I am Christian, for want of a better term. And this books rocks. It raises many of the same questions that I have had when I look at the church and reality. I also love rock music, but music that contains things that are thought provoking. The lyrics by Dave and Steve are though provoking. Actually, this book is thought provoking. But just like of Dave, there will be people who love and hate this book.

One thing that I really enjoyed about this book is the different character perspectives, namely, Dave and Jesus.
When reading this book, I kept an open mind, keen to explore what the Author has to say about the long-awaited return of Jesus, that has been expected at any moment for so long. This return of Jesus is expected in a certain way according to the church. This book blows all these theories out of the water.

This book really is something I have never come across before in writing. I have not read everything, but this is one of the better reads in recent times and I am keen to read the next book.
Highly recommended.

"Done very well"

The story considers the second coming of Jesus in a modern setting with Jesus being sent into the adult body of a rock star who has the reputation of being extremely anti-Christ in his beliefs.

This first book builds up all the background and immerses the reader into the life of Dave Headstrong and his world famous rock band. The complex layers of Dave are peeled back, interspersed with the inner thoughts of Jesus, showing his concerns for this assignment.

The story includes song lyrics, music fan blogger posts, discussion forums and plenty of behind the scenes material that might be associated with a leading rock band.

I don’t read much speculative fiction and the rock world isn’t particularly my scene, but I thought that the book was well-written with good character development and an intriguing story theme. I was also impressed with the translation of this book into English, which was done very well.

Highly unusual!

An interesting and unusual mix of what, to me, seems to be rock music, speculative fiction and literary fiction. Highly unusual, and well written, also well translated.

I think this would hugely appeal to anyone with an interest in rock music, anyone young who is interested in any form of music, and anyone who has an interest in religious theory - whether for or against it.

As I said, highly unusual!

It is also a long book, and for me it lost a star as I wondered whether a more vigorous editor may have cut it down a bit.

Yet each page was interesting - and I am very glad that I read it. Personally I preferred the narrative to the songs and social media, although other readers may of course differ. This was definitely not a book that could be skim read, with every sentence obviously carefully crafted.

If you like to read something a little different from the norm, then it is well worth giving this book a try!

"I have been talking a lot about foolish sheep, but I have to admit that sheep are not the worst aspect of humanity. And neither are the wolves that devour these sheep. The worst specimens of all are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They conceal their true selves in the guise of the most innocent lambs. But their fluffy fleeces cannot hide their true identity as the most bloodthirsty predators of all."

And with this quote I understand the idea that Anton Eine is trying to portray here: take the *worst* soul G-d could find, and send Jesus back to get their point across : that at their best humanity has to have someone like David Headstrong to even begin to make them listen.

Yes, the language isn't sugar coated here, more like NC-17. And Headstrong's actions are quite blasphemous according to today's "standards". The question is: will anyone care? Or is this just another person blah blahing their way through life? That's the fascinating part of this story. Even Jesus, incarnate in Dave Headstrong, wonders if this wasn't a mistake. As retired ordained clergy, I loved the irreverence that Eine has but can really see, or believe I see, the "WWJD" attitude.

Anton Eine will be both praised and hated depending on whether you see his point clearly or not. Can you? Recommended 4/5

'Blunt, beautiful, putrid!'

Full disclosure, I’ve known about, and been looking forward to, this book for over a year. Eine told me he was working on it back early in 2023. At the time, the idea of Jesus taking over the body of a world famously hedonistic rockstar seemed like wacky idea that could lead to some fun and interesting “fish out of water” situations.

The Fall was many things, but wacky wasn’t one of them. From the jump, readers are introduced to David Headstrong and the boys of his band, Loyal Revolt, a strangely thoughtful gang of rockers that are firmly antiestablishment, and very vocal about it, for good and ill. Along for the ride is Jenny Wright, Loyal Revolt’s new manager, a ball-busting young woman who vacillates between sex object and den mother at varying points. Watching all of this, and commenting on it, is Christ himself, somewhere up in heaven, waiting to get zapped into Headstrong’s body and start walking among the imperfect of the earth once again.

This cast of characters in tow, the adventures of Loyal Revolt commence as they write, record, travel to concerts, get into barfights, and work very hard to convince us that David Headstrong is the absolute worst person on earth, the exact opposite of Christ. Never mind that concert proceeds go to charity, and Headstrong is shown being incredibly tender with his bandmates and fans, he’s a sinner, dear readers, the worst. Look over there! He’s sleeping with another groupie – No! Ignore the fact that he’s actively helping a young band that’s just starting out, and how he’s turning his childhood home into an orphanage, he’s terrrriiibbllee. Watch him punch this guy who attacked him first!

I was not prepared for how philosophical this book would be. The nature of God, the role institutions play in society, anarchy vs civilization, and free thought vs conformity all come in to play at some point in this book. Don’t get me wrong, there’s also incredibly testosterone fueled plot beats, some more plausible than others (the band getting into a shootout in a bar stretches credulity a bit), but overall this book is far more cerebral than I was prepared for. It’s an interesting mix, philosophy and rock ‘n roll, one that Eine dishes out with varying levels of grace. Some scenes in the book touched me with their delicate handling, others felt about as subtle as a shovel to the face, a range that I think the character of Headstrong would approve of.

Blunt, beautiful, putrid, The Fall is just the start of a journey that Eine has obviously been chewing on for a while. Now we just have to hang on and see what happens next.