Barry Trotter And The Unnecessary Sequel (GOLLANCZ S.F.) - Hardcover

Gerber, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0575075589 ISBN 13: 9780575075580

Publisher: Gollancz, 2003

Synopsis

Barry Trotter saved the Hogwash school for Wizards from the unwelcome attentions of Hollywood in BARRY TROTTER AND THE SHAMELESS PARODY. But things move on. Barry and Ermine Cringer have got married and have had two relatively delightful children. Their eldest is a skilled magician. But the youngest doesn't seem to possess any ability at all. Have Barry and Ermine given birth to a Muddle? Maybe magic isn't everything after all . . .

About this title

Review:

The title says it all: Barry Trotter and the Unnecessary Sequel is Michael Gerber's needless follow-up to Barry Trotter and the Shameless Parody. Who needs a second raucous spoof of Harry Potter? Ask Mr Gerber's publishers and bank manager...

Boy wizard Barry Trotter is now 38 and long married to his over-achieving schoolmate Ermine. With serious hairline problems and two kids (Nigel and Fiona), he's grown quite chummy with his old nemesis Lord Valumart, and is a far cry from the idealised Barry in bestsellers by "JG Rollins":

Not that Barry was a bad fellow--he was always ready to tell a fictitious story, dispense bad advice or lend an inexpert hand. It's just that he was sort of a loose cannon. A very loose, very, very big cannon that fired nuclear-tipped artillery shells. Into heavily populated areas. At dinner time.

Now it's young Nigel's turn to endure "The Obligatory Train-Platform Chapter" and become a first-year pupil at the famous wizarding school Hogwash, while his parents tag along for the old students' reunion. Gerber has fun sending up the lake journey, the banquet, the Sorting (sorry, Picking) Hat and other familiar props.

When the current Headmaster comes to a very messy end, it has to be foul play, probably by the author. Barry unwisely takes over as interim head, while Nigel suffers squalid agonies at the bottom of the Hogwash pecking order. The mystery grows deeper, also ruder and grosser, as Barry himself is cursed with "youthanasia"--doomed to become forever younger until he painfully implodes into nothingness. A badly disguised "stranger" on the Hogwash staff is evidently implicated, but as usual our chums are too busy suspecting Professor Snipe...

The farrago lurches onward until, at last: "This is the part in the book where the villain explains his plan!" En route, Unnecessary Sequel offers more sleaze, innuendo, cheap shots, bad taste and bodily fluids than you could shake a broomstick at. If you enjoyed what Bored of the Rings did to Tolkien, you'll enjoy this as outrageous, irreverent fun. --David Langford

Book Description:

The inevitable sequel to the Sunday Times bestselling Potter parody phenomenon.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gollancz
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0575075589
• ISBN 13: 9780575075580
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336