Reviews

In the 24th century, life on the road for comedians Muscroft & Ashby and their robot, Carlton, is full of the same pitfalls that plague all performers: cancellations, rowdy audiences, and the humiliation of auditioning. The trio are trying to make their way to Mars, the entertainment center of the solar system, when they are caught in the machinations of a terrorist plot. Carlton must foil evil, keep his charges safe, and prevent his "recycling," all while completing his doctoral dissertation on the evolution of comedy. Determined to understand this most human characteristic, the robot closely observes his handy research subjects. Idle, of Monty Python fame, has written an engaging and amusing work of speculative fiction with fully developed characters, a taut plot, and a thoughtful and entertaining analysis of humor's part in human development. A joy to read; highly recommended for all collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/99.]ÄDevon Thomas, Highland Twp. Lib., MI Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

The latest romp from Monty Python alumnus Idle (Hello Sailor) almost has it all: torrid sex, huge disasters in outer space, outworld rebels plotting to save their people from annihilation, quirkily anthropomorphic robots, impossibly rich space moguls, enough one-liners to choke a brontosaurÄand philosophy, too. The absence of an interior to any of the book's characters wouldn't be a fatal flaw if the jokes were funny enough or the plot sufficiently absorbing. However, the narrative meanders for long stretches with scene after scene whose only point is to set up a weak jokeÄthe sort of thing that works so well as TV farce but, when passed off as a novel, is tedious. The book is ostensibly the work of one William J. Reynolds, chronicling the revolutionary theorizing of robot Carlton on the nature of comedy. (Oddly, Idle puts forward as Carlton's main theory a White Face/Red Nose classification that in fact has been a commonplace in clown theater for at least a century.) We follow the misadventures of two interplanetary stand-up comics, Muscroft and Ashby, quipping their way through exploding space colonies and sabotaged ships, looking for work. Churning around amid the levity are lumps of melodrama: narrator Reynold's recurring rage at being jilted; love-interest Katy's agonized childhood; beatings and deaths by the hundreds. There are some good laughs, but too many of the jokes are pointless and cheapÄlike the book's subtitle, "A Post-Modem Novel"Äand the whole is strung together by oddments of erudition and sci-fi, with an ad hoc feel that begs for a blue pencil. Typically, Carlton's crowning insightÄthe theory of levity as anti-gravityÄis silly enough for a giggle, but insufficient as the high point of a novel. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.