* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: The first outright joke in the book appears in a very sneaky way. Tak watches from a distance as Sam engages in some strange ritual with a demon, as pillars of fire appear around them. Yama explains that Sam was ''gambling'' with the demon to earn the allegiance of a number of fire elementals, which is what they were wagering on. Knowing this, the reader may flip back to that scene and notice the clues which were there: the weird ritual gestures were just ''rolling dice'', and the players' strange utterances ("Eyes of the serpent") turn out to be AntiquatedLinguistics for "Snake eyes!" "Double or nothing!" "Lucky seven!" et cetera.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: Though they use it to justify their control over humanity, "gods" have a point: humanity is not prepared for progress, as science, used in wrong way, can really destroy and pollute the planet. Knowing that the first ones were survivors from destroyed Earth, they maybe somewhat right.
%%** It's ambiguous as to whether or not Earth was actually destroyed or if the ''Star of India'' just couldn't get back to it. Also, the "humans aren't ready for Science" angle is a poor excuse at best when you consider that the gods are the ones responsible for the lack of knowledge and technology among the common man, not for environmental purposes but to keep their worshipers from being able to question or depose them.