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mokey81's review against another edition
2.0
Ugh. This book was a real chore to read. It takes awhile to really get moving. And this author's abuse of parentheticals is a form of torture on the reader. It is so distracting. Which, is part of the idea, as Lucifer is narrating the story and /does/ get distracted, but as a reader, it was just annoying. There were absolutely unnecessary passages that I completely skipped over.
The only saving grace was the twist at the end in the last 20 pages. I liked the end. Except, I wish it would've ended differently.
I would /not/ recommend this book.
The only saving grace was the twist at the end in the last 20 pages. I liked the end. Except, I wish it would've ended differently.
I would /not/ recommend this book.
spilt_moonlight's review against another edition
2.0
An interesting tale from the Devil, the book opens with one intriguing paragraph, immediately hooking readers, and inevitably making the rest of it look tedious in comparison. Duncan should have quitted while he was ahead.
I like the way Luce talks (kind of, sometimes), and his version of the events in the Garden of Eden is cool — actually, his side of the story is the better one. Still, you can't have too much of a (quite) good thing, and the second half ended up boring me.
I like the way Luce talks (kind of, sometimes), and his version of the events in the Garden of Eden is cool — actually, his side of the story is the better one. Still, you can't have too much of a (quite) good thing, and the second half ended up boring me.
beccakatie's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting concept, with Satan making a surprisingly compelling narrator. There are parts of the book that you feel that you shouldn't be finding entertaining, but fit in with the theme of consistently morally questionable contents. Whilst being immensely readable, it makes you questions assumptions you may have previously made about God and religion, whether the world is as you thought.
In a way there seem to be two narrators, Satan as well as Gunn, the body he is inhabiting. As the book develops you learn more about both, alternating between Satan living as a human, and Gunn's life continuing alongside. The narrative never feels confused or clunky however, as writing with more than one narrator often seems to. Instead, the two narrators seem to complement each other and improve the reading of the book.
Overall, the book is well written and humorous, and is also able to manage the impressive feat of being theologically thought provoking.
In a way there seem to be two narrators, Satan as well as Gunn, the body he is inhabiting. As the book develops you learn more about both, alternating between Satan living as a human, and Gunn's life continuing alongside. The narrative never feels confused or clunky however, as writing with more than one narrator often seems to. Instead, the two narrators seem to complement each other and improve the reading of the book.
Overall, the book is well written and humorous, and is also able to manage the impressive feat of being theologically thought provoking.
radology's review against another edition
4.0
The plot itself had me lost a couple times, but the writing in this novel is worth the effort. An excellent and hilarious portrayal of Satan.
anonblueberry's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't dislike it, but for something that I was told (admittedly a couple of years ago) that I really ought to read, it didn't actually grab me.
Even though it's not that old, it felt a little dated in its depictions, and to be honest it felt like most of the time Duncan was trying too hard to be shocking and disgusting, to the point where it fell flat (or possibly I'm just cynical).
Technically, it's not a bad piece of work. It's vivid in description (possibly too vivid in places) and Duncan obviously knows how to tell a story, I just wasn't all that bothered to finish it.
Even though it's not that old, it felt a little dated in its depictions, and to be honest it felt like most of the time Duncan was trying too hard to be shocking and disgusting, to the point where it fell flat (or possibly I'm just cynical).
Technically, it's not a bad piece of work. It's vivid in description (possibly too vivid in places) and Duncan obviously knows how to tell a story, I just wasn't all that bothered to finish it.
greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition
1.0
This book was a mess. Truly. The main problem being that the author, in what I can only assume is an attempt to appear as intelligent beyond belief, swallowed a thesaurus and then regurgitated the most convoluted collection of obscure vocabulary words that I've ever seen, so much so that entire paragraphs were so pretentious that they bordered on incomprehensible. "Micturition" - really? Dear God (no pun intended). On that note, the over-the-top vocabulary was more often than not right alongside the crudest, most childish vulgar descriptions of things - this book wins awards for using the term "vadge" as many times as possible (short, of course, for vagina - the d really isn't needed).
Prose aside, the actual plot of the novel was nonexistent, and I do not complain from a standpoint of irritated Christian sensibilities. After reading Good Omens and The Gentleman this year, I went in search of comical stories that centered around Lucifer/hell et cetera, and this seemed promising. However, Duncan's devil is shallow and heinous without having any depth behind those characteristics; he's not "evil" apparently, but he frequently uses slurs and delights in things like rape and murder, but at the same time there are half-formed, thin attempts at very well-deserved critique of the Christian concept of God/the creation story - for a much better, much richer, and altogether more complex exploration of such, read Anne Rice's "Memnoch the Devil."
There's no impetus for anything Lucifer does in this novel, the human characters are hollow nothings who have no purpose at all except to be the targets of an increasingly crude string of metaphors riddled with groan-worthy SAT words and increasingly shock-jock language. Even the bits that looked like they would get interesting...didn't. Then the book ended quite abruptly as if the author had either gotten tired of writing it, or simply exhausted himself with how painfully hard he was trying to be clever.
The awards really ought to go to whoever so cleverly wrote the blurb describing the book, because they made it sound thrilling, cheeky, and wily. Instead it was absolute drivel.
Prose aside, the actual plot of the novel was nonexistent, and I do not complain from a standpoint of irritated Christian sensibilities. After reading Good Omens and The Gentleman this year, I went in search of comical stories that centered around Lucifer/hell et cetera, and this seemed promising. However, Duncan's devil is shallow and heinous without having any depth behind those characteristics; he's not "evil" apparently, but he frequently uses slurs and delights in things like rape and murder, but at the same time there are half-formed, thin attempts at very well-deserved critique of the Christian concept of God/the creation story - for a much better, much richer, and altogether more complex exploration of such, read Anne Rice's "Memnoch the Devil."
There's no impetus for anything Lucifer does in this novel, the human characters are hollow nothings who have no purpose at all except to be the targets of an increasingly crude string of metaphors riddled with groan-worthy SAT words and increasingly shock-jock language. Even the bits that looked like they would get interesting...didn't. Then the book ended quite abruptly as if the author had either gotten tired of writing it, or simply exhausted himself with how painfully hard he was trying to be clever.
The awards really ought to go to whoever so cleverly wrote the blurb describing the book, because they made it sound thrilling, cheeky, and wily. Instead it was absolute drivel.
simplyfutile's review against another edition
3.0
Decent fluff - good for a chuckle here or there, but not necessarily the most well conceived book. I enjoyed it, but at times felt it was missing something. The flashbacks are works of art on their own - would loved to have had more of those.
citybound13's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely adored, loved, and cherished every word of this genius book.