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Necrophenia (Gollancz S.F.)
 
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Necrophenia (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

by Robert Rankin (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: Ł14.99
Price: Ł9.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code: A forbidden secret, wrapped in a musical enigma, bound up in cosmic mystery (Gollancz S.F.) by Robert Rankin

Necrophenia (Gollancz S.F.) + The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code: A forbidden secret, wrapped in a musical enigma, bound up in cosmic mystery (Gollancz S.F.)
Price For Both: Ł14.39

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; First Edition, First Impression edition (29 Dec 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575078715
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575078710
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 91,374 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #20 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > R > Rankin, Robert

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Review

"Rankin is so bloody good... you can't help but laugh along with him. Rankin pulls it off with impish glee. Congratulations on the big Three-Oh to the self-proclaimed father of far-fetched fiction. He's still on top form." (Phil Kelly DEATHRAY )

"Necrophenia is epic, laugh-out-loud funny. There's also some very clever writing. After all these years, Rankin is still as fresh and inventive as ever." (Martyn Casserly SCI FI NOW )

"For all the comedy, Necrophenia is a dark book. Fans will love it anyway." (David Langford SFX )

"Rankin [has a] gift for surreal dialogue. His back-and-forth, off-kilter banter attains a truly Marx Brothers level of wit and intensity at times. You won't be able to put down this rambunctious, giddy tale of supernatural musicology. If Mike Mignola and Terry Gilliam had scripted and filmed the Beatles in Help! (1965), the results might have resembled this book." (SCi-FI WEEKLY )

"Robert Rankin is the Frank Zappa of the SF and Fantasy World: an undoubted genius, if something of an accquired taste." (FORTEAN TIMES )

"Rankin's legion of fans will be delighted by this gallimaufry of silliness, told with the author's hallmark fragmented, rapid-fire prose." (Eric Brown THE GUARDIAN )


Product Description

ONE IN EVERY THREE PEOPLE LIVING IS ACTUALLY DEAD! It is a matter of historical record that during the latter part of World War II, England's top-secret Ministry of Serendipity enlisted the services of arch-magician Aleister Crowley to create a Homunculus. Why? Well that's a long story, spanning almost seven decades as it follows the life and career of Tyler, rock star, private eye - and notable for the fact that he almost saved Mankind. The cast of millions also includes ukulele maestro George Formby, Mick Jagger, Mama Cass, Elvis Presley and Lazlo Woodbine. And Tyler's brother, Andy, who impersonates animals (and who single-handedly brought about the Swinging Sixties). And a lady named Clara from Croydon, who unlocked the meta-phenomena of the Multiverse. And a corner shopkeeper from Brentford, who created a sitting room for God. And a great many living dead. Oh yes, and it also involves a monster in human form whose intention it is to turn the Earth into a Necrosphere, a planet totally devoid of life . . .
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Necrophenia (Gollancz S.F.)
84% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag., 4 Feb 2009
By Chunky Wilberforce ""Wilber"" (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)      
Robert Rankin calls himself the master of far fetched fiction, and he is. Rather than base his books in fantastic settings, they take place in suburbia. Fantastic things happen, which is where the far fetched comes in. The humour is in the situations that arise, and the dialog of the protagonists, who don't so much break the fourth wall, rather they smash it and grind it to a pulp.

This however, isn't one of Rankin's best works. I'm a big fan of Rankin's and have read all of his material, so knew what to expect. Unfortunately, I didn't get it.

The story is actually a lot more together than a lot of his chaotic ramblings. It has a distinct beginning, middle, and an end. What it doesn't have in any great quantity though, is humour. Whereas previous Rankins have been pretty much a laugh a page, this is a laugh a chapter if you are lucky. Given that there are 70 odd chapters, this might not seem that bad, but when a lot of the jokes are just not up to his usual standard, then it is all the more telling.

The book is big, by Rankin's standards, but I think that is one of its problems too. There is an awful lot of fairly mundane prose here that should have been whipped out by an astute editor, as it bears no relevence to the story as a whole. I can fully sympathise with the other reviewer who lost the will to finish the book. I only perservered out of stubbornness. The book was not that fun to read. Things did pick up towards the end, but the first half was very laboured.

Please Robert, don't give up, just give yourself a literary enema and get back on form. I refuse to give any of your works less than three stars just on principle, but get the magic back!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars i c dead people, 30 Jul 2009
By Alex DeLarge (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Necrophenia (Gollancz) (Paperback)
This is the first Rankin book I've read, and I've got a funny feeling it won't be the last. The story is a bit too hatstand to précis here, suffice to say that it takes in quite a lot, from the birth of The Rolling Stones' career, to Aleister Crowley being employed by the government during WWII.

"Necrophenia" comes off a bit like Pratchett, or the wilder moments of Iain Banks, but is at the same time totally original. Some writers go to great lengths to create microworlds and parallel universes, while Rankin just seems to do so effortlessly - the effect is truly magical. Humourwise "Necrophenia" is the funniest thing I've read in years: the gags are often dark, often self-depracating, and sometimes ridiculous. The novel uses a lot of in-jokery, some of which I assume works across his entire oeuvre.

"Necrophenia" - a pop-cultural lucky bag, and, despite negative reviews above, a very good read.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Worst Rankin Ever., 26 April 2009
By A. Miles (Al Khor, Qatar) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
I've read all of Mr Rankins books, and for me the last 5 have become progressively worse, with this representing some sort of nadir: It's like that quote about Kerouac, 'That's not writing, it's typing', with Rankin managing to put out a fairly hefty novel despite having almost nothing in the way of plot, characters, ideas or jokes to hold it together. It's just hundreds of pages of the usual stuff about rock music and magic and conspiracy theories and strange men in Edwardian outfits and whatnot cobbled together into a series of nonevents. Maybe these days he justs writes continuously,and every time he gets to 500 pages sends it off to the publishers. That's what it reads like, anyway.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Is this the End?
Robert Rankin has for a long time been one of my favourite authors with his eccentric style tickling my funny bone. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Sam

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read.
Well I really liked this one, don't quite know what all the negative reviews are about as it seems like normal Rankin fare to me. Read more
Published 5 months ago by A. R. Capon

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
Just to put this into context, I've read all Robert Rankin's previous books... some are amazing and some are not so... my personal view is that this one is great. Read more
Published 9 months ago by effortless

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best...
I have to disagree with the previous 1* review. Whilst this is far from Rankin's best work and rather similar to 'Snuff Fiction' in its alternate history narrative, its still... Read more
Published 9 months ago by L. White

1.0 out of 5 stars VERY SAD
I feel so sad that this book is boring me. I am three quarters of the way through and am not even sure I will bother to finish it. Read more
Published 9 months ago by M. Bindley

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