Last God Standing

by Michael Boatman

In a world without faith, only one deity can be... But what's the point of being immortal if you can't take a joke?

When God retires to join the human race, an army of desperate deities declares war over Earth's vanishing supply of mortal faith. Now, uncomfortably occupying the body and soul of struggling comedian, Lando Cooper, He finds Himself the target of an unholy uprising.

Forced to defend Himself and His mortal friends and family from a mob of hungry gods, Lando must also discover who is killing his divine colleagues and stealing their dwindling powers. Could it be Lucifer, who went missing soon after his own Hellish retirement?

Lando, A.K.A. He Who Once Spoke From A Burning Bush, must put down an insurrection, land a lucrative TV deal and propose to the girl of his dreams. But he's all too mortal; a shadow of his former Self, possessing a mere fraction of God's former powers. Meanwhile, there's a godeater on the loose too. With the death of every victim it grows stronger. And it's coming for Lando's immortal soul.File Under: Fantasy [ Gods Behaving Badly Power Struggle The Way He Tells 'Em Simply Devine ]

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Humor, Fiction, Mystery, Mythology

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When God goes on sabbatical and becomes a human, the resulting power vacuum causes chaos among the obsolete gods, leading to a series of god killings. Meanwhile, God grows up to be Lando Cooper, an aspiring comedian who works for his father. Can Lando figure out who is making the power grab without forsaking his mortal life?

I got this from the fine folks at Angry Robot via Netgalley.

So it seems Michael Boatman of Arl$$ and Spin City fame is also a writer and a pretty funny one at that. Once I knew who Boatman was, I kept picturing him in the role of Lando Cooper. Before I get any further, how awesome is it that the main character's full name is Lando Calrissian Darnell Cooper?

Last God Standing is a humorous fantasy that also has some good ideas about gods and belief in it. Lando's a pretty relatable former deity, still living with his mother, still struggling to become what he wants to be. His relationship with his girlfriend is pretty believable, being afraid of meeting her parents since he's kind of a screw up and her father is due to be knighted. Lando's divorced parents were by far my favorite supporting cast members, though.

The conflict among the gods was well done and the scope of destruction when gods clash reminded me of some recent super hero movies. Speaking of super heroes, Lando's geek references were great and not overdone.

However, I liked the book but I didn't love it. Firstly, I thought Lando being mortal but still being able to access his Godly power, albeit with consequences, was a bit of a copout.

My other gripe was a matter of personal taste. Boatman told a funny tale but I felt like I read it before. As someone who went to Catholic school for 12 years and got dragged to church every Sunday morning for a couple decades, I've read a lot of religious-themed, gods in the modern world fiction, and I've also read a lot of humorous fantasy, and I didn't feel like this was breaking any new ground. Parts of it were really Neil Gaiman-ish, other parts Christopher Moore, and there was a dash of Lord of Light lurking in there.

Last God Standing was a funny read but I can't give it more than a 3. If I hadn't read so many similar books in the past, I'd probably give it a four, though.

[Matthew Gill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alright, for the record I REALLY wanted to like this book. The concept was a sound selling point that tempted me with the promise of an enjoyable ride. The idea of God abdicating his throne and having to contend with all the defunct deities of earth rushing to replace him was delightful. Even the witty banter and personification of some of the various characters was worthy of praise.

But alas. now I must get to the painful portion of my review. The undeniably and unbearable lack of some simple structure. When dialog is flung about without any context you are left to just guess who is saying what. Events begin to transpire in rapid fire scenes with reckless abandon. It quickly devolves into mindless chaos and clutter. And let's not even begin to dig into the presence of run on sentences that rival the Nile...

Honestly, I barely finished the prelude without suffering reservations. The first real chapter showed encouraging promise compared to it, but even so I couldn't find it in me to finish it. I hate writing a negative thing about any book, especially one with so much promise. I suppose if you can get past some of it's inherent structural issues you might find a jeweled reward at it's end. If so, I applaud you. For I could not.

[Kdawg91 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, I liked this..alot. It's funny, I am a mythology buff, so the premise sold me immediately. I used to watch the author on Spin City back in the dark ages of mankind when you had to watch stuff on the TELEVISION, so not only was I interested when I heard about this, what am I saying? I am a book freak, there are very few books I am NOT interested in.


The story came across to me as if Mr. Boatman intended on this to be a script, now I know he didn't, but it reads like one. The dialogue is natural and reads well and has some pretty intense and interesting world building in it. My only qualms, and they are few, is that when the story moves into the final act, the transition is more than a bit jarring. But I enjoyed the hell out of it and Mr. Boatman, you are forgiven, I look forward to future installments. Thanks to the awesome sauce that is Angry Robot for the ARC!!

[Mike Willoughby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read, fun with explosive, unexpected turns!

[Martin Muhr · Rating 1 out of 5]

A comedy of errors novel involving gods beating each other up.

The comedy isn't funny, the action sequences structured so they don't matter, and the language, with homophobic slurs and other joys, is just gross and unnecessary. DNF.

[Laura Bray · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF!
The concept reminded me strongly of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and the execution reminded me of how much I would rather be reading that

[CrystalFox · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5/5. Nửa đầu còn hay chứ nửa sau là một mớ thảm họa.

