Nothing But Blue Skies

by Tom Holt

There are very many reasons why British summers are either non-existent or, alternatively, held on a Thursday. Many of these reasons are either scientific, dull, or both - but all of them are wrong, especially the scientific ones.

The real reason why it rains perpetually from January 1st to December 31st (incl.) is, of course, irritable Chinese Water Dragons. Karen is one such legendary creature. Ancient, noble, near-indestructible and, for a number of wildly improbable reasons, working as an estate-agent, Karen is irritable quite a lot of the time. Hence Wimbledon.

But now things have changed and Karen's no longer irritable. She's FURIOUS.

More information on this book and others can be found on the Orbit website at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Dragons, Comic Fantasy, Comedy, Urban Fantasy

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2001

About the author

Tom Holt (Thomas Charles Louis Holt) is a British novelist.
He was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel Holt, and was educated at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, and The College of Law, London.
Holt's works include mythopoeic novels which parody or take as their theme various aspects of mythology, history or literature and develop them in new and often humorous ways. He has also produced a number of "straight" historical novels writing as Thomas Holt and fantasy novels writing as K.J. Parker.

Reviews

[AngelaC · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like serious literature, this book is not for you! It is beyond quirky; it's more at the wacky end of the spectrum. And it is very very funny, if slightly too long towards the end perhaps.
"There be dragons", as the saying goes. An increasing number of them masquerading as humans. There are hapless weathermen. There is an evil Australian media mogul. There is a trip to the land down under where, it is discovered, men do not dress in string vests and hats with corks hanging from the brim.
Enough said!

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more of 2 and 1/2 stars, for much the same reasons as other reviewers: it's cute and very British, reminiscent of Pratchett or Adams, but it kinda goes all over the place and drags in bits. I hate to say but I was kinda tapping my foot getting to the end.

[Daryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read a few Tom Holt books in the past and love his sense of humour but have never found myself enjoying the story of the novel. I seem to struggle to follow what is going on in all his novels. Primarily I have read them because his sense of humour is so enjoyable.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mad frantic paced story about dragons who turn into goldfish and humans and whom are responsible for the the standard British summer (rain, lots of it). It ended a little faster than what I'd expected but still fun overall.

[Nigel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holt has been compared to Douglas Adams and while I can see comparisons, his attempts at humour just don’t hit the mark. I do see why some would like his writing, but I found the tale a little childish and dull. Not for me I’m afraid.

[Deborah-Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're from the UK, you know that British Summer is usually an oxymoron right alongside "Honest Politician" and "Jumbo Shrimp." (That is except for this year where we are experiencing quite an unusual heatwave). But for the most part, British Summer lasts for about a day, and even in the summer months, it still rains. The UK tends really only to have one season, and that one lasts all year long. There are many possible reasons for this and scientists have tested various theories, but this book gives us the only one true answer: Water Dragons. The book is about a group of Water Dragons who can manifest as humans and find themselves on this earth. They are captured, tortured for information, and forced to do all sorts of human things including working in a real estate office and watching black and white snooker. When I first came across this book, I thought it was really interesting especially living in the UK, but I have to admit, it really wasn't my cup of tea (pardon the English expression). I think the writing was ok, and there were some enjoyable parts, it just wasn't entirely my thing. That being said, it was quite British in every sense of the word - in it's stereotypes and dry, witty, sarcastic humour. If you're British or have spent any significant time in the UK, you might like it.

[Kareninsacramento · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and rolicking read which suffers from the author's tendency to saddle his fantastical characters (e.g., dragons, Norse Gods, etc.) with dialogue and internal narrative made up of modern British idioms and slang.

A native Brit might not even notice this (and the author apparently doesn't), but for non-British readers, it can be really jarring. "That cow" and "skiving off" and "bunged up" and "punters" (not the gridiron kind)... all of those were just in the first chapter, for a character that had been human only for a few weeks.

It's a shame, because it detracts from the author's skill with absurdity and bizarre humor. Those qualities are the reason to read this author's books, and their appeal is much broader than just his corner of the world.

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but I'm a sucker for this type of humour. Anything that relates to British weather (wet summers in particular !)
With Tom Holt there is always a large part for supernatural characters and they like to convey their thoughts or the author's thoughts on what goes wrong on this earth. With humour and derision.

[Teaandbooksplease · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first foray into Tom Holt's psychotic and hysterical universe: rain-controlling dragons, depressed weathermen, conspiracy theorists... This book only gets weirder and better as you go along. I'll be reading more of Holt soon!

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Properly mental, but expertly funny and really, really clever. Like Douglas Adams if he'd stayed on Earth.

[Mukoya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his funniest but still a fun read.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took longer than I felt it should to get into. Some good, dry comedy. Mostly just silly.

[Kiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was absolute nonsense. I loved it.

[Abraham Lewik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get the mood for the book.

[Susan]

I have got myself wrapped up in some other books, and have lost the thread of this. It is going back into to-read until I'm ready to tackle it again.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, apparently I read this in February 2009. I just reread it and enjoyed it very much as I always enjoy Tom Holt's novels.

[Bart]

todo

[Cath Ennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trying way too hard to be zany

[Meran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen thinks she's in love, by first sight. Her presumed lover is a realtor. Karen is smart as she rearranges her CV to reflect "realtor" and gets a job in his office. Of course, she has to change from her natural dragon form, first. And she finds her human form doesn't know how to handle emotions, which gets her into all kinds of trouble. And because of her turmoil, it rains all the time… (dragons control climate, you see) But it IS England so how does anyone suspect anything odd is going on?

But someone does: The MAD, the Meteorologists Against Dragons do! They know all about Dragons.

