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Aspects of Power #1
War in Heaven
An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found: here
A battle over the most sacred object in Christendom...
In the tiny English village of Fardles, a practitioner of black magic has located the Holy Grail in the sacristy of the local Anglican church. Intent on possessing it so as to amplify his own nefarious powers, he tries to trick its guardian into donating it. When that fails, he resorts to theft.
Thus begins a tug-of-war between powers infernal and celestial, between a magician who would use the Sacred as an instrument of his own will, and an Archdeacon who seeks to protect and preserve what is sacramental and holy.
Along the way, Williams reveals the tug-of-war within us all — the interplay of desire and Desire, the polarity of possession and sacrifice...and the significant gray areas in between.
War in Heaven is the first novel Williams published, and also the most comic. It is everything you’ve come to expect from a Williams novel — suspense, supernatural danger, and a mysticism so real, good, and terrible that nothing can stand against it.
A battle over the most sacred object in Christendom...
In the tiny English village of Fardles, a practitioner of black magic has located the Holy Grail in the sacristy of the local Anglican church. Intent on possessing it so as to amplify his own nefarious powers, he tries to trick its guardian into donating it. When that fails, he resorts to theft.
Thus begins a tug-of-war between powers infernal and celestial, between a magician who would use the Sacred as an instrument of his own will, and an Archdeacon who seeks to protect and preserve what is sacramental and holy.
Along the way, Williams reveals the tug-of-war within us all — the interplay of desire and Desire, the polarity of possession and sacrifice...and the significant gray areas in between.
War in Heaven is the first novel Williams published, and also the most comic. It is everything you’ve come to expect from a Williams novel — suspense, supernatural danger, and a mysticism so real, good, and terrible that nothing can stand against it.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
253 people are currently reading
3208 people want to read
About the author
Charles Williams
84 books389 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Charles Williams
Charles Walter Stansby Williams is probably best known, to those who have heard of him, as a leading member (albeit for a short time) of the Oxford literary group, the "Inklings", whose chief figures were C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. He was, however, a figure of enormous interest in his own right: a prolific author of plays, fantasy novels (strikingly different in kind from those of his friends), poetry, theology, biography and criticism. — the Charles Williams Society website
Please see: Charles Williams
Charles Walter Stansby Williams is probably best known, to those who have heard of him, as a leading member (albeit for a short time) of the Oxford literary group, the "Inklings", whose chief figures were C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. He was, however, a figure of enormous interest in his own right: a prolific author of plays, fantasy novels (strikingly different in kind from those of his friends), poetry, theology, biography and criticism. — the Charles Williams Society website
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February 16, 2021
synopsis: various Englishmen, an Englishwoman, and a lively Englishboy are embroiled in a murder mystery, a sort of treasure hunt, the nefarious goals of various occultists, and a diverse array of paranormal happenings; unsurprisingly, they barely bother to acknowledge let alone comment on the spiritual and supernatural aspects intruding violently upon their lives, no doubt because they are English and such immoderate declarations of the obvious would certainly be considered a trifle unseemly.
I love how this offbeat novel espouses that there is a kind of mythic transcendentalism within the nature of Anglican Christianity - quite a new perspective to me. Never would I have imagined adding the Church of England to my list of Favorite Christian Faiths - but make room Quakers, Religious Scientists, and Swedenborgians! There's a new faith that will now be sharing your space in my head.
Charles Williams was of course one of the Inklings, that storied crew of literary enthusiasts and visionary Christians that included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I guess he was the odd one out, or - as I'd like to imagine - the eccentric brother who they had little in common with but still admired because of that eccentricity. Despite his idiosyncracies, Williams was no Iconoclast: the Christian vision within him was strong, and this story features one of the most important Christian icons of all: the Holy Grail. Indeed, it is the iconoclastic villains in this novel that seek to misuse or destroy this holy item.
One of the things I appreciated most about Williams' storytelling, and his take on the Anglican value system, is that he is not strident about his religion. The author does not make a big fuss about anything, including matters of faith. There may be a beautifully dreamlike and transcendent miracle that happens in a church at the climax, but the author is never pushy with his faith. The protagonists include a range of nice but uninteresting individuals with varying levels of spirituality, and there is no dull speechifying about what constitutes Right or Wrong Behavior. The evil villains are fascinatingly malicious and spiteful, urbane and erudite and amusing, callous and cruel just to be cruel, and they feature deadly magicians and a cynical, mean-spirited author... but their wickedness comes from who they actually are, their personalities and intentions, their outlook on life - and not from their specific ideology, or lack thereof. They are not villains because they move against Christianity, they are villains because they are heartless assholes. The rot came from within.
Another thing I appreciated: the inclusion of the legendary Prester John as an in-person deus ex machina. This Prester John, despite being a force for ultimate good is... scary. A smiling, ruthless, you simple-minded terrestrial villains are but interesting little insects to me, barely worth my time kind of scary. Yay for scary good guys! There's too few of them.
The book is dry, the humor so low-key it nears invisible, the pacing veers back and forth between being too quick and choppy to being too gently meandering, and it often doesn't bother explaining itself very clearly. It is a metaphysical book but the feel for the most part is mundane, corporeal, rooted in the day-to-day of office and family life, work conversations and polite, passive-aggressive banter. Open drama is kept to a mininum, as is the expression of blatant emotion. When the fantastic elements intrude and the mystical visions take over, it felt like I had turned the page and entered another book entirely, so based in reality is the majority of the story. This is a hard book to recommend. But I loved it, including all of its idiosyncracies; it is an excellent gateway into Charles Williams' unusual world view. I look forward to reading more of his strange adventures.
I love how this offbeat novel espouses that there is a kind of mythic transcendentalism within the nature of Anglican Christianity - quite a new perspective to me. Never would I have imagined adding the Church of England to my list of Favorite Christian Faiths - but make room Quakers, Religious Scientists, and Swedenborgians! There's a new faith that will now be sharing your space in my head.
Charles Williams was of course one of the Inklings, that storied crew of literary enthusiasts and visionary Christians that included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I guess he was the odd one out, or - as I'd like to imagine - the eccentric brother who they had little in common with but still admired because of that eccentricity. Despite his idiosyncracies, Williams was no Iconoclast: the Christian vision within him was strong, and this story features one of the most important Christian icons of all: the Holy Grail. Indeed, it is the iconoclastic villains in this novel that seek to misuse or destroy this holy item.
One of the things I appreciated most about Williams' storytelling, and his take on the Anglican value system, is that he is not strident about his religion. The author does not make a big fuss about anything, including matters of faith. There may be a beautifully dreamlike and transcendent miracle that happens in a church at the climax, but the author is never pushy with his faith. The protagonists include a range of nice but uninteresting individuals with varying levels of spirituality, and there is no dull speechifying about what constitutes Right or Wrong Behavior. The evil villains are fascinatingly malicious and spiteful, urbane and erudite and amusing, callous and cruel just to be cruel, and they feature deadly magicians and a cynical, mean-spirited author... but their wickedness comes from who they actually are, their personalities and intentions, their outlook on life - and not from their specific ideology, or lack thereof. They are not villains because they move against Christianity, they are villains because they are heartless assholes. The rot came from within.
Another thing I appreciated: the inclusion of the legendary Prester John as an in-person deus ex machina. This Prester John, despite being a force for ultimate good is... scary. A smiling, ruthless, you simple-minded terrestrial villains are but interesting little insects to me, barely worth my time kind of scary. Yay for scary good guys! There's too few of them.
