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Djinn Rummy
In an aspirin bottle, nobody can hear you scream.
Outside an aspirin bottle, however, things are somewhat different. And when Kayaguchiya Integrated Circuits III (Kiss, to his friends), a Force Twelve genie with an attitude, is released after living with two dozen white tablets, there's bound to be trouble.
Take, for example, Jane. All she wanted was to end her miserable life in peace, with a minimum of fuss, in the privacy of a British Rail waiting room, but now she's got herself a genie for company. Lucky old Jane. Lucky, that is, until the apocalypse rears its ugly head.
Djinn Rummy is a hilarious novel of magical mayhem from the author of Faust Among Equals and Odds and Gods.
Outside an aspirin bottle, however, things are somewhat different. And when Kayaguchiya Integrated Circuits III (Kiss, to his friends), a Force Twelve genie with an attitude, is released after living with two dozen white tablets, there's bound to be trouble.
Take, for example, Jane. All she wanted was to end her miserable life in peace, with a minimum of fuss, in the privacy of a British Rail waiting room, but now she's got herself a genie for company. Lucky old Jane. Lucky, that is, until the apocalypse rears its ugly head.
Djinn Rummy is a hilarious novel of magical mayhem from the author of Faust Among Equals and Odds and Gods.
277 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 2, 1995
14 people are currently reading
369 people want to read
About the author
Tom Holt
98 books1,178 followersTom 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 20, 2015
It's been a while since I read anything by Tom Holt, but I enjoyed returning to his weird and wacky world. In this adventure, Jane wants nothing to more than to peacefully commit suicide in a railway station waiting room, but instead is inflicted by the genie of the aspirin bottle, of Kiss, as he likes to be known. Somehow, the two of them get dragged into having to save the world from another genie, Philly, who tries lots of crazy stunts to bring this about, like mutated pansies and plagues of frogs. Along the way, there is a run in with a teenage Cupid, armed with the most modern of assault rifles, a lazy fisherman and the Lord of the Dragons, a love sick nuclear bomb and a duty Guardian Angel.
I did enjoy reading this and smiled my way through. It wasn't my favourite of Holt novels, but I liked the whole world of Genie's that he's created. However, I'm not sure I 'got' what Davy Jones' locker had to do with it all. Anyway, a short, entertaining read for a lovely sunny day.
I did enjoy reading this and smiled my way through. It wasn't my favourite of Holt novels, but I liked the whole world of Genie's that he's created. However, I'm not sure I 'got' what Davy Jones' locker had to do with it all. Anyway, a short, entertaining read for a lovely sunny day.
August 27, 2021
The book was a compilation of meme-worthy material put inside a frivolous story. It was better than the absolutely atrocious 'Wish You Were Here'. But that's where it stopped. Had it been written in the form of a novella, it would have been more enjoyable. But streching such a vanishingly thin plot or lack thereof to novel-lenth didn't work.
The K.J Parker works made available to us these days are much, much better than these stuff.
This one, unless you are getting it from a library, is not recommended.
The K.J Parker works made available to us these days are much, much better than these stuff.
This one, unless you are getting it from a library, is not recommended.
February 10, 2013
Very silly but suitably light and distracting for the long hospital stay I'm currently enduring. I'm not sure if I'd have bothered with it under normal circumstances. I never actually laughed out loud but it did keep me amused.
June 20, 2017
Not my favourite Tom Holt but an amusing read nonetheless. Holt does his usual trick of using a myth/legend as a premise and then turning it upside down. He is as imaginative and clever as ever which makes Djinn Rummy an entertaining read.
September 23, 2014
It's a really enjoyable read. I have read it several times and it always makes me laugh.
April 2, 2023
'90s Tom Holt does a good line in light comic treatments of well-known mythic and legendary storylines, somehow always locating them in an Anglocentric environment in a way that, for some readers at least, will have a ring of Douglas Adams. There's just something about the way that all of his characters and situations seem perfectly at home in a sort-of timeless, contextless, forever-90s suburbia located somewhere slightly north or west of London.
