I love Tom Holt's books, they are classed as comic fantasy, and are funny, if you like that sort of thing. I've read at least 8 more of his books, they appeal to my tangential sense of humour. This one was no different. The start of the book sets the scene for a "fairy tale" type story, but this is an adults book, so you don't expect it to start with a fairy tale. The reader is introduced to "Snow White" except she isn't what the reader expects, neither are the seven dwarves what the reader expects. In fact, the samurai are portrayed as quite cynical, "teaching" the youngest of their number in a rather warped manner, with the Japanese philosophy that it is good for the development of the character to do all the task allotted to you, without questioning. There are also three pigs, valiantly trying to outwit the big bad wolf, who happens to be called Fang. In there too is the wicked queen, then some children come along and mess the whole thing up. Storylines start to runs differently, nothing is predictable any more, and one of the children is somehow trapped in the whole thing. We find out where when we encounter Igor and his master. The three pigs employ a hit man to rid them of the wolf problem, and things just get a little mad, but funny mad.
Anyway, the bumph from the back;
Once upon a time everything was fine. Humpty Dumpty sat on his wall, Jack and Jill went about their lawful business, the Big Bad Wolf did what big bad wolves do, and the Wicked Queen plotted murder most foul.
Then human hackers caused havoc, shutting down the Wicked Queen's system (Mirrors 3.1) and corrupting her database. Suddenly, everything is not fine at all. And if it's not sorted, no one's going to be living happily ever after.
The book is written in accessible language, the only confusing bit is the odd bit of computer language thrown in, but when it is, the reason is to confuse, so it serves it's purpose.
Labels: humour