The book is dry, the humor so low-key it nears invisible, the pacing veers back and forth between being too quick and choppy to being too gently meandering, and it often doesn't bother explaining itself very clearly. It is a metaphysical book but the feel for the most part is mundane, corporeal, rooted in the day-to-day of office and family life, work conversations and polite, passive-aggressive banter. Open drama is kept to a mininum, as is the expression of blatant emotion. When the fantastic elements intrude and the mystical visions take over, it felt like I had turned the page and entered another book entirely, so based in reality is the majority of the story. This is a hard book to recommend. But I loved it, including all of its idiosyncracies; it is an excellent gateway into Charles Williams' unusual world view. I look forward to reading more of his strange adventures.
Read
February 13, 2025"The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse." Hell of a way to start a book.
An extraordinary occult thriller set at first in a London publishing house run by the two kinds of publisher (1: flaccid dweeb publishing trashy novels for money; 2: evil incarnate). The publishing stuff is genuinely hilarious, but we soon discover via a late amendment to page proofs that the Holy Grail (here Graal) has been found in a small English village, and off we go. Heroes are the Archdeacon of the parish, a publisher's clerk (marketing), and a duke with a sideline in poetry. It is impossible not to enjoy this book.
Villains are the evil publisher, a particularly shitty author (see?) and a couple of sinister foreigners. The latter two are rather from central casting but although one is IDd as Jewish I didn't get the usual whiff of antisemitism here: he was an individual, albeit not a particularly individualised one. As an occult thriller to do with the Grail this is obviously heavily pegged around religion, but it's extremely Anglican, which is to say very few of the MCs believe in God as such, and the Archdeacon is embarrassed by displays of religion,and, refreshingly, thinks the Grail is a trivial object that isn't worth human suffering. The general sense is very much *not* the sweaty "you must find devotion and convert" mood of the crappier occult thriller, and yes I read too many of these.
Most of all the villains are not stock Satanists who are on the evil side to provide an antagonist. The evil publisher is, in fact a malignant narcissist, a manipulative abuser whose pleasure in controlling and hurting others is the thing that leads him to evil magic, rather than vice versa. The shitty author is a hugely selfish mannerless brute with no care for others. They are terrible people before they are anything in the way of occult, and this really make the book zing. There's a fantastic scene where one of the baddies is in trouble and asks his partner in crime for help, and is impatiently told "You're not interesting enough to run any risks for." Oh.
And the best bit is, we get the villain POVs and with that a sense of their impending doom. The villains generally have the upper hand, and the good guys are not by any means safe at any point, but by far the two scariest parts of the book are moments when the bad guys have a sense of their eternal fate - the one in a shabby shop with a door that won't ever open, the other given a comparison of himself to an ant inside the chalice's smooth interior, scrabbling, unable to get out. It's cosmic and metaphysical horror but the sense is powerful.
This is very metaphysical all told (it's by one of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien's writing group) and it goes into the mythological at points with the Grail-protector who is genuinely quite scary-nasty on the side of good. A fascinating read which kept me thoroughly hooked.
Second read: Still good fun, and the evil publisher remains a magnificent villain.
An extraordinary occult thriller set at first in a London publishing house run by the two kinds of publisher (1: flaccid dweeb publishing trashy novels for money; 2: evil incarnate). The publishing stuff is genuinely hilarious, but we soon discover via a late amendment to page proofs that the Holy Grail (here Graal) has been found in a small English village, and off we go. Heroes are the Archdeacon of the parish, a publisher's clerk (marketing), and a duke with a sideline in poetry. It is impossible not to enjoy this book.
Villains are the evil publisher, a particularly shitty author (see?) and a couple of sinister foreigners. The latter two are rather from central casting but although one is IDd as Jewish I didn't get the usual whiff of antisemitism here: he was an individual, albeit not a particularly individualised one. As an occult thriller to do with the Grail this is obviously heavily pegged around religion, but it's extremely Anglican, which is to say very few of the MCs believe in God as such, and the Archdeacon is embarrassed by displays of religion,and, refreshingly, thinks the Grail is a trivial object that isn't worth human suffering. The general sense is very much *not* the sweaty "you must find devotion and convert" mood of the crappier occult thriller, and yes I read too many of these.
Most of all the villains are not stock Satanists who are on the evil side to provide an antagonist. The evil publisher is, in fact a malignant narcissist, a manipulative abuser whose pleasure in controlling and hurting others is the thing that leads him to evil magic, rather than vice versa. The shitty author is a hugely selfish mannerless brute with no care for others. They are terrible people before they are anything in the way of occult, and this really make the book zing. There's a fantastic scene where one of the baddies is in trouble and asks his partner in crime for help, and is impatiently told "You're not interesting enough to run any risks for." Oh.
And the best bit is, we get the villain POVs and with that a sense of their impending doom. The villains generally have the upper hand, and the good guys are not by any means safe at any point, but by far the two scariest parts of the book are moments when the bad guys have a sense of their eternal fate - the one in a shabby shop with a door that won't ever open, the other given a comparison of himself to an ant inside the chalice's smooth interior, scrabbling, unable to get out. It's cosmic and metaphysical horror but the sense is powerful.
This is very metaphysical all told (it's by one of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien's writing group) and it goes into the mythological at points with the Grail-protector who is genuinely quite scary-nasty on the side of good. A fascinating read which kept me thoroughly hooked.
Second read: Still good fun, and the evil publisher remains a magnificent villain.
April 14, 2015
Of the three Inkling fantasy writers Charles Williams is the least known and appreciated. Yet, his series of supernatural fantasy novels are every bit as interesting and original as the books by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.
This is the first of the seven novels written by Charles Williams. (He did start one other but abandoned it after three chapters owing to a lukewarm reception by his fellow Inklings.)
"War In Heaven" is quite an opening debut. Rather than creating a unique secondary fantasy world or shifting between two universes, Williams allows the supernatural to invade his contemporary world. This allows him to explore the impact of a different reality on different characters.
The item that channels the supernatural into the natural in this novel is The Holy Graal (The older spelling of “Grail” preferred by Williams). A group of three dark magicians attempt to use it as a power base and a means of destruction. Two of the members of this evil trinity are rather stereotyped, but the third is well drawn, apparently respectable and has a believable and complex personality.
The three who oppose them are an Archdeacon, a Duke, and a Clerk in a publishing house. None of them are really particularly remarkable in any significant way and the three individuals who represent Evil are far more powerful than they.
Another group of three—a married couple with a child become a significant focus in this book—and there is one other character involved of whom none of the others is aware.
So much for the main players. For me the highlights of this book were a series of brilliantly described mystical experiences—among the best I have read in any novel. They are quite mesmerising and I found myself pulled into these astonishing moments.
The plot is cleverly introduced and effectively developed. In one section I found myself gently lulled by an apparently innocuous conversation between a priest and a police officer that suddenly generated an unexpected twist. The 3+3+3+1 character structure mentioned above creates a pattern which has mystical overtones. And the reader may note the use of the number three in other areas of the novel.
Possibly the finale doesn’t quite live up to the transcendental power of the central section but that’s only an opinion. Many might like it.
While Williams is certainly able to convey a variety of language registers including a demotic style when appropriate, he also reveals a remarkable width of academic knowledge. It is no wonder that he was so admired by Lewis.
I’ve decided to read all of the novels again as they are now fairly easily available either in hard copy or digital versions. Perhaps this fine writer may get the audience he deserves.
This is the first of the seven novels written by Charles Williams. (He did start one other but abandoned it after three chapters owing to a lukewarm reception by his fellow Inklings.)
