Clovenhoof

By: Heide Goody, Iain Grant

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Charged with gross incompetence, Satan is fired from his job as prince of Hell and exiled to that most terrible of places: English suburbia. Forced to live as a human under the name of Jeremy Clovenhoof, the dark lord not only has to contend with the fact that no one recognizes him or gives him the credit he deserves but also has to put up with the bookish war-gamer next door and the voracious man-eater upstairs.

Heaven, Hell, and the city of Birmingham collide in a story that features murder, heavy metal, cannibalism, armed robbers, devious old ladies, Satanists who live with their mums, gentlemen of limited stature, dead vicars, petty archangels, flamethrowers, sex dolls, a blood-soaked school assembly, and way too much alcohol.

©2012 Heide Goody and Iain Grant (P)2019 Heide Goody and Iain Grant

This Series Is Phenomenal

I tend not to review books, because I almost never read reviews. With this series, however, it must be done.

In the spirit of Clovenhoof, I'm going to overshare:
This series of books has made me laugh so often, so loudly, and so forcefully that negatively physical consequences have occurred that required immediate cleanup.

The material given to Matthew Lloyd Davies is phenomenal, but his rich characters and fantastic voicing for each character truly makes both Clovenhoof and Pigeonwings two of my favorite audiobooks, ever.

Wonderful story in the great British tradition of satire

I really enjoyed this book interesting premise to start and enough twists and turns to keep you involved along the way. Very British. Enough hidden references to pop culture to keep you on your toes while ultimately dealing with some reasonably deep concepts of freedom of choice for humans. Well Worth a listen. Will certainly get the next book in the series

Good Omen-esque Fun

I've ignored this book showing up on my list of 'books you may like' for awhile; I tend to ignore anything with such a cheap looking cover. But I was missing out, this is a smart and funny novel about Satan's new life on Earth. It's a bit more edgy than Good Omens, but not by much, being British and all.

Irreverent and hysterical

This is funny, okay? Stupidly funny. Jeremy (the devil, Satan himself) is banished from Hell to earth. He has to figure out earth and people on earth. I got frustrated with the seemingly random way Jeremy understood things. He didn’t understand credit and interest (because I thought SURE those were invented by the devil) but he understood buying online (also invented by the devil I’m pretty sure). Sometimes the actions he took were unwarranted and unnecessary. And I cringed more than once when he did something to hurt his neighbors. But it all makes sense if you remember he IS the devil. You can’t expect him to act like Michael. But it’s funny. And irreverent. Don’t buy it if you can’t laugh at religion. The narrator is good too. It’s easy to determine who is speaking and while I can’t say the accents are authentic, I thought they were good.

More Like 4.5 Stars

A lot of fun and quite a well thought out story. I am also enough of a nerd to have enjoyed the Pratchett references. I will definitely buy the next one.

Good but very cringy

This book was recommended to me and I really wanted to like it but it was a little bit too cringe-worthy for me. I'm not going to spoil it but if you like the IT crowd or little Britain you'll probably enjoy this. If you want something a little less raunchy and a bit more mystery I suggest the circles of hell series.

don't bother

meandering, disjointed and most of all boring and utterly forgettable. I can't believe I listened to the whole thing. narrator was very good.

I really wanted to like this book

I read the blurb about this book and thought hmmm, this should be great. Narrator was great, premise was good but the story just dragged on and on. I tried sticking it out but after 6 hrs I’d had enough. I felt the story could have been faster paced and less back and forth. I finally exchanged it.

Love it!!

I love this book!
I totally stumbled upon it by complete accident!
I didn’t want to and couldn’t stop listening!
The characters are awesome!
The story is great!
The narrator was freakin awesome!
Next please!

Lucifer is an ignorant git?

This book feels like its in the vein of Terry Pratchett's humor, which I am not a fan of.

The is a decent story here, but the man character, Satan, is for some reason is bumbling and ignorant of modern human society ... and seemingly human motivations.

Between the type of humor and the persona of the main character I didn't find the book drawing my focus and wouldn't ever listen to this again.

