Neil Gardner

Mr Hugo Rune had a way about him, something that signalled him as being above the everyday and the everyman. He was an enigma, a riddle wrapped around an enigma and tied with a string of surprising circumstances, He appeared to inhabit his own separate universe, where normal laws - and I do not mean those of he legal persuasion - did not apply. Who he was and what he was, I know not to this day.
But he was certainly someone.

As well as the zodiac in the stars, there are also zodiacs in the show more landscape such as the Glastonbury zodiac and the Kingston zodiac, and according to Hugo Rune (the Lad Himself, the Logos of the Aeon, the Guru's Guru, the author of the Book of Ultimate Truths and the Reinventor of the Ocarina) there is also a Brighton zodiac hidden in the street plan. In 1960s Brighton, a Brentford teenager on this first 'dirty weekend' away is thrown off the end of the pier by a gang of Mods and is rescued from drowning by Hugo Rune. On regaining consciousness he finds that he has lost his memory, and the teenager, now known as Rizla, is persuaded to stay on in Brighton as Rune's amanuensis. But is Hugo Run a mystical detective trying to save the world, by solving 12 cases each linked to one of the signs of the Brighton zodiac, or merely a conman who never pays his rent, taxi fares or bar bills if he can possibly help it.

'Well,' I said, 'I am really sorry that I did not do more than flick through your book. Although I do remember reading about how hedgehogs inhabit the Aquasphere, where rain comes from, where they float about, held aloft by the natural helium inside them, but sometimes get punctured during overexuberant rutting and plunge to Earth. Which is why you see them splattered onto country roads.' And then I yawned, and fell asleep.

This is one of my least favourite Robert Rankin books, as I found Hugo Rune too unlikeable to want to read about, and the story got quite tedious in places. Maybe it would have appealed more if I had ever been to Brighton. show less

This was my first Robert Rankin book so I was curious how I would like it. I hadn't heard a LOT about him but the cover looked fun and the title was ridiculous so I thought it would be fun.

It was so much fun at the beginning that I had to start over and read it with/to my woman. We both agreed it was hilarious but that this kind of comedy gets old so the book would have been better if it was shorter. There were many groan inspiring puns and repeated gags and that's okay because they were show more funny sometimes, but after a while they were just kind of annoying.

So while I wouldn't put Rankin's level of funny in the ranks of Pratchett or Adams this book was still enjoyable for the most part and I'd be willing to try another. show less

Cracking example of Robert Rankin's madness (though I would read the first three books of the Brentford Trilogy first). It says here it's part of the Brentford Trilogy, but it isn't - though as always with Rankin it shares a key character (Hugo Rune) and the usual references to time sprouts and the like. Wondrous hokum.

I occasionally give Mr. Rankin's books another chance, ever since I was so impressed by Armageddon: the musical. Unfortunately, every time I do I have to conclude that his brand of humour is an acquired taste that I have not acquired.

The main thing that didn't work for me was the lack of a wall between the reader and the story. "Suspension of disbelief" was a foreign and inapplicable concept. The characters freely admitted to the plot holes surrounding them. They also knew they were in a show more story set in the 1960's but written later, rather than actually being in that time. (For example, they knew that Kurt Cobain hadn't been born yet.) Many of the jokes referred directly to the text, as if the characters were reading along. This went on and on throughout the book, and I lost patience with it in chapter 3.

I don't doubt that this book may be extremely funny to some readers. I'm just not one of them. show less