It’s a very good story, very well told. Trust me, if I could get 10 more years with my late wife, I’d do it. But…
It’s another variant on the Christian cosmology/theology, and inconsistent.
In one early bit, we’re told that the laws against gay relationships are just human ones.
However, through the rest of the novella, rules are rules, and absolute, no exemptions, no exceptions, and violating one is unforgivable.
For example, if you would sell your soul to save someone else’s life, why is that unforgivable? Heroes are always shown giving their life for others, why is this different? How is that an evil act? If I wanted to be nasty, I could mention “He so loved humanity that he sacrificed his only son…”
For that matter, why can’t you offer your soul to God, such that you become a tool for him, giving up “free will”?
And of course, there’s the question of if God is all-knowing, wouldn’t the whole plot of the novella unravel, because He should *know* what was done?
Very good novella, but lots of snaps on the suspenders of disbelief.