"War In Heaven" is quite an opening debut. Rather than creating a unique secondary fantasy world or shifting between two universes, Williams allows the supernatural to invade his contemporary world. This allows him to explore the impact of a different reality on different characters.
The item that channels the supernatural into the natural in this novel is The Holy Graal (The older spelling of “Grail” preferred by Williams). A group of three dark magicians attempt to use it as a power base and a means of destruction. Two of the members of this evil trinity are rather stereotyped, but the third is well drawn, apparently respectable and has a believable and complex personality.
The three who oppose them are an Archdeacon, a Duke, and a Clerk in a publishing house. None of them are really particularly remarkable in any significant way and the three individuals who represent Evil are far more powerful than they.
Another group of three—a married couple with a child become a significant focus in this book—and there is one other character involved of whom none of the others is aware.
So much for the main players. For me the highlights of this book were a series of brilliantly described mystical experiences—among the best I have read in any novel. They are quite mesmerising and I found myself pulled into these astonishing moments.
The plot is cleverly introduced and effectively developed. In one section I found myself gently lulled by an apparently innocuous conversation between a priest and a police officer that suddenly generated an unexpected twist. The 3+3+3+1 character structure mentioned above creates a pattern which has mystical overtones. And the reader may note the use of the number three in other areas of the novel.
Possibly the finale doesn’t quite live up to the transcendental power of the central section but that’s only an opinion. Many might like it.
While Williams is certainly able to convey a variety of language registers including a demotic style when appropriate, he also reveals a remarkable width of academic knowledge. It is no wonder that he was so admired by Lewis.
I’ve decided to read all of the novels again as they are now fairly easily available either in hard copy or digital versions. Perhaps this fine writer may get the audience he deserves.
April 28, 2021
This was my first encounter with Charles Williams. I read this for a Christian Fantasy class at BYU many years ago. I can still remember so much of the experience. There is no other way to describe reading a Charles Williams novel: it is an experience never to be forgotten. I once read that C.S. Lewis will take his readers up to the gates of Hell then turn tail and run; Williams on the other hand will march his readers right through those gates and they will emerge on the other side battle weary and worn. That would be accurate.
But I am always amazed that Williams can perform such a feat and still maintain such high standards. I believe it is because he doesn't glorify evil in any way. His books deal with that ongoing war between good and evil and the fight for the souls of men. And a reader has no doubt that his message is about choosing good. Although I have not read many of his books (up until recently they have been difficult to find), Charles Williams remains one of my all time favorite authors.
But I am always amazed that Williams can perform such a feat and still maintain such high standards. I believe it is because he doesn't glorify evil in any way. His books deal with that ongoing war between good and evil and the fight for the souls of men. And a reader has no doubt that his message is about choosing good. Although I have not read many of his books (up until recently they have been difficult to find), Charles Williams remains one of my all time favorite authors.
October 9, 2010
Charles Williams died in 1945, aged fifty-nine, and I acquired three of his novels recently from a second-hand stall. This is the first one I’ve read. I found myself thinking of the differences between modern writing and the stories of not-too-long ago, remembering reading Dickens as a young teen and coping fine with long descriptions that would later bore my sons, knowing as I read that “this is a good author” therefore trusting the story to come. Not that Charles Williams writes like Dickens, but his stories do have longer paragraphs and more description than modern fiction. If War in heaven is anything to go by, they also have fascinating plots, up-to-date mysteries—even a Holy Graal—and complex characters with no simple bad guy/good guy denotations.
That last point makes me think they may represent better story-telling than many recent Christian novels I’ve read, though some of the plot-lines make me wonder if they’d be accepted by a modern Christian publishing house.
In case you can’t tell, I really rather enjoyed reading War in Heaven. The author paints the English town and countryside very convincingly, making me think of home. And he writes the dialog delightfully, with half the truths lying unspoken between the lines. There’s a murder on page one, and an absolutely perfect first line that declares the phone’s ringing unanswered “since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.” And even as mystery piles on mystery, that corpse lies waiting to be identified, the cause of death unknown till the story’s end.
There’s a country pastor, a Duke, a mad archeologist, strange chemists brewing even stranger potions, and innocent book publishers just trying to get on with their lives. There are deaths as well, not just the corpse; crazy chases; magical mists and mysterious strangers. And there are long and fascinating conversations like sitting by the fireside listening in while those with serious opinions opine.
It’s a zany mad-cap adventure, told slowly and leisurely. And I find myself wondering if, in a world with fewer authors and fewer books, perhaps it was easier to know “this is a good author” and trust the tale to come. Perhaps we need our fast pace and instant action when we read today because the reader’s probably not heard of the author before. If we’re not caught straight away in the story’s net what reason will we have to invest the time?
Ah well, that’s my two-pennorth. And when I get time, I’ll invest it in reading and reviewing another of Charles Williams’ books.
That last point makes me think they may represent better story-telling than many recent Christian novels I’ve read, though some of the plot-lines make me wonder if they’d be accepted by a modern Christian publishing house.
In case you can’t tell, I really rather enjoyed reading War in Heaven. The author paints the English town and countryside very convincingly, making me think of home. And he writes the dialog delightfully, with half the truths lying unspoken between the lines. There’s a murder on page one, and an absolutely perfect first line that declares the phone’s ringing unanswered “since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.” And even as mystery piles on mystery, that corpse lies waiting to be identified, the cause of death unknown till the story’s end.
There’s a country pastor, a Duke, a mad archeologist, strange chemists brewing even stranger potions, and innocent book publishers just trying to get on with their lives. There are deaths as well, not just the corpse; crazy chases; magical mists and mysterious strangers. And there are long and fascinating conversations like sitting by the fireside listening in while those with serious opinions opine.
It’s a zany mad-cap adventure, told slowly and leisurely. And I find myself wondering if, in a world with fewer authors and fewer books, perhaps it was easier to know “this is a good author” and trust the tale to come. Perhaps we need our fast pace and instant action when we read today because the reader’s probably not heard of the author before. If we’re not caught straight away in the story’s net what reason will we have to invest the time?
Ah well, that’s my two-pennorth. And when I get time, I’ll invest it in reading and reviewing another of Charles Williams’ books.
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August 17, 2012
This book began well enough, but quickly became all but interminable. It was a long, inexplicably slow slog, and the brief-but-regular moments of wit and brilliance simply couldn't make up for how unaccountably difficult I found it to finish. The fascinating approach to magic and Satanism was likewise overwhelmed by the grotesque anti-Semitic caricature "Manasseh". Add to that the fact that Williams (a friend of Tolkien & Lewis) seems to subscribe to a sort of 19th/20th century transcendental Christian pseudo-mysticism I have always found impenetrably silly (eg: Prester John features in the novel, but Williams has the character simultaneously exist as the Priest-king, John the Beloved, Mary, Jesus, God, the Graal itself, etc.)... And, well, this book earns itself two stars. Not a must-read, but it wasn't all bad and readers with different tastes might love it.
July 25, 2025
Charles Williams was an Inkling with Tolkien, Lewis, and Barfield. War in Heaven is a supernatural novel, with vibes similar to Lewis’ That Hideous Strength. One parish priest discovers that he may have the holy grail in his parish, and all hell (literally) unleashes to steal it from him. This is a strange little book, and oddly riveting. I’m excited to continue the series.
October 15, 2016
The edition that I read has a cover quote from T.S. Eliot about Charles Williams's novels: "There are no novels anywhere quite like them. They are very good thrillers...they are exciting. They are the work of a man who had something very serious to convey."