Tóm tắt nội dung: God buồn đời nên bỏ ngai xuống trần gian đầu thai làm con người (nhân tiện đi một mình có hơi cô đơn nên kéo Buddha theo)xem có cảm giác đặc biệt mới mẻ gì không, cấm đám thiên thần đi theo. Và dĩ nhiên đầu sỏ đã đi thì chả mấy chốc thiên hạ đại loạn khiến lũ con trên trển buộc phải đi tìm ổng lại, đã vậy thần thánh của mấy tôn giáo khác kiểu như Zeus lâu lâu gây chuyện chơi nữa chớ...

Điểm tốt: Mới đầu truyện khá hài hước, tả về hình dáng thực của thiên thần rất đẹp (móng tay là màn đêm thăm thẳm với những ngôi sao băng, đôi mắt là vũ trụ)Vụ thần các tôn giáo khác giải nghệ sống với con người cũng vui dù chắc là có chôm từ American Gods. Truyện có một Giáo hoàng rất phởn và God giữ liên lạc với Jesus qua e-mail. Tác giả khi viết chắc cũng nghiên cứu nhiều về thiên thần.

Điểm xấu: Tất cả những gì còn lại. Đặc biệt nếu bạn đã xem Supernatural và có cảm tình với thiên thần trong đó.

Thứ nhất, mô tả God như một con người tầm thường. Nếu Chuck bên SPN chỉ giả làm người và phải có cái vỏ bọc tầm thường vì đang trong chương trình "bảo vệ nhân chứng" kỹ đến nỗi tổng thiên thần bảo vệ mình, tức Raphael, cũng không nhận ra thì ở đây mọi sinh vật siêu nhiên đều biết bạn trẻ trâu này là God và cả bản thân bạn ấy cũng rất rõ trước khi đầu thai mình là ai. Vậy mà bạn trẻ hành xử chỉ như một thằng vớ vẩn tình cờ có nguồn năng lực vô hạn, không có điểm gì khiến người ta gật gù "đúng là God".

Thứ hai, God vì gái suýt hủy diệt cả vũ trụ và Lucifer nhờ gái cảm hóa. Xin lỗi nhưng chi tiết này đã khiến mình giảm IQ trầm trọng.

Thứ ba, làm God kiểu gì mà để đến cuối truyện đến nửa cái thiên đường từ cấp gần cao nhất đến thấp nhất nó theo phe ác thế. Làm cái gì mà vô dụng quá vậy. Đã vậy Michael với Raphael đâu??? God trong đây còn tệ hơn Chuck, coi thiên thần chỉ như lũ sai vặt ngu si lắm quyền năng, càng tránh được càng tốt. Chuck mà như gã này mình đã ủng hộ Raphael lên nắm quyền từ lâu...

Cuối cùng, viết truyện về cả đám thần thánh chỉ để cuối cùng...tâng bốc con người. Mà khen cái gì không khen, toàn mấy cái thứ cũ rích "con người có khả năng sáng tạo vô hạn họ không cần thần linh nữa" vân vân vũ vũ. Xin lỗi muốn khen thì sao không tìm cách cho mình thấy vẻ đẹp của nhân tính ấy, nói đến mấy cái khỉ đó làm gì. Khiến mình đã vừa đọc vừa tự hỏi có phải tác giả nằm trong đám theo chủ nghĩa vô thần mà thích bày đặt viết về thánh thần để bộc lộ quan điểm vô thần của mình không.

[Erik Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stop me if you've heard this one...
So, this actor, Michael Boatman, decided to become a writer. He wrote some short stories and a novel, Revenant Road. He continued acting, because, c'mon, if you ain't Stephen King, you ain't making the big bucks, am I right?
Anyway, this Boatman guy decided to write a second novel. Yeah, what was he thinking, right? Well, apparently, he was thinking he would write a funny, profound look at religion and the human condition.
What he came up with was Last God Standing, the story of Lando Cooper, who just happens to be the human incarnation of the Judeo-Christian God. Lando wants to be a stand-up comedian, and he would really like to marry his girlfriend, But, stick with me here, not only does ordinary life get in the way, but archaic gods keep showing up and trying to kill him. Ain't that just a kick in the pants?
Here's the thing, This Michael Boatman guy, besides being pretty good at the acting thing, is a pretty good writer, as well. His characters are over-the-top crazy, but you can't help but care about them. Well, most of them. some of them are *BLEEP*ing crazy *BLEEP*ers.
(Sorry about that. These matinee reviews are PG-13. Come back after midnight, if you want the "blue" review.)
Where was I? Oh, yeah. The characters are great. The action scenes are well written and exciting. The old gods are very entertaining. And, here's the kicker, if you want to, you can look a little deeper, and maybe, just maybe, think about what you believe, and what it all means. Me? I just wanted to be entertained, and that's what I got.
I hope you aren't looking for a punchline. This is an observational review. I suppose, if I'm forced to go out on a laugh, I'll just say this: read Last God Standing, or the joke's on you.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the gods the author can think of: check.
Protagonist is a nebbish who exists so things can happen to him: check.
His girlfriend is nice but he's going to screw it up at EVERY opportunity: check.
I've read this book before!
No, I haven't, but it just feels like it.

In a book written by a comedian, the comedy-performance parts don't work. And I must have missed why it was necessary, or why it made sense, or why it's what a former deity would do.

