The Brothers by Chris Stewart, 208 pages

"As Peter read the charges against Lucifer, the enormous chamber remained deadly still. Everyone knew what the charges would be, for there were no more secrets among the children of God, and the evidence was damning, entirely whole, and complete.

Satan was indeed in open rebellion. He was seeking not only to destroy the souls of all who would follow, but to bring down and destroy the society of the Father, to take His kingdom and power and glory and claim it all for his own.

And because it was evident, and because he no longer denied it, there was no doubt of the outcome of the Council of God.

Lucifer had to be defeated, his rebellion disbanded and crushed. He could not be reasoned with. There was no common ground. His followers had to give up their sedition and quit converting God's children to their dark paths or be cast out and expelled from the presence of God.

Ammon shivered as he listened to the words Jehovah read. Damned for eternity. Denied their second estate. Cast out, never to be with the Father again.

And so it was that the battle with Satan began." -Back Cover

This is the first book in The Great and Terrible series. (I generally don't recommend reading a series out of order!) I was talking with a friend about this series and she happened to have the first book. Seeing as how we don't have a lot of information about the pre-existence or the war in heaven, Chris Stewart's idea of how it might have been was really interesting. So was his description of Satan and his followers. Lucifer is so deceitful and cunning in his attempts to recruit followers and he gets uglier and uglier as the book goes on.

I loved the small description of a heavenly mother. She was written about with so much respect and love. Again, we know hardly anything about her.

I love these books because they make you stop and think about what you believe, how strongly you believe it, and how compelled you are to act on that belief. I can't wait to follow the characters through the rest of the books.