History YMMV / TheGospelOfEvil

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Not to the level of the next book, but Parks is sometimes so rude and unprofessional in her interactions with other characters that not even her FBI medium status fully justifies she should get away with it.

* IdiotPlot:
** The story of the novel is only possible in the first place because, for some undiscernible reason, the Church never tried to destroy the damn title gospel back when it had the book in its power. Even in the remote case that absolutely all the people in charge were totally against burning books (which historically they were not), they still gained literally nothing from preserving a gospel that told terrible things about their history, carried a very testable evil spell that turned people into Satanist madmen, and was sought after by literal demons who would threaten the entire world with plagues and wars in order to get it. And yet, judging by Sister Yseult's inspection, the Church archivists did not even try to destroy it, but merely gave it a new bookbinding. (The same happens with the skeleton of Janus, another proof of the gospel's truths which the sisters ''did'' try to destroy, but only after they were under assault and as a very last resource.)
** Caleb and the Soultakers show an array of abilities that include massive possessions, folding space, teleporting, and even summoning zombies, but they never employ them for anything other than horror film shenanigans. Even Caleb's attack on Yseult's order is only composed of playful, one-per-night murders on defenseless victims when he might perfectly raid the place and destroy everybody in mere minutes. The consequence is, naturally, that the heroes are constantly capable to thwart the Black Smoke of Satan despite being in complete inferiority.

** The story of the novel is only possible in the first place because, for some undiscernible reason, the Church never tried to destroy the damn title gospel back when it had the book on its power. Even in the remote case that absolutely all the people in charge were totally against burning books (which historically they were not), they still gained literally nothing from preserving a gospel that told terrible things about their history, carried a very testable evil spell that turned people into Satanist madmen, and was sought after by literal demons who would threaten the entire world with plagues and wars in order to get it. And yet, judging by Sister Yseult's inspection, the Church archivists did not even try to destroy it, but merely gave it a new bookbinding. (The same happens with the skeleton of Janus, another proof of the gospel's truths which the sisters ''did'' try to destroy, but only after they were under assault and as a very last resource.)

* HilariousInHindsight: In the novel's background it is explained that the next candidate to Pope, Miguel Luis Centenario, hailed from Argentina. In 2013, several years after it was published, we really got an Argentinian Pope.

* AssPull: The statement that the very horrified masses who heard Camano's reading the Gospel in the Vatican have somehow forgotten it all, to their happiness and the Church's. While it is admittedly never explained how the book's evil magic works, this comes from nowhere and looks like a random attempt to make the ending less negative.

* IdiotPlot: The story of the novel is only possible in the first place because, for some undiscernible reason, the Church never tried to destroy the damn title gospel back when it had the book on its power. Even in the remote case that absolutely all the people in charge were totally against burning books (which historically they were not), they still gained literally nothing from preserving a gospel that told terrible things about their history, carried a very testable evil spell that turned people into Satanist madmen, and was sought after by literal demons who would threaten the entire world with plagues and wars in order to get it. And yet, judging by Sister Yseult's inspection, the Church archivists did not even try to destroy it, but merely gave it a new bookbinding. (The same happens with the skeleton of Janus, another proof of the gospel's truths which the sisters ''did'' try to destroy, but only after they were under assault and as a very last resource.)

** The main demon antagonist being named [[TomTheDarkLord Caleb]] is bad enough, but the supernatural smell of demonic influence happening to be ''garden violet scent'' (while its godly equivalent is rose scent, for the same arbitrary reasons) is just too random to take seriously. Why violets, given that they don't even smell bad or weird? Or rather, why do God and the Devil have specially exclusive scents?

* NarmCharm: The whole scene in which Parks sees Crossman's dead wife and tells him her words is a monumental Hollywood medium cliché, but it is so well played and placed that it comes off instead as a deeply emotional, heartwarming moment.

* {{Sequelitis}}: The book's sequel-of-sorts, ''The Apocalypse according to Mary''. Most readers found it very inferior to the original for a) not closing any of the previous's open threads, b) subjecting Parks to insane amounts of {{Flanderization}} and introducing a FanDislikedExplanation of her background, c) featuring a LoveInterest much less interesting than Carzo and a [[TheScrappy staggeringly annoying]] surrogate daughter, d) having a boring antagonist who is dangerously close to a GenericDoomsdayVillain, e) taking clearly too much from Creator/SteveAlten's ''Literature/{{Domain}}'' trilogy, and d) being generally a [[RememberTheNewGuy Remember the New]] AncientConspiracy kind of episode that don't fit easily with the established ''Gospel'' setting. Some have invoked FanonDiscontinuity against the book, and even those who have not typically believe it would have worked much better as a separate continuity with a different main character instead of Parks.

* AssPull: The statement that the very horrified masses who heard Camano's reading the Gospel in the Vatican are somehow forgotten it all, to their happiness and the Church's. While it is admittedly never explained how the book's evil magic works, this comes from nowhere and looks like a random attempt to make the ending less negative.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: Parks. People find her either amusing or annoying.
* IdiotPlot: The story of the novel is only possible in the first place because, for some undiscernible reason, the Church never tried to destroy the damn title gospel back when it had the book on its power. Even in the remote case absolutely all the people in charge were totally against burning books (which historically were not), they still gained literally nothing from preserving a gospel that told terrible things about their history, carried a very testable evil spell that turned people into Satanist madmen, and was sought after by literal demons who could threaten the entire world with plagues and wars in order to get it. And yet, judging by Sister Yseult's inspection, the Church archivists not even tried to destroy it, but merely gave it a new bookbinding. (A contrast is made to the skeleton of Janus, another proof of the gospel's truths which the sisters ''did'' try to destroy, but only after they were under assault and as a very last resource.)