The plot can't decide if it's going to be a Carl Hiaasen farce or a serious bit of philosophy, and to be both at once you have to be Kurt Vonnegut.

The plot was already complex when we were suddenly in an alternate universe going, "WTF?" and we have to invest MANY confusing and not-very-interesting pages before there's an actually-not-bad explanation.

Each god was decently presented, although Connie seemed to be implausibly powerful considering who the other players were.

Angry Robot clearly doesn't use a copy editor, and at times appears not to have even used the spellchecker in the author's writing software. Oddly, quite a few often-bungled words are correct, but I spotted probably 50 - yes, fifty - oopsies throughout.

The big face-off was weak, I thought, but so many writers these days struggle with this that I will give a pass here.

[Henry Lazarus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Michael Boatman tells of how Jehovah is in human form as Lando Calrissian Cooper, a stand-up comic who has occasionally has to step out of character to vanquish gods like Zeus and the archangel Gabriel gone crazy. He can reset time after winning but that doesn’t help when Bacchus gets him drunk at the meeting with his girl friend’s parents. Not only that but something is coming, something could really destroy him and humanity. The plot ranges from laugh-out-loud silly to serious consideration of what it means to be a God. He may be the Last God Standing (hard from Angry Robot), but will he survive it. I couldn’t put it down. Review printed in Philadelphia Weekly Press

[Anneka Gearie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read, many great thinking points at every turn. Once picked up hard to put down. Highly recommend to everyone. A knowledge of the different historical gods is not needed as they are all explained within the context of the story. A full knowledge could possibly be a hindrance in the enjoyment of story flow. Looking forward to more from Michael Boatman.

[Ria Bridges · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if God was one of us? (Oh come on, you really didn’t see that song title coming with a concept like this? I’m just surprised it didn’t get mentioned in the book itself!) The god of Judeo-Christian-Islamic religion is living a mortal life, as are most of the gods from various pantheons through humanity’s history. Yahweh, in this case, is a black stand-up comedian named Lando, who hails from a tremendously effed-up family. Lando would be pretty content to go through life as a normal guy, without any divine issues getting in the way of things, but other gods seem to have different ideas and are bent on revenge for past slights and sins. Add in the fact that these attacks on Lando seem to be part of a plan by some unknown and newly-emerging god for the modern age, and Lando finds himself in over his head in more ways than one.

Boatman gets serious kudos for taking the basic concept behind this book and running with it to places that others often wouldn’t. I’m sure there are some people out there who read this and were ticked off that God was a black guy who makes a living by being rather absurd on stage, or that all the myths are true and that all prior deities from other religions are just as real (and often just as corporeal and real and yet still divine) as the God of Christianity (and Judaism, and Islam). Which says more about them than about the book, really, but I mention it to show that Boatman clearly isn’t afraid to buck trends and go against the status quo just because it might anger people with a narrow-worldview. And there’s a strong vein of humour running through the novel, as can be expected given that it’s told from the first-person viewpoint of a stand-up comic. Keen observation and wit is the order of the day, and there’s plenty of opportunity for it seeing as how there are so many twisted characters, human and divine alike. It’s an extremely diverse cast of characters that Boatman brings to the table.

Part of the problem is the general lack of tension expressed when it comes to divine battles. On pages where two deities are fighting it out and reality is getting warped and twisted as an effect, I figure I should be able to feel something. But no matter how often those scenes occurred, the most I felt was confused, since Lando himself seemed more concerned with witty retorts and insults to make his opponent angry than he did with how the world is twisting around him. It seems odd to complain about how unrealistically unreality was presented, but with distanced narration and scattered commentary on what was essentially the laws of physics and perception getting thrown out the window, it made it hard to feel anything from those scenes.

Especially when it gets obvious quickly that the scenes have no actual lasting effect, since Lando can just wipe out the time and set reality back to rights again. No consequences, and so no threat.

Oddly, the parts of the novel that felt most developed to me were the ones that centred around Lando’s mundane mortal life. Issues with his (incredibly gorgeous and self-assured) rich girlfriend and her family. Trying to please his parents. Watching his mother fall prey to a charismatic cult. These pieces of he story were fascinating, and stranger in many ways than the parts about divinity. Secondary to that was the section of the book in which Lando finds himself in an alternate reality, one with a history very different from our own, and that was well put together and detailed and so fascinating that I could have read an entire novel set in that reality and been perfectly happy with it. It was a shame to me that it was such a short part of the book and so near the end.

In many ways, it felt like the characters relied on their extreme diversity in place of any real development. I can give you a dozen descriptive words and labels for some of the characters, and with maybe 2 exceptions, none of the characters were actually deeper than those labels. It was as though readers were getting little more than an overview of them, and the diversity was a bit of a fake-out, a way of making characters seem deeper and more nuanced than they really were.

Last God Standing played with some very interesting concepts and ideas and was nicely thought-provoking at times, but it was sporadic and uneven, and that was the novel’s real downfall. It had some great visual promise, the kind of thing that would actually make for a great film, but the presentation as a novel didn’t do the trick for me, and in spite of the promise that it held I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped. Worth a read, and it will probably stimulate some discussions on the nature of reality and divinity, but as with many of the characters, the surface was barely scratched and the ideas don’t get too deep. Good for light reading and when you’re in the mood for fast and snappy dialogue with a good sense of wit and levity, but if you’re looking for something more, you’re not likely to find it here.

