Before and After Book

1999, and the run-up to Armageddon has begun. Sheep are exploding in the Welsh highlands, the Pyramids are up for repossession since their 5,000-year lease has expired, ghastly US evangelists overrun Britain, King Arthur awakens, and rains of fish are of course inevitable. The prophet Nostradamus, still with us under his academic alias Professor Mike D. Nostrus, knows it's time to take precautions against the likely end of the world... This is moderately sprightly humorous fantasy in the vein of Tom Holt, or (in particular) Terry Pratchett's and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens, though less skilfully funny--it's Matthew Thomas's first novel. The famous Pratchett footnotes are painstakingly imitated. There's a tendency to leave loose ends: for example, the expected amusing rationale for why those sheep are detonating never actually turns up. Thomas loves Blackadder-style comparisons: "Adam was more full of shit than King Kong's colostomy bag"--and is pretty good at turning such phrases. But their rapid-fire repetition in earlier chapters has a numbing effect, as of being beaten around the head with Moby Dick. Later the pace quickens into madcap action-adventure and a crowded Last Battle which offers some good chuckles. Worth a look if you enjoy funny fantasy. --David LangfordRead More