The Pit

Although it was a little hard to get into at the beginning, I found myself very intrigued with the characters.

The premise is enticing, and this book is an enjoyable jaunt into the afterworld and what might occur after death. Marcus, a 2000 year old Roman, is able to help this group of strangers semi adjust to what may happen. Interesting, worth look.

Is this Hell? A group of people find themselves, after death, in a strange afterlife. They band together to search for answers, finding Marcus, a Roman soldier 2000-years dead. He serves up tidbits that he's gathered about the place, and the group follow him. However, as the group meets other "factions" in hell, it becomes clear that Marcus has his own agenda.

The group encounters a mysterious waterfall that leads elsewhere, and characters who seemingly don't belong in this place. And what crime have they all committed to have landed here? Where is God in all of it, and is what they come to think of as heaven worse than where they are now? The characters are well-drawn and complex, and The Pit ponders questions of redemption, justice, and sacrifice, and whether any of it matters in a place such as this.

This is an interesting take on the afterlife, and a good read. There is a place called The Pit in the novel- I still don't know what to make of it. Is it just a human refuse dump? a testing ground? I'm interested to find out. I took a while reading it, as I wanted to catch everything and try and figure things out. Look forward to the next novel.

I have to admit The Pit surprised me.

It took me a while to get into this book. There were a lot of characters and the setting of the world seemed a bit too abrupt - in other words, it felt like info dumping.

Throughout the story, I was confused because I could not keep track of who was who and what their story was on Earth and in the beginning things were particularly difficult because certain premises about the world seemed to contradict themselves.

Some still didn't make much sense, (view spoiler), amongst others I can no longer recall, but you know what? I actually enjoyed this quite a bit and I am sure that with enough time to fully dedicate to the story I would not experience most of the difficulties I had - even if I had to take notes it would be worth it.

The version I read could use a good editing. Sometimes the way things were written wasn't the clearest, some words or expressions felt almost pretentious, and I personally could have done without the several 'with (...), what was X to do?', but that's a personal pet peeve of mine.

It was very refreshing to see such a new version of Hell and Heaven and the author did a great job overall, building several new concepts. The narrative is quite suspenseful at times and as the pieces come together you cannot help but feel enthralled by the story and wanting to know what comes next.

Keep in mind that this is a dark book. It addresses several sensitive subjects and experiments with them, such as violence, sex and religion, amongst others. So it is not a book everyone can handle. However, if you are ok with this, you should definitely check it out.

The author has 4 more books programmed for this series. I, for one, am intrigued to see what comes next.

LA Barnes has woven an interesting tale of what happens in death to those unfortunate enough to transcend to the depth of hell. The characters are well developed and well drawn but at times, they are slightly overwritten.

The attention to details when dealing with the general layout is exquisite portrayed creating a labyrinth of passages. This is where Barnes excels with her fascinating prose and descriptions creating a visual picture that illuminates the action.

The characters are very well drawn and though the story starts off a little slow, you find yourself immersed in the three dimensional lives and situation that they find themselves. She has really outdone herself with making even the secondary characters three dimensional which is something that a lot of authors are unable to accomplish.

The motivation of the characters are realistic and as they sort out the conundrum that they find themselves in, Barnes ensures that they stay true to form and never hammering in objectives to make sure they fit within in her tightly woven plot.

The story jettisons from different timeframes from the past to the present and she is able to maintain the fluid directives extremely well by ensuring that narrative is never lost within the pages.

Barnes has hit many topics within this page turner such as reincarnation, death, loss, love, hope, war, unjustice, divine interventions to name a few. Her ability to handle each issue majestically and thoughtfully keeps the reader interested and strives them forward within the plot. She does write a thin line whilst dealing with the religion aspect and though Muslim and Jewish religions are well documented, other religions are sitting the shadow. Not sure if this is to garner safe reviews or these will be addressed in future instalments.

Unfortunately, this seems to the first in the series and this is where the book is let down slightly. There is a lot of open ended plot lines which can infuriate the reader with no real conclusion to their plights. There is a lack of explanation for the overall picture that is painted but it does let the reader draw their own conclusions. It felt that it was the beginning of series and as this is her first book, a standalone would have been better with a view to expand then the other way around which would have left a satisfying read. If you were to compare this to film, it felt more like Hunger Games Mockingjay part 1 then the whole Mockingjay book.

Some passages are slightly overlong and a little bit of editing could have tighten the book overall. Saying this, it does not endanger the enjoyment of this gripping beginning of an epic.

Personally, I would recommend this book due to its originality in plot and ideas and its top notch action and characters. This is definitely a worthwhile book and one that once discovered could be used for group reads as it is a real discussion book. It captures the imagination and handles life more realistically then many other books in the dark fiction cannon. This is a definite must read and discuss book.

I rate this 4 stars out of five, missing out one star due to the many plot strands left unsolved whilst waiting for book 2.

Great read. You'll be up all night!

