Who Wants to be The Prince of Darkness?

by Michael Boatman

Lucifer is enjoying his retirement in an obscure corner of Limbo when he learns of a plot by Gabriel, the current ruler of Hell, to use humanity’s greatest weapon against it – Television!Cue the hottest reality game-show ever  Who Wants To Be The Prince Of Darkness? Gabriel orchestrates an “Infernal takeover” of Earth by stealing unwitting mortal souls and sending them to a mostly empty Hell, hoping to reinvigorate the Infernal Realm.Now Lucifer must find a living champion to seize control of Hell and free millions of stolen mortal souls before the theft becomes permanent. But who would ever want to be Hell’s champion?File  Fantasy [ Down Among The Dead Men | Fifteen Minutes For Eternity | Damned If You Do | The Morningstar ]

Genres: Fantasy, Religion, Horror, Humor

526 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 3, 2015

Reviews

[Silvara Wilde]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


Disclaimer: I stopped reading this book at the 58% mark.


The book description sounded funny and interesting. So imagine my surprise when I started reading it and the book seemed to have no connection to the description whatsoever. It did finally start tying into the description somewhere around the 25-30% mark. But even then, it only seemed to slightly touch on it.

The plot mostly revolves around this guy who has risen to become some kind of fitness/mental health guru. Who isn't really likable at all as a character. And then he has this mysterious breakdown on stage in front of his fans that is filmed live on tv. He starts talking like a crazy man and can't stop himself. This is the cue for the book to take a turn for the weird and finally start to pull in some of the synopsis description. But even then, we don't really get much of it.

Each chapter there is a different view point character, and not all the chapters continue on from where the last character left off. So one chapter you'll get the guru, and then another chapter gives you one of the demons from Hell, or maybe you'll get the now evil archangel Gabriel's son (who is the host of the tv show alluded to in the synopsis). And then it will change to someone else, and basically I was left wondering what I'd gotten myself into.

Lucifer doesn't actually look for a contestant for the game show like the description says. He does end up with a mortal to be his champion, but this guy (the guru) is so clueless about everything you're left wondering why HE was chosen and what exactly he's going to be able to do about anything.

Some of the book was actually funny, but a lot of it wasn't. I think my favorite character was Ally D. I liked her a lot, and even more so after her secret was revealed. But even reading about her wasn't enough to make me want to finish the book. I think I might have liked the book better if the description hadn't been so misleading. I went in expecting something like the description, and that was NOT what I got.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[Yzabel Ginsberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Unfortunately, the blurb on this one is rather misleading, and I admit I was disappointed, as I ended up reading a story I hadn't particularly wanted to read. To be more specific: I thought there'd be much more of a focus on the "Who Wants To Be The Prince Of Darkness" (PoD) TV show, as a major plot device and as a "battleground" of sorts—maybe the heroes would have to infiltrate the TV set, impersonate some existing participants to get in, do things from within... I don't know, but something clearly linked to the show, especially with the latter's host being who he was, and with the whole commentary about how reality shows can subdue people

Instead, the TV game was more of a backdrop, mentioned now and then, but not being THE set the blurb hinted at. The actual story is much more... straightforward? Not uninteresting per se, just not what I wanted to read about in the first place. I suppose I wouldn't have minded if it had turned out to be really surprising, and not playing on traditional themes, on a more traditional form of conflict. (Powerful artefact gone from Hell, Lucifer's former generals need it to come back, unwitting protagonist is thrown in there as a potential key to finding it, fighting some demons along the way, etc.)

There are funny moments in the novel, as it plays on tropes like the Self-Help Guru who thinks he's the Chosen One, but turns out to be completely clueless. Maybe there weren't enough of such moments, though, or rather, they tended to look like each other after awhile, if this makes sense in such a context. The mythos around the main plot is also a little confusing in its chronology and in how it all unfolds. Lucifer retiring as a mortal? Why not. However, it was difficult to reconcile Hell time and Earth time, as the former made it sound like all this happened centuries ago, and the latter revealing only a couple of decades went by. I got it, sure; only it was pretty confusing, and the inclusion of different narratives, one in first person, the others in third, didn't make it easy at times.

As for the characters, they were OK, but nothing particularly interesting in the long run, although they had nice little quirks and background stories to build on. I think the one I preferred was Abby D; I just liked her presence, sort of, and what happened around her.

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first 200 pages were so boring I gave up. I didn't find the characters engaging enough to care.