Well, I haven't read any others by him, but I could add one more sentence of description. They are whackadoodle.
What is this like? Sort of like G.K. Chesterton, with spirituality and absurdity thrust into workaday England. Like C.S. Lewis, deeply concerned with telling an adventure story and with discussing the reality of Christianity; but Lewis usually roots things more concretely, less metaphysically. Like E.M. Forster's stories where the faun or the Greek god inserts himself into reality. Like magical realism, kindasorta.
Anyway, this is a whackadoodle story of a murder in a publishing house that rapidly turns into a battle between God and the Devil (not just good and evil), involving Anglicans, Catholics, Romantics, Agnostics, Satanists, Jews, Nihilists, Children, and Prester John, the keeper and embodiment of the Holy Grail. Not to give anything away (not that I could, honestly), but I wish the detective story was as thoroughly worked out as the religious and mystical interplay. I couldn't wait for it to end (mystico-religious speech ages quickly), but I love the matter-of-factness of certain parts, like when the detectives try to find the drugstore. Plus there's this opening sentence, which is up there with the best I've read: "The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no one in the room but the corpse."
Well, I haven't read any others by him, but I could add one more sentence of description. They are whackadoodle.
What is this like? Sort of like G.K. Chesterton, with spirituality and absurdity thrust into workaday England. Like C.S. Lewis, deeply concerned with telling an adventure story and with discussing the reality of Christianity; but Lewis usually roots things more concretely, less metaphysically. Like E.M. Forster's stories where the faun or the Greek god inserts himself into reality. Like magical realism, kindasorta.
Anyway, this is a whackadoodle story of a murder in a publishing house that rapidly turns into a battle between God and the Devil (not just good and evil), involving Anglicans, Catholics, Romantics, Agnostics, Satanists, Jews, Nihilists, Children, and Prester John, the keeper and embodiment of the Holy Grail. Not to give anything away (not that I could, honestly), but I wish the detective story was as thoroughly worked out as the religious and mystical interplay. I couldn't wait for it to end (mystico-religious speech ages quickly), but I love the matter-of-factness of certain parts, like when the detectives try to find the drugstore. Plus there's this opening sentence, which is up there with the best I've read: "The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no one in the room but the corpse."
August 28, 2011
War in Heaven by Charles Williams wasn’t the easiest book for me to read. It has a lot of long sentences, not a lot of dialogue, and a lot of talking about things I don’t know (or words I don’t know). And it talked a lot about the devil.
However, it really was a tremendous story about faith, and good and evil, and Jesus, and the Eucharist, and the communion of saints. I will never be the same after reading that book. Honestly. It’s affected my faith forever, for the good.
However, it really was a tremendous story about faith, and good and evil, and Jesus, and the Eucharist, and the communion of saints. I will never be the same after reading that book. Honestly. It’s affected my faith forever, for the good.
September 28, 2022
I wouldn't have picked this book up if it wasn't for the fact that Charles Williams was best friends with CS Lewis.
That being said, what a weird, fantastic, mind blowing little book. Part of me is in awe, and part of me has no idea what I just read 🤣 It reminded me of GK Chesterton in a way.
It is obvious that Charles Williams had genius, and I can see why he and CS Lewis hit it off. I am looking forward to reading more of his books in the future.
That being said, what a weird, fantastic, mind blowing little book. Part of me is in awe, and part of me has no idea what I just read 🤣 It reminded me of GK Chesterton in a way.
It is obvious that Charles Williams had genius, and I can see why he and CS Lewis hit it off. I am looking forward to reading more of his books in the future.
February 29, 2020
This was the first novel (1930) of Anglican fantasist Charles Williams. It contains all his opacity, irony and subtle and sometimes sardonic humour about a weak but basically decent humanity faced with the ineffable, set within something close to a pastiche of interwar popular fiction.
Elsewhere I have reviewed his later (1937) 'Descent into Hell' which is a much more intense and difficult work and which I know I am going to have to read twice in order to understand it adequately but this first novel is a good starting point for entering his world.
Williams is never an easy read but here he is possibly at his most accessible if only because he frames his theology within a murder mystery (which is not the point of the tale) and a tale of Satanism and dark magic (which is) as well as a fantasy about the San Graal.
His books have been called 'supernatural thrillers' but the thriller aspect should not be exaggerated. This is essential a book of 'ideas' that uses magic and fantasy to convey concepts that, in other hands, would require poetry to convey. His gravestone has 'poet' upon it.
I may be wholly out of tune with Williams' religious position, a form of High Anglicanism that can mock gentle but kindly fun at rival Catholics and Wesleyans whilst seeing them as allies in the fight against evil, but I consider Williams to be a subtle genius.
He may not be widely read now but his influence on Anglo-American fantasy fiction is substantial and he is definitely a major figure within a specific genre of it, Christian fantasy, a category that includes the more didactic C S Lewis and T F Powys.
His genius lays not only in laying bare the complexity of the relationship between Man and God (if you believe what he believes) but in doing so in a way that manages to have quasi-allegorical characters who are also human-all-too-human. They are both representative and somehow real.
In his rather peculiar way, he manages to ground magic and the transcendant in everyday reality and sometimes to make reality, and especially human behaviours faced with reality, transcendent and magical. The Arthurian aspect of the tale sets the transcendental within a great tradition.
Human foibles are dissected with compassion. The prize at the end is to see one character of undoubted piety translated to eternal happiness and his counterpoint defeated not in some grand guignol descent into hell but by becoming human again and 'confessing'.
There are descents and ascensions into otherworlds which are never over-explained. Indeed, in other hands, too much might be spelled out.
He has not converted me and will not convert me to his way of seeing the world, one which is essentially mystical and ritualistic but he has helped me to respect it as something more than catholicism made pragmatically viable for the English character.
Anglicanism is, of course, very English (not British but English) and even today defines the easy-going country Tory mentality. Williams, the Oxford intellectual, allows fantasy to be the tool for introducing the magical into English pragmatism where it is very much at home.
Outsiders often find it difficult to understand the traditional English character. It seems to be a classically bourgeois trading and practical mentality (which it can be) and to be a little distant in its social relations, with gradations as complex as those of a Chinese court.
But it is also very romantic about its ideals and about nature and not merely tolerant but hungry for the magical and the fantastic. After all, its only contribution to the creation of a world religion was to be Wicca later in the century.
This one of those books that requires either a relatively brief review on the lines of 'read it because it is unlike anything else you might read' and a lengthy and close critical analysis that would involve as much attention as the Bible, Homer or a Greek Tragedy.
But life is short. I suspect only literary critics and engaged Anglican would do such a thing but, for the rest of us, it is a book that bears reading for the diamonds in the conventional thirties coal seam.
September 5, 2021
I've just finished War in Heaven for the 5th time, at least, possibly the 6th, but the first since I joined GoodReads, so it is perhaps time to write a review here.
Charles Williams wrote seven novels, and in three of them there is a McGuffin, an object that motivates the characters and the action in the story. In his novel The Greater Trumps the McGuffin is a set of Tarot cards that reflect the movement of a set of dancing images. In Many Dimensions it is a stone with miraculous properties. And in War in Heaven it is the Holy Grail, or Graal as Williams spells it.
