Satan Loves You

Overall: 4 1/2 Stars Plot/Storyline: 4 1/2 Stars This was an easy book to enjoy, with a few caveats. On the positive side, the story was funny, clever, and irreverent. I'd compare it a little to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. Perhaps Christopher Moore in terms of humor as social commentary and a vehicle to skewer sacred cows. Still, I can't say the book quite matches either of these comparisons, as Mr. Hendricks seems to take it a step or two beyond. The author seems to be willing to offend, oh, everyone if the result is a brilliant line. Nuns, hipsters, conspiracy theorists, media personalities, celebrities, charitable institutions, are just some of the targets. I don't know what Quizno's Sandwich Shop did to him or his people, but it can't have been good. I will mention the two issues I had with the book. One was that, in the midst of this legitimately funny and clever book, on multiple occasions, really bad things happen to kids. No one is going to confuse me with the teacher from Romper Room, but even I have to say this was a buzz kill. Well, at least one of the kids, to paraphrase Monty Python, got better. Still, I really would have loved this to be toned down as it will probably be off-putting to some readers, even thick-skinned ones, and the funny gets lost. The other issue was Satan gets sued and shows up at the trial. Much of the book is absurd, delightfully absurd, kiss reality bye-bye, and yet this was a bridge too far. Nancy Grace - yes, she's a character, and those scenes are admittedly brilliant if you've ever watched her for even five minutes - just accepts this, as does Oprah, as does the judge and the jury, and presumably most people. I enjoyed the trial, as I liked most aspects, but throw me some explanation, even an absurd one. In a book that acknowledges atheists, how? I also acknowledge there are going to be some readers who are going to be able to just go with it and are giving me the old side-eye for this paragraph. What I'm left with though is the simple fact that I couldn't stop laughing. Every issue I had with plot and characterization is no match for how much fun I had. This is clearly not the book for everyone though. Characters: 4 1/2 Stars Satan, it turns out, is the beleaguered manager of hell, and he gets a lot less respect than one might expect. He can't seem to get the demons to do his will, the circles of hell aint what they used to be, and the flames need repair. Funny stuff. Later on, as he explains the whole Fallen Angel thing to a corpse, we sorta get a hint of the whole powerful, majestic, bad-ass version, which may or may not make an appearance toward the end. I liked that too, but consistent characterization, not so much. I supposed a millennia or several dealing with this stuff might break your spirit - and I think that's meant to be the point. Still, I have to say that sticking to some core traits might have been nice. Satan's assistant was Nero. Yeah, THAT Nero. He also served as Satan's attorney and his credentials involved multiple seasons of Law and Order and some Grisham novels. I understand this based on my credentials as talent scout based on watching American Idol. Then, we have a nun who means well, but you don't want her to pray for you. A former wrestler who is now a judge. St. Jude. Michael. All your more famous angels and demons. Charo. While Dante never appears, his spirit is definitely felt. All the characters with any significant "screen time" have clever, zippy dialogue. I'd give you a favorite line or two, but there are too many great ones! Writing Style: 5 Stars While I don't agree with all of his choices, I can't deny this was pretty masterful in nearly every way. Great lines, funny and cogent rants - the author is way cooler than I will ever be. He should totally quit his day job, unless his day job is writing, because that would be the opposite of the point I'm trying to make. I'll read this author again! (What to do with the Amazon stars when you've rated something a 4.5? Since it's my birthday today, I'm feeling generous and rounding up.) ************************************ From the author, Grady Hendrix: 1. How did you come up with the idea for the story? I've had some lousy jobs before - telemarketing cheap jewelry, selling cleaning chemicals to industrial kitchens, going through the garbage of hotels to estimate how many recyclables they were throwing away - and I think that's something everyone has in common. We all spend so much time working in jobs we don't love that it sometimes feels like our lives are going to disappear in an endless round of reports, and quarterly evaluations and bathroom breaks. Then I realized: how much worse must this be if your office is actually in Hell? And how much worse must it be if you're Satan and there will be no promotions, no retirement and no way to transfer to another company? And whenever things are really bad, that's also, simultaneously, when things are really funny. While reading, I noticed that you went some places a lot of authors wouldn't go. Did you consider pulling your punches? Or did you and was this the, scary to contemplate, tame version? I think with comedy that second-guessing yourself is the kiss of death. That's how you wind up with "Home Improvement." And I also think that the beauty of ebook self-publishing is that people can stop worrying about what the neighbors think of them and just let it all hang out: the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm currently co-writing a YA series for Little, Brown called The Magnolia League, so SATAN LOVES YOU is like being on vacation where I don't have to worry about what my agent, my editor and the marketing department are going to think about what I write. There's nothing at stake here except my self-respect, and I once worked as a street performer so I don't have much self-respect anyways. That said, I did take out a long section about being trapped in an infinite Chuck E. Cheese's. Life's bad enough without having to contemplate things like that. It was just too depressing. Favorite movie or book featuring Satan, other than your own? I'm a big fan of the Satan you find in Jack Chick's religious tracts. The one who wears a little red suit and spends all his time trying to think up ways to screw people over the second they make the slightest misstep, and then greets them in Hell with a hearty "Haw, haw!" What's your favorite circle of hell and why? Personally, I love the first circle because it's just so blatantly unfair. It's reserved for dead people who aren't getting into Heaven because they never got baptized. It's not a bad place, really, but it's just sort of like Discount Heaven, like a nice hotel that has scratchy towels, no channels on TV, and cheap shampoo that never suds up. I imagine it's absolutely crammed with Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and pretty much everyone that a 14th Century Italian would think is going to burn in Hell eternally. Which means that it's probably party central and has really great restaurants. If Satan Loves You becomes a movie, who would you like to play the title character? I like that Gollum guy they got for Lord of the Rings. He had really good timing. 6. Anything else you want to say? Just that I firmly believe in giving people what they pay for. SATAN LOVES YOU is 99 cents, and I truly believe that it's worth every penny.

