Narrated by: Michael Gilboe
Length: 8 hrs 51 mins; 10 hrs 6 mins; 8 hrs 20 mins; 9 hrs
Total length: 36 hours 17 mins

This series is great, and it seems to be quite underrated in the audio book universe.

There are 4 parts, each with their own individual story, but one large overriding story interwoven.

I think I’ve written a review for books 1 & 4, and as I can’t be bothered writing a review for the other 2, as I really think you should listen to all 4 in the series, then this series review will have to suffice.

Plus, the narrator is the same for all 4 books, & the style of writing is the same… so what I’m explaining now will give you a good run down.

Hell’s Super: Circles in Hell, Book 1

Introduces us to Steve Minion, an unfortunate soul whose eternity in hell is to be Hell’s super, Mr Fixit.  Steve was a Economics professor in real life who hated manual labour… and because in life he wasn’t overwhelmingly bad, he has been given a lighter eternal sentence, thus being made to be Hell’s super.
He’s accompanied by his assistant Orson Wells, whose eternal hell is to always play assistant and never to lead.  When Hell’s escalator breaks, Satan entrusts Steve to fix it and see if it was in fact sabotage.  Steve meets various souls & demons & devils in his quest to get to the bottom of it.

A Cold Day in Hell: Circles in Hell, Book 2
Hell’s HVAC (heating ventilation & Air-conditioning) system is on the fritz, and is losing heat, Satan once again assigns Steve to get on it and fix it.  He is joined by his trusty assistant Orson Wells, his new friend Boo (the vampire bat out of hell) and a mini fire-giant called Bic, grandson of the Norwegian ender of worlds Cedar, who with the fall in belief of Norse mythology has since been recruited by Satan.

Deal with the Devil: Circles in Hell, Book 3
This book is more of a lead on to book 4. The plot is separate but it directly leads on to book 4.  Florence Nightingale has gone missing and presumed kidnapped.  Azazel a devil presumed to be almost equally as powerful as Satan yet more conniving has deputised Steve Minion to help him solve the case.  Meanwhile Satan has taken notice of Minions achievements and is trying to convince him to become a demon.  But it’s a decision that can only be made freely by the applicant.  Steve will have to choose to become a demon of his own will, and it’s not something he particularly wants to do.

The Reluctant Demon: Circles in Hell, Book 4
Steve Minion is now a demon, and in fact a rather powerful one at that. After completing his training at Beast Barracks, (the author is still a fan of alliteration) he begins to think that he’s just not cut-out for the whole being a demon and torturing people thing.  Satan takes him on personally as his apprentice but he must fulfil the basic requirements of tormenting souls to remain in his good graces… he ends up wrestling with the philosophy of who was meant to be in hell and who isn’t when this forced torture takes him to tormenting his good friends.

Style/ quality of writing

The books are incredibly well written, and there’s a lot of Christian mythology and other religious mythology thrown in, which is actually incredibly well research and combined.

The author and the main character are huge fans of alliteration, which is awesome…because I’m a huge fan too.  And more than once I had to look up certain words because I was not sure of their meanings if it wasn’t for the context of the writing.
So… it’s a book that you learn from as well.

Humorous?

Dry, sarcastic, and the author loves alliteration, and you can see him going for it too.   There’s inappropriate scenes that make you laugh too, for example I love the patented demon/ devil laugh, (a bwah followed by 6 ha’s ) & every time Satan does it, it’s hilarious.. it almost seems out of character and ends up making me laugh out loud.

“Bwah hah hah hah hah hah hah”

Narration?

It took me a little while to get used to the narration, I think just because the character speaks a little slower than many books I listened to previously. But once I HAD got used to it, I realised the narrator was perfect.   The range of voices are great.  He really manages to even pick up on the time-period of individual characters and how they would have spoken,  Orson Wells character is great, & combined with Nicholas Tesla, Henry Ford & Edison.  He does all range of accents and his female voices of Flo (Florence Nightingale) & Lilith- his succubus girlfriend – is particularly sultry and gives those characters a special & very interesting individuality.

The overall story-line of the series is great, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Recommendation?

I would thoroughly recommend this book for a light-hearted, enjoyable & reasonably funny listen.

Plus, the fact that you get to learn about certain mythologies is pretty nice too, the author has clearly done his research.   I feel it’s almost a shame that the series is only 4 books, but that being said, it definitely concluded in a well-rounded way.

The book does contain sexual references, so it is difficult to rate the book.  It’s not as clear-cut as it is for movies.  Most of the book could be rated as PG, but then these few sex scenes push it up to MA 15+.

Either way, you should definitely listen to this series.
I’ve listened to the whole series twice over so far, so considering that it’s a repeat listen, that should be a pretty good clue that this series is decent.

Get a free trial of audible with 2 free books, listen to books like this for free, & then if you want….just quit before 30 days & you get to keep everything… sounds like a pretty good deal to me.