Limbo [Paperback]

Andy Secombe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2003

The worlds of fantasy and reality merged in an outstanding first novel of imaginative humour. A diabolical book has spoken of shellfish falling from the sky, and men in skirts on Brighton beach, while a monster, unstuck in time, clatters around the universe...Now the Prophecy has come to pass, and eternal night is over! For the first time in over a thousand years, the sun rises over the battlements of Castle Limbo -- and the King realises he's in big trouble. Being one of the few to have read the full text, he realises the awful fate predicted for him should a newborn child survive until its first birthday. So now the Great Terror is about to commence. And, to add to the King's troubles, his long-banished brothers, the fiendishly cunning Gildroy and the totally hideous Norval, are planning a murderous come-back...Meanwhile, a different type of mayhem is erupting on Brighton seafront...where newsagent and fantasy enthusiast Rex Boggs is about to emerge as the unlikely hero in this time of chaos. It all begins with giant garbage-eating clams - and spacewoman Serena Kowalski - plummeting together to earth...And otherwise it's just another day of fun at the seaside.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andy Secombe was introduced to a love of fantasy by his father, Sir Harry. He has worked for years as an actor, and appeared in two of the Star Wars films. He is now working on his second novel of humorous fantasy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan (March 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405004843
• ISBN-13: 978-1405004848
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but just doesn't make any sense., July 1, 2009

By 

Skylark (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Limbo (Paperback)

I didn't mind this book so much overall, but it suffers from two significant problems.

The first is the abundance of pop culture and historical references. On many instances, I found it hard to understand what was going on in the story, because the book would mention one of these references and not explain it. Not being English and not being familiar with the names of these towns/counties/districts/suburbs (you see? I couldn't even tell from the book exactly what they were), I would have highly appreciated a little background information on these unfamiliar subjects. Like mentioning that they were towns, perhaps. The word "Hove" means nothing to me by itself. By assuming that every reader knows about all the references already, it limits the book's target audience to, say, English history students who are religious and fans of Western films. This hurts the book so much. I've heard of David and Goliath, for example, but - not being religious - I'm not familiar with the story and so their scenes made about as much sense to me as a conference on taxation law. Please, if you intend to write about something like this, include a little background information for your readers so that it makes sense! Ditto for all the pop culture references.

I'd like to make my point with this:
'He walked into the shop with Ted, and they gathered around a display case. Inside was a '99 Than Rogure. Fred took one look at Ted, and they burst out laughing. A Than Rogure? Unbelievable.'
I made that example up, of course, but without knowing what a Than Rogure is, or why the '99 is significant, the joke doesn't make sense and we're left confused. This kind of thing happened all over the story, though. It's frustrating! Next time, I hope the author takes the time to tell us at least a little bit about his 'Than Rogures' and '99 before expecting his readers to get the joke.

This brings me to the other problem, which was unfortunately a major one: The book simply didn't make much sense. Barely anything in the plot made any sense at all, and things would just happen for no reason. The "paradox" that explained everything was a terrible 'explanation' for why crazy things would happen. I felt like I was reading a series of random events with the same characters in them, rather than the story.

Other things I had gripes with were the ending, which basically made one of the characters God (and thus immediately made them impossible to relate to), the fact that many characters were built up only to barely appear in the plot later (like the main villain - what was even the point of introducing him in detail?), and the completely irrelevant subplot about building redevelopment. But by far the worst point about this book was its sheer lack of coherence and explanation for anything that went on. Sure, it might be a parody, but even parodies need to be built off a stable base. Look at Terry Pratchet's Discworld novels for an example of a world with stable rules complete with explanations and descriptions that one can rely on, even if they are silly. "Limbo", on the other hand, was so erratic that it barely qualified as a fantasy universe at all, and I suspect the author just wrote what came into his head without much thought to why it would be so. Unfortunately, though, when too many random things happen for no reason, it tends to alienate readers.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfunny, unoriginal, unremarkable., June 23, 2004

By 

Shannon K. Roy "kalen222" (Randwick, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Limbo (Paperback)

Possibly the worst fantasy novel I have read in 25 years opens with a sentence that doesn't make sense:

"The castle lookout heard the pounding of the horse's hooves long before he saw it."

Saw what? It? The pounding? The horse's hoof(s)? The horse? Now, if this kind of sophomoric tittering foolishness appeals to you, then you may well enjoy this novel. It doesn't get any better than that, by the way, as feeble joke follows sad "spoof" strung together with stilted dialog and named emotions. I'll torture you with another example from the text:

"The Director, long practised in deceit, kept his voice level, but could do nothing to prevent his body from breaking out in a cold sweat. 'Who is this?' he articulated in an almost faultless Home Counties accent."

Is he practiced in deceit, or isn't he? Isn't there a UN cliche embargo on furthur use of "cold sweat" to describe someone who is nervous? Is there something one can to do prevent oneself sweating other than heavy duty anti-perspirant?

It is possible, sadly, if you've read enough good fantasy and/or good comic fantasy, to pinpoint where Secombe gets his ideas. But even the rip-offs are pale and colourless: Pratchett can make you cry as well as laugh out loud; and Rankin is at the very least topical and gifted at wordplay.

I know how hard it is to write a novel. Writers write and critics complain, all that is true, too. But the world of fantasy and, worse, the world of comedy fantasy, is not enhanced one iota by this extremely mediocre novel.

Even more disturbing than the fact that this was published is the fact that there is allegedly a sequel...