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The end is nigh and the Prince of Darkness has just been offered one hell of a deal: reentry into Heaven for eternity--if he can live out a well-behaved life in a human body on earth. It's the ultimate case of trying without buying and, despite the limitations of the human body in question (previous owner one suicidally unsuccessful writer, Deelan Gunn), Luce seizes the opportunity to run riot through the realm of the senses. This is his chance to straighten the biblical record (Adam, it's hinted, was a misguided variation on the Eve design), to celebrate his favorite achievements (everything from the Inquisition to Elton John), and, most important, to get Julia Roberts attached to his screenplay. But the experience of walking among us isn't what His Majesty expected: instead of teaching us what it's like to be him, Lucifer finds himself understanding what it's like to be us. By an author hailed by the Times Literary Supplement as one of Britain's top twenty young novelists, I, Lucifer is "a masterpiece...startlingly witty, original and beautifully written" (Good Book Guide).… (more)
This book was always going have to vie in my affections with the Lucifer graphic novel series by Mike Carey. As far as I'm concerned, Carey's devil is definitive. 'I, Lucifer' didn't manage to supplant him. Duncan's devil, inhabiting a human body as a deal with god, is more loquacious and frivolous, but considerably less sophisticated and cunning. I found that 'I, Lucifer' only really became engrossing towards the end, when Lucifer was trying to decide how long to stay in a human body. For much of the first person narrative, he meandered then periodically tried to jolt the reader with 'suddenly paedophilia!'-type interjections. Although all this was engagingly written, it didn't really go anywhere that interesting.
I suppose any story about Lucifer has to address the balance between a sympathetic and horrifying portrayal. Carey got around this by making the devil essentially disinterested in humanity; his plans and concerns were on a much larger scale. Whereas Duncan's Lucifer chats gleefully about torture and child-rape but, once in a mortal body, commits only glamorised sins. He sleeps with whores, takes drugs, and parties hard, but even tabloids could scarcely manage any shock about that. Perhaps the reader is meant to think that Lucifer is pretending to be a lightweight? The monologues about Himmler and the Inquisition give the opposite impression, though. The deus ex machina (not literally) ending is quite fun, but the needless postscript irritated me. In fact, the man who Lucifer inhabited, Declan, never seemed sympathetic to me and I wished that all the female characters would punch him.
Overall, 'I, Lucifer' is frothy but has some good moments. Lucifer himself reminded me of Lestat from The Vampire Chronicles, notably 'Tale of the Body Thief'. The thing is, Lestat is supposed to style himself as Lucifer, whereas in this book Lucifer comes off as a pastiche of Lestat. There's probably some meta irony there. ( )
I have removed all the punctuation from this review for a reason This book is an absolute MESS I see what the author is trying to say and it is rather pointless I am the devil and I am going to do what I want regardless of who it hurts The book rambles and drones on and on and it is quite obvious someone is suffering from a severe attention disorder Nothing in the book flows almost as if it were written with no punctuation I expect that from a two hundred year old novel But not from something this modern It is one large distraction after another. Harriet is far more interesting than the devil ( )
I ADORE Glen Duncan, and I adored the first few chapters of this book, but then I just got... bored. I think the devil should be able to hold my attention better, but his snappy banter just got a bit monotonous. If a book isn't strong on plot, as this one isn't, it needs something else to hold interest. Whilst it succeeded at times, what with the whole so-this-is-what-it's-like-to-be-human! subtext, it never deviated from there. It didn't go deeper. Moments of beautiful, lyrical writing here, but ultimately I found it disappointing. ( )
A very interesting tale. It's a great story from the perspective of the Devil, with an interesting take on falling from grace, and more importantly rising back into grace. Full of foul language, violence, sex and everything else you would expect from a book told from the perspective of Lucifer this book is not for everyone. ( )
I, Lucifer, Fallen Angel, Prince of Darkness, Bringer of Light, Ruler of Hell, Lord of the Flies, Father of Lies, Apostate Supreme, Tempter of Mankind, Old Serpent, Prince of this World, Seducer, Accuser, Tormentor, Blasphemer, and without doubt Best Fuck in the Seen and Unseen Universe (ask Eve, that minx) have decided—oo-la-la!—to tell all.
Quotations
You can't blame me. I mean that literally. You're incapable of blaming me. You're human. Being human is choosing freedom over imprisonment, autonomy over dependency, liberty over servitude. You can't blame me because you know (come on, man, you've always known) that the idea of spending eternity with nothing to do except praise God is utterly unappealing. You'd be catatonic after an hour. Heaven's a swiz because to get in you have to leave yourself outside. You can't blame me because—now do please be honest with yourself for once—you'd have left, too.
The point, my dears, is not good nor evil—but freedom.
The end is nigh and the Prince of Darkness has just been offered one hell of a deal: reentry into Heaven for eternity--if he can live out a well-behaved life in a human body on earth. It's the ultimate case of trying without buying and, despite the limitations of the human body in question (previous owner one suicidally unsuccessful writer, Deelan Gunn), Luce seizes the opportunity to run riot through the realm of the senses. This is his chance to straighten the biblical record (Adam, it's hinted, was a misguided variation on the Eve design), to celebrate his favorite achievements (everything from the Inquisition to Elton John), and, most important, to get Julia Roberts attached to his screenplay. But the experience of walking among us isn't what His Majesty expected: instead of teaching us what it's like to be him, Lucifer finds himself understanding what it's like to be us. By an author hailed by the Times Literary Supplement as one of Britain's top twenty young novelists, I, Lucifer is "a masterpiece...startlingly witty, original and beautifully written" (Good Book Guide).
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The end is nigh and the Prince of Darkness has just been offered one hell of a deal: reentry into Heaven for eternity—if he can live out a well-behaved life in a human body on earth. It’s the ultimate case of trying without buying and, despite the limitations of the human body in question (previous owner one suicidally unsuccessful writer, Deelan Gunn), Luce seizes the opportunity to run riot through the realm of the senses. This is his chance to straighten the biblical record (Adam, it’s hinted, was a misguided variation on the Eve design), to celebrate his favorite achievements (everything from the Inquisition to Elton John), and, most important, to get Julia Roberts attached to his screenplay. But the experience of walking among us isn’t what His Majesty expected: instead of teaching us what it’s like to be him, Lucifer finds himself understanding what it’s like to be us. By an author hailed by the Times Literary Supplement as one of Britain’s top twenty young novelists, I, Lucifer is “a masterpiece…startlingly witty, original and beautifully written” (Good Book Guide).
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I suppose any story about Lucifer has to address the balance between a sympathetic and horrifying portrayal. Carey got around this by making the devil essentially disinterested in humanity; his plans and concerns were on a much larger scale. Whereas Duncan's Lucifer chats gleefully about torture and child-rape but, once in a mortal body, commits only glamorised sins. He sleeps with whores, takes drugs, and parties hard, but even tabloids could scarcely manage any shock about that. Perhaps the reader is meant to think that Lucifer is pretending to be a lightweight? The monologues about Himmler and the Inquisition give the opposite impression, though. The deus ex machina (not literally) ending is quite fun, but the needless postscript irritated me. In fact, the man who Lucifer inhabited, Declan, never seemed sympathetic to me and I wished that all the female characters would punch him.
Overall, 'I, Lucifer' is frothy but has some good moments. Lucifer himself reminded me of Lestat from The Vampire Chronicles, notably 'Tale of the Body Thief'. The thing is, Lestat is supposed to style himself as Lucifer, whereas in this book Lucifer comes off as a pastiche of Lestat. There's probably some meta irony there. (