A genuine American historical epic * D.J. Taylor *
Every page of Kent Wascom's debut, The Blood of Heaven, struck me with its beauty and ugliness... This is not, like most novels, a glimpse of a life. It is a life. * Esquire *
A bold, brilliant debut... It's the work of a young writer with tremendous ambition, a bildungsroman of religion and revolution... Wascom writes with a fire-breathing, impassioned eloquence. * The Washington Post *
Compelling. Wascom's writing rolls from the page in torrents, like the sermon of a revivalist preacher in the grip of inspiration. You can't help listening, no matter how wicked the message. * The Wall Street Journal *
An astonishingly assured debut... He is more knowing than a writer his age has any right to be and displays a virtuosic command of biblical cadence and anachronistic vernacular without striking any false notes. * San Francisco Chronicle *
With its setting, its violence-driven plot and its resonant and often harshly beautiful language, The Blood of Heaven evokes comparison to the work of Cormac McCarthy... Kent Wascom is a striking new voice in American fiction. * Miami Herald *
Oh America, heartbroken and constantly fought over! The Blood of Heaven is a dark hymn to the ruthless and ruinous early days in the Louisiana fringes of our republic. In the tradition of As I Lay Dying and Flannery O'Connor and Blood Meridian, idiomatic and far off into transgression, this one, from Kent Wascom, bless his genius, is the real deal. * William Kittredge *
Wascom is a craftsman, and each of his lengthy, winding sentences shimmers with the tang of blood and bone and sweat, and the archaic splendor of his language. * Boston Globe *
The Blood of Heaven entertains with its energetic language and fast-paced action, and the love story between Angel and his wife is moving in its you-and-me-against-the-world naivete. Wascom's research is put to good use as the gargantuan forces of history squash Angel and his associates. * New York Times Book Review *
An exceptionally eloquent and assured debut. * The Sunday Times *