A sceptical and rather obnoxious archaeologist, Sir Giles Tumulty, publishes a book on sacred vessels in folklore, in which he claims that the Graal is probably in the parish of Fardles in Hertfordshire. The Archdeacon of Fardles, Julian Davenant, happens by chance to see a proof copy of the book, from which a paragraph was removed in the published version at the request of the publisher's father and former head of the firm, Gregory Persimmons, who is a satanist, and wants to get hold of the Graal for the purpose of performing black magic rituals. The Archdeacon, a Roman Catholic nobleman, and a publisher's clerk each have their own motives for wanting to keep the Graal out of the hands of Gregory Persimmons, which keeps them chasing back and forth between London and Fardles.
The plot is complicated by a police investigation into a murder that had taken place in the publisher's offices. Charles Williams's novels have been described as "supernatural thrillers", but this one also has the elements of a supernatural murder mystery. And I find that every time I read it I see something that I hadn't noticed before.
Charles Williams wrote seven novels, and in three of them there is a McGuffin, an object that motivates the characters and the action in the story. In his novel The Greater Trumps the McGuffin is a set of Tarot cards that reflect the movement of a set of dancing images. In Many Dimensions it is a stone with miraculous properties. And in War in Heaven it is the Holy Grail, or Graal as Williams spells it.
A sceptical and rather obnoxious archaeologist, Sir Giles Tumulty, publishes a book on sacred vessels in folklore, in which he claims that the Graal is probably in the parish of Fardles in Hertfordshire. The Archdeacon of Fardles, Julian Davenant, happens by chance to see a proof copy of the book, from which a paragraph was removed in the published version at the request of the publisher's father and former head of the firm, Gregory Persimmons, who is a satanist, and wants to get hold of the Graal for the purpose of performing black magic rituals. The Archdeacon, a Roman Catholic nobleman, and a publisher's clerk each have their own motives for wanting to keep the Graal out of the hands of Gregory Persimmons, which keeps them chasing back and forth between London and Fardles.
The plot is complicated by a police investigation into a murder that had taken place in the publisher's offices. Charles Williams's novels have been described as "supernatural thrillers", but this one also has the elements of a supernatural murder mystery. And I find that every time I read it I see something that I hadn't noticed before.
July 18, 2012
I really enjoyed this novel, but I can't imagine recommending it to anyone, because the author's perspective is very hard to ascertain. The prose is cleaner and easier to read than "All Hallows Eve", and the atmosphere is definitely less ethereal. the story is such a strange mix of Victorian and modern ideas; imagine if H.P. Lovecraft and G.K Chesterton wrote a Father Brown mystery, and then made the mystery a subplot. Again in this work, as with the previously mentioned "All Hallows Eve", Williams does an excellent job bringing his characters to life.
I must admit I began reading Williams because of his association with the Inklings and C.S. Lewis in particular, but I am quickly becoming a fan.
I must admit I began reading Williams because of his association with the Inklings and C.S. Lewis in particular, but I am quickly becoming a fan.
February 15, 2008
Wow! Charles Williams was a great friend of Tolkien and C.S.Lewis. He was part of their group called the Oxford Inklings. This novel deals with some fascinating material: the sangraal, and a battle between satanic and heavenly forces on earth. Quite chilling in parts. Take a look at the malleus malificarum in reference to the Witch's Sabbath parts. A bit mind boggling in spots, like reading a whole novel of Neal A Maxwell talks. Heck, he's one of the guys that converted C.S. Lewis to Christianity, he's got to be deep.
November 14, 2009
Williams is one of the writers that C. S. Lewis named as an inspiration. He became part of the Inkling group. I have used the word esoteric to refer to him elswhere about another book and I believe it does apply and describe his writing. That being said I highly recommend this book. You will need to think about it and not enter in with your mind in neutral but really, isn't that a good thing?
unfinished
December 27, 2024I enjoyed Descent Into Hell despite the weirdness, but this one I found to be more poorly executed. The wooden prose, characters, and dialogue left me reaching for something else.
May 25, 2025
What a terribly weird book this is!
The author was one of the Inklings, along with CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, but a much stranger bird. He seems to have dabbled in the occult in his real life, in that very odd templar-grails-king arthury and prester johnsy way. This is one of Williams' first, or maybe his first, and maybe he gets less weird as he gets older - bbut I'm not staying around for the ride.
Here Williams writes some impressively good characters - each one is clearly different from the other - and two of the heroes, Kenneth Mornington and the Archdeacon are really very good. The devilish antagonist, Gregory Persimmons, is quite perfectly awful and also believable. Secondary characters also excellent, with some nod to Wodehouse (admitted!) in the text.
Unfortunately the book is spoiled by the - popular at that time I suppose - diminishment of the Other - the Greek and the Jew - the other 2 antagonist fully in league with the devil: the one filled with the languor of the endless antagonism of the (here) Anglican God, and Manassah the Jew (obviously) with unfulfillable desire and greed. Ugh, whenever I meet that awfulness (and appreciate even more those who were able to sidestep those tropes, yes that means the marvelous George Eliot). Not surprisingly only one woman player (besides a few housekeepers) whose inherent cleaving to her faith gets her out of trouble. Ugh again.
The last 10% is largely mystical ranting that sounds like Williams took a hallucinogenic, and, in that altered state, was able to experience his God.
Of its time, and interesting therein.
The author was one of the Inklings, along with CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, but a much stranger bird. He seems to have dabbled in the occult in his real life, in that very odd templar-grails-king arthury and prester johnsy way. This is one of Williams' first, or maybe his first, and maybe he gets less weird as he gets older - bbut I'm not staying around for the ride.
Here Williams writes some impressively good characters - each one is clearly different from the other - and two of the heroes, Kenneth Mornington and the Archdeacon are really very good. The devilish antagonist, Gregory Persimmons, is quite perfectly awful and also believable. Secondary characters also excellent, with some nod to Wodehouse (admitted!) in the text.
Unfortunately the book is spoiled by the - popular at that time I suppose - diminishment of the Other - the Greek and the Jew - the other 2 antagonist fully in league with the devil: the one filled with the languor of the endless antagonism of the (here) Anglican God, and Manassah the Jew (obviously) with unfulfillable desire and greed. Ugh, whenever I meet that awfulness (and appreciate even more those who were able to sidestep those tropes, yes that means the marvelous George Eliot). Not surprisingly only one woman player (besides a few housekeepers) whose inherent cleaving to her faith gets her out of trouble. Ugh again.
The last 10% is largely mystical ranting that sounds like Williams took a hallucinogenic, and, in that altered state, was able to experience his God.
Of its time, and interesting therein.
March 1, 2025
ENGLISH: Although Williams is unbeatable when describing the process of damnation of a human being, in this novel there are some things I did not like:
a) The deus ex machina who solves the problem introduces himself as Prester John, Galahad, the Graal, the bearer of the Graal, Mary, and at a certain moment also identifies with Christ. I find this mixture of real and fictional characters quite inadequate.
b) I did not always like the behavior of the protagonist (the archdeacon).
c) I don't think a devil possession can be provoked just by rubbing a wound with a certain ointment.
ESPAÑOL: Aunque Williams es inigualable cuando describe el proceso de la condenación de un ser humano, en esta novela hay algunas cosas que no me gustaron:
a) El deus ex machina que resuelve el problema se presenta a sí mismo como el Preste Juan, Galahad, el Grial, el portador del Grial, María, y en cierto momento también se identifica con Cristo. Me parece una mezcolanza de personajes reales y ficticios bastante poco afortunada.
b) El comportamiento del archidiácono protagonista no siempre me ha gustado.
c) Que una posesión diabólica pueda provocarse frotando una herida con cierto ungüento me parece poco creíble.
a) The deus ex machina who solves the problem introduces himself as Prester John, Galahad, the Graal, the bearer of the Graal, Mary, and at a certain moment also identifies with Christ. I find this mixture of real and fictional characters quite inadequate.
b) I did not always like the behavior of the protagonist (the archdeacon).
c) I don't think a devil possession can be provoked just by rubbing a wound with a certain ointment.