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description for "Who Wants to be The Prince of Darkness?" is misleading. Even though there are a few bits on the game show that Gabriel started to take over the Earth, the main story is about Manray Mothershed, a famous motivational speaker, fitness enthusiast, and all around celebrity. When things unravel for him during one of his motivational seminars and he learns that the world is falling apart. Mothershed starts a journey to and through Hell, along with some companions, including a black teenager with a flaming sword, to right the things that has happened to him. This is supposed to be funny in a dark way, and there are a few places and situations that are humorous, but humor is hard to sustain for 400 pages, and it does have a lot of flat places. It also feels like Boatman has some times when he takes an easy way out of writing a description, saying things along the lines of "a smell worst that the worst smell you've smelled" (this is not an actual example, but there are many moments throughout the novel that feel like sentences along these lines are good enough.) Even though there are some problems with this as a whole, I kind of liked the concepts. Some of the moments were funny. Some of the moments were dumb, but the story was quick enough to read that I did not mind it much.

[Doug Lewars · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** Possible spoilers ***

Although the writing might have benefited from a bit more editing in some places, overall it was a good, fast-paced adventure that keeps things interesting right to the end. The characters were a little flat but since the pacing was pretty well done I think readers can live with characters who might be just a little bit two dimensional. I quite enjoyed the world-building.

One problem is that the title suggests that this book will be a satire on reality television. To some extent that's true but satire seems secondary to the story and added mostly as a hook to get things going. Overall, however, if you're looking for a fairly well-written book to while away a few summer hours then I think I can recommend this one.

[TriciaLou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woooow. What a wild ride!
Just finished this out-of-left-field surprise and I say “Bravo!”
If you enjoyed Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett’s collaboration “Good Omens: The Nice & Accurate Prophesies of Agnes P Nutter, witch” , you MUST read “Who Wants to be the Prince of Darkness”.
Why ? Because imo, it’s kinda like that except BETTER. I said it. There.
Yeah, I’ll be invite the wrath of both those fabulous authors fandoms upon me. Because, once the howling subsides, they will read this book & agree.
Then Mr. Boatman will then have a boatload of book success and be compelled to keep churning out great stories like this one.
Wit, characters & storytelling were all excellent. I had fun reading it.
Take it with you on a trip or home for a long weekend & it will be a memorable one.

[Paul Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is one that lost me early on. I needed to fall into the story as it sounded interesting and not fall confused a fair few chapters in. I give books time but this one confused, made odd sense and one I chose to stop reading.....I feel this book I did not grasp at this time and I may come back to.

Too confusing...too odd...

I thank Netgalley and Angry Robot for the Arc but alas the muddling start made a quick end.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 1 out of 5]

42 WORD REVIEW:

From the blurb — which promises comedic fantasy with demons, angels and reality tv — one might expect Michael Boatman to have served up an American Tom Holt novel. Unfortunately, whatever humour (and plot) he envisaged has not transposed well from author to book.

[Michelle Hauck]

I quit at about 10%. So many characters coming out of nowhere and none of them are properly introduced to explain who they are or what is going on. There's a conflict but I didn't understand any of the character's motivation or the stakes or why I should care about them.

[Angela]

Comedy is hard. This one didn't work out for me. It wasn't bad, or even particularly unfunny. mostly it was kinda predictable and thus I lost interest partway through.

[Ramesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hell moves into reality television.

[Glenna Kachtik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Need to set this one aside for a bit. & go back to it some other time.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Boatman's dark fantasy treads Sandman waters in a torn-down afterlife.

[Edward]

DNF. Sorry it was kinda good but not interesting enough to me to finish.

[Martin Willoughby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent and witty.

[Diane Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

3* seems a bit generous for this book, more a 2.5*

[Korban Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been wanting to read this book for years. The blurb is not like the book. I didn’t find the characters all that engaging, and the book dragged.

Plus the tv show aspect I was looking forward to is not nearly as interesting and in-depth as it is made out to be on the cover and blurb.

[Isis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Angry Robot Books & NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book to review. Though I received this e-book for free, that has no impact upon the honesty of my review.


Goodreads Teaser: "Lucifer is enjoying his retirement in an obscure corner of Limbo when he learns of a plot by Gabriel, the current ruler of Hell, to use humanity's greatest weapon against it - Television!

Cue the hottest reality game-show ever conceived:Who Wants To Be The Prince of Darkness? Gabriel orchestrates an "Infernal takeover" of Earth by stealing unwitting mortal souls and sending them to a mostly empty Hell, hoping to reinvigorate the Infernal Realm.

Now Lucifer must find a champion to seize control of Hell and free millions of stolen mortal souls before the theft becomes permanent. But who would ever want to be Hell's champion?"


Upon reading this book I rapidly came to the conclusion that the teaser is misleading. Lucifer doesn't look for a contestant to participate in the game show, but he does find a champion. The problem is the champion is completely clueless and for some of the time an unwitting player. But of course we are talking about Lucifer, so it's not much of a surprise that things aren't as they seem.

