Read Online Satan Loves You Grady Hendrix Nick Rucka Eric Mueller Books

Product details Paperback 302 pages Publisher Grady Hendrix (April 24, 2012) Language English ISBN-10 0983448736

Satan Loves You Grady Hendrix Nick Rucka Eric Mueller Books Reviews

• I'm not sure I was the right kind of reader for this book. At times it was quite funny, especially in the media frenzy over the lawsuit against Satan. Hendrix shares some of my jaundiced view of the modern outrage machine. The biggest problem I had is in trying to determine who I was supposed to care about, root for, etc. Mary the unlucky pregnant nun would seem a good focus of sympathy but her character didn't do much until late. I found the climactic wrestling match a bit less funny than I should have too. All this leaves me with a fairly incompetent, burned-out Lucifer to follow. I liked that he ended up every bit the rascal he should be but for the most part I thought he was a little too milquetoast for the Prince of Darkness. Still, there were some fun set pieces here and I think I'd like to check out more of Hendrix's work.
• I loved the premise of this book. Being able to laugh at Heaven and hell in equal measures is refreshing. And some of the issues satan faces make you laugh, especially when you kinda symapthise with him. Death being sacked - who could have guessed it would lead to such industrial action. And for those of us outside of the US, we definitely saw the funny side of satan being sued for millions for being - well, just being satan really. I am surprised nobody has tried that for real. US does have a reputation for having some areas of society sueing anything and anything.
  
  And I loved the idea of a wrestlemania style build up to the 100 year contest between representatives of each realm. Nero as your right hand man? Classic....lol
  
  So why only 3 stars?? Well, up to the time of the court case it was well paced, lots of irony and humour. It fairly buzzed along. Then it got a little jaded. The characters were a little over the top but the humour slipped off the rails a little bit. Hard to explain this really, but a previous reviewer I think felt the same. It did pick up again right at the end (the nun getting drunk for the first time again had some links with real life) but a huge part of the second section of the book just felt a little hit and miss. I wasn't feeling any bonding with the characters.
  
  Having said that, it is still a good book, and better than many I have read. I guess I am just a bit tight with my star ratings ) To get a 4 star it has to zing from start to finish IMO. To get 5 stars it has to be one I would re-read in the future. (Not too many get 5 stars but I am happy giving out 4 stars).
  
  I take my hat off to the author with this book. A great idea for a story in the style of Douglas Adams meets Terry Pratchett. When reading the first half I thought "this would make a terrific film!" I think it has promise if anyone was brave enough to give it a go ) If you enjoyed Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, this will be up your street.
• I like Grady Hendrix. He's weird and inventive, and he has a knack for the jackpot description that can blow your Nikes off. When I see his name, I stop and look by default. Which is why I bought this, knowing nothing of it except the author.
  
  It goes without saying that if you're locked into fundamental religious convictions, this Satan ain't for you.
  
  That out of the way this is a mixed bag. Hendrix has fun throughout with a merry take on Dante's Inferno. But the central idea - that hell is a poorly run company, ripe for takeover by a merciless corporate acquisitor - is really a one-line joke. And it gets stretched awfully thin by book's end.
  
  The physical descriptions of hell are superb - funny, striking, different. The characters, both hellish and heavenly, are with one glaring exception brilliantly drawn. The dialogue, oddly, is meh. One example - Hendrix inexplicably gives one of hell's minions a classic, clanking Brooklyn accent. Not only does it not fit the classical mythologic figure, it's not well done. And most conversations here come up a bit short in the punchline/point department. This is partly the fault of Hendrix's Satan, surely the drabbest, most uninspiring, incapable, and dreary dweeb of a manager you'll ever find on the bridge of a foundering corporate ship.
  
  I get it - that's the joke. It's just too much of a good thing. The archangelic forces of heaven read like the immortal legions of Marvel. Their hellish counterparts are legendary figures, albeit thrust into the career trap of seedy middle management. It's Satan himself that's the problem. This is a guy you wouldn't trust to pick somebody's pocket in the subway without flubbing up.
  
  Come on. Give Lucifer a little occasional dark grandeur. The description of the archangel Michael entering a wrestling ring - read it - is IMO one of the knockout sketches of all time. By contrast, our devilish Prince of Dullness will punch your snooze button into a coma. His utter blandness leads to a cop-out climax that largely deflates the project.
  
  I'll read it again. Just the re-imagining of Dante is worth the ticket. But this still could've, should've, been more.
  
  One other thing - go , don't buy the paperback. It looks like a high school print-shop project.