ESPAÑOL: Aunque Williams es inigualable cuando describe el proceso de la condenación de un ser humano, en esta novela hay algunas cosas que no me gustaron:
a) El deus ex machina que resuelve el problema se presenta a sí mismo como el Preste Juan, Galahad, el Grial, el portador del Grial, María, y en cierto momento también se identifica con Cristo. Me parece una mezcolanza de personajes reales y ficticios bastante poco afortunada.
b) El comportamiento del archidiácono protagonista no siempre me ha gustado.
c) Que una posesión diabólica pueda provocarse frotando una herida con cierto ungüento me parece poco creíble.
June 7, 2009
Excellent.
September 5, 2024
The Goodreads blurb didn't sell it to me, this line from a New Yorker review did:
And then there's the fist line of the book:
With those two things in mind, and the knowledge that this was a merging of the search for the Holy Grail and a murder mystery, I set out with high expectations.
Only to be disappointed.
The humour is thoroughly British, to it's credit, but the writing is clogged, long-winded, and mystical in places—too much so for my liking.
The murder mystery is in the opener, but turns its driving power over to the Grail storyline, with its fight between Good and Evil. I found it hard to stay interested and stop skim-reading. Also there's the corruption of young children, visions, madness, and the occult, on top of the supernatural powers and the Grail itself.
It's a cupful—it might be yours, but it wasn't mine.
The jacket copy, anonymous but evidently written by the Faber editor T. S. Eliot, described Williams’s novels as “supernatural thrillers.”
And then there's the fist line of the book:
The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.
With those two things in mind, and the knowledge that this was a merging of the search for the Holy Grail and a murder mystery, I set out with high expectations.
Only to be disappointed.
The humour is thoroughly British, to it's credit, but the writing is clogged, long-winded, and mystical in places—too much so for my liking.
The murder mystery is in the opener, but turns its driving power over to the Grail storyline, with its fight between Good and Evil. I found it hard to stay interested and stop skim-reading. Also there's the corruption of young children, visions, madness, and the occult, on top of the supernatural powers and the Grail itself.
It's a cupful—it might be yours, but it wasn't mine.
October 25, 2024
I was in the mood for something eerie, weird, but not creepy. War in Heaven is a Holy Grail heist. I found the characters more compelling in The Greater Trumps and the plot a bit more exciting there, too. Yet, War in Heaven, published two years before The Greater Trumps, had a better grasp of itself as a novel. The procedural element keeps things chugging along, even if it's not really a mystery novel. War in Heaven has one of the great opening lines of literature, too: "The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse." (7)
Fit the late October mood, for sure, and made me consider picking up a few more Williams novels.
-----
"'One shouldn't snigger over Jeeves any more than one should snivel over Othello. Perfect art is beyond these easy emotions. I think Jeeves--the whole book, preferably with the illustrations--one of the final classic perfections of our time. It attains absolute being. Jeeves and his employer are one and yet diverse. It is the Don Quixote of the twentieth century.'" (157-158)
Fit the late October mood, for sure, and made me consider picking up a few more Williams novels.
-----
"'One shouldn't snigger over Jeeves any more than one should snivel over Othello. Perfect art is beyond these easy emotions. I think Jeeves--the whole book, preferably with the illustrations--one of the final classic perfections of our time. It attains absolute being. Jeeves and his employer are one and yet diverse. It is the Don Quixote of the twentieth century.'" (157-158)
March 2, 2020
Actually, this book is impossible to rate. I believe this is my second reread, and I enjoyed it much more this time around. It is, honestly, a very beautiful book, but also off-putting in places, in part because it sometimes seems very abstract, and in part because it can raise more questions than it answers. If anyone picks it up expecting a traditional thriller or murder mystery, they will be disappointed.
Why, then, did I give it five stars this time round? First, there is some absolutely beautiful writing. The final scene stayed with me for years, and it impressed me even more this time around. Second, it offers a realistic and chilling portrait of evil, especially in the malignant narcissist who commits the initial murder. Third, I loved some of the characters, especially Kenneth and the Duke--and also Barbara, though, sadly, she doesn't have much agency. This brings me to my quibbles.
As others have noted, the book, which was written in 1930, can seem dated. There is an evil Jew who might seem cliched, though I did not find him so (the evil people vary in their motives and seem all-too convincingly human to me.) Barbara is one of only four women in the cast, and the only one who counts as a major character, and she's basically a sweet-natured young housewife. You may or may not find that problematic. It was also very clear to me (though the Duke's a sympathetic figure) that Williams was not a Catholic. Finally, it is, to say the least, hard to get a handle on Prester John. Other reviewers have called him the Deus ex Machina of the plot. Who or what is he, exactly? Is he the grail itself, or its guardian? Christ, or an angel? Honestly, Diane Duane does this kind of thing better with her various avatars of St. Michael.
But, whatever he is, it's fascinating how Prester John changes in the eyes of those who see him (little Adrian, Barbara and Lionel's son, having the clearest view), and how he does not fight or argue with anyone, but rather reflects each character he comes across back to themselves. Thus, you could argue it is Barbara's own essential goodness that saves her on the brink of the pit. Prester John seems to show two things: Everyone gets what they truly seek, and (as with Galadriel and Aslan), goodness can be terrifying.
So--a really intriguing book for those who like metaphysical argument with their mysteries!
What is clear is that
Why, then, did I give it five stars this time round? First, there is some absolutely beautiful writing. The final scene stayed with me for years, and it impressed me even more this time around. Second, it offers a realistic and chilling portrait of evil, especially in the malignant narcissist who commits the initial murder. Third, I loved some of the characters, especially Kenneth and the Duke--and also Barbara, though, sadly, she doesn't have much agency. This brings me to my quibbles.
As others have noted, the book, which was written in 1930, can seem dated. There is an evil Jew who might seem cliched, though I did not find him so (the evil people vary in their motives and seem all-too convincingly human to me.) Barbara is one of only four women in the cast, and the only one who counts as a major character, and she's basically a sweet-natured young housewife. You may or may not find that problematic. It was also very clear to me (though the Duke's a sympathetic figure) that Williams was not a Catholic. Finally, it is, to say the least, hard to get a handle on Prester John. Other reviewers have called him the Deus ex Machina of the plot. Who or what is he, exactly? Is he the grail itself, or its guardian? Christ, or an angel? Honestly, Diane Duane does this kind of thing better with her various avatars of St. Michael.
But, whatever he is, it's fascinating how Prester John changes in the eyes of those who see him (little Adrian, Barbara and Lionel's son, having the clearest view), and how he does not fight or argue with anyone, but rather reflects each character he comes across back to themselves. Thus, you could argue it is Barbara's own essential goodness that saves her on the brink of the pit. Prester John seems to show two things: Everyone gets what they truly seek, and (as with Galadriel and Aslan), goodness can be terrifying.
So--a really intriguing book for those who like metaphysical argument with their mysteries!
What is clear is that
March 27, 2023
"The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no one in the room but the corpse."
This is the first line of War in Heaven, and the line that immediately lured me. I had no plans on reading this book. I was waiting in my brother's office last Saturday, idly browsing through his bookshelves to pass the time, and, for no particular reason, started reading this one. He let me take it with me, and I intended to return it by next Saturday. I had it back on his shelf that Sunday--the very next evening.