Hendrix skewers corporate life and simplistic views of religion in this well-written and funny satire. He starts with the premise that the afterlife works on the same model as modern American capitalism and runs with that premise to its furthest extremes. The characters' over-the-top antics had me laughing with surprise and simultaneously saying "Of course that's what they'd do!" I found the setup a little slow going, but the book is better for having such solid, well-thought-out underpinnings. The worldbuilding is excellent and never frays. Once the characters and Hell are introduced, the book rolls faster and faster until the end.

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.

One of the funniest books I've ever read. Satan is basically overworked and under appreciated. Demons are going on strike; hell lacks funds for their sulfur budgets; the gas mains are dirty and blocked up causing the new-damned to be underwhelmed and unimpressed while at the gates of hell. Worst of all, due to inept workmanship, Satan must micromanage everything and has no time to come up with new torments! YOU MUST PICK THIS 99 cent'er UP.

Top-of-mind: If you're easily offended or seriously religious, this book's not for you. Grady Hendrix tries to do what Christopher Moore has done so well, and while his work's not on a par with Moore's, Satan Loves You is a fun read. The writing and editing are at times spotty (though formatting problems are generally limited to the occasional lack of white space where there should be a break for a change of scene), but Hendrix's capacity to riff in text on a descriptive passage can suck you in until you're wondering where he can possibly go with his purple prose. And then you turn the page and he suprises you by continuing for another ten or twenty lines, until you're bemused and grudgingly admiring. It's effective in the context of a book which never tries to rise above its natural state of ridiculous, to mimic the sublime. Yes, Moore succumbs to that temptation. And you can take Hendrix's characters and idea, remix them, and tweak them any way you please -- if you care to have fun with his concept. Satan Loves You is licensed under a Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" license. The basic story: Satan's in trouble. The archangels want to take over Hell. What will he do without his mission in afterlife? Every way he turns, he's trapped/entrapped. Some of his minions have deserted him -- the Grim Reaper's desertion means thousands of the undead are walking the earth but not as easily recognizable zombies -- and others are so incompetent, they're no match for the archangels. What's an underdog demon to do? Lie and cheat his way out of this pickle, of course. But you're not reading this ebook for the story. It's more about the over-the-top irreverent portrayals of characters who are mythological but essential to the beliefs of many folks. Hendrix pokes fun at stereotypes and transforms entities about which we know next to nothing -- entities which don't exist as far as many of us are concerned -- into relatable characters with human foibles. He manages to make Satan the anti-hero for whom you cheer throughout the story. I'd like to give this book five stars for sheer inventiveness, but the plot is far thinner than the ridiculously entertaining imagined scenes from Hell and Heaven, and the characters. (For blatant stereotypes, thinly drawn, they're tons of fun!) If you want to laugh out loud, and skim over the bad parts, this book can be an entertaining read. Hendrix has a great voice. Apparently most indie authors regard a three-star review as negative (I would have thought it would mean the work is average, taken as a whole), so I'm forced to assign four stars to Satan Loves You. Stacked up against masterpieces of the genre -- whatever it is -- it's not deserving of five. But don't get me wrong: it's fun to read, good for a laugh, and worth your time if you like off-beat irreverent tales. (I couldn't speak for those who read this kind of thing all the time...)

This was a great read. Funny, exciting and honest. Don't take this book too seriously. I saw some reviews from people who clearly did not see the obvious humor in this book. It's just good fun!

Hell is cash-strapped and falling apart. The demons are rebellious, Death is ready to throw in the towel and Satan hasn't had a good new idea for eternal torment in hundreds of years. Tired of being the whipping boy of the rich, smug angels up in Heaven, Satan is burning out. Toss in an immaculately pregnant nun whose prayers can kill; a bogus multi-million dollar lawsuit against Satan from a crazy white trash hag with a pitbull lawyer and an obsession with QVC; and the imminent Ultimate Death Match wrestling smackdown between Heaven and Hell where the very balance of the two are decided in 10 rounds and you have one helluva fun read. Like the bastard three-way stepchild of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's GOOD OMENS, the Onion and Douglas Adams (with maybe a jigger of Warren Ellis to boot), SATAN LOVES YOU occupies a unique space where the absurd is absolutely possible -- and probably closer to the truth. Ex-Pro Wrestlers who are star Supreme Court Justices? Check! Quiznos sandwich shops as one of the entry ways to Heaven or Hell? Likely! Hipsters as an affront to the natural order so extreme that even the demons in Hell are repulsed by them? Spot on! For 99¢ you can experience these truths and more. Hell, it's cheaper than anything you can buy at Quiznos! (And better for you!)

Loved this book. Was the first I read of the author and will for sure be reading more. Dark humor.