- Hardcover: 289 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday (3 Dec 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385409435
- ISBN-13: 978-0385409438
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,229,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
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
Product Description
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?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Magic,
By
This review is from: Apocalypso (Paperback)
Apocalypso, Robert Rankin's 18th novel, struggles a little during it's first half, with two seemingly unconnected tales; one concerning a young lad called Porrig who inherits a magical bookshop, and the other telling the tale of a god-like alien vegetable's awakening from cryogenic suspension and it's plan to enslave humanity - this being Robert Rankin the alien bears a liking not dissimilar to that of a giant sprout. The tale of the alien also features that trio of investigators Sir John Rimmer, Dr Harney, and Danbury Collins, the psychic youth and masturbator, who appeared in The Garden of Unearthly Delights and Sprout Mask Replica, although as they had previously only really appeared in cameos this book is well suited for the first time Rankin reader.The first half of the novel ambles along in a reasonably pleasant fashion, but it's nothing we haven't had from Rankin before, and with his typically Rankin-ish mysterious family inheritance, and his foot in mouth habit not quite working as a running gag, hero Porrig fails to really engage with the reader. It's only when the two story strands combine in a tale taking in alternate realities vibrating on different harmonic frequencies, a stage magician called Apocalypso caught in his own version of hell, and an 18inch tall imp called Rippington (that's him on the cover) who is obsessed with his own genitalia (or 'rubbing parts' as he calls them), that Apocalypso clicks into top gear, and the novels second half is as good as anything Rankin has ever written, with some laugh out loud jokes and terrific set-pieces. While I wouldn't say Apocalypso was consistent enough to rank as one of Rankin's very best books, its still a damn fine comedy - an inventive satire on Hollywood action film cliché with even more bum jokes and knob gags than normal. Apocalypso is a marvellous example of good toilet humour, so come on in, the water's lovely!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A master piece in the makeing,
By A Customer
This review is from: Apocalypso (Paperback)
While reading this book you are never drawn away,on almost every page there is a reason to pee your pants while laughing. This book is beyond hillerious. You'll be intrigued all the way through. Robert Rankin is a brilliant writer and always maneges to make you laugh. THis book is a perfect example of his work. So read and laugh
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
By BC (Warwickshire, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Apocalypso (Paperback)
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.
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