"The Pit" is one of the most ambitious debut novels I've read, second only to Pete Kahle's "The Specimen." Spanning centuries (at least within the lives of certain characters), it touches upon diverse races, religions, creeds, and belief systems, and oh yeah - if you're the type to get offended by something you might not "believe" ... this book probably isn't for you.

This is also a book I found highly flawed but yet incredibly interesting. Disclaimer: There is a LOT of unnecessary exposition in this novel. Backgrounds of character upon character that would make even Stephen King go, "Really? We needed this?" In essence it takes what should have been the first act of a single novel and forces it into a sub-par book because of the padding. Momentum is a struggle as you're bouncing between far too many back-stories, and we lose the ability to learn about these characters from their actions because we're spending most of our time in the past.

Taking all of that into consideration however, there is also a truly unique vision and world created here, with its own ideology completely different from what most people would imagine as "heaven" and "hell." Barnes can definitely write, and I was impressed with how easily she transitioned from the POV's of a war-criminal nazi to a Muslim to a Roman centurion. You can tell a lot of time, tears, and love went into the creation of this story, and Kudos to Barnes for tackling something so big and audacious.

Despite its flaws with pacing and an all-you-can-eat buffet of exposition, I'm glad I picked this one up. Quite different from anything I've before read, it'll be interesting to see where her choices go for the next installment. An ambitious 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I am constantly amazed by the imagination of authors.. This was a gory, violent story at times but completely absorbing. One never knew what was coming next.. Very varied characters who interacted well and a story line which was unbelievable in its' concepts

"The Pit (Watchmaker's Hell #1)" By L.A. Barnes was a fascinating book on so many levels. I have read a lot of books that address afterlife and this was by far the most creative in terms of the vision of hell. This story is not for the faint of heart. It was violent, bloody and dark as one would expect hell to be. It was also hopeful and curious. I found myself completely drawn in as it was such a fresh take on the subject and the characters were so unique and well developed. I am eagerly anticipating the next book in this series.

Thank you to the publisher, the author and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

The Pit by L.A. Barnes is a book quite unlike any other that I have yet to encounter. I mean, I have never had an author walk me through the depths of hell with such an in depth explanation. I don't want to go there. Neither do you. 'Nuff said. Furthermore, the premise behind the story, the events which transpire, and the happenings in hell are truly unique. I found that I was intrigued and simply had to keep reading to find out exactly how everything worked. Amazingly, all the pieces the author gives, eventually come to fit into place and the reader is left with an awesome, full picture. A rarity these days. That's where I suppose the author's writing in The Pit really shined -- L.A. Barnes is an exceptional world builder.

A personal favourite aspect, which I was surprised about, was how much, as a reader, I came to really root for Heinrich, a Nazi who was also trapped in hell but was working toward what he hoped was redemption. Fascinating stuff. Societies' hate-biases toward Nazis are pretty much a given, and to have that paradigm challenged to the degree that a Nazi, who did horrible, horrible things, is humanised and shown to be a man who might be worth saving was a brilliant aspect of the story.

My major criticism of the work was that it was a bit long. There was too much telling of how things work. I know that sounds contrary, but when you find yourself skimming over something that you already understand, for pages, its not a good thing. The book could be improved by cutting a lot of that out and focusing on actual actions and events, not explaining the who, what, why, where, when, and how every single thing happened/happens.

However, for a debut author, its not too bad at all.

This book is like no other you have ever read! It will keep you turning the pages. A good read!

At first I found this book confusing but once I got the names straight and an idea of what was going on, I was quickly engrossed by the book which happens to be first in a series (yay!). What happens when we die? Do we go to Heaven or Hell? Is there a Heaven and Hell? What comes next? This novel is a fascinating (for me anyway) attempt to imagine what it might be like. If this had been just one novel it would have fallen short but because it is the first in a series, it is a wonderful lead in to a very interesting series. I loved learning all about the variety of people in the afterlife and the attempt by a few to control it and also others who want to use it as an experiment to "better" people. I don't like to make comparisons but this book reminded me in a way of "The Riverworld Saga by Philip Jose Farmer which I loved. I am definitely looking forward to book two in this new promising series.

People going to hell enter through the pit. You have died and find yourself in a dim landscape. Where are you? You are in the pit. The pit is also known as hell.but people there don't understand why they are there. There comment is "we didn't do anything bad/wrong." Marcus is 2000 years old by the year 2011. Marcus has answers but doesn't tell. He is picking out people to be in his "team." He is recruiting for a war that is coming in hell. He doesn't want to lose -- either the team or the coming war. Hell is split in two groups of people. One I group is seeking redemption and the other is being recruited by Marcus. Some people go to the Gate but it isn't what they expected. Is it heaven?

The author has written a fascinating story. Yes there is violence which is at times gruesome. When I started reading the book, it was difficult as somehow I was put off by it. However, as I continued to read I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next. The author made the characters alive for me. She focuses on her characters and what decision they must make. Some people go to the Gate but it isn't what they expected to be. Is it heaven?