Gabriel is bitterly angry at Lucifer, and channels his anger into completely revamping Hell once he is the uncontested ruler of the realm after Lucifer's retirement. One of the more popular aspects of his overhaul is in modeling Hell after Earth. And since demons want to experience living on Earth more than anything, Gabriel finds a way to start slipping more in. Through the agency of an obscenely popular TV game show his nefarious plan works brilliantly. It begins with a trickle of demons replacing the human souls, but rapidly becomes a flood when they see how oblivious humanity is to the growing threat. Without doubt this is a not so subtle commentary on the mind numbing, thought-deadening qualities of TV.

Quite the creative and entertaining story, filled with ridiculous quirks of all kinds, as well as characters of all kinds - quite literally. The story begins in such a way that it seems it may be a parody of a parody, functioning as a way to set the stage for the story to come. After the first few chapters we meet one Manray Mothershed, self help guru to the modern world, though he prefers to refer to his teachings as self actualization. It's through Manray that the story is brought into the present and begins to move forward. As he stumbles into some sort of understanding of his new situation he begins meeting other characters that also become pivotal to the story.

The characters are entertaining, though sometimes a tad confusing. With everyone from Hell having a reversed morality and thus reversing things like swearing and blaspheming it can be challenging to figure out which sentiments belong to who. But those few bumps aside the concept of the book is more than solid, and the creativity is delicious. As Manray and company become fleshed out so to does the plot, both pulling the other forward and flinging the story along, rather like being the whip at the end of an ice skating line. And there are plot twists aplenty, though the tale is strange enough not to really need them. Certainly not your average tales about Hell!

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.25 of 5

I will admit that I was hesitant to request this book because I was not particularly fond of Last God Standing, author Michael Boatman's previous book. But I think it's only fair to give an author more than one read, and I typically really like the books published by Angry Robot.

In Who Wants to Be the Prince of Darkness?, Lucifer is in retirement when he hears that Gabriel (the current underworld ruler) wants to model hell after earth and he starts recruiting souls through the mind-numbing medium that is television. More specifically, through a game-show.

To fight back, and to keep his precious hell the way it was meant to be, Lucifer seeks out a champion to fight for all that is hellacious. But Lucifer's Chosen One doesn't seem to know that he's in a fight, or if he does, he doesn't seem to understand what it's all about. But it does seem that maybe Lucifer has something up his sleeve.

My first issue with the book is the humor. Every comic or humorist has a 'voice' - a specific sound that is unique to them. And as an audience member/reader, I'm going to react differently depending on how that voice works for me. Boatman's humor voice does not work for me. It just didn't feel natural. I felt that I could hear the author and not the character, trying to say things just to be funny or clever. When I come across something like this, it usually has the opposite effect on me. I'm annoyed that someone keeps trying to be funny when they are not.

My second issue with the book is focus. I could tell that the story was making sense to the author, but it was pure labor for me, as reader, to follow the characters and to make sense of what was happening (and often I didn't care to). Different chapters have a different character's view-point. This is okay, it's not a unique device. But it does challenge the cohesive nature of the story-telling.

It doesn't help that the characters tended to sound the same. If you aren't paying close attention to the chapter headings, you will become more confused, not quite sure who is telling the story. Normally you should be able to tell based on the characters and their speech habits and patterns. Good luck with that.

The characters here are familiar, in a caricature sense, but otherwise dull. There was no one that I wanted to care about or to root for.

Typically I really like well-written humor in my fiction. Subtle, dark, devious ... even better. But humor is really hard to pull off, especially at a novel length. Think Richard Hooker, or Joseph Heller, or, closer to home in the fantasy/sci-fi genre, Ron Goulart or Robert Aspirin. But if a book relies on its humor to carry it, and that humor doesn't flow, then the book will struggle to find its footing. Such is the case here.

Looking for a good book? Michael Boatman's Who Wants to Be the Prince of Darkness? is a darkly humorous fantasy set in and around Hell, but it fails to grab attention or truly entertain.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by Michael Boatman. I do have his first one but haven't read it yet. I did research and found I could read this one without having read the first one, even though I tend to want to read books in order. After reading this one, I do want to read the first one. His book was funny, irreverent, at times graphic but in a nongraphic way (you'll have to read it to understand), and hard to put down. Usually, these types of book aren't my cup of tea, but I did find the book to be wonderful and funny enough to overlook that. There was substance in the book without being too wordy or too much of an info-dump at one time, and subtly and not-so-subtly poking fun at society. Great book when you need a little, or lots, of humor in your reading. Please give this author a chance. He really deserves it, and you do, too! Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review. This exact review will also be posted on Amazon and Goodreads.