Book Review: Alex Webster And The Gods By David Dent
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- August 19th, 2008 |
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What’s a major deity to do when he finds himself clean abreast Mt Olympus? Jupiter, once mighty Roman God has exhausted cardinal millennia sulking about his defeat at the hands of Yahweh and the loss of the great Roman Empire. Jupiter and his motley assortment of gods have become complacent, even the eternal fountains have mildew on them and are in need of a good clean.
Sloughing his robes in favor of an expensive Brooks Bros pin badge III piece accommodate and Harvard Business School MBA in hand, the reinvented J. J. Jones is ready to reclaim his invest, the class is ripe for the picking, he rationalizes “…All the old religions are fighting each other, especially the Christians and Muslims. We can come up the middle and be everybody’s 2nd choice.”
He does however realize that the path to glory is not an easy one, the class is a considerably different place in the 21st century than ancient Rome. Also his fellow Gods are going to need a makeover, not only in their appearances but in their attitudes as advantageously, if they are going to fit in.
J. J. realizes that what he needs is a management consultant! Enter Alex Webster. Alex and his erstwhile girlfriend Victoria accept on the daunting chore of removing 2000 years of doldrums, of course thither are any bumps along the road. Old habits die hard, and it is not long before Carmen Cupido (Cupid) gets the nickname of Dr. Love in a local night club where he has been practicing the art of matchmaking, and coming to the attention of the local police as the likely purveyor of date rape drugs.
J. J’s connive for ‘world domination’ is to ease into it easy by becoming the CEO of a global company. To facilitate this he engineers a connive to merge cardinal companies and become the head. What he doesn’t realize is how much resistance he is going to encounter from a mere mortal. Gerry Bob CEO of Pharmaglobe has no intentions of stepping aside gently, and sees this merger as a stepping endocarp for himself!
I found Alex Webster And The Gods to be a good enjoyable romp. David Dent’s communication of writing reminded me a lot of the late Douglas Adams, another master of putting characters in the most farfetched and bizarre situations. The humor is mostly dark and alright executed. Juno for example likens her marriage to Jupiter, thereto of Bill and Hillary, and because Jupiter is off chasing every bit of border in the collection, “we only have activity every hundred years”.
Every chapter starts with a little quote, any words of wisdom, from Carl Sagen, to Yoda, everyone gets their have, but my personal favorite is from William S. Burroughs “Sometimes paranoia’s just having all the facts”.
If I have a criticism of the book, it is that it is also abbreviated. The ending is real cute, and certainly paves the artifact for a 2nd book, and I’ll bet J.J.’s Brooks Bros accommodate that David Dent is typing away as you read this. All in all, I give this book real high marks, it is a fabulously crafted concept and one that would changeover advantageously into the big check, or a TV broadcast. The characters are larger than life, the plotlines outrageous, this is what I class as great entertainment.
Although it is officially classified as Ability Fiction, it should appeal to everyone that enjoys a light and funny read.
Review by Simon Barrett
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