que a veces se los nombrara por su nombre mortal o inmortal, me costaba recordar quién era quién, sobre todo en un libro que avanza y se lee rápido por carecer de descripciones.
Pese a todo esto el libro tiene momentos muy convincentes y cruentos sin caer en lo gore, pero no recomendado para lectores que no toleren torturas y sacrificios humanos
August 28, 2023
5 stars means it was amazing, and it IS just that. Amazing. It has its flaws, so it feels to give 5 stars to it, but that's what it says.
I didn't expect much from franchise literature, but Stolze is not only a good writer, he grasped the world really well too.
His characters feel very much tormented demons, all with different and very out of this world motives.
The story rolls really well, the offscreen scenes don't stretch believability.
The action is sometimes a bit hard to follow when it gets hectic, though.
Also I was laughing kinda hard when one of the protagonists, who doesn't know there are vampires meets a vampire and is like "Cain, is that you?"
Overall it's good prose, great content, and sweetly short, which I appreciate after the Clan Novels' 1+ million words.
I didn't expect much from franchise literature, but Stolze is not only a good writer, he grasped the world really well too.
His characters feel very much tormented demons, all with different and very out of this world motives.
The story rolls really well, the offscreen scenes don't stretch believability.
The action is sometimes a bit hard to follow when it gets hectic, though.
Also I was laughing kinda hard when one of the protagonists, who doesn't know there are vampires meets a vampire and is like "Cain, is that you?"
Overall it's good prose, great content, and sweetly short, which I appreciate after the Clan Novels' 1+ million words.
December 18, 2025
I’m usually excited to read in-world fiction and I really tried with this one but it’s just not a great book full of characters you don’t care about. It’s admittedly from the nineties but the casual racism and stereotypes were so glaring I was often feeling assaulted by them. Cannot recommend.
July 4, 2017
After millennia spent in the Pit, Demons have found the walls of Hell cracked and have come back into the world. The years of torment have made them forget most, but not all, of what they once were, and are startled to find that in their re-ascendance in the world that God is strangely absent. They also note that without their former divinity, the Pit's gravity will suck them back into the void without human hosts. Humans there are plenty of, and they have no qualms about simply pushing the souls of those who are to weak to resist out of their current bodies.
When they do this though, they find out something they never knew about - what it's like to be human.
This story is about several of the infernal host, running the gamut of demonic experience. There are all sorts of factions and motives behind the malfeasant denizens of hell. Some seek to enslave humanity and retain greatness, others are full of questions (the primary one being why Lucifer never really showed up in Hell), some even want to reconcile with God, provided they can find Him.
However, there is one thing they all had in common. They all fell because they thought God gave humans a raw deal and wouldn't do anything about it.
It's been a while since I read all of it, and the last book in the trilogy has been dangling (Nicky Khan still gives me shit about this). I'll be reading through the last book soon I hope as a new initiative to start reading the shit on my shelf already before I continue to buy new ones.
Many of the details are lost to me on this book, but it'll come back to me. I hope. I remember that I liked it though. It's another morality play series. Also, as somewhat of a religious neutral, I always find the arguments for the devil or fallen angels as an interesting point. As mentioned before, demons fell because what they did, they did for love. They honestly wanted to help man, and their creator damned them to hell for their troubles. Makes for an interesting story - is it wrong to question the creator when you think something is 'wrong' or do you play the dutiful son and trust in the fact that he's all knowing? This book tells the story of what happens when you answer that with a difinitive yea or nay.
When they do this though, they find out something they never knew about - what it's like to be human.
This story is about several of the infernal host, running the gamut of demonic experience. There are all sorts of factions and motives behind the malfeasant denizens of hell. Some seek to enslave humanity and retain greatness, others are full of questions (the primary one being why Lucifer never really showed up in Hell), some even want to reconcile with God, provided they can find Him.
However, there is one thing they all had in common. They all fell because they thought God gave humans a raw deal and wouldn't do anything about it.
It's been a while since I read all of it, and the last book in the trilogy has been dangling (Nicky Khan still gives me shit about this). I'll be reading through the last book soon I hope as a new initiative to start reading the shit on my shelf already before I continue to buy new ones.
Many of the details are lost to me on this book, but it'll come back to me. I hope. I remember that I liked it though. It's another morality play series. Also, as somewhat of a religious neutral, I always find the arguments for the devil or fallen angels as an interesting point. As mentioned before, demons fell because what they did, they did for love. They honestly wanted to help man, and their creator damned them to hell for their troubles. Makes for an interesting story - is it wrong to question the creator when you think something is 'wrong' or do you play the dutiful son and trust in the fact that he's all knowing? This book tells the story of what happens when you answer that with a difinitive yea or nay.
December 2, 2008
This was a great book! If your into stuff like the Crow or Constantine than this book would be right up your alley! At first it was a little difficult because there were a lot of characters introduced. But it all came together and you either liked them or were truely repelled by them. A lot of research went into this, based on theology of religion, the war in Heaven and the fallen angels and demons, mix the mob in there, some artists and some other bad ass characters and you've got your self a heck of a read!
June 9, 2013
A wonderful start to an amazing trilogy. Another literary jewel by Stolze.
October 31, 2014
Do not be fooled by the terrible cover art and the low production value. This is an incredible series. One of my favorite fantasy series.
September 16, 2016
Being a little familiar with the background helped, but should be accessible to others.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews