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jamesreadsgenre's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
karrama's review
5.0
Don't look too closely at the over-use of metaphore or machismo, that's all part of the charm. As the cover indicates, read this book with a humor that you'd play the old Roger Wilco books and you'll enjoy this universe where teleportation has left all the pilots out of a job. Our unnamed hero has taken on the identity of an author who took everyone's glory days stories and made a living out of them while the pilots themselves are searching for work as tour guides.
ryanlindbergo's review
3.0
As a fan of Yahtzee's work for about 12 years now, I was excited to finally read one of his books.
Expectations were not met, this was a mixed bag. The ending definitely was the best portion of the book, but the rest is pretty meh.
My biggest problem is that there's this sort of cyclical structure to a large section of the book. A crisis begins to unfold that the charactersget trapped in, stuff gets a little whacky, a speech check happens, crisis is narrowly solved, five seconds pass, and cycle repeats. There's only so much mileage you can get out of that before crisis #6 feels very boring. That's not even to mention the whole "you're Jacques McKeown?" convo comes up basically each time the cycle starts anew.
The other thing that kind of got me was: I don't know if I was getting enough of Yahtzee's "voice" or waaaay too much of it at the same time. Having watched so much Zero Punctuation, I was pretty familiar with his style, so it was so weird when it would float in and out only to crank it back up to 11 a couple of pages later. Seemed real inconsistent.
The ending really wraps it up nicely though. As I write this, literally just having finished, the recency effect may be pushing its thumb heavily on the scale. But it was nice finally getting out of the "crisis cycle" that plagued so much of the book's middle section. The characters have a little agency at the end rather than being hot potatoed between a constant stream of crisis vignettes.
Overall, not what i expected, but I definitely didn't hate it. Hoping the sequel is better.
Expectations were not met, this was a mixed bag. The ending definitely was the best portion of the book, but the rest is pretty meh.
My biggest problem is that there's this sort of cyclical structure to a large section of the book. A crisis begins to unfold that the charactersget trapped in, stuff gets a little whacky, a speech check happens, crisis is narrowly solved, five seconds pass, and cycle repeats. There's only so much mileage you can get out of that before crisis #6 feels very boring. That's not even to mention the whole "you're Jacques McKeown?" convo comes up basically each time the cycle starts anew.
The other thing that kind of got me was: I don't know if I was getting enough of Yahtzee's "voice" or waaaay too much of it at the same time. Having watched so much Zero Punctuation, I was pretty familiar with his style, so it was so weird when it would float in and out only to crank it back up to 11 a couple of pages later. Seemed real inconsistent.
The ending really wraps it up nicely though. As I write this, literally just having finished, the recency effect may be pushing its thumb heavily on the scale. But it was nice finally getting out of the "crisis cycle" that plagued so much of the book's middle section. The characters have a little agency at the end rather than being hot potatoed between a constant stream of crisis vignettes.
Overall, not what i expected, but I definitely didn't hate it. Hoping the sequel is better.
pkiwi's review
4.0
Could have done with a bit more exposition earlier on because several 'revelations' fall flat for lack of knowledge, but otherwise a funny and solidly engaging space satire that mixes the heydays of the Wild West with the question what happens to the starship pilots after all the space battles have been fought.
pcro99's review
2.0
I am vexxed by this author. I have read two of his books now and I know I should thoroughly enjoy them. The dry British wit is right up my alley. I have no issue with the subject matter. The comparison is exhausting and over done, but, yes, the writing style did put me in the mind of Douglas Adams whom I adore. But, still, I really did not like this. I just have trouble figuring out why.
gibs144