Laugh out loud funny

Read the books ages ago and recently found this one available on Audible. It's even funnier than I remembered, I just wish the other books were available on Audible

Fun and Frolics in Heaven, Hell and Earth

Jeremy Clovenhoof, AKA Satan, finds himself somewhat unexpectedly in Sutton Coldfield. This is following some re-structuring in Heaven and Hell and leads to all sorts of unexpected situations arising.
This novel was fun, funny, well written, excellently narrated and a joy to listen to. Each situation whilst ludicrous, was believable within it's own context, and the characters, all of whom are presented as normal but odd individuals, had a surprising depth.
I highly recommend this book and I will be investigating the other Clovenhoof stories to find out what happens to these wonderful weirdos.

I loved it!

This was fantastic - a joyous romp. It reminded me of 'The Screwtape Letters' by C. S.Lewis which I read as a teenager. As I listened on audiobook - I have to say that the narrator chosen (Matthew Lloyd Davies) was perfect.

The book appeals to all ages and is just great fun.My favourite parts were the school setting and the preparation for the dinner party but I won't say more than that in case it spoils it for anyone else.

I was delighted to see that there is a whole series of these books by the same author and they are definitely on my list. Just the first 3 available on Audible at the moment.

Easily a 5 star listen in all areas.

Slow and boring

I got this because of the reviews.....I appear to be out of step with all of them. I found it incredibly slow very boring and really not very funny.
The whole thing might make a mildly amusing comedy sketch (with good comedians using more quick fire wit) if you extracted the lack of logic even allowing for suspension of disbelief. The devil knows what a chieftain tank is but not credit cards............ surely a useful tool to lead humans into temptation and sin. Clovenhoof himself is a bumbling idiot without charm or guile. My mother-in-law may find it amusing, she is 93. It is as far away from Lucifer Morningstar or Bedazzled (Peter Cook & Dudley Moore) as it is possible to get.

The laugh out loud antics of ex-Satan Jeremy

Have you ever been curious what the devil would get up to if he had to change carreers? Well, wonder no more!
You can follow the hilarious events in the life of ex-Satan Jeremy Clovenhoof and his new-found human friends in Heide Goody and Iain Grant's truly fantastic comedy book. I love Jeremy; he is the funniest character I came across in a long time. My face hurt from laughing too much at his antics. I would definitely highly recommend it: it's humorous, has an amusing storyline and characters. It gets a well deserved 5 stars from me.

Satan adapting to life on earth ... in Brum!

Hilarious, manic and full of warmth - a wonderful madcap adventure for Satan with an intriguing cast of characters and the narration is engaging. As Satan, aka Clovenhoof, encounters new foods, drinks and 'friends' the journey is wonderfully described. Another wonderful read/listen from these authors.

Satan on the rampage

Satan (Clovenhoof) is fired and forced to live with humans in Birmingham. As with all Heide Goody and Iain Grant books, this takes a mad idea, turns it into something funny, sad and totally random and makes a good listen. Full of characters from the religon, history and humans living their lives it is an adventure not to be missed. I loved the characters even the "bad" ones, they were all totally different but came together to make the story. An enjoyable listen.

Extremely entertaining and amusing

Didn't know what to expect. Let myself get carried along by the story, which just got better and better, and took some nicely unexpected twists and turns. The narrator moved really easily between the voices of the different characters, so it was never confusing who was speaking, even if there were quite a few characters in one scene! Some real laugh out loud moments, interesting characters with flaws and foibles, a good story that held the attention....what's not to like! And by the end of the book there's a good chance you'll find yourself rooting for Clovenhoof, even if you wouldn't want him as your neighbour!

A slow start

Took me two attempts to start (maybe just because this was my first audiobook) but I'm so glad I stuck with it. Very witty and well written, the narration was a pleasure to listen to. Will definitely be getting the next book.

If it’s wet outside and you’ve nothing better to do

I read the reviews before purchasing and despite that still bought the book as I liked the concept.
It’s better than suggested, but not by much.
It was ok for the car as background when concentration wasn’t necessary.
It is never going to keep you up past midnight so you can listen to ‘just one more chapter’.