(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)

[Rachel Bridgeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

If man is made in the image of God, then why can he not just up and take a holiday, really walk a mile in a man’s shoes?

This is the central premise behind this novel which is bitingly funny, satirical, and yet grounded with one of the best sets of dysfunctional parents I have come across this year.

Lando Cooper (named for the role which Billy Dee Williams immortalised in Star Wars) walks an uneasy path. On a daily basis he is harangued by millions of prayers, exhortations to be forgiven, or damning others, as well as battling old gods who try and take advantage of his mortal status. For beneath the untamed afro and the slightly average appearance of the average , everyday person you would walk past in the street lurks God. Capital G, world creating, world ending GOD.

He is introduced to us in the prologue via several attempts to end his life, each occasion thwarted by Changing Woman, the Navajo Goddess, whilst Lando’s understanding of just what has happened is minimal. As he grows older, he becomes more aware of who and what he is, a chance for God to be just like every other man, a master of their own destiny and yet, this is just a pipe dream. No matter what form he is in, his vacation leaves a position vacant at the top of the godly food chain. And other gods are clamouring for the chance to be responsible for the fate of the world as we know it.

A battle with Zeus which ends in a totally unexpected manner is the first sign that not all is as it should be, the drunken, dick swinging son of Chronos literally vanishes into the ether, leaving no trace of ever having been there. It only hits Lando after he has reversed all the random and bizarre deaths Zeus rained down with his lightning bolts, which makes him late for his return from lunch break, and gifts him with the mother of all migraines.

In between dealing with his bizarre and hugely hilarious parents Barbara Jean and Herb, he finds that the old adage of walking a mile in another man’s shoes is a hugely powerful lesson for even an immortal god to learn.

His awareness of his form and his mortality, is a such a powerful motif running through the novel, he cradles that knowledge like the most delicate egg shell in his palms as he navigates what is a far from normal life. And yet, it is entirely normal, his bickering parents, concerns about his relationship and making it on the stand up scene are entirely consistent with the life of a floundering 30 something.

I loved all the aspects of this novel, the concept may have been explored in books such as ‘American Gods’ and the Percy Jackson series, but any hints of overlapping plots remain hugely exaggerated. There is always room for another interpretation of a God walking amongst us, especially in a time where society has raised influencers and celebrities to god-like heights without a shred of underlying talent to support them.

This is not a story rammed full of zingy one liners, the observational comedy is perfectly timed and lands with precision on page after page. I found myself laughing out loud, and reading bits out to my other half, who indulged me because, after all, it is Christmas. The notion that like an immortal Batman, Lando could call on the various aspects of his God status-such as Lord of Flies, Burning Bush etc-from his bat belt was endlessly funny to my mind. And the idea of the way in which people worship and beg for guidance and assistance from the deity’s that they rely on to keep them on a holy path to redemption and resurrection? Well this provides the other side of this conversation as it imagines what it must be like to be on the receiving end of these cries for help.

Power is a heady drug, and by placing it in an unlikely vessel, Michael Boatman not only places a fresh spin on the obligations and rights of immortals, he has also created a thoughtful, mindful tale threaded through with moments of pure hilarity. The nature of belief and wonder is rarely captured in such a way.

[Samuel Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the issues with religion is which one is right? Many of them don’t really work if the others are correct. Perhaps they are all right and there are a bunch of Gods and Demigods that walk amongst us. What would an ancient power do in the modern world? I imagine that they would just want to get on with a normal life and every now and again pull off a miracle or two. In Michael Boatman’s ‘Last God Standing’, God is back, but is keeping a low profile as a wannabe stand-up comedian Lando.

God just wants his time on Earth to go unnoticed and enjoy some of the pleasures of being human, but his absence from the heavens has been noticed by some of the other deities whose power has waned over the millennia. The likes of Odin have seen an opportunity to become top dog again. Can God juggle being a rising star in the comedy scene whilst having to fight increasingly confident other Gods?

As a premise ‘Last’ is one that should work; a comedy about a very human feeling God who has to deal with other worldly powers. At its best the book is about Lando himself, his family and his love. There is enough material in the book just trying to juggle saving the world from natural disaster, whilst remembering to turn up for dinner. However, like so many fantasy novels in recent years it appears that the author was a little scared to keep things simple. The rest of the Urban Fantasy genre is full of action packed books, shouldn’t this one follow?

The simple answer is no, but this did not stop Boatman. For all the enjoyable family drama on offer, there is also far too much empty headed action. Lando/God goes up against several other deities in the book, normally in the form of a supernatural fight amongst men. These battles are the usual empty headed nonsense seen in the genre and although epic in scale are just a bit dull. It is not helped that in most cases Lando also manages to heal the rip in the space-time continuum and it’s as if the fight never happened. What is the point of them at all then?

There are some interesting ideas in the book; suppose that the Gods did decide not to get involved in human business anymore and set up shop on Earth? The book could easily have worked as a pure comedy book of errors as the Gods juggle the simple and the divine. Instead the book is dominated more by the bland action sequences.