I normally don't devour books in one setting, but War in Heaven gripped me--not only for the fast-paced mystery and thriller elements but also for the seamless way Williams weaved theology and spiritual warfare throughout the story. It took me a few chapters to find my footing, so to speak, but every part that felt "weird" at first led up to a bigger and important plot point later. Overall, it was a thrilling, frightening, and wonderful reminder that spiritual warfare occurs all around us, yet those of us who are redeemed have nothing to fear; for, as Archdeacon Julian reminds us, He has "delivered us from the snare of the enemy . . . for His mercy endureth forever."
If you like C.S. Lewis, classics, or spiritual warfare books in general, I highly recommend giving this one a go!
This is the first line of War in Heaven, and the line that immediately lured me. I had no plans on reading this book. I was waiting in my brother's office last Saturday, idly browsing through his bookshelves to pass the time, and, for no particular reason, started reading this one. He let me take it with me, and I intended to return it by next Saturday. I had it back on his shelf that Sunday--the very next evening.
I normally don't devour books in one setting, but War in Heaven gripped me--not only for the fast-paced mystery and thriller elements but also for the seamless way Williams weaved theology and spiritual warfare throughout the story. It took me a few chapters to find my footing, so to speak, but every part that felt "weird" at first led up to a bigger and important plot point later. Overall, it was a thrilling, frightening, and wonderful reminder that spiritual warfare occurs all around us, yet those of us who are redeemed have nothing to fear; for, as Archdeacon Julian reminds us, He has "delivered us from the snare of the enemy . . . for His mercy endureth forever."
If you like C.S. Lewis, classics, or spiritual warfare books in general, I highly recommend giving this one a go!
September 22, 2015
This book really didn't do anything for me (sorry Richard!). I found Williams' style a bit clunky - a good example is the fancy dialogue between Kenneth and the Duke when they first meet - and the whole Christians versus devil-worshippers theme had no appeal whatsoever for me. I managed to get through to the end, but only just.
Just not my cup of tea, but I can well understand that it would be quite compelling for people who share Williams' beliefs.
Just not my cup of tea, but I can well understand that it would be quite compelling for people who share Williams' beliefs.
March 22, 2020
I’m somewhat intimidated by Charles Williams’ writing. I always feel like I am missing 90% of the meaning but know what the essence of the story is. This is the second story(?) I have read and I feel the same way; like what did I just read? A constant in both is imagery; so vivid that at times it is scary; like getting a glimpse of the spiritual world around me that I’m glad I can’t see.
March 8, 2017
Here is my summary of "War in Heaven" on my Charles Williams website, "The Oddest Inkling": https://theoddestinkling.wordpress.co....
December 5, 2025
Certainly passing strange
After reviewing Grevel Lindop's biography of Charles Williams, and his curious Descent of the Dove, I gambled with War as it's reckoned one of his clearer narratives among the heptalogy of novels. Well, if this is the most accessible, it still contains sections defying quick understanding, and the paragraph early on with child Adrian's train station "transport" as fantasy rather than reality boggled my mind...
I liked the nasty entry of Sir Giles Tumelty (great name), though after his initial savagery of wit, he doesn't sustain his cutting remarks. I sense, as with the rather prissy Archdeacon (whose naivety--or am I betraying my cradle Catholic bias--seems astonishing: why wouldn't "Rome" want the Graal?), a disconnect between CW's passion to inspire thought through stories and his "lived reality" as fully depicted. Like CS Lewis his future Inkling colleague, his allegory can overshadow the creatures shown.
Although I read the chapter in Thomas Howard's survey of CW's seven long narratives afterwards, and he explains CW's hinting at the C of E's prevaricating doctrinal stand (distancing the proper, if to me smarmy and smug, Protestant ordinand from the Duke's pro-papal position which would link the power of transubstantiation to this or any sacred chalice), I aver the creator of these figures used them more as symbols instead of characters we could relate to. Lionel has moments of recognizable doubt that I found convincing, but as a rounded if troubled, wavering, workingman with foibles, jibes, quirks, and mannerisms, he barely exists on the page, and most of his peers suffer similarly. As in Adrian's readily scampering off with canny Mr. Persimmons, both seemingly unsupervised offstage.
However, quality theological tales integrating albeit fumblingly dollops of esoteric lore, medieval fables, ancient legend, debates over faith, and contemporary settings remain scarce a century later. So I guess I'll stick with CW, hoping that from here down the rest of his efforts prove nearly as evocative.
So while I'll soldier on through more of Williams' fiction, I can't say I was so captivated by his craft: if this is regarded as toppermost in his short stack, it's still unevenly paced, puzzling in allusions, and hasty in execution of a literally "hazy" climactic showdown. Instead, the settings evoke evil and eerie happenings better than the humans caught up in the spells and rituals and subversive machinations.
Same as most speculative and supernatural tales of earnest tellers, Christian or otherwise. I don't crave monsters and demons in my choices as many do, 1930s or now, so factor this in. Clever ideas and concepts keep me curious if at the cost of sub-par plot or depth. Can't bestow a fourth star, still...
After reviewing Grevel Lindop's biography of Charles Williams, and his curious Descent of the Dove, I gambled with War as it's reckoned one of his clearer narratives among the heptalogy of novels. Well, if this is the most accessible, it still contains sections defying quick understanding, and the paragraph early on with child Adrian's train station "transport" as fantasy rather than reality boggled my mind...
I liked the nasty entry of Sir Giles Tumelty (great name), though after his initial savagery of wit, he doesn't sustain his cutting remarks. I sense, as with the rather prissy Archdeacon (whose naivety--or am I betraying my cradle Catholic bias--seems astonishing: why wouldn't "Rome" want the Graal?), a disconnect between CW's passion to inspire thought through stories and his "lived reality" as fully depicted. Like CS Lewis his future Inkling colleague, his allegory can overshadow the creatures shown.
Although I read the chapter in Thomas Howard's survey of CW's seven long narratives afterwards, and he explains CW's hinting at the C of E's prevaricating doctrinal stand (distancing the proper, if to me smarmy and smug, Protestant ordinand from the Duke's pro-papal position which would link the power of transubstantiation to this or any sacred chalice), I aver the creator of these figures used them more as symbols instead of characters we could relate to. Lionel has moments of recognizable doubt that I found convincing, but as a rounded if troubled, wavering, workingman with foibles, jibes, quirks, and mannerisms, he barely exists on the page, and most of his peers suffer similarly. As in Adrian's readily scampering off with canny Mr. Persimmons, both seemingly unsupervised offstage.
However, quality theological tales integrating albeit fumblingly dollops of esoteric lore, medieval fables, ancient legend, debates over faith, and contemporary settings remain scarce a century later. So I guess I'll stick with CW, hoping that from here down the rest of his efforts prove nearly as evocative.
So while I'll soldier on through more of Williams' fiction, I can't say I was so captivated by his craft: if this is regarded as toppermost in his short stack, it's still unevenly paced, puzzling in allusions, and hasty in execution of a literally "hazy" climactic showdown. Instead, the settings evoke evil and eerie happenings better than the humans caught up in the spells and rituals and subversive machinations.
Same as most speculative and supernatural tales of earnest tellers, Christian or otherwise. I don't crave monsters and demons in my choices as many do, 1930s or now, so factor this in. Clever ideas and concepts keep me curious if at the cost of sub-par plot or depth. Can't bestow a fourth star, still...
