The Devil You Know

Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R3VCRXW6B6YBPK?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl

This is a short novella, or a long short story. It is vastly entertaining and worth the time and money, particularly if you like a nice, quick “con job on the Devil” story.

The story is set in a sort of fantasy world that looks sort of like our own, where the countries and empires seem to have historical analogs. I'm not sure if it is a fantasy; other than the existence of soul-purchasing devils, it seems that the state of the art involves alchemy. Saloninus seems to be the da Vinci of this world; a man of prodigious intellect breaking the bounds of philosophy, art and science. One of the recurrent jokes in the story are the titles of Saloninus's books. It seems that he wrote “The Consolation of Philosophy,” the “Dialogues,” the “Critique of Pure Reason,” and, of course, “Principles of Mathematics.” If you know history, philosophy or the history of science, the references are amusing.

Saloninus is also a rogue and a rapscallion. Now he's old and wants to leave the world something that it will really remember him by. So, he's entered into an iron-clad contract for 20 more years of life and unlimited power in return for his immortal soul.

The devil who is assigned to him - a lover of art and philosophy - just knows that Saloninus is too smart to sell his soul so cheaply.

Is the devil right?

This is a fast send-up of the “deal with the devil” genre. The author, K.J. Parker, alternates the first person narrative between Saloninus and the suspicious devil, which can be confusing at times, but it works on the whole. The story had clever dialogue and Saloninus became one of my favorite characters based on his upfront, guileless self-seeking, scheming personality.