Най-прекрасният човек на света

The Cornelius Murphy Trilogy #3

by Robert Rankin, Джулиана Дукова (Translator)

Norman's definitely dead. His dad fell out of the sky and flattened him. And as Norman didn't want any regular full-time employment before he died, he certainly doesn't want any now. Especially not here at The Universal Reincarnation Company. There's far too many filing cabinets and far too much paperwork. Not that it's the company's fault. The blame really lies with God. If He hadn't decided to close down Hell, then Heaven wouldn't have got too overcrowded and there would have been no need to build the extension. And until the extension is finished, the U.R.C. will just have to keep on recycling all those souls in the big queue.





If your taste is for a tender romance, taut with passion and desire, love and betrayal, then this raging stonker of a novel, bursting out of its leather pants with sex, scandal, murder, mystery, suspense, drama, action, adventure and Mad Car Disease, probably won't be for you. Sorry.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

"When Robert Rankin embarked upon his writing career in the late 1970s, his ambition was to create an entirely new literary genre, which he named Far-Fetched Fiction. He reasoned that by doing this he could avoid competing with any other living author in any known genre and would be given his own special section in WH Smith."
(from Web Site Story)

Robert Rankin describes himself as a teller of tall tales, a fitting description, assuming that he isn't lying about it. From his early beginnings as a baby in 1949, Robert Rankin has grown into a tall man of some stature. Somewhere along the way he experimented in the writing of books, and found that he could do it rather well. Not being one to light his hide under a bushel, Mister Rankin continues to write fine novels of a humorous science-fictional nature.

Reviews

[P.G. Challis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird and wacky, which is just my kind of writing style.

[Andrew Lawston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cornelius Murphy, Tuppe, and Hugo Rune all return to round off the Cornelius Murphy Trilogy. The regulars of the Flying Swan get another extended cameo before the action moves away from the hallowed borough of Brentford, and everything gets terribly metaphysical in a cosmic adventure that transcends time, space, and death. No, really.

But being a Robert Rankin book, The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived is also, of course, wonderfully silly. And features a huge number of running gags, and pop culture references. Most notably to Thelma & Louise, which luckily is one of the better-remembered films of 1991.

The novel opens with several chapters on the curious fate of Norman - not to be confused with Norman Hartnell or the other Norman Hartnell - to the extent that I was starting to worry about Murphy, but he and Tuppe turn up once the scene is set and some of the important exposition has been done.

Despite being both very silly and integral to so many of Rankin's books, Hugo Rune remains incredibly difficult to pin down, but this was certainly the most extreme version of the character that I've seen to date.

And despite all the silliness and old jokes, the book comes together in a blistering action-packed climax that would put many blockbusters to shame.

Cracking stuff!

[John Appleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final episode of the Cornelius Murphy trilogy is a fine enough yarn, perhaps not as good as the second book, but still chock-full of the usual Robert Rankin weirdness.

Cornelius and Tuppe need to save the world from Hugo Rune once more, this time with the aid of Thelma and Louise (not those ones) and a dead kid. Also an alien dressed up as a sheep. None of this will be too surprising to regular Rankin readers.

It's been fun getting back into Rankin again with this Trilogy, and my earlier theory that I might have stopped reading him simply out of boredom is one I'll happily throw out of the window. I must have a think which one I'll go for next.

[Martin Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one, at times it throws you as one character ends a sentence with a word and that word becomes the beginning of a sentence from a completely different character. Still, several heroes for the price of one, some truly cringe making running gags and one liners and a preposterous storyline, what's not to like?

[Jade Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite solid for this genre of absurdist comic British science fantasy. Great pacing, and plot progression. The humor is funny.

Noteabley, the action is also interesting, which is usually a weak point in the climax of books like these.

Would recommend both to fans of the genre, or to those looking to dip their toes into something new.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much better than the first two in the trilogy, but not quite enough for three stars. Some bits were good, others just OK. Need two and a half stars to be an accurate rating.

[Tim Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cornelius Murphy is back. Along with his friend Tuppe, Boris the alien-sheep, Norman the dead boy and Thelma and Louise they face off against a horde of evil Hugo Runes. All in a day's work for an epic adventurer.

I actually felt this was the weakest of the Murphy novels, though it's still a very good read. It's funny, moves along at a good clip and has the classic Rankin continuing jokes and self-awareness.

I suspect that this one might be a bit obtuse if you're not already familiar with Murphy, Rune, et. al. But if you are, it's a fine ride.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Rankin book I have read, and I have to say I did enjoy the read, it was a nice piece of lighthearted reading, I do believe there are other of his in our bookcase so perhaps after I have read the next few books I have got to read I'll look them out.....

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of wonderful ideas which didn't quite come to fruition. It had the potential to be as good as a Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman but lacked the brilliance of language that sets their writing apart. Probably deserved four stars, but the teenage-boy humour was a little much at times.

[Colin Forbes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly not the finest of Robert Rankin's novels, but still a light-hearted comic romp in much the fashion you would expect if you have dabbled in his writings before. Comes across not so much as having been plotted, but more as a stream-of-consciousness exercise in 'lets see where this goes'.

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I've read this. I'm not sure. All Rankin's non-Brentford-trilogy books kind of blur together in my head, for the very good reason that they are in fact all the same book, with some of the words re-arranged. Probably best read bombed out of your gourd, because that's how they were written.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

As surreal as always from Robert Rankin. Good fun and a list of characters that I could just about keep track of. An entertaining read but nothing special to be honest.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, and worth it just to close out the trilogy, but not his best work.