This book was a frustrating experience. 

It started out full of promise, with passages of breathtaking beauty that seemed to capture the essence of Lucifer in a way that few texts can. 

Then a bit of confusing Nietzsche fanboyism crept in. Then came boatloads of soft polytheism. 

Then it moved into a retelling of the history of the Church that was flawed, biased and inaccurate on a Margaret Murray level. 

Finally, it ended on a note of sour nihilism. 

The portrayal of a beautiful, brilliant Satan in the beginning was degraded and twisted by the end. The one who had promised infinite gnosis and liberation was ultimately shown as offering only idiotic escapism and joyless intoxication. 

It was weird. It felt like the author started out with one idea of Satan and ended with another. It felt like a book that didn’t know what it wanted to be, devoid of consistent opinions, values or theology. The Promethean Lightbringer turns bitter and becomes the cruel, petty enemy of God and Christianity, even tormenting his own devotees to alleviate his frustration. In that sense, this ended up being a very Christian book– the character arc of Satan mirrored that in Paradise Lost. 

I have never read something that started out so moving and promising and ended so mediocre and empty. It reads exactly like what Christians think the experience of Satanism is– promises and dreams that crumble away to nothingness and pain. 

Can’t recommend, although I’ve posted some of the better passages from early on as quotes on this blog. 

That said, it’s interesting to read such a blatantly Satanic and little-known book from the 19th century. (And despite the problematic-sounding title, it contains very little antisemitism.)