Written by Robert Rankin (What a hero with his Ray Gun, man I love the Internet) who writes tongue in cheek books like the Da-da-de-da-da Code and Raiders of the Lost Car Park, this book actually made me laugh out loud. And not a small grin or snigger, but oh did I chortle.
The book revolves around two characters. Jack who is a boy out to seek his fortune and Eddie Bear, a stuffed bear that belonged to a detective, now deceased.
First things first, when Jack begins his journey he meets a farmer, and falls into a hole. You must keep reading. My theory is that Rankin wrote the beginning of a story and the end of one, both of which contained people called Jack and then he just mushed the two together. It makes no sense and has no bearing on the story. In fact had the rest of the book not been so excellent it would have ruined it entirely. So remember: Farmer, hole, ignore and continue.
So after Jack gets out of his hole he meets Eddie in a bar in Toy Town, where there are more toys then humans, although humans have special status. All the nursery rhymes are actual people and the tale begins when the pair discover that Humpty Dumpty has been brutally murdered. They immediately embark on a whirlwind adventure trying to solve the murder before more famous characters die in horrible and twisted ways.
I am not going to spoil the book by giving you a blow by blow, but I will say that Rankin created an amazing world with realistic toy characters. Eddie laments the lack of opposable thumbs and when he drinks has to keep standing on his head so the alcohol drains out of his now drunk feet and back to his head. There are so many random elements that fill the book, down to the different religions of the toys and theories about what caused Humpty Dumptie's fall.
So if you like fantasy that is light hearted, funny and cleverly written this is for you. If animated toys freak you out then possibly not the book for you however I highly recommend it.
I give it 4 phallic carrots:
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