This is only my second Holt surprisingly, the first being The Portable Door earlier last year. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I gather he is very popular amongst fans of Terry Pratchett but I think comparisons here are wrong. I find Holt's work far less like Pratchett and perhaps more along the lines of Jasper Fforde in terms of tone and style. Pratchett's plots are straightforward and easy to summarise. Based on the now two books I have read by Holt, his are not so easy to quantify.Falling Sideways is a fun, complex, silly yet clever romp of a tale about another inept yet ultimately likeable employee (rather like in The Portable Door) who has a strange theory about the origins of the human race; this theory most certainly does not tally with evolution as we have come to understand it. Ultimately, we have been led and guided by a group of sentient frogs who are effectively or gods. The problem is that this theory is true and that our creators are from another world and pretending to be harmless indigenous amphibians.Perkins is also madly in love with a woman that he can never be with. Oh no, this isn't some soppy love story about how she's too hot or popular for him, or would never look at him until he gets a sports car... she's actually been dead 400 years and he's fallen in love with a portrait of her. what's more - he's convinced that every day he goes to see the painting, she's making rude gestures at him while he isn't looking.Well, he thinks he could never be with her until his friend sells him a lock of hair that he claims belonged to the fair Jacobean maiden; the same friend then introduces him to a man named Honest Dave who claims to be able to clone people. Taking the chance to resurrect her, he scrapes up the money. It doesn't end well and Perkins soon finds himself at the centre firstly of a murder and then an art theft.This is a daft yet ultimately fun romp that put me in the mind of Robert Rankin with quick one-liners, amusing pop culture references and some political satire without being too high brow. It's well written and flows easily - one of those books where 100 pages have slipped by before you've even realised it. Pretty much as expected from this author and the genre but it didn't set me ablaze.If anything, it gets too convoluted in the second half; this is a shame because the first half shapes up to be quite promising with its silly twists and turns. Not bad, but not great either.
While Robert Rankin claims to have invented the term “Far-Fetched Fiction” in hopes of getting his own shelf at the bookstore, I don’t know that he’d necessarily be the only one whose books would end up there. From what I’ve read of Holt, I think he could also qualify for this category. The two books I’d previously read of his, and a lot of his others as well if the descriptions are to be believed, deal with specific myths or legends. Falling Sideways is a little different in that it doesn’t specifically reference any earlier works, but it’s no less funny for that. What starts out as a story about a shy nerd who falls in love with a historical figure and somehow obtains a lock of her hair AND finds a cloning factory later becomes one of frogs from outer space with magical powers of persuasion influencing life on Earth as part of a convoluted plan. Confused yet? Well, it’s hard not to be when each new bit of exposition contradicts much of the last, and several of the characters are clones of other characters. The theme of frogs pervades the story, and when frogs take on human form and humans are convinced they’re frogs, you can never be totally sure what’s going on. One frog mentions that their homeworld is in the Sirius system, and when the main character says that’s the Dog Star, the amphibian replies, “Dog Star? With a ‘D’? Must be a typo.” I have to wonder if Holt might have been thinking (even if not consciously) of Douglas Adams’ Frogstar, said to be “the most totally evil place in the Galaxy.” There’s also a frog claiming he had to take human form to play the role of God, because he “just couldn’t get the idea of a frog-shaped god to catch on with these people.” He doesn’t mention the Egyptian frog goddess Heqet. Anyway, in addition to its charmingly ridiculous plot, the book also has a lot of amusing asides and a generally enjoyable writing style.
What do You think about Falling Sideways (2002)?
Bonkers! Complete and utter bonkers! But fun and fantastic. David Perkins is a lonely IT technician with a crush on a girl in a medieval painting. Or is he the genetically engineered patsy to bring about the meeting of the world's greatest lovers? Or is he a highly intelligent alien frog thinking he's a human? Or possibly the other way round?Or all of the above?That's the general plot as David tries to work out the truth too. With multiple clones running around, of most of the main characters, it can be just as confusing for the reader as for him. But an enjoyable confusion. I've always preferred the humour of Terry Pratchett, but this is the first novel of Tom Holt's that I think comes close.So yes, bonkers - but a cracking read!
—Dark-Draco
Really quite disappointing. The premise had promise (heh), and there is some funny stuff in there, but Holt has one unforgivable tick that made me ready to throw the book against the wall. He tells a lot and shows little. Healthy chunks of the book are solely one character giving another exposition. And lying, to boot. Which means he has to devote another chunk of the book with more exposition giving the truth (maybe). I’m all for unreliable characters and not giving the reader the unvarnished truth, but you have to give them a fighting chance, at least.Also, the theme of the mild-mannered “Omega Male” (to steal a term from Christopher Moore) attaining godlike powers and, more importantly, getting the girl reads like uncomfortably like an Omega Male’s escapist fantasy more than anything else.I did read Expecting Someone Taller collected in Tall Stories, hoping that this was just a dud, but it had both of the same problems.Please, someone tell me I was just reading early works of his and that he’s improved since then.
—Robert
The first book i read by tom holt was interesting enough to keep me going through but wasn't enthralling. this book falls a little below that. i finished it but it really felt like he wrote the entire thing as a train of thought with no direction, no connections, nothing to make me feel empathetic or sympathetic for the characters. every so often he would write in some lengthy monologue which tied up things, explained things away, tried to make sense of the previous nonsense. it was tiring and near the end i was slightly irritated with the craziness with convenient explainations. i have a feeling i won't be reading another tom holt book.
—Brad
