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villyidol's review
3.0
So, instead of continuing my Isaac Asimov project, that I started in 2018(!) I read this book here. I’m not so good with those long-term reading projects, am I? Maybe it’s because I have the attention span of a
First book of the year, first disappointment. *sigh*
I loved its predecessor, which I have read in December of The Forgotten Year. It was so funny I just couldn’t stop laughing. Simply wonderful space farce.
This second book, unfortunately, is not nearly as funny. It starts with Rex and his robot sidekick Sasha both having lost their memory, and Rex also having gone through a stark change in personality. He’s become generous. *gasp* He just can’t stop giving away things. A joke that overstayed its welcome quite a bit. Then we go into a longish flashback that explains what has happened to our two “heroes”, including them becoming space pirates. Hence the cover and the title.
It had some fun moments, but wasn’t all that exciting, to be honest. There are some second book issues as well, like having to explain parts of the world/tech again, which is a little boring if you’ve finished the previous book only a week ago. The jokes are just as silly as in the first book, but without the same underlying cleverness. And the good ones are far less frequent, I’m afraid. The first laugh-out-lout moment came only after more than 20% of the book’s length. That was probably the most disappointing thing, as the frequency didn’t really increase after that point either. Just way too many misses this time around. The plot however got a little more interesting after the flashback was in the rearview mirror. Which was close to the halfway mark of my e-book. A little too late. Especially considering that the last fifth of the book is not part of the main story, but a Pepper Melange novella (a side character).
I did not read the novella, because I had to return the book to the library. So much for my New Year’s resolution to not be pressed for time in my reading quite so often. But it would have made no difference for the rating, as I would have rated that one separately anyway.
Overall, this was surprisingly mediocre. I will probably still continue with the series, because I
Wait, is that a robot parrot?
2.5 stars, generously rounding up.
First book of the year, first disappointment. *sigh*
I loved its predecessor, which I have read in December of The Forgotten Year. It was so funny I just couldn’t stop laughing. Simply wonderful space farce.
This second book, unfortunately, is not nearly as funny. It starts with Rex and his robot sidekick Sasha both having lost their memory, and Rex also having gone through a stark change in personality. He’s become generous. *gasp* He just can’t stop giving away things. A joke that overstayed its welcome quite a bit. Then we go into a longish flashback that explains what has happened to our two “heroes”, including them becoming space pirates. Hence the cover and the title.
It had some fun moments, but wasn’t all that exciting, to be honest. There are some second book issues as well, like having to explain parts of the world/tech again, which is a little boring if you’ve finished the previous book only a week ago. The jokes are just as silly as in the first book, but without the same underlying cleverness. And the good ones are far less frequent, I’m afraid. The first laugh-out-lout moment came only after more than 20% of the book’s length. That was probably the most disappointing thing, as the frequency didn’t really increase after that point either. Just way too many misses this time around. The plot however got a little more interesting after the flashback was in the rearview mirror. Which was close to the halfway mark of my e-book. A little too late. Especially considering that the last fifth of the book is not part of the main story, but a Pepper Melange novella (a side character).
I did not read the novella, because I had to return the book to the library. So much for my New Year’s resolution to not be pressed for time in my reading quite so often. But it would have made no difference for the rating, as I would have rated that one separately anyway.
Overall, this was surprisingly mediocre. I will probably still continue with the series, because I
Wait, is that a robot parrot?
2.5 stars, generously rounding up.
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