Tancredi [Kindle Edition]

Two years ago I read James Palumbo's terrible debut novel, 'Tomas', which is a prime example of a book which can only have been published because its author had connections and cash rather than talent or even a good idea for a story. This total mess of a novel should have put me off Palumbo for life. However, when 'Tancredi' came along, the description of the plot caught my interest and I decided I'd give him a second chance. I shouldn't have bothered.

The novel takes place on an accidental journey through a constellation of increasingly nonsensical planets, each representing a contemporary Earth 'problem' taken too far. There's a planet where healthcare has been extended to the point that its elderly, decaying residents are desperate for death; a planet where man-pig paparazzos rummage through waste to find the next celebrity scandal; a planet full of obese gameshow-watching slobs who are so fat that they've lost the ability to walk; planets where health and safety or political correctness have been taken to the Nth degree; and so on. The situations on the various planets do have some prescience, but Palumbo races through each one at breakneck speed and doesn't invest any time in developing the ideas (or the characters). Inevitably some ridiculous plot twist propels our band of dimwitted, unappealing characters onto the next planet and the cycle starts again. The book continues toward its entirely predictable ending, which I won't spoil but you can probably guess from reading the back-cover blurb. By the time it gets there, though, you'll have lost all interest in the story.

Don't be fooled by the gushing reviews given by other Amazon reviewers. 'Tancredi' is a short, poorly-written story with no character development and very little to keep the reader interested beyond a couple of valid but ultimately under-developed points about the state of the world we live in. One to avoid.

Attempting to wade through this literary car crash was a real struggle, despite the story being (thankfully) very short; determination to finish it was fired by the simple belief that something unfathomably enlightening MUST be revealed at the end (as indicated by other reviews).

The story is written in pseudo children's book language with sporadic illustrations, which is unusual and okay if the style is compensated with substance. Unfortunately, not one iota of substance here... only weak and obvious metaphors of a journey through everything that's wrong with the world according to Palumbo (which I don't necessarily disagree with), and an attempt at surrealism more suited to a fake acid trip.

The last page did, in fact, reveal something enlightening; it revealed that this book must have been written with the sole purpose of making fun of us, for paying for such a farcical piece of literature... and that the moment I paid for this, my hypothetical MoronOmeter went off the scale. Therefore, instead of passing it onto friends or charity shops as I'd usually do with finished/rubbish books, this one was promptly sent back to amazon for a full refund. Without a speck of guilt.

Very interesting and amusing book on space travel. I couldn't put it down and wanted to know how it all tied together.