Villordsutch reviews Last God Standing by Michael Boatman…
Michael Boatman is probably known to a fair few of you as an actor from such TV shows as Spin City, Anger Management, Gossip Girl, The Good Wife and Instant Mom; along with this his had a collection of his short stories published – God Laughs When You Die – and his first full horror novel, The Revenant Road. Here in Last God Standing Michael gives us a humourous novel about God deciding to quit his current full-time role and become a stand-ip comedian, much to the displeasure of the pantheons vanquished before him, who are now they are returning to fill the vacuum left by Yahweh (The Abrahamic God).
God or Lando Calrissian Darnell Cooper to use his given name (his father was a big Billy Dee Williams fan) is a fairly likeable everyday sort of chap who you’re happy to root for throughout the book. From page one we start off rather immediately with a reality shifting battle between the now mortal (by his own choosing) Yahweh (Lando) and Zeus. For this battle Lando uses cunning, smart putdowns and dirty tricks to defeat Zeus, but the problem is once the battle is over the book chooses to stay at the same uneventful, not very amusing pace until the next battle, before repeating until we arrive near enough at the final quarter at which point it switches to a reality swap lifestyle for Lucas and then back to a climactic battle before a saccharine sweet ending – so sweet it made my teeth itch – finishes the book off.
Another issue I had with Last God Standing was that it was supposed to be a humourous book, to the point the main character is a stand-up comedian and on at least two occasions two chapters are stand-up routines; the problem here is my face barely broke above a smile. At some points it was rather embarrassing to read as the jokes died on page/stage, or were just irrelevant – e.g. if I mentioned to a lot of people “Google Wave” they wouldn’t have a clue what I was gibbering about but this book, clearly set a few years in the future, uses it as a throw away joke. I know some nerds that don’t know what Google Wave is!
To put the story and humour aside I did like the characters throughout the book and the moments (for example) with Lando and Herb (Son and Father) or TV corporates trying to buy Lucas for their show were the sequences that really made the book for me and kept me happy throughout. The book is very accessible too and was consumed in three days of easy reading. So if you do fancy a bit of (very) light hearted Deity based fantasy then perhaps you’ll enjoy Last God Standing, but if you’re looking for a book with proper meat on its bones I really would look elsewhere as this isn’t for you.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published April 2, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