In this one, a woman called Jane – not, I eventually realised, the same Jane from Holt's 'Flying Dutch' written a few years earlier – unintentionally releases a powerful genie from the aspirin bottle he's been trapped in. Of course, Kiss, the genie, must offer the traditional three wishes, but quite quickly finds himself both enslaved to Jane and needing to dash off and save the world from an equally powerful genie intent on its destruction. Jane, like Holt's earlier Jane, matters less and less as the story goes on – which it does for longer than it really needs to.
However, it's the characters that really let this down. Jane is a reluctant heroine, who wants to end things (apparently out of introverted English social shame), and just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kiss is a reluctant hero who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with the power to precisely match an incompetent enemy. Later, Asaf is a reluctant hero who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and turns up in the final third to take over from Jane in voicing world-weary frustration with the supernatural. Despite being introduced as a lazy Arabic fisherman, he's got the same motivations and approach as Jane, and speaks and thinks in the same way as most of Holt's other male characters (who are all essentially English, even the genies). His pragmatism in the face of divine powers is lifted straight from Jane, who by this point has inexplicably disappeared within her own narrative and become an unwilling damsel-in-distress that none of the men want, but whom they fight over anyway. It's almost like he was added in last-minute because the idea of a woman being the protagonist and saving the world/herself was too implausible.
To be honest, Jane is so wet and lacking in agency, and so similar in some ways to the Jane of 'Flying Dutch', that it wouldn't be surprising if that were in fact the reason for introducing Asaf. She begins the book as the suicidal protagonist, but the focus shifts away from her in the middle third, and neither she nor the plot ever really recovers. She gains practically limitless power and uses it to furnish her flat, before getting frustrated that having a genie means she's denied the basic girls' right to shop. That feels very 90s and dated now, but even in the early 90s it surely indicated a lack of character depth for someone who had started out as the main protagonist. Her complete lack of closure or an ending matches the plot's diffusion by the end; things get resolved, but it's hardly satisfactory.
There are some funny moments, and the whole book is shot through with a certain lightness that keeps things whipping along, but this could be half the length and convey as much story and probably better characterisation.
In this one, a woman called Jane – not, I eventually realised, the same Jane from Holt's 'Flying Dutch' written a few years earlier – unintentionally releases a powerful genie from the aspirin bottle he's been trapped in. Of course, Kiss, the genie, must offer the traditional three wishes, but quite quickly finds himself both enslaved to Jane and needing to dash off and save the world from an equally powerful genie intent on its destruction. Jane, like Holt's earlier Jane, matters less and less as the story goes on – which it does for longer than it really needs to.
However, it's the characters that really let this down. Jane is a reluctant heroine, who wants to end things (apparently out of introverted English social shame), and just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kiss is a reluctant hero who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with the power to precisely match an incompetent enemy. Later, Asaf is a reluctant hero who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and turns up in the final third to take over from Jane in voicing world-weary frustration with the supernatural. Despite being introduced as a lazy Arabic fisherman, he's got the same motivations and approach as Jane, and speaks and thinks in the same way as most of Holt's other male characters (who are all essentially English, even the genies). His pragmatism in the face of divine powers is lifted straight from Jane, who by this point has inexplicably disappeared within her own narrative and become an unwilling damsel-in-distress that none of the men want, but whom they fight over anyway. It's almost like he was added in last-minute because the idea of a woman being the protagonist and saving the world/herself was too implausible.
To be honest, Jane is so wet and lacking in agency, and so similar in some ways to the Jane of 'Flying Dutch', that it wouldn't be surprising if that were in fact the reason for introducing Asaf. She begins the book as the suicidal protagonist, but the focus shifts away from her in the middle third, and neither she nor the plot ever really recovers. She gains practically limitless power and uses it to furnish her flat, before getting frustrated that having a genie means she's denied the basic girls' right to shop. That feels very 90s and dated now, but even in the early 90s it surely indicated a lack of character depth for someone who had started out as the main protagonist. Her complete lack of closure or an ending matches the plot's diffusion by the end; things get resolved, but it's hardly satisfactory.
There are some funny moments, and the whole book is shot through with a certain lightness that keeps things whipping along, but this could be half the length and convey as much story and probably better characterisation.
April 11, 2022
Tom Holt excels in writing very unlikeable characters but the book moves at a furious pace so you almost forget that you hate everyone. There's only one major female character in the book, and she is AWFUL. But I can't claim sexism because all the male characters are huge jerks too.
