Review: I, Lucifer

I, Lucifer I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This a story told by the Devil who occupies the mortal body of a writer called Declan Gunn, an obvious anagram of the authors name. As is to be expected, Lucifer is quite a character, so the book is quite entertaining, though not consistently. The narrative often wonders, by Satan makes it clear from the beginning that that's his style and the reader better get on board with it.
Interestingly, the book sticks very closely to the traditions of Christian dogma and tries to work within the framework. Lucifer's rebellion, the garden, the fall, Christ, the resurrection, are all there together with an omnipotent and omniscient God. The book briefly and superficially explores the paradoxical implications of omniscience and free will. There is ample criticism of our race and the choices we made, and how they make Satan happy. Some passages I found particularly entertaining, like the one where Satan tempts Christ in the desert, while in other instances I skipped entire paragraphs without missing any of the story. The main defect of the book, is that it keeps losing steam - at least from the perspective of the reader. I am saying this, because at some point in the book the interests of the author and the reader (at least one reader) start to diverge. For the author the story becomes more personal, in the autobiographical sense, whereas I remained interested in Lucifer's story. So the author goes his way and the book tapers off.

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