Customer Reviews

Expecting Someone Taller

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
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Holt's comic novels can best be described as of uneven quality. When's he's on, there's no one better. When he's off, the comic twists and turns come off as strained and forced. I have only the highest recommendations, however, for Holt's best: "Expecting Someone Taller" and "Who's Afraid of Beowulf."

"Expecting Someone Taller" is an inspired send-up of Wagner's "Ring Cycle." Woden, Loge, Alberich, a clutch of beautiful Valkyries, and the gorgeous Rhine Maidens all vie to steal the magic ring that makes its owner the most powerful being in the universe. Its current owner is Malcolm, a mild-mannered sort who has been dismissed as, well, disappointing, even by his own family. Malcolm dodges all the divine strategems designed to relieve him of the ring, but must deal with his own feelings for a goddess. The ending is best described as Gotterdammerung. Enjoy!

Ever wonder happened to the ring of the Nibelung after Gotterdammerung? Check this book out for a very funny update of the Ring to see how the hapless Malcolm inherits the all-powerful ring and becomes reluctant ruler of the world in modern-day England. He must confront contemporary incarnations of Alberich, Wotan, and some very seductive Rhinemaidens. The book is a good short (228 pages)fantasy novel that is lots of fun even if you don't know the Ring (and even funnier if you know the Ring well). It is great fun!

You don't have to be familiar with Wagner's Ring cycle to enjoy this book, but it doesn't hurt--you'll get a few more of the jokes.

Malcolm Fisher, a nerdish Englishman, runs over a badger who just happens to be a disguised Giant who possesses the Ring of the Nibelung, as well as the magical Tarnhelm, allowing him to change his shape. Before Malcolm has time to do more than make a few experiments with his new possessions, he finds himself pursued by gods, dwarves, and amorous Rhinemaidens and Valkyries, and finds himself locked in a power stuggle with chief god Wotan. Can Malcolm overcome his retiring nature and the gods?

The allusions and takeoffs on the Ring operas are the funniest part of this book. But don't worry if you haven't seen them--a plot summary is included.

Highly recommended. Enjoy.

Those of you who pay attention to my reviews will notice that I gave this puppy a four-star rating, and I almost never do that. If four and a half were possible, that's what I'd put in.

Expecting Someone Taller riffs on Wagner. Fortunately, for those of you who ran out of video-tape or patience somewhere around the middle of the Ring Cycle, and aren't real sure what was happening in the parts you did watch, Tom Holt provides a plot summary. This tells you all you need to know about the Ring, and saves those who do not love opera from feeling that the whole thing has gone right over their heads.

This book is convulsively funny. Malcolm Fisher runs down a badger whose dying words are, "Funny, I was expecting someone taller." I opened it on my evening commute some years ago, and transferred to a bus full of people who had not been conditioned by smothered giggles to ignoring me. I read the line (I know I shouldn't quote, but I just can't resist), "Thank you, Please come again." I laughed out loud, and didn't stop laughing for several blocks. My fellow passengers, needless to say, were astonished.

Tom Holt does that to you. He knows his material, and has a great deal of fun ringing changes on it, and adheres to a certain mad logic. This one, especially, is very, very good. My copy is taped together. I still laugh when I re-read it. Yes, it's mad, but it's immense fun, and I recommend this whole-heartedly.

This is older, maybe I should say classic Tom Holt. In fact, it goes back to a classic of western literatures, the Niebelungenlied - you know, Wotan, Valkyeries, the whole bunch that Wagner had people singing about. Those are the main themes. After that, the rest is Holt's comic improvisation on those riffs.

Basically, Malcolm Fisher, nebbish extraordinaire, has been granted ultimate power of life and death over all of Earth. His first use of this majestic for is to make funny faces in the mirror: his own, but other people's too. As it turns out, he's pretty good about that ultimate power thing, mostly because he doesn't really want it. After many dealings with gods, goddesses, Norns, Rhinemaidens, and other annoyances, it turns out that he's quite good with that ultimate power for lots of reasons --

-- which you'll have to read for yourself. This is Holt at his finest, a fitting peer to Pratchett. In another of his books he complains about reviewers (like me) who keep saying "his old stuff was better." Well, this is his old stuff, and I really do like it better. I hope you do too.

//wiredweird

Holt is great. Some of his newer works aren't as solid IMO. But this one, Who's Afraid of Beowulf? and Flying Dutch are a must read!

While to some The Ring Of The Niebelungen may be tedious and overlong in its operatic version, Tom Holt's parody of the story and its principal characters, Wotan and The Rhinemaidens, is irresistible. You'll find yourself keeping your eye on the Ring just as you would keep your eye on a baseball. What a wonderful read!

Another in the peculiar strain of utterly outrageous British science-fiction humor authors, Tom Holt has actually written several more books than are available here. I had to go to London to get them! Here's a plea to publishers: Bring us more! Bring us Robert Rankin -- I can't find the Brentford Trilogy anywhere! And Rob Grant and Doug Naylor and Grant Naylor. And Diana Wynne Jones. We're missing a lot of laughs on this side of the Atlantic

Having just recently discovered Tom Holt, I'm wondering why he's flown below the radar for so long (as of this writing, the book is almost 2 decades old -- yet, there are only 11 reviews here). "Expecting Someone Taller" doesn't contain the intertwining storylines that his Flying Dutch does. But, the writing is still very good and the ending stays more in character right through to the end. In this book, Holt's working with Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" as a basis of the story. Interestingly, near the beginning, he summarizes Wagner's work so well that I began wishing that I knew of a decent, updated novelization of that opera so I could read it. In this book, the plot is pretty linear. But, the writing is always well-done and humorous. It's also a fairly light read that keeps the reader's interest throughout. So, overall, I rate it at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

I read this book slightly apprehensively, in that I am not an opera buff, nor am I familiar with Wagner's Ring Trilogy. But I gotta tell ya, once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. I really enjoyed Holt's pacing, and found the book to be humorous without requiring any knowledge whatsoever of who or what the characters are supposed to be. Just a really good read.