The book revolves around a genie and his relationship with a woman who rescues him from an aspirin bottle. She was about to end her life, actually, but the appearance of a genie makes her life worth living again. There's a lot of shopping and moving furniture after that.
This genie seems to be a powerhouse in the genie world, and we see "behind the scenes" at the genie pub, and get a glimpse into flying carpet business, and - oh, he has to save the world from a bad genie too.
Like all Tom Holt books, everything is complicated and details are doled out in drips as he disconcertingly changes the POV. If you make it to the end, things might make sense (or they might not, if you read late at night like I do). But overall I'd say the book was fun and worth a read if you don't mind being confused for 90% of the story.
The book revolves around a genie and his relationship with a woman who rescues him from an aspirin bottle. She was about to end her life, actually, but the appearance of a genie makes her life worth living again. There's a lot of shopping and moving furniture after that.
This genie seems to be a powerhouse in the genie world, and we see "behind the scenes" at the genie pub, and get a glimpse into flying carpet business, and - oh, he has to save the world from a bad genie too.
Like all Tom Holt books, everything is complicated and details are doled out in drips as he disconcertingly changes the POV. If you make it to the end, things might make sense (or they might not, if you read late at night like I do). But overall I'd say the book was fun and worth a read if you don't mind being confused for 90% of the story.
February 28, 2021
Good plot, good characters, but the ending fell flat. Also it uses a lot of 10 cent words, and references that most people won't get unless they are highly educated and British (and perhaps with some knowledge of Canada and the US as well). There's no need for it, it's annoying. If you're going to do it, do it well - for comedy, not (imho) needlessly. So on that level it failed.. but the ending, feh. A let down.
April 21, 2020
Very funny! I can understand why Tom Holt is so often compared to Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. It's that absurd, dry British humor that can be so comforting and cozy to read.
I can't wait to read a few more of his books.
I can't wait to read a few more of his books.
February 7, 2021
"You are not a lawyer by any chance, are you?"
"That's a horrible thing to say about anybody"
One should love this book if only for this quote 😁. And it's one of many. I personally enjoyed it very much, laughed out loud most of the time.
"That's a horrible thing to say about anybody"
One should love this book if only for this quote 😁. And it's one of many. I personally enjoyed it very much, laughed out loud most of the time.
June 26, 2017
On par with Douglas Adams -- dry, funny, sci-fi/fantasy. I just realized reading it that I'm not in a place to enjoy such "light" fiction.
October 2, 2022
A generous 4: lots of fun scenes but the plot is... Weak. But I enjoyed it anyway.
November 24, 2022
holy crap that was fun. Cupid has a high powered rifle. well written, funny, great pace, great story, great characters. i enjoyed this book and would recommend it.
February 7, 2016
Most of Holt's comic fantasy books are now available electronically from the New York Public Library, so I've been catching up on them. There's a certain repetitive style to them, even though the basic premise and the sort of fantasy being skewered differ from one book to the next. In this one, a suicidal woman finds a genie in a bottle of aspirin, and the two form an uneasy relationship. This genie also frequently thwarts the plans of a fellow of his who's constantly trying to cause worldwide destruction. This other genie tries to thwart Kawasaki Integrated Circuits, or Kiss for short (jinn in this book have corporate sponsors) by getting Cupid to make Kiss fall in love with his mistress. As such, Kiss is worried about having to give up his immortality for her. Meanwhile, a young man is being taken on a series of adventures by an Australian dragon king who's shown up in a few earlier books. This isn't one of my favorite Holt books, at least partially because I never really got much of a sense of the characters, but there were some world-building elements involving genie society that I enjoyed.
October 8, 2009
I'm on my third or fourth read of this book. It's like comfort food; whenever I feel down I pick it up and feel better. It has all the things I like about Tom Holt's books, the mythological made ordinary, and people who think like real people rather than heroes. A favourite.
February 18, 2015
Amusing. Not fantastic, but enjoyable nonetheless.
February 26, 2016
Took me a while to get into, but really enjoyed this book. Excellent read, glad I was introduced to this author.
November 20, 2016
Meh. Not a waste of time, but frankly not all that funny. This is the first Holt story I've read, and the other reviewers say it's not one of his best, so I'll try another one before I give up.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews