Fantasy/humour book which follows Paul Carpenter, a clerk, and unlikely hero in a book with many twists, although at times it is not always clear what is happening, the main character is also a little bit irritating after a while. The book does however have a few good moments. On the whole though I would say it was a little bit too long with the last 50-70 pages taken up with tying up the plot and explaining what had happened in the past 300 odd pages. ( )

I've *finally* finished a book! Its taken me months to read this novel, but I've made it to the end...But don't take the fact that its taken me so long as a critique on the book itself. The reality is that my life has been taken over by becoming a Dad to an adorable little girl. She's taken far more of my time than books have! The fact that I persisted in fact should show that its worthwhile keeping going with the text!The story itself concerns a put upon loser, Paul Carpenter. His parents have funded their retirement to sunny Florida by selling Paul into indentured servitude at J.W. Wells. The company specialise in using magic to help their clients for handsome fees, and it seems that Paul has an innate skill that they treasure.Featuring a range of characters from Colin the Goblin, God and Mr Dao the teller at the bank of the Dead, this is a strange book. At first the story is a simple fantasy, but this changes as the life of Colin becomes more complex and entwined as his purpose as a pawn in a cosmic battle becomes clear. At several points the book makes references to previous stories, so it may have been helpful to read the appropriate prequels, but it certainly wasn't essential. Overall, good, weird fun. If you do read it, try and make sure that you read the later sections in good sizeable chunks otherwise you'll find keeping abreast with what is happening to whom, and when! ( )

Yes, there is a conspiracy to make your life hell. And it's run by the company you work for, and has a lot to do with “custard space” - a dimension you never knew existed. This wildly imaginative tale has a twisted and mildly disturbing view of working life that may actually be closer to reality than you want to admit. The amount of adventure you can experience in one office building through Tom Holt's writing is a fun diversion and a quick read.

This is apparently the 2nd or 3rd book in a series, I haven't read the first 2, but I think the important bits from them were covered so I didn't miss anything. The tying up of loose ends at the end was a bit unnecessary for this story, but I can see where this would tie up the loose ends of a series of books. Maybe I'll read the other books in the series now! ( )

Tom Holt continues to crank out creative ideas and clever turns of phrase in this satisfying continuation to the story of Paul Carpenter and Sophie Pettingell. I enjoyed this more than the second book (In Your Dreams). If you enjoyed the first two books in the series, I recommend reading this one too. ( )

J.W. Wells seemed to be a respectable establishment, but the company now paying Paul Carpenter's salary is in fact a deeply sinister organisation with a mighty peculiar management team. Paul thought he was getting the hang of it (particularly when he fell head over heels for his strangely alluring colleague Sophie), but death is never far away when you work at J.W. Wells. Unlike the stapler - that's always going awol. Our lovestruck hero is about to discover that custard is definitely in the eye of the beholder. And that it really stings. Tom Holt's fantasy is populated with evil goblins, annoying sprites and people like us. However, it's not always possible to tell the difference.

This is apparently the third (and final) book in the adventures of Paul Carpenter. Most of the reviews say the first two books were very funny. I don't know - I haven't read them - and probably won't bother after this one.

I didn't think EAF&C was really that funny at all. It does have moments of witty dialogue, but not the laugh-out-loud, repeat-the-lines-to-everyone-you-know sort of dialogue. Much of it even got confusing, and the explanations for the weird happenings didn't make sense. In fact, EAF&C just lost me. They start all this talk about people hiding out in custard-space, and how Sophie and this goblin were linked through it, then there was this bit about living swords, battles that didn't get fought, etc. It was just all smushed together, and didn't really form a cohesive, fun-to-read story.

Overall, I'd say read it if you liked the other two in the series and have an overwhelming need to know what ahppens to Paul. However, if you haven't read those, either start at the beginning - or don't bother. ( )