[Loki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm honestly not sure what the writer of this book was going for. There's humour, which is mostly aggressively unfunny, but that could be intended as satire. There's horror, but it usually wimps out on actually carrying through with the promise of it. There's world-building, but done really unevenly. There's fantasy, but not enough originality. In the end, there's just a confused story with too many blanks that need filling in to really work, some egregiously large infodumps that kill the pacing, and far too much schmaltz. And yet...

...the book somehow still works. I enjoyed it enough to finish it, I had enough investment in the plot and characters to want to see how it all turned out. It's a first novel, so maybe that accounts for some of it. I will be reading the author's next novel, hoping that the good in his style is enhanced and the bad diminished (or better yet, disappeared).

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book that was designed for adaptation to the screen, it was so obviously written by an author with a great familiarity with script writing and/ or acting. It came as no surprise to me that the author is in fact a pretty well know television actor.

In this day of streaming media, in addition to Hollywood, there is both a commercial as well as an artistic imperative for adaptation. There was a novel twist to supernatural or magical elements and of theological humanism; however, these were not enough on their own to make this work truly original. And the various cultural viewpoints give the story much well needed depth and perception, especially when contrasting to a privileged mainstream ideology.

Despite any of these academic quirks, remember that this book was a good read, an easy read, probably something that will make non-too-challenging television of a humoristic nature with elements of rom-com and fantastic genres.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smartly written. Buddha talking to God... “the power they gave us. They slaughtered millions in our Names, and what did it amount to? iPods in China...”
BUT I can’t finish the book.
I kept wanting to like Lando but for an all great being he didn’t control his alcoholism, messed up the meeting with his future in-laws, disrespected his parents. Showed little empathy. ie The little girl asking why her dad was killed, her mom sick, the good doctor murdered. Lando was pathetic for a human; hard to like him as God.

[Elizabeth Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw LAST GOD STANDING by Michael Boatman in my list of Angry Robot announcements, the author’s name didn’t ring a bell. I took in the pitch paragraph and thought it sounded funny. Then I realized who Boatman is in a delayed, “Oh! THAT guy!” moment. I didn’t know that the handsome actor from Spin City, The Good Wife, and Anger Management was an established novelist. To be honest, I only knew him from Spin City and never saw anything else in his long list of acting jobs. I searched further to see if LAST GOD STANDING was his first taste of writing only to learn that he’s been around the horror literary world for quite some time in that subgenre of “the bloodier, the better” which Wikipedia refers to as splatterpunk.

Are we at that point where we can add “-punk” to anything and people understand what it is? It started with cyberpunk, dieselpunk, steampunk. Now there’s cornpunk, splatterpunk and I’m inventing comicpunk right here, right now. My followers and I tend to be heavily invested in the comic book scene so it compels me to inform you that I would call LAST GOD STANDING either godpunk or comicpunk. It’s a multi-pantheon whirlwind of religious figures taking sides in a modern Armageddon but there’s so much reference to comic books, one can instantly tell Boatman is a big ol’ nerd just like us. “ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US!” Point of fact: his human embodiment for the once Judeo-Christian God Almighty is named Lando Calrissian Darnell Cooper, an African-American stand up comedian who works part-time in his father’s automotive business with the wanderlust of a dreamer rather than a blue collar worker.

The book moved along so well bringing a multiple god battles. The gods had agreed to be retired through a Covenant when it was deemed that humans were perfectly fine having free will and no longer needed personal interference. Not all the gods were happy sitting around finding new worlds to rule and old realm competition reared up. This rather perfectly describes most retired humans I know. The Greek gods popped up for an uprising. Boatman portrays Zeus more off the wall than any of the other gods. "Cloud Snorter and Hymen Smasher" are among the monikers. The Celtic Morrigan, whose human persona is a romance writer in Boston, pitched in to help Lando run a good defense at the Vatican when Hannibal, not even a god but a figure so legendary he wielded non-human powers on stolen divinity. And even inside young Lando, the Navajo’s Changing Woman was obligated to act as his conscience until the human man learned how to handle his true origin. Lando was born embodied with God but wasn’t aware of it until it was revealed to him. He lived a life with mentally ill symptoms like talking to this Changing Woman he called Connie, talking with animals, and suffering migraines when other gods were misbehaving. His human parents had no idea and thought they had a rather directionless son.

My only criticism is that the battle scenes were hard to follow not only in movement but in location. These are immortals for all intents and purposes though some could “die” - who could transport between countries and planets and multiverses except for Lando who required assistance of other Aspects and Angels. Only a few of the former gods chose to take human forms. Buddha, by the way, is an overweight comic shop owner filled with joyful philosophies and gas both of which he shares openly. I wasn’t sure if the locations were really on Earth unless it was especially clear like the Vatican scene. The epic snowy showdown at the end seemed to be otherworldly but then there was reference at the end of the story the North Pole.

Lando has the ability to reset things after each battle so there is an easy way to explain how all the humans of the world didn’t notice titans toppling buildings. One of the resets causes a trajectory shift and the world is not the Judeo-Christian-Islamic dominant one we start off with and know in our real world. The parallel world is Indo-Egyptian. Boatman does a beautiful job not deriding the Biblical based paradigm when this shift happens. Some of it comes down to prosaic mythos like someone who appears beautiful turns “ugly” and menacing when their evil side comes out; but then it’s not really them because The Devil made them do those terrible things.

