Reviews

The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

Only show reviews with written explanations

niisound's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Absurd, clever, and funny from start to finish. Beginning the story with bathroom humour did not prepare me for the thrilling adventures and actually captivating politics that I was going to thoroughly enjoy. Despite the increasingly ludicrous happenings, Scalzi somehow manages to convey it all in a way that feels possible and logical, as far as logic can keep up. My first read from him and definitely not my last.

landmark8385's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sepptb's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

titleistmuffin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Scalzi is just such a master of telling a great story, and that's exactly what this is. You'll find all the typical hallmarks of his work like fun romps with alien beings and other worlds, quick and funny dialogue between characters, and wild speculative concepts.

The driving plotline is unbelievably wacky and that should come as no surprise for a book which begins with a plot to literally

fart a diplomatic meeting into failure

.

I docked a star because unlike much of Scalzi's work these characters don't feel quite as developed and multi-dimensional. Especially the 2 main protagonists, they're sort of perfectly formed beings from the beginning to the end.

planetarymemory's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

John Scalzi man that you are - every book I read by him I love him more and more. I really don’t know what I’m going to do when I run out of backlog.

This book had me so engrossed and was much the same as his others, with some pretty key differences. It felt like the “ick” factor went up a couple notches - examples being like the whole messy situation with Robin Baker, Takk - the alien with the interesting digestive process (no metals or plastics, thank you), and the whole first bit of the book with the translation module inserted into someone’s colon, in order to harness the power of gas with intention to communicate.

The Harry Creek of it all was so… real? Based in reality? I don’t know how else to put this - the man was so believably a good person, and that often falls flat for me.

I feel like I say this with every John Scalzi book I finish, but this one may be at the top of my JS list right now. It was so whacky and earnestly leaning into it but keeping the story grounded and tense at the same time. Loved it.

doodlebuginarug's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny

4.0

h3dakota's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Another fun read, though I didn't enjoy it quite as well as Redshirts & Agent to the Stars. I don't enjoy politics, which this story has a healthy amount of, just more of the alien variety. LOL. The ending was great & provided several laughs.