For Whom the Belle Tolls

At first glance, For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn promises epic fantasy with a strong romantic element, while also touching on a number of serious subjects such as domestic abuse, manipulation, and religion. That combination should probably have served as a warning rather than a reason to pick up the novel. Well, nearly three or four weeks later, when I finally finished it, I regretted the time I had spent on it. The premise itself struck me as genuinely original.

Unlike most stories, this one begins after the death of its protagonist, Lily. She is young, but loses her battle with cancer and finds herself in the Afterlife. Except it is probably not the Afterlife you are expecting. There are elves, demons, ancient gods, and God with a capital G. Most importantly, Lily quickly loses interest in Heaven. To her, it seems like a rather boring place to spend eternity, so she goes where most souls would probably prefer not to Hell.

As someone with experience in customer service, Lily comes up with a revolutionary idea. She starts working for the demons and helps them direct condemned souls toward the circles of punishment intended for them. And, of course, there is a romantic storyline.

Lily is insanely attracted to the powerful prince and general Bel, with his exceptional physique, tail, horns, claws, and wings. It was precisely this absurd mixture of bureaucracy, mythology, and the afterlife that made me expect much more from the world Lynn was building. Lily herself is quite an interesting character – the only former mortal who willingly chooses the company of Hell’s inhabitants over everyone else. She also has absolutely no interest in someone’s status when expressing her opinion, possesses a rich sarcastic vocabulary, and uses wildly inappropriate sexual jokes that appear to impress almost everyone around her.

The fact that I find them inappropriate is, of course, my own opinion. As I mentioned at the beginning, however, this is not epic fantasy  Quite the opposite.

The fantasy framework is largely used as a backdrop for the developing relationship between Bel and Lily, as they move from friendship toward something more, along with the way their lives become intertwined with little Sharkie. My biggest disappointment comes from the lack of actual action outside the Lily-and-Bel storyline and the endless pages in which they analyze their feelings, imagine what they would like to do to one another and then, eventually, actually do it.

If that is what you are looking for, the roughly fifteen pages of erotica will probably work perfectly well for you. They are certainly graphic enough and leave very little to the imagination. But beyond that, I did not find much more here than two people healing each other’s emotional wounds and falling in love. And you do not really need a fantasy setting for that. Or perhaps you do, if you want to criticize the Church directly for fanaticism, the misinterpretation of religious doctrine, and the threat that you will end up in Hell simply because you refuse to live according to certain rules.

The novel has the opportunity to ask far more interesting questions about guilt, punishment, faith, and who actually has the right to decide who deserves salvation. Instead, much of that mythology remains underdeveloped. And as for the unexpected danger that supposedly threatens the entire Afterlife? Well, that is resolved within roughly a hundred pages, and in the most superficial way possible – except, perhaps, for the psychological exploration of survivor’s guilt.

BOOKLOVERS Rating: 2/5

The problem is not that the novel is not really fantasy. The problem is that its fantasy world rarely matters beyond serving as scenery for Lily and Bel’s relationship. It feels much more like an Emily Henry-style romance, for example – except that Emily Henry does not need elaborate fantasy scenery for plots that are, on the surface, grounded in everyday life.

And at BOOKLOVERS, we happen to like her style. I honestly cannot remember ever skipping pages in one of her books just to reach the ending. With For Whom the Belle Tolls, I think I skimmed the final 300 pages diagonally simply because I no longer wanted to waste any more time. And after four weeks in the company of Lily and Bel, I definitely regret not starting to skip earlier.