Book review
Written by Adam Roberts
Gollancz hardback
Release date Out now

Three very different guides assist Scrooge against a more virulent disease than an excess of Christmas spirit…

While some of Adam Roberts’ satires (usually written under the moniker of A.R.R. Roberts) haven’t always hit the mark, this rewriting of Dickens’ Christmas Carol is far more than a quick cash-in on the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The title references a certain Will Smith movie (which gets a better gag about it within the text) but it’s not just Dickens and Matheson who get stick from Roberts…

Imagine a historical Shaun of the Dead written with as many bad zombie puns as you can think of – if you’ve got a long memory, add that it’s been written by the I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again team – and you’ve got an idea of the tone. The narrator’s voice occasionally irritates, with one joke repeated a few too many times, but once the plot kicks in, it’s far more in the background.

Given that Roberts is a professor of 19th Century literature, it’s hardly surprising that there are multiple references to different stories, some well-known, others obscure. Like Monty Python at its best though, I Am Scrooge doesn’t talk down to its audience – even when it’s about to make possibly the worst Scooby Doo joke ever! Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 7/10
Ranks alongside Blackadder’s Christmas Carol as a great comic take on Dickens.