Review of The Circles of Heck series (thus far)

This series caught my attention because I'm of a different breed. I'm a little morbid, a little twisted, and because of that I am drawn to things of like nature; like monsters, vampires, zombies, horror, scary/twisted tales of humanity gone wrong. So when I saw the first book of this series, Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go laying on a table at Barnes & Noble, I gravitated towards it like a moth to the flame. What I got once I started the first book was a crazy mix of humor and satire, horror and play-on-words, and a strange element of religious undertones, all in skewed version of The Divine Comedy disguised as a children's series.

Let me explain. 

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go introduces us to Milton and Marlo Fauster, a brother and sister who, through strange circumstances involving an exploding marshmallow bear, find themselves dying and ending up in Heck. Heck is the waiting room limbo where young souls go to wait until they "age" to 18. Once they are 18, they either go to Heaven or Hell. Heck is a multi-leveled plane that is very similar to school in the living plane. With a principal named Bea "Elsa" Bubb (Get it? Say it together fast.), Richard Nixon as the ethics teacher, and Lizzie Borden the home economics teacher, each page and chapter is ripe with play-on-words, satire, and strange twists on all things religion. And not just the Christian religion: we have Anubis, the sorter of souls who is really just a big black lab; we have The Big Guy Downstairs who is the Devil, but he's more like a crooked businessman; and the Powers that Be Good and Evil, an all-encompassing term for all entities, deities, and pantheons on either side of the scale. Milton and Marlo try to make sense of the place they have now found themselves in, as well as trying to escape. Milton knows he doesn't belong in Heck because he was caught in the exploding marshmallow fiasco as an innocent bystander. The marshmallow fiasco was all Marlo's fault, and being that she was always getting into trouble back on the living plane so she definitely belongs in the world of Heck. Heck is also known as Limbo, where time and space has no control and where Basye really starts to bring out the amazing level of writing and sophistication that is often overlooked in children's books. Marlo and Milton travel through varies areas of Limbo and see the desperation, loneliness, and helplessness some of the children trapped in Limbo go through, never knowing they will forever be stuck in a constant loop of disappointing events. The emotional and mental depth of these parts of the book hit me to the core and shook me out of the silliness of the beginning of the book. 

The second book in the series, Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck, finds the Fauster children split up and attempting to navigate the world of Heck on their own. Marlo is sent to the next Circle of Heck, Rapacia, a land of greed ruled by a crazy metal/robotic rabbit known as the Grabbit. Milton is struggling to find his way back to his sister to save her from Heck, all while trying to figure out a hidden plot that Bea "Elsa" Bubb is trying to keep hidden from the other Powers That Be Evil and the Powers That Be Good. At the end of Heck, Milton was able to escape from the world of Limbo (spoiler!) but knew he had to get back. Through strange, honestly creepy, and hilarious methods that involve a creepy death cult and a weird machine to harness the kinetic energy of his pet ferret, Milton transports back to the plane of Heck. While Milton is making his way to Marlo, his sister is struggling to fight her naturally devious nature and not succumb to the glittery temptations of this level. The Grabbit, drawn to her because of her greedy nature, takes Marlo under his metallic paw and grooms her to steal the most precious item in all of Heck. Multiple levels of intrigue and scandal pile on top of what was implied in the first volume, making the reader wonder what is behind all the creepy smoke and mirrors of this spectral boarding school. Again, Basye's trademark play-on-words, satire and twisted humor are present on each page, and only grows with every chapter, as well as the gut-check moments and personal growth of the characters in still there as well, and it only grows with each book.  

With the third book, Basye takes the reader on a crazy ride through the third level of Heck, Blimpo. In this world, the fat children of Heck are sent here to be tormented by all the things that caused them to be overweight and in most cases was the trigger of their demise. Ruled by a king that is a big, greasy pile of cooked hamburger and a queen who is a frosty treat on a cone (if you don't get the reference, then I'm sorry---you can't read my blog anymore), they force the overweight ghost children to run in large hamster wheels, chasing images of food and treats in a strange virtual reality torture chamber. Again, Milton travels to another level of Heck to help out his friends. In Limbo, Milton met an overweight soul and they became fast friends, and now his friend is trapped in a food-filed nightmare. Elsewhere in Heck, Marlo has been put into a fast-track program of interning for The Evil Guy Downstairs. After the events in Rapacia, Marlo garnered the attention of The Devil himself and got her put into her internship program. Now she is navigating the back-stabbing world of office politics, driven women, and a cat-snake supervisor who makes Marlo's life h-e-double hockey sticks. Again, in an attempt to help his friend escape this Circle of Heck, Milton digs deeper into the secrets that Bea "Elsa" Bubb is struggling to keep hidden from those deities who are in a higher pay-level and are more powerful than her. And now the Fauster siblings are caught up in another fisaco (which this time is all Milton's fault) that leaves Marlo being sent to the fourth Circle of Heck, Fibble. 

Fibble: The Fourth Circle of Heck came out in 2011, but since these books now come out in hardcover first, then get published in paperback, I have to wait until the 24th of this month for the paperback version. I don't know why, but I have this weird aversion to hardcover books, and have only read 3 hardcover books voluntarily that weren't text books. The Fifth Circle, Snivel comes out in hardcover May 22, 2012. If my assumptions are right, this series follows the conventional Nine Circles of Hell, so there should be four more after this. I am terribly excited to see what crazy, twisted, and frankly disturbing adventures of the Fauster siblings. I'm known to like things that are pretty "out there" and are deemed disturbing by the standards of others. So for something to disturb me, it must be pretty out there. But I think the reason that this series disturbs me at times is because I'm an adult reading a children's series that is pretty edgy for YA standards. These books delve into some pretty hard-hitting subjects (afterlife, heaven, hell, coming-of-age gut-checks that are reserved for people twice their age, are our destinies really controlled by deities or ourselves?), using historical figures and fictional icons as secondary characters that are way above most reading levels of the intended audience. 

Overall, this series is amazing. If you liked the Lemony Snicket books, then you'll definitely like these books. The twisted, dark humor, clever word play and deep undertones of a more adult variety will certainly keep you entertained, and maybe even make you think a little as you read. 

Of course, on my scale of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss), I give the books and series the following scores:

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go: 8

Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck: 7.5

Blimpo: The Third Circle of Heck: 7.5

Circle of Heck series thus far: 7.7
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So here's the updated list of my books to review, so far:

• Dead of Night
• Crooked Little Vein
• Homer's Odyssey (3-26-12)
• Crimson City Series
• Circle of Heck series (thus far) (4-8-12)
• Joe Ledger series (thus far)  (3-27-12)
• Mutant Island series 
• Double Booked for Death (3-15-12)
• Family Affair
• Sacre Bleu
• How I Paid for College
• Attack of the Theater People!
• Liberty
• Tattoo (Jennifer Barnes)