La dernière tentation de Judas by Philippe Battaglia
I bought this on a whim because it got the Grand Prix des Utopiales, the top prize of the most important French Science Fiction festival, but also because the back-cover promised something very provocative. On the face of it, that's what you get: in a nutshell, the 12 apostles were blessed with the holy spirit which enabled them to perform miracles, but also made them immortal. They literally cannot be killed. The highest of them (at least in his own view) is Peter, who has been the real pope behind the papal throne for nearly 2000 years. The lowliest is Judas who, despite his betrayal of Jesus was still granted the holy spirit and has been wallowing in self-loathing for two millenia, because Jesus was not only his master, but also his lover. Unfortunately, past the first few chapters, you realise that most of its provocative side is humorous, and that what you are reading is really an adventure novel with apostles as superheroes. I really felt like I was reading Preacher, and I have no doubt that it was a major inspiration for this book. But Preacher was darkly provocative in the mid-90s and what could have been described as a punk attitude to religion 30 years ago is kinda bland now. And since - despite the thorough and commendable amount of research that undoubtedly went into this book - there's not much more depth to it than the mild provocation of its premise, I can only describe this as a fun light read that's ultimately disappointing.
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