Read this one in a chapter a night method and it was funny and entertaining. Micallef weaves a tale of time travel in a rather bizarre way. Often it feels like your reading a skit playing out and there's the occasional breaking of the fourth wall, some witty little footnotes and so on.

There's plenty of great lines. I'm not sure if the story logically makes sense, but it's not the sort of book that it's really meant to. I'm going to have to read it again to see if it happens to.

I did quite enjoy H.G. Wells trying to compete with Conan Doyle, I hope they really did have conversations in the way Micallef describes.

Truly a tour de force. ( )

This is Shaun Micallef’s (The Leading Australian Comedian of the Entire Cosmos) first novella, linking such matters as Jack the Ripper, Tom Cruise, time travel, Freemasons, space travel and Matthew Reilly all together in one reasonable size book. It is not for the faint hearted, nor those who simply don’t ‘get’ Micallef. (I’m not talking about Talking About Your Generation but if you simply do not see the wisdom of David McGahan’s world around him, Dr Miracle and futility of Panadol now Panadol Rapid is available, you don’t need this book. You probably would prefer Dave Hughes or Good News Week).

Preincarnate is based on the past, present and future all at once in some sort of time continuum, which may be linked to Buddhism, Dr Who or none of the above. We have poor Alexander Pruitt who is repeatedly sucked into a time ripple and his attempted saviour who is probably the Rector of St Ives. The Rector travels to an ossuary in Paris, meets Tom Cruise in LA and tries to stop the evil Doctor Moray. Doctor Moray is involved with Oliver and Richard Cromwell, Queen Victoria, HG Wells and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to name a few. Will Alexander be removed to a single time period? What about the mysterious Una?

Take Preincarnate as it presents and try not to overanalyse. I think this is a book that would benefit from a second read (just in case you missed the badgers). The illustrations remind me of something out of a UK Magazine Annual and definitely add to the book pages (okay, and a moment to ponder). Shaun Micallef is a very witty writer and I can’t wait to see his next book. If you simply can’t finish this book, please at least read the back pages of Suggested Reading and Future Titles – these are hilarious. (Ancient Map Folding or Gas Pressure Readings in Adelaide, June –July 1934 anyone?) ( )