I've finally read this. It's one of my favourite Magrs books. I didn't feel the
ending was
rushed, I found it satisfying, especially the little epilogue.

My favourite bit was the flashback with the orgy and the eating of brains...
wonderful.

John

--- In transtemporal@yahoogroups.com, "Stuart Douglas" <stuart@...> wrote:
>
> Just finished reading this over Christmas, and I was mightily pleased. A bit
of a change
in pace for Paul compared to his earlier works in particular (it actually
reminded me of a
Chris Brookmyre novel where the swearing and shooting had ben replaced with
shopping
and shagging) but none the worse for that. All of his books have made me laugh
at one
point or another (MD&E made me laugh almost continuously) but this is easily the
funniest
of his non-Who novels, and seemed somehow a far lighter work than anything he's
written
previously.
>
> I'd approached the book expecting a straight Wheatley spoof, but it's a lot
more than
that - in fact, it's not that at all, really. It's an affectionate look (a
phrase that I seem to
use a lot thinking of Paul's genre fiction) at Hammer horror films in
particular, but it's
also, in no order of importance, a rather touching World War II evacuee memoir
(the equal
in quality to the wonderful North East sections of The Blue Angel); a study of
friendship
and family in all its - not always pleasant - forms; a bit of a slap at Fandom
with a capital
F; a comparison of different levels of fame; and a book which examines love in
every way
you can imagine.
>
> If anything there's a little too much in the book - although its title
suggests that Karla,
the Diva, is the main character, the story is rarely told from her POV and she
disappears
completely from fairly large sections of the narrative. Maybe it just seemed
too good a
title to pass up, but the story of Chris and Lance (and their assorted relations
and friends)
is really the backbone of the novel and would have worked just as well had devil
worship
and vampire lesbians never intruded.
>
> The only slight disappointment was what felt like a fairly rushed ending and a
bit of
Buffy-style finale where a character is built up as terribly powerful and
all-knowing (Karla
and the Brethren) and then killed pretty easily in the end. Possibly that's
deliberate given
the earlier references to Buffy and Angel, but I'd have liked slightly more
subtlety in the
final few chapters. Oh, and given that the narrative specifically mentions the
Who novel
line, it's a little strange that none of Paul's Who books get a mention in the
'About the
Author' section at the start of the book (not that all his work is listed
actually, but it just
seems a little peculiar).
>
> I'd have thought this would make a good intro to fans of Paul's Who work who
haven't
read his other novels - and if anyone doesn't find the orgy scene with CS Lewis
a hoot,
well, they need their funny bones examined.
>
> Stuart
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>