** That Parks's life has become troubled after her car accident (which killed her husband and daughter aside from giving her amnesia and mediumnic powers) is understandable, but it becomes too over-the-top to be taken seriously when we get scene after scene of her drinking, taking pills, getting stoned, sleeping with random people, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs doing all the four]], and the like. The sequel only makes it worse.
** Some of the demonic imagery just borders the trite. The possessed Carzo feeling blood thirst as if he had become a vampire, the Gospel containing a chapter named "Book of the Maledictions" and the fact that the world is literally ruled by a Satanist cabal are the main examples. Also, while less trite, the Christian stuff doesn't escape from being unintentionally awkward: the narration casually calling Cathars and Waldensians "hateful liars" and the occasional pro-Catholicism AuthorTract rival the previous points.
** The main demon antagonist being named [[TomTheDarkLord Caleb]] is bad enough, but the supernatural smell of demonic influence happening to be ''garden violet scent'' (while its godly equivalent is rose scent, for the same arbitrary reasons) is just too random to take seriously. Why violets, which don't even smell bad or weird? Or rather, why do God and the Devil have specially exclusive scents?

* {{Sequelitis}}: The book's sequel-of-sorts, ''The Apocalypse according to Mary''. Most readers found it very inferior to the original for a) not closing any of the previous's open threads, b) subjecting Parks to insane amounts of {{Flanderization}} and introducing a FanDislikedExplanation of her background, c) featuring a LoveInterest much less interesting than Carzo and a [[TheScrappy staggeringly annoying]] surrogate daughter, d) having a boring antagonist who is dangerously close to a GenericDoomsdayVillain, e) taking clearly too much from Creator/SteveAlten's ''Literature/{{Domain}}'' trilogy, and d) being generally a [[RememberTheNewGuy Remember the New]] AncientConspiracy kind of episode that don't fit easily with the established ''Gospel'' setting. Some have invoked FanonDiscontinuity against the book, and even those who have not typically believe it would have worked much better as a separate story with a new main character instead of Parks.

* IdiotPlot: The story of the novel is only possible in the first place because, for some undiscernible reason, the Church never tried to destroy the damn title gospel back when it had the book on its power. Even in the remote case absolutely año the people in charge were totally against burning books (which historically were not), they still gained literally nothing from preserving a gospel that told terrible things about their history, carried a very testable evil spell that turned people into Satanist madmen, and was sought after by literal demons who could threaten the entire world with plagues and wars in order to get it. And yet, judging by Sister Yseult's inspection, they not even tried to destroy it, but merely gave it a new bookbinding. (A contrast is made with the skeleton of Janus, another proof of the gospel's truths which the sisters ''did'' try to destroy, but only after they were under assault and as a very last resource.)

** That Parks's life has become troubled after her car accident (which killed her husband and daughter aside from giving her amnesia and mediumnic powers) is understandable, but it becomes too over-the-top to be taken seriously when we get scene after scene of her drinking, taking pills, getting stoned, sleeping with random people, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs doing all the four]], and the like. (And the sequel only makes it worse.)
** Some of the demonic imagery just borders the trite. The possessed Carzo feeling blood thrist as if he had become a vampire, the Gospel containing a chapter named "Book of the Maledictions" and the fact that the world is literally ruled by a Satanist cabal are the main examples. Also, while less trite, the Christian stuff doesn't escape from being unintentionally awkward: the narration casually calling Cathars and Waldensians "hateful liars" and the occasional pro-Catholicism AuthorTract rival the previous points.

** That Parks's life has become troubled after her car accident (which killed her husband and daughter aside from giving her amnesia and mediumnic powers) is understandable, but it becomes too over-the-top to be taken seriously when we get scene after scene of her drinking, taking pills, getting stoned, sleeping with very random people, doing all the four, and the like. (And the sequel only makes it worse.)
** The main demon antagonist being named [[TomTheDarkLord Caleb.]]
** Caleb having the VerbalTic of calling Carzo's name in just every sentence.

* {{Sequelitis}}: The book's sequel-of-sorts, ''The Apocalypse according to Mary''. Most readers found it very inferior to the original for a) not closing any of the previous's open threads, b) subjecting Parks to heavy {{Flanderization}} and introducing a FanDislikedExplanation of her background, c) featuring a LoveInterest much less interesting than Carzo and a [[TheScrappy staggeringly annoying]] surrogate daughter, d) having a rather boring antagonist who is dangerously close to a GenericDoomsdayVillain, e) taking clearly too much from Creator/SteveAlten's ''Literature/{{Domain}}'' trilogy, and d) being generally a [[RememberTheNewGuy Remember the New]] AncientConspiracy kind of story that don't fit easily with the established ''Gospel'' setting. Some have invoked FanonDiscontinuity against the book, and even those who have not typically believe it would have worked much better as a separate story with a new main character instead of Parks.

* {{Narm}}: The main demon antagonist being named [[TomTheDarkLord Caleb.]]
* {{Sequelitis}}: The book's sequel-of-sorts, ''The Apocalypse according to Mary''. Most readers found it very inferior to the original for a) not closing any of the previous's open threads, b) subjecting Parks to heavy {{Flanderization}} and introducing a FanDislikedExplanation of her background, c) featuring a LoveInterest much less interesting than Carzo and a [[TheScrappy staggeringly annoying]] surrogate daughter, d) having a remarkably unoriginal and boring villain, e) and taking clearly too much from Creator/SteveAlten's ''Literature/{{Domain}}'' trilogy. Some have invoked FanonDiscontinuity against the book, and even those who have not typically believe it would have worked much better as a separate story with a new main character instead of Parks.