Every single politician of newsworthiness has been called the Antichrist during my own lifetime, parties matter not. The Devil is never just some average Joe. He’s always handsome beyond words unless he shows his true pan-like form. I got that same feeling here. Even when Archangel Gabriel is up to no good, his form becomes disfigured and blackened. If it were that easy to spot evil in the real world, voting and job interviewing would be a whole lot easier.

I have no doubt at all that my fellow comic nerds who pick up books without pictures would speed through LAST GOD STANDING in a week, maybe less if you habitually have reading time. (It took me two weeks as I’m always apologizing for being a slow reader). It’s a fun read and God is relatable for the first time. He’s a young man in love, wanting to follow his dream and just once make his parents proud.

If you’re brave, you know to look up Boatman’s horror works. I, however, am not. I’ll stick with the comedies.

[Ross Bedenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept is solid, and I found myself laughing out loud in some interactions. The overall storytelling isn’t great and can leave the reader scratching their head wondering what just happened a few pages ago. Not mad I read it, but wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to someone else.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story about God relinquishing his powers to live a mortal life and the problems He has when various other gods try to take over.

[Ari Fleeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, a combo of dogma and American gods

[Lewis Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

just a bit of fun really. is this my return to goodreads? is this a one off? i have no idea. watch this space

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf at 40 ish pages. Just couldn't connect, felt so disjointed, tried too hard to be funny.

[Anastasiia Skuba · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely liked reading the book. However, it was a bit shallow, and full of appealing but not always realistic ideas. Also plot seemed fragmented in my point of view. But the main idea is fun!

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

took this with me to cabo. left it behind without finishing. 6 was too weird for me. God as a low-life human fighting Zeus just didn't do it for me.

[Mieneke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last God Standing was one of my Anticipated Reads for this spring. As I said in that post "...when I read the blurb I immediately wanted to read the book as it seemed like it would be a really fun read. I love Boatman as an actor, he’s got a great sense of timing, which is key to comedic acting, and it’ll be interesting to see whether this translates to his writing." Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed with the book. First of all, Last God Standing's blurb doesn't really do it justice; Boatman asks some pretty deep questions in his book and it is far from the comedic fling that it looks like from the blurb. Secondly, I had a hard time connecting to the narrative. I kept getting lost and having to go back a page to figure out exactly what was going on. However, despite these problems, there were things that worked really well in this book.

The star of Last God Standing is Lando Calrissian Darnell Cooper, a.k.a. the descended incarnation of Yahweh. I had a really hard time finding my feet with Lando; in fact I didn't really settle in until over a third of the way in. Lando is funny and sometimes a little clueless, but at the same time he's also still in some ways the Creator and thinks that way, a contrast that left me a little confused at times. I felt that the narrative was most compelling in the second part of the book, when Lando wakes up in a different continuity. There were some genuinely touching scenes in there, especially with his son Herbert-Hassani. There are also genuinely funny bits, especially some of Lando's performances which are transcribed in the book. And of course the scene where Lando has a sort of melt-down while meeting his girlfriend Surahbi's family for the first time is hilarious in its painful embarrassment that just made me cringe in sympathy. Lando's interactions with his insane family – his parents really are crazy – his best friend Yuri, and Surahbi are often quite funny. Boatman also manages to convey the true love and relaxed relationship between Lando and Surabhi without any soppiness.

The gods Boatman includes in his novel are fun and besides the usual Greek, Norse and Egyptian suspects he also includes Hindu, Navajo, and Haitian gods to name a few. I especially loved Connie, or Changing Woman, a Navajo Earthmother, who functions as his conscience while he's growing up. I liked the way they interacted and their banter. I can see how the inclusion of all these different deities and the eventual plot resolution might be offensive to truly devout people – I've already seen someone on Goodreads describe the book as too blasphemous in places – but for me as someone who is a professed agnostic, this wasn't really an issue.

I think the thing I struggled most with in the book is the balance between humour and asking really pertinent, philosophical questions. Boatman can shift gears from hilariously funny to complicated religious or philosophical pondering in a heartbeat, which made mood of the narrative flip-flop quite a bit for me. The flip-flopping might also explain my trouble settling into the story, as I had to keep adjusting to the difference in tone.

One of the things I was looking forward to discovering was whether Boatman's sense of timing translated from the screen to the page. And the answer is twofold; on the one hand it does, especially in the straight-up comedy scenes, but on the other, it feels like not so much the comedic as the emotional timing is off, making for an uneven read. Still, Boatman created an interesting story and an intelligent one. I'm glad I stuck with it and finished the book as the ending is quite satisfying. Boatman definitely has a way with words and I look forward to seeing more of him as an author in the future. Last God Standing isn't a book for everyone and if religious irreverence bothers you mightily, I'd steer clear of the novel. However, if you enjoy deep philosophical questions coated in humour then you should certainly give this one a shot.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

[Fangs for the Fantasy · Rating 1 out of 5]

After presiding over humanity for over 2000 years, God has decided to abdicate and live as a human. No, this isn't like when Jesus was born of a virgin; this time his only motive is to simply let humanity get on with it. With Yahweh out of the way, humanity's now lesser deities like Zeus want to step into his shoes and become powerful again. The battle lines are drawn and now God, stuck in the body of Lando Calrissian (yes, that Lando Calrissian from Star Wars) Darnell Cooper has a war on his hands that he might no longer have the ability to fight.

