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List love: 10 books that feature angels and/or demons




Apropos of nothing, I decided to make a list of books featuring angels and demons in important - although not necessarily starring - roles.  I also decided to stick to angels and demons that are recognisably Christian in origin, so the Amulet of Samarkand doesn't qualify, and neither does Vathek, an Arabian Tale because while the demon Eblis plays an important role in it, he is mostly off stage.
Here are 10 books, including two poems and a play, that feature one or more demons and/or angels.

I have read the first 9 in their entirety, and read a good part of 'Inferno' from The Divine Comedy.
  • Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman - both. I probably should mention The Omen as well, because Good Omens is a parody of it, but I haven't read it and I can barely remember the film.
  • The Devil‘s Detective by Simon Kurt Unsworth - both. Read my review here.
  • Eric by Terry Pratchett - demons. This is a parody of the German legend of Faust and while it takes place on the Discworld, the demons are clearly based on the Christian idea.
  • Paradise Lost by John Milton - both.
  • The collected Lucifer comics, based on Neil Gaiman's interpretation of Lucifer and written by Mike Carey and drawn by various artists - both. Lucifer as a bored night-club owner, but with frequent flash-backs to the Fall and other Biblical events.
  • The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis - demons. A delightful correspondence between a senior demon and his nephew, who is trying his best to tempt a young man.
  • The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty - demon. About a demonic possession. This is the last book I read that made me afraid of going to sleep, lest I have nightmares. I did fall asleep eventually (and didn't have a nightmare).
  • The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov – the Devil himself.
  • Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard - the Devil and sundry demons and demonic creatures. Another entertaining Faustian parody.
  • The Divine Comedy by Dante - both. A trip through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.
Bonus: The Devil, A Biography by Peter Stanford. I didn't include it in the main list because it's non-fiction, covering the idea of the Devil and his incarnations.


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