Book Review: Preincarnate by Shaun Micallef

I recently listened to the audio book of Preincarnate by Shaun Micallef.

I need to start by saying that I’m a huge fan of Shaun’s, and I also love hearing him narrate books. Shaun’s humour can be a matter of taste. It’s not for everyone, but I generally love it, although I know many others that don’t. Mad as Hell was one of my favourite TV shows. The one exception is that I wish Shaun would lose the impersonations of Kenneth Williams.

So I was really excited to listen to this one, but…

WTAF ???

For the life of me, I can’t work out what Shaun was thinking with this one. The word preincarnate is generally accepted as relating to having existence before incarnation. Mostly it’s used in religious settings.

In this case, the book is intended to be a pretty wild romp backwards and forwards over the last five centuries or so. In the end, it comes across like a jumble of conscienceness poured out into a book.

Did I find a few comments that Shaun made in the book funny? Sure.

Did I find the book enjoyable? No.

Summary

I’m clearly not the target audience for this, even though, ironically, I suspect that I should be. It just feels like someone with a great track record, taking a major misstep. Wish it wasn’t so.

3 out of 10

2025-02-10