Last God Standing has a very interesting concept. With all of the horrors in recent history it is hard for some to believe that there is an all knowing being up in the sky directing the hot mess we currently live in. From the concentration camps, to natural disasters, global warming, environmental decay and income inequality, even the most optimistic amongst us has to believe that humanity is in trouble. As far as a premise goes, Michael Boatman picked a winner. Unfortunately, that is the last good thing I can say about Last God Standing.

At times, Last God Standing made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The entire plot was incredibly rushed and even with that, I found myself struggling to get to the end. At about the 1/3 I sincerely considered DNFing this book for it's sheer incomprehensibility. The characters had absolutely no development and felt like cartoons rather than representatives of real people. Last God Standing is little more than a long winded joke, which when finally coming to end, has no damn punch line. My deepest regret is that I will never retrieve the hours I invested reading this story hoping that it would at some point live up to its premise.

Not only is Last God Standing poorly written, it is offensive on almost every level you can think of. It quickly became a written guide to homophobia with f@g appearing constantly without any indication that such hate speech is problematic. When the word gay was not being used as a pejorative, it was operationalized as the punchline of many jokes. Last God Standing heavily implied that real men most certainly were not gay or effeminate. In one passage, Herb refers to gay as a "lifestyle", something that irresponsible men of colour are free to engage in like the "White Man's children," now that African-Americans have made some civil rights gains. For almost the entirety of this novel, there were no GLBT characters, that is until "Barbara declared herself a "Happy Lesbian," sold her taverns and moved to the Pacific Northwest with her therapist to open a rehabilitation facility." Boatman filled his novel with homophobia and no GLBT characters until page 300, as though this could somehow redeem the problematic language he engaged in throughout the book. Just no. No. No. With passages like the following, there can be no doubt that Boatman means his homophobia to pass as comedy.

“It’s OK,” I said. “No reason to be embarrassed.”“Embarrassed? You think I’m effeminate, don’t you, Lando? That it? You think McFarlane’s a big flamer?”I laughed. McFarlane didn’t. He glared at me, his steel gray eyes suddenly as cold as a frost giant’s netherhole.“Are you calling me a fag, Lando?”“No!”McFarlane’s face turned orange, then bright red. Then he punched me in the stomach.
You would think that because Boatman is a Black man that Last God Standing would at least not be racially insensitive, but you would be wrong. Lando is constantly told to get his hair cut because he looks like a "spear chucker." Of course his afro looks unkept, everyone knows that natural hair cannot possibly look good /snark. When Lando isn't being called a "spear chucker", he is being called a "bush baby" and this is all supposed to be comedy. I understand people wanting to reclaim words to steal power from the oppressor but this is all about turning these offensive comments into comedy, as though there is no historical pain associated with them.


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[Shaheen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Last God Standing caught my eye because of its intriguing premise - God tries out life as a mortal (a comedian to boot), but his plans to make it big and impress his girlfriend's father keep getting derailed because older, now defunct Gods are trying to kill him.

Honestly I thought this book would either be absolutely amazing, or absolutely terrible, but really it's neither. The Last God Standing is a good book, certainly entertaining and funny, but it fails to step up and really wow a crowd. The book is like a filler act between huge headliners at one of the comedy shows that Lando performs at: enjoyable for a time, but somewhat forgettable.

The beginning and end of the book are riveting, but it literally loses the plot in the middle. I think there's too much going on: Lando is trying to balance is mortal life with his responsibilities as God. But here's the thing - who did Lando leave in charge while he was off being a human, and why didn't they do anything? Also, it seemed selfish of God to put his mortal desires before the good of the world.

I can see that Lando's character is meant to be a mortal first, and God second, so he prizes his mortal existence. But he's also retained access to his powers, and he can Reset time when something goes terribly wrong (all those other Gods trying to kill him usually results in vast amounts of collateral damage). I just don't see God abandoning humans the way he wanted to, all because of a girl. I'd wager that having access to all his powers probably makes it difficult for him to fully immerse himself in the mortal experience, so I don't quiet sympathise with him when he gets all woe-is-me about everything. He's God. He's listened to all human prayers for millennia, but he can't use what he learnt to figure out simple, human problems?

Although I liked much of the humour throughout the book, I think it bordered on insensitive. Certain jokes about race and sexual orientation took me by surprise, because I thought we'd all clearly established jokes in that vein are neither funny nor to be tolerated. Lando himself doesn't make objectionable jokes - he's vegetarian and likes all form of life - but the people around him are all weirdly indecent. In fact, I don't think there is one tolerant, kind, decent character in the whole book, aside from the kid Herbert Hasani.

The other deities in this story are awesome. I love the ways they are imagined by the author. Some have also opted to live as mortals, and their incarnations are hilarious. I think the fight with Hannibal was my favourite of them all, to be honest, and the elephant certainly lent a lot of colour to that scene.

The ending of the book has the potential to confuse readers who aren't paying attention - the plot picks up abruptly and a lot happens in very little time. The final battle is less fighting and action, and more philosophy, and the outcome was unexpected. The villain was obvious to me, but it took Lando a long time to see what was going on, which was disappointing.

The Last God Standing is a book you have to be in a certain mood for: you have to want your philosophies about life and death and religion to be interleaved with flippant, irreverent humour. I liked it, and if there's a sequel I'll read it, but I could easily go without as well.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic .

[Kristin Taggart]

I don't use star ratings, so please read my review!

(Description nicked from B&N.com.)

“When God decides to quit and join the human race to see what all the fuss is about, all Hell breaks loose.

Sensing his abdication, the other defunct gods of Earth’s vanquished pantheons want a piece of the action He abandoned.

Meanwhile, the newly-humanized deity must discover the whereabouts and intentions of the similarly reincarnated Lucifer, and block the ascension of a murderous new God.

How is he ever going to make it as a stand-up comedian with all of this going on…?”

I’ve admired Boatman’s work as an actor (I adored his character on Spin City), and I have to give him props for having the guts to try writing. And I have to give him even more props for tackling the subject of God and his interference (or lack thereof) in human life. He creates his version of God as an interesting dichotomy: on the one hand, he’s still running around with a certain amount of reality-altering powers; on the other hand, he seems curiously inept in his own personal dealings. It’s like he’s not quite sure what to do with this world that he created, and it’s amusing to see him fumbling around.

The problem that I found in this book is that there are too many things that just don’t add up. God supposedly wanted to experience life as a human, but he still has the power to do basically whatever he wants. At the start of the book, he actually resets time so that a huge god-fueled disaster doesn’t kill a bunch of people. That doesn’t exactly translate to the normal human experience. On that same note, God’s profession is stand-up comedy… again, not really indicative of how the masses get through life. Now, if he’d gone into retail, that would have been cool.

Actually, the whole stand-up comedy angle doesn’t fit well into the novel. It doesn’t really play a part in the plot—except for possibly a bit near the end—and so it feels like the entire pitch for this book is misleading. Much more of the book revolves around God’s relationship with his girlfriend (and if that concept doesn’t break your brain, nothing will) and his quest to figure out the identity of the new god that’s threatening to take over the world.

Boatman’s best work is with the characters, especially the secondary characters. The mortal incarnation of Buddha is my favorite, and he comes across as laid-back but still fairly world-wise. He’s the kind of guy you’d love to have a conversation with. I also liked Connie, a Native American goddess who is sort of God’s conscience (wrap your brain around that!). She’s not in the novel all that much, but I enjoyed seeing her when she did appear.

Another positive part of the book is that there’s some great action as the novel moves into its second half. With both God and Lucifer out of the picture, other gods try to muscle in on their turf and some epic battles occur. There’s also a couple of surprising events that caught me off guard and had me reading faster to see how things played out.

I think this novel was on the cusp of presenting something original and humorous, but it got in its own way by trying to be too clever. Still, it’s not bad for a freshman effort and I’ll be interested to see if Boatman continues writing. Last God Standing held my attention through the entire book, but there were some obvious issues that made it not work as well as it could have.

This review originally appeared on Owlcat Mountain on January 29, 2014.

[OpenBookSociety.com · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://openbooksociety.com/article/la...

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Alina

Beware of possible Spoilers

Reading this book was definitely an interesting experience. Not that I liked it much, it’s not really my cup of tea, but it did keep me wondering about what comes next. It was also cool to realize that Michael Boatman, the writer, is also Michael Boatman the actor, and to read about the style he writes in, which is called ‘splatterpunk horror’ (Wikipedia).

Well, I must say that it does sort of sound the way it feels when you read it. Even if, as far as I understand, his other works are much, much worse than this one (horror-wise, I mean) Last God Standing is a bit too violent for me and there were times when I just couldn’t understand what was going on. There were way too many characters involved, so it was difficult to keep track of all of them. 90 % of them are gods from all kinds of active or lost civilizations and I, as a student of literature, have known details about most of them from high school and university courses. I wonder how people who have never come across them can ever manage with it, because this is definitely not an easy read. It helps a lot if you know what terms such as: ‘stream of consciousness’ or the ‘collective unconscious’ mean.

Lando Cooper, our main character, is the average modern young man. I found him, surprisingly, a pretty convincing human. His life is a mess, he is always late for something, he hardly ever works, he always asks for money from his dad, he has no idea how to handle his girlfriends’ parents and he is easily manipulated, by basically everyone. On the other hand, he is the God of the Hebrews who has forsaken his immortality and descended to the human level together with his enemy, the Devil. And he has to deal with angry, crazy gods on a daily basis, so that kind of excuses his many faults, at least in my eyes.

There are many funny instances in the book. My favorite, by far, was a reply on God’s email (yes, he also has Facebook and Twitter, in case you want to get in touch), from Jesus Christ JR: “Still not speaking to you.” Another one, I have to say it, it’s really cute, from this little boy explaining the frictions between his parents: “My dad went to a lot of fairs with different women.” Some of the gods, who have also given up immortality, have been living for years under different guises, not surprisingly, in the United States. The most jolly of all is the former Buddha, who is enjoying his new life tremendously and has absolutely no regrets, because: “Sure, we had some limited power over the human soul, but nothing they couldn’t overcome with education and a little travel.’

My favorite part in the book is the description of Lando’s relationship with his son on Amon-Ra’s parallel world. There were some lovely pages there, that almost squeezed some tears out of my eyes.

If you are a someone who likes to read about gods, gods fighting, zombies, parallel worlds, voodoo and so forth, this is definitely a book for you.