When Jeremy Clovenhoof decides to set himself up as President for Life of his own breakaway country, he knows he’ll need money, lots and lots of money. That might be a bit difficult, particularly since the Inland Revenue have just presented him with an enormous tax bill and Heaven and Hell have sent Joan of Arc and Rutspud of the Sixth Circle to bring him under control. But nothing can keep this devil down. He’s got the business acumen and the spunk to make a fortune and found the independent nation state of Hooflandia. Come see the really big wall! Enjoy the nudist beach! Visit the combined log flume and waterboarding torture centre! The seventh book in the Clovenhoof series, Hooflandia, is a ridiculous romp, featuring ventriloquist dummies, cut-price funerals, sexy archbishops, robot cars, musical butt plugs, tax avoidance and a million angry nuns.
Did I love this book? Yes, yes I did. Did I laugh at this book? Yes, aloud, many times. Do I recommend this book to no GR friends... probably not. This is the 7th book in a complicated, crazy series that requires reading some of the preceding books. If you read this book stand alone it would be like only watching the parade scene in Animal House and trying to interpret the movie from there.
The authors give us Jeremy (aka Satan), Nerys & Ben, John Of Arc, Rutspud, many Saints and Angels, a Praypal (Yes not a typo) App that is overflowing heaven with undesirables, mountains of pop culture references from Cecil the Lion to Ghostbusters, and demons.
Do I recommend the series? Sure if you aren't easily offended and don't take any of your spiritual or ethical beliefs too seriously.
Edited to add this book is insane like taking Ayahuasca on a tilt a whirl insane.
This is a laugh out loud riot. Really enjoyed this one. It was so outlandish (even for Clovenhoof!) but I loved every minute. I really enjoy the paring up of Joan & Rutspud especially. These books are written in such a way that the words just flow so easily. And the dialogue is so easy to imagine in my head if that makes sense.
Jeremy Clovenhoof does it again! Creating Hooflandia, his version of paradise, he nearly brings about the end of the world! What a twit! That ending, though . . .
All I can say is you make me laugh and laughter is healing at the highest levels . These books are real English humor and having lived away from England for over forty years you bring me home . Not a Brummie but a Londoner but the resonance is amazing x keep up the good work guys my favorites along with Tom Sharpe $ Terry Pratchet ( bless his whiskers) Thankyou
I've read all the Clovenhoof books and loved them all but this one I felt was a slog at times It was overly long and quite tedious in places The positives are I loved Joan and Rutspud they made a great team Ben was as good and bewildered as ever But I found the Jeremy and Nerys became very annoying at times especially Nerys would was like a poor parody of her former self this had the effect of losing sympathy with the character I've previously loved Jeremy wasn't the best either the character was taken to extremes which I felt didn't work, I much preferred the "Beelzebelle" Jeremy It seemed to me that this book was trying too hard to be funny just throwing things together for effect It had some good ideas but was disjointed The end was a disappointment too after all that slog I'll read the short stories and hope were back on track maybe the idea has run out of steam ? I do hope Not
Ever wondered what would happen if Satan retired and took up board games as a hobby?
This one is a bit watered down, I think because it removed Michael from the equation and attempted to push Joan of Arc + Rutspud as the dynamic duo. While I love both individually it just doesn't work.
There are a million subplots. Tax evasion, The luck of the devil, Trump satire.... can't believe an author lowered themselves to actually publishing the word "bigly" and "build a wall". Wonder if they cringe looking back at it now.
A fun nonsensical romp but without Michael it's really missing something.
Great story, once again really well written, with an amazing plot. But unlike past books I noticed more than a few glaring typos, even what appear to be miss-used words. I even saw one case where some rogue html had slipped in: & Regardless, don’t let a few editing faux pas stop you from reading this. I lost sleep reading this story because I couldn’t put it down.
We start with a quick recap of our characters and their residence before we learn they are deeply involved in The Game! A foreign game found that usurps Monopoly hands down. Jeremy is still the lazy devious skin he is, Nerys still uses people to her own benefit and Ben is oblivious as ever! A great story of our trio and what happens when a bishop goes missing and people use apps to forgive sins. Have a good laugh at what befalls them
The usual mix of madness, humor and smut. Loved the nuns with the hand puppets - great addition to the cast. The characters feel like old friends by now. Lots of fun, though could have been cut in places - bit too much repetition which had me skipping pages. Even so, looking forward to the next outing.
Out and out madness with visits to Heaven, Hell and Birmingham. Jeremy, Nerys and Ben are up to their usual trick of creating mayhem. Why do I like this? Probably because it is so silly and over the top, characters included, but also because I sometimes wish that it was real.
This book had what was probably the most hilarious thing I've ever read. As with most of their books, it seems like the authors are randomly slapping outlandish events together but everything spirals out of control and all the events always lead to a hugely outlandish outcome. I had to stop reading because I was dying at a certain party scene
A fun read. I just can't understate the hilarity of Satan bumbling around this world without a clue how things work, demons & saints working together to restore balance, a new app that makes it possible for anyone to enter heaven to the point no one is going to hell, and regular people doing regular things thrown together in one cohesive story.
So much to like in this one. St Joan D'Arc and the demon Rutspud on an Earth based mission. Complete skewering of mega-churches (and organized religion in general). I could completely relate to the playing of The Game and locking it up while in progress so no one can cheat. Reminded me of Risk games in my youth.
I realize the ending is a cliff hanger, but it seems like the authors threw up their hands and gave up for the time being. Also at the beginning they stated Michael is in jail, WHY? Not as good as the previous books.
Four-hundred-and-something Chester Road. Boldmere. Sutton Coldfield. The house was built something like a hundred years ago, back in a time when people were shorter but ceilings were inexplicably higher. Three storeys tall and deeper than it was wide, it had probably been home to the family of a factory manager, a minor civil servant or a small-time professional. They might even have had a maid or a cook. It had been that kind of house. In leaner, post-war times, it was divided into self-contained flats. As the barriers between social classes blurred, the divided house became home to a variety of factory folk, council servants, professionals of varying dubiousness and even a maid or cook or two –all living cheek by jowl. Then, in the early twenty-first century, for some very convoluted reasons, it became the home of a man, a woman, the devil and an angel and there was a period of stability (in the same way that the Cold War was a period of stability). This did not last long.
Das fängt ja schon mal gut an: eine Reihe von gewissenlosen Kapitalisten, Ausbeutern und Tierquälern, die eigentlich in der Hölle landen sollten, sind in den Himmel gelangt. Dort ruinieren sie ziemlich schnell die Agenda von Gewaltlosigkeit, Gleichheit, Brüderlichkeit und führen eine eigene Papiergeldwährung ein (baby Jesus on the five dollarnote) ...
Gelungene Satire. Wie die Reichen im Himmel todunglücklich werden ist genial.
Another fantastic installment in the Clovenhoof collection. I do enjoy that within the clovenhoof collection we get the chance to re-engage with characters from previous books. It was great to have Rutspud and Joan back in the spotlight again as our heros, doing their best to work out what's going wrong on Earth again mixing things up in heaven and hell. And of course the problems may just have stemed from Jeremy Clovenhoof and pals.