There are some very good and some quite funny parts in this book, wherein God and the Devil enter into "the same stupid bet" to prove the enduring goodness and faithfulness (or lack thereof) in humankind, this time in the modern-day USA. An interesting take on the Devil and a corporate-style Hell. However, it really could have been slimmed down a bit, and the Arthurian themes were a bit too strong for me (maybe I'm just tired of Arthurian stories). Full disclosure: I actually don't have the stamina to finish this right now (slim down!), but I do think I will come back to it later on to see how it turns out.

I love Arthurian lore....always have, it started in High school when I read all of these[b:The Crystal Cave|82192|The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga, #1)|Mary Stewart|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171013330s/82192.jpg|1864677] and then went onto these[b:Taliesin|6671824|Taliesin (The Pendragon Cycle, #1)|Stephen R. Lawhead|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SleJ0VKSL._SL75_.jpg|497654]. And then I had a really cool english teacher in whose classroom we would just watch movies and then have tests, there I fell in love with Camelot.When you combine Arthur, Gwen AND Lancelot in a book, along with God Lucifer "the wager" of Job, demons and Angels.....well ya never know just what you might get.

When God and Lucifer bet it all ( yet again ) on the shoulders of a Ten year old boy...look out.The author was very creative throwing in lil twists and turns everywhere, and I truly enjoyed reading this book. There were times that I wanted to scream at Joby to stop being such a whiner, but hey.......when you have all the powers of hell formed against you, I guess you have a right to whine, just a little bit. After a bit I did finally have compassion for Joby. When you go from being Golden Child.....to being the biggest loser and then back to Hero I suppose it can take it's toll. There were parts of this book that got me a bit choked up and misty eyed, and there were parts that made me laugh. The characters were very easy to get into and even some of the demons were believable. I believe the premise was very well thought out and even dealing with spiritual/religious undertones never got overly preachy. Sadly I can not find anything else written by this Author other than a book on humpback whales......I suppose I can wait.

Forget the hundred monkey and their typewriters. A senile ferret on crack could, whilst having apoplectic fits on a keyboard, come up with more compelling material than this.

But that would be cruelty to animals; PETA would be after you if you did that. Too bad there's no such thing as cruelty to readers because this book is rank abuse. Someone seriously needs to douse Mr. Ferrari with printer ink.

This book is an emotional roller coaster, and that is what makes it so amazing. Excellent writing combined with an array of likable and deep characters make this a favorite.

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11030076

This wasn't the epic fantasy that I was expecting, as the jacket copy stated. The age-old wager between God and Lucifer begins again, this time with a young boy named Joby. The book is a detailed chronicle of Joby's life, and the hardships he faces. That's about it.

I felt like I was being banged on the head over and over again with the idea that all people face hardships - not all brought about by the Devil - but that God is always there for us if we just ask for Him and his heavenly helpers. After about 200 pages, this got old. I get it, I get that we'll all experience trials and tests of our wills, but we should persevere and blah, blah, blah. Too preachy for my taste, and not enough interesting action, just fairly routine things that happen to people over the course of their lives, with a few chapters featuring the nefarious actions of the Devil's demons.

All in all, I found this tome hard to get through, but I plodded through to the end. I came to to conclusion that nearly anyone's life story could be called "The Book of ____" and would act as an acceptable replacement for this novel.