Her father has come looking for her, is followed by a MAD member, and in an effort to get away, turns himself into a goldfish (their other natural form) and casts himself down the nearest storm drain. Except the MAD guy knew about that trick and caught him.

So the adjutant-general to the Dragon King of the North West is in a very small goldfish bowl and no one knows where he is, least of all his recalcitrant daughter who now wants to come home.

Funny and surprising, Tom Holt, the author, really does remind this reader of Douglas Adams.

There's a great joke on pg 164, and on pg 227 about fools.

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this is one of Holt's more popular books, or at least it's the first one I received as a recommendation. Although it largely deals with themes and concepts Holt had addressed in other books, it seems much better organized than the others I've read recently. Based on rain-producing dragons from Chinese mythology, it has as its main protagonist a dragon who's decided to live as a human named Karen. When she learns that her father has been kidnapped, she sets out to find him. While the actual kidnapper is a conspiracy-minded weatherman who thinks the dragons purposely set out to make fools of his profession, he and his co-worker soon get caught up in an international conspiracy run by a wealthy businessman in Australia, whose son Karen has a crush on. The strange connections continue with a scientist in the businessman's employ, who just happens to be the ex-fiancee of one of the weathermen. Dragon society is pretty well-developed, and there are many observations on how they differ from humans.

[Geo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am really between 2 and 3 with this one, because though its chock full of British wit and quirky narrative, it was almost too full to be enjoyed properly. That being said, this book was an occasional tudgue to read, and there never was that moment when I was compelled to read to find out what happened next. There was no urgency no matter the conflict, and though perhaps that's the point...it bothered me in the long run.

I'm sorta impressed I read it the whole way through.

But on the plus side, this book had a fun cast of characters, a fairly brilliant premise, and occasional bouts of genius description or dialogue that made me snicker.

Just wish there were more dragons...

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen the dragon (not her dragon name, obviously...) falls in love with a human and takes human form in order to be with him. Which doesn't exactly go as planned. Particularly since her father tries to find her and is captured by a weatherman who has discovered that dragons make it rain who then somehow forces him to take goldfish form (dragon, human and goldfish seems to be their limit in terms of shapes; this smacks of poor research - you'd have thought they'd have chosen a panther or a Jack Russell rather than a goldfish. But that's another story.) and then re-captured by bad guys who work for the father or the man Karen's become human for. (Keep up, there will be questions later.)

Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, and always very clever. Tom Holt rarely disappoints.

[Rajiv Perseedoss · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest books ever written - tom holt is an amazing writer. This book does an amazing mix of comedy, hilariousness, serious stuff, stereotyping, thriller and awesomeness - hard to get a better deal.
First and foremost though, its very british - the fact that a british writer writes using the british context (weather, pub, BT, TFL, people, manners, newspapers, and etc) is just too funny. At many times, he reinforces the english stereotype and makes it sound so funny. He's right though, there's an amazing wealth of resources to inspire oneself from, around ... why not tap into it then?

Lovely story, lovely writing and a lovely month of reading for me - totally fluid, effortless and enjoyable. Highly recommended if you wanna seriously challenge your imagination!

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wacky tale from Holt, this one explaining why it always rains on English Bank Holidays and that's why we had such a great empire!! Basically, it's down to Dragons, chinese weather dragons to be exact, and when one of them absconds from her responsibilities and takes up human form (all for love you understand!), she sparks off a series of events that could undermine the climate of the whole world - or at least make England look like a lake!!

Really funny, a great idea for a plot and fantastic characters. I loved the idea of the dragon's ability to make everyone around them misjudge distances - with hilarious consequences.

[Jonathan Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Holt is ... twisted. In a good, very British way. He takes those imaginary things that we would half like to believe in, and puts them into the real world. He fits very nicely on a shelf with Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

In this story, we see the world through the eyes of a girl whose life is complicated by the fact that she is a dragon. And there is someone out there who would like to study dragons, or at least parts of them, hoping to be able to control the weather.

Tom Holt is darker and not as laugh-out-loud as Pratchett, but there is a strong sense of irony that can make his stories amusing.

I haven't read a Tom Holt book yet that I didn't like.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget all you have read about why it rains. The real reason it rains is... dragons. Most of us just aren't aware of it. Dragons are able to change their shape to human and walk unnoticed amongst us. They can also become goldfish, but that seems to be the limit. What follows is a tale of misunderstood weathermen, true love, family ties, corporate greed and government stupidity. Along the way, Holt skewers many facets of human existence, making us laugh because it's funny and shake our heads because our existence sometimes just doesn't make sense.

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre. Plot soon gets boring, style of writing is unexceptional, and this is nowhere near as funny, or clever, as the author seemed to think it was. A good example is his use of the word "draconian" as in "draconian instincts" to convey "the instincts of a dragon". He needs to check his dictionary. That's a minor point, sure, but it reinforced my impression that this had been written in a hurry and never revised.

[Gareth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemingly like many others I found this a bit plodding. The narrative was hard to follow in places, particularly during dialogue, and the plot was a bit pedestrian and laboured. Think I tried this on the back of the endorsement of Rob Grant (of the Guardian) that appears on the cover of the version I have; "uniquely twisted ... cracking gags". I wonder how much he got paid to tell bare-faced lies ...

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Holt is always good for cheering up a rainy day - even when he is writing about rain and its causes. There are digs at all sorts of targets in this book, along with the usual puns and surreal mixture of mythologies (plural) and invention. I'm glad he's a prolific writer and I'm glad there are many more of his books left for me to read.

[Herma klaassen · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the first Tom Holt book I ever read and after reading more of his books, I really think this is the best one. He tells the story which such wit and sarcasm that you feel sorry for the characters. You almost want to help them and you want to keep on reading to find out if everything will be alright, even though with Tom Holt, you can never be sure how a story ends until you get to the end.