Product Description

Oscar Wilde meets Kurt Vonnegut in the genetics lab of classic fantasy humour' SFX

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #330470 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 364 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Robert Rankin's comic fantasies have a laddish good humour which rely heavily, if not excessively, on teasing, class and beer. His protagonists are always forced to compete in a world in which someone else has a silver spoon in their mouth; they muddle their way through his amiably Heath-Robinsonish plots by a mixture of chutzpah, bluster and endurance. Porrig, hero of Apocalypso has a bad attitude that makes even his parents dislike him, but he inherits a shop from a conjuror uncle--a shop which serves as a gateway to other worlds. Not only has he to redeem his uncle from damnation, he also has to save the world from an unpleasant alien vegetable with the power to cloud human minds. Amid all this, we find out what Nelson's Column is for, why railway ticket clerks take so long to sell tickets and the secret that lurks under Mornington Crescent Underground Station. Rankin's humour is a scatter-shot that misses targets as often as it hits, but his unabashed preparedness to use old jokes and the crudest of slapstick is part of a shaggy-dog enthusiasm that is more endearing than otherwise. --Roz Kaveney

Synopsis
The Ministry of Serendipity at Mornington Crescent runs everything. When it hears of a spacecraft that crashed into the Pacific 4000 years ago, it sends a team of paranormal investigators to recover it. Danbury Collins is in the team - but he isn't keen. What if a mad alien thaws out?

From the Back Cover
The Ministry of Serendipity at Mornington Crescent runs everything. And that means everything. When the Ministry learns of a spacecraft that crashed four thousand years ago into the Pacific Ocean it sends an elite team of paranormal investigators to recover it. A mad alien thaws out, there is hell and horror all around and thousands flee in terror.

Porrig has inherited a planet, or it might be a bookshop, or it might be a gateway into another world. And Porrig is worried, because he has learned a terrible secret. But if he told people, would they listen? No.

But perhaps they should, because a mad alien has thawed out, there is hell and horror all around and thousands are fleeing in terror. And there is every likelihood of there being a bloody big explosion at the end. Will Porrig manage to do anything about it at all?

Customer Reviews

Laugh out loud funny...
I picked this book up when I was much younger and haven't read it since but the plot has never left me. It was fantastic and although it may not be the best thing since sliced bread I prefer a nice thick slab anyway! I remember coming home from the library with this and few other books which I can't remember the names of now. I sat on my sofa and instantly became engrossed in this hilarious tale. The jokes are plentiful, the humour is top class and the serious bits - if they can be called so - hit home because of that. So while the book is all a bit of fun it also mirrors real life in so many detailed ways that you'll be able to relate to some of the situations which seemed so fantastical as younger reader.

Over- kill on the jokes!
I did find this book very funny in places, but in my opinion the author was quite heavy handed and almost relentless with the jokes at times; they just keep on coming, one after the other, which on a few occaisions had me thinking "Oh for heaven's sake, just get on with it". Some of the humour was quite immature and there were several unecessary beatings! The characters were quite shallow and without much personality. I did enjoy reading this book for a bit of light entertainment and found the story line engaging, it just seemed that the author was attempting to put in as many jokes as possible at the expense of the story.

Excellent
I've read Rankin books previously, but this book was the one of his I have most enjoyed.

The humour throughout is fantastic and Rankin, so often the master of the running gag, is in inspired form.

The plot is a parody of a standard alien invasion type scenario, but Rankin manages to put his own unique twist on events.

Some Rankin books can be a bit too fantasy based. This book is not like that, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys humourous books.

Overall this is an excellent, light-hearted book that combines some very funny characters with some fantastic gags throughout.

Well worth reading and worth 5 stars.