Read
October 12, 2025I read this because of William's influence on CS Lewis, particularly That Hideous Strength. At times I felt I was reading a charming mid-century English light novel, at other times Evangelical cringe, and other times a kind of Christianized Yeatsian spiritual text. I would recommend it most for huge fans of the Lewis's space trilogy that want to do a deep dive on his influences, and perhaps people who grew up listening to Father Gilbert.
January 12, 2013
"War in Heaven" is a novel written by Charles Williams in 1930. This was his first novel and from what I have read, it was rated as his best novel. I had been meaning to get around to reading this author mainly since he was one of the famous Inklings and a sale on his books helped me to get around to it.
This novel is a supernatural thriller and involves the Grail being found in a country parish in England. It starts with the finding of the body of an unidentified man in a publishing house and a set of coincidences in this publishing house lead to the finding of the Grail by an Anglican Archdeacon. This novel moves beyond just a thriller with two opposing groups, but has a deeper theological level. The battle of good versus evil is played out over the acquisition of the Grail which passes between the two sides. The use of the Grail by the forces of evil displays characters that are not your stereotypical villains. There is the banality of evil about them that makes what they do even more scary. The Archdeacon is also not exactly your typical hero in a thriller. Certainly a Christian hero willing to sacrifice and turn the other cheek and who has true meekness that means fighting for the truth and not surrendering to evil.
I quite enjoyed this novel, but thought it was just a bit flawed with the introduction of Prester John later into the novel. I really didn't think the character added much to the story and if anything weakened it a little. Reading this novel it also reminded me of some of C.S. Lewis "Space Trilogy." After reading this novel I found that others also thought that Lewis was certainly influenced by this and William's other novels.
There is also some interplay with Catholicism and Anglicanism as one of the people that helps out the Archdeacon is Catholic. There is even a slight reference to Apostolicae Curae, which was not named but hinted at in one of the conversations. Certainly a sticking point for high-church Anglicans, but this small exchange was not contentious.
I also find it rather interesting that the themes of the occult and Christianity played out in his own life. When in his early thirties he was a Rosicrucian and belonged specifically to the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross one of the several groups involved in theosophy at the time. It was not uncommon for some Christians to belong to one of these groups and also attend a Christian church. It appears that was the case with Charles Williams and he had only stopped attending these meetings three years prior to publishing this book.
So I look forward to reading some of his other novels which are also described a spiritual thrillers.
This novel is a supernatural thriller and involves the Grail being found in a country parish in England. It starts with the finding of the body of an unidentified man in a publishing house and a set of coincidences in this publishing house lead to the finding of the Grail by an Anglican Archdeacon. This novel moves beyond just a thriller with two opposing groups, but has a deeper theological level. The battle of good versus evil is played out over the acquisition of the Grail which passes between the two sides. The use of the Grail by the forces of evil displays characters that are not your stereotypical villains. There is the banality of evil about them that makes what they do even more scary. The Archdeacon is also not exactly your typical hero in a thriller. Certainly a Christian hero willing to sacrifice and turn the other cheek and who has true meekness that means fighting for the truth and not surrendering to evil.
I quite enjoyed this novel, but thought it was just a bit flawed with the introduction of Prester John later into the novel. I really didn't think the character added much to the story and if anything weakened it a little. Reading this novel it also reminded me of some of C.S. Lewis "Space Trilogy." After reading this novel I found that others also thought that Lewis was certainly influenced by this and William's other novels.
There is also some interplay with Catholicism and Anglicanism as one of the people that helps out the Archdeacon is Catholic. There is even a slight reference to Apostolicae Curae, which was not named but hinted at in one of the conversations. Certainly a sticking point for high-church Anglicans, but this small exchange was not contentious.
I also find it rather interesting that the themes of the occult and Christianity played out in his own life. When in his early thirties he was a Rosicrucian and belonged specifically to the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross one of the several groups involved in theosophy at the time. It was not uncommon for some Christians to belong to one of these groups and also attend a Christian church. It appears that was the case with Charles Williams and he had only stopped attending these meetings three years prior to publishing this book.
So I look forward to reading some of his other novels which are also described a spiritual thrillers.
May 12, 2023
WAR IN HEAVEN is my favorite Charles Williams book. It sparkles. It's smart, intense, thrilling, funny, horrifying, just a little transcendent.
It's a supernatural fantasy thriller, which is an unusual combination of genres. On this reread, I noticed that the thriller pacing, though making it a page-turner (for me at least) mean that some characters are not developed as fully as they ought to be. The plot is weak in places, with important parts dropped for too long, certain parts never fully explained, and a grand finale that wasn't entirely logical.
But this critical mood might be just because I came back to the book with such high expectations.
When one of the groups I'm part of decided to go through this book a couple of months ago, I was (maybe annoyingly?) ecstatic. It turned out to be a fun experience—though hard not to give away spoilers. But it was also weird, since it made me notice aspects of the story that I hadn't paid attention to before.
Like especially the cultural setting.
I love British books, and especially Victorian/older novels and Golden Age mysteries. Having that background makes WIH an easy read for me. I understand the between-World-Wars England it's set in. And for that reason, I highly recommend reading some Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and definitely Dorothy L. Sayers along with this book. You'll find them surprisingly complementary.
And I do highly recommend this book! It makes a wonderful continuation of the other Inklings' (like Tolkien and Lewis’) work.
Another thing I noticed on this reread was the richness of theological discussion in this book. It's very Christian (though still accessible by those of other faiths), and deliberately brings into conflict characters who are Anglican, Catholic, Wesleyan, and just sorta vaguely not-un-Christian. The discussions were fascinating to me, since I've been digging into that kind of thing lately, though I wish there had been a better resolution to that part of it.
Though it's possible that I was missing something.
Because it's a surprisingly subtle and quite satisfying book!
Get me going, and I can fangirl endlessly about it.
Five stars, because I love it overall, despite its imperfections.
It's a supernatural fantasy thriller, which is an unusual combination of genres. On this reread, I noticed that the thriller pacing, though making it a page-turner (for me at least) mean that some characters are not developed as fully as they ought to be. The plot is weak in places, with important parts dropped for too long, certain parts never fully explained, and a grand finale that wasn't entirely logical.
But this critical mood might be just because I came back to the book with such high expectations.
When one of the groups I'm part of decided to go through this book a couple of months ago, I was (maybe annoyingly?) ecstatic. It turned out to be a fun experience—though hard not to give away spoilers. But it was also weird, since it made me notice aspects of the story that I hadn't paid attention to before.
Like especially the cultural setting.
I love British books, and especially Victorian/older novels and Golden Age mysteries. Having that background makes WIH an easy read for me. I understand the between-World-Wars England it's set in. And for that reason, I highly recommend reading some Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and definitely Dorothy L. Sayers along with this book. You'll find them surprisingly complementary.
And I do highly recommend this book! It makes a wonderful continuation of the other Inklings' (like Tolkien and Lewis’) work.
Another thing I noticed on this reread was the richness of theological discussion in this book. It's very Christian (though still accessible by those of other faiths), and deliberately brings into conflict characters who are Anglican, Catholic, Wesleyan, and just sorta vaguely not-un-Christian. The discussions were fascinating to me, since I've been digging into that kind of thing lately, though I wish there had been a better resolution to that part of it.
Though it's possible that I was missing something.
Because it's a surprisingly subtle and quite satisfying book!
Get me going, and I can fangirl endlessly about it.
Five stars, because I love it overall, despite its imperfections.
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