Short Fantasy Story Review – K J Parker – No Rest For The Wicked

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Mammoth / Robinson’s Press 2015 – Spoiler alerts A Satanic demon manipulates Pope Benedict 9th (1032-48) so the reluctant Pope commits great acts of evil, including selling the Papal seat to the highest bidder. It’s a very talky preachy story with theological debates on the nature of evil and why God lets us suffer. The demonic narrator knows future human history is pre-determined and exactly how destiny must unfold. This makes all the effort seem pointless. It is quite like C S Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, with modern day pop culture references and management-speak phrases like thinking outside the box seeming out of place in the 11th century. Arthur Chappell