Saving Hell

by Maria Sjöstrand

A Supernatural Jaunt Through Life, Death, and BeyondGrace O’Neill passes away peacefully after a long and eventful life. Denied at Heaven, she reluctantly heads the other way. But Hell is not that bad a barbecues, drinks with paper umbrellas, and concerts with dead rock stars — with all the truly bad souls exiled to the formless void of Limbo.But one such undesirable soul breaks out of Limbo, threatens both Hell and Heaven, and seeks to remake the universe in his own image.Ever optimistic Grace teams up with unlikely friends, a sarcastic shapeshifting demon lord and a preacher’s son, racing across Heaven and Earth in search of a holy relic. They must succeed before their enemies use it to unravel the order of the universe and make the afterlife more… hellish!

“★★★★★ — 5 Stars! This surprisingly witty tale is just brilliant. There is no other way to describe it. [An] incredible literary journey of life, death, Heaven, Hell, and a world in-between... Suited to readers who love a good comedy while contemplating the journey of death and beyond. And yes... I am still laughing.” —Rosie Malezer for Readers’ Favorite

334 pages, Paperback

Published November 10, 2023

Reviews

[Alicia Schulze-Makuch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life continues after death...in a fun rollercoaster adventure!

Saving Hell is such a delightful read and got me out of a reading slump! I read it in less than a day, and just had so much fun joining the characters on a fast-paced adventure of unexpected twists and turns. I love the concept of Hell being a pretty solid place to stay and the fact that our team of characters have to work on not only saving Heaven (or Earth as we see in most media), but saving Hell, and in turn, Heaven for all humans, angels, and demons.

But if I had to sum up my favorite aspect, it was the dynamic of the two characters, Grace, the optimistic cheerful human, and Samael, a snarky, shape-shifting demon. I love their constant bickering, and all the witty dialogue. I’m a sucker for a witty demon who eventually gets some of the perfectly optimistic friend’s attitude rubbed off on him. Wonderful to see their friendship develop throughout the book alongside deeper themes of friendship and understanding those around us.

Saving Hell constantly made me laugh out loud, and I really hope to see more of Grace, Samael, and the unique world Maria has created.

[Leane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a laugh-out-loud witty jaunt through Heaven, Hell, and Limbo.

Death is clearly not the end, but the scenarios that our characters find themselves in beyond death are so very amusing.

Follow Grace as she passes away but finds herself denied entry to Heaven. In Hell, Grace bands with an unlikely cast of friends to stop an undesirable soul that's escaped Limbo, who is set to bring down Heaven and Hell alike.

Shape-shifters, demons, holy relics, and Grace's undaunted optimism lead us through this page-turner adventure you won't want to miss.

I bought this at WorldCon (Glasgow24) and would definitely recommend this to anyone with a sense of humour.

[Paulinelapetite · Rating 5 out of 5]

the characters... the humor... the dialogue... chefs kiss!! The writing is witty and funny and fast. The characters are not just tropes that you have read about a million times, but they feel real and sometimes very unexpected and you definitely have no idea where you are headed when you first start reading. HIGHYL recommend.

[Hans · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a story like Lord of the Rings, Mordew, Rotherweird or Perilous Times. But it's more like the movie Civil War, a simple battle between good and evil.
The setting is confusing and the characters lack depth. It seems like a lot of depth has been sacrificed to humourous dialogues, which make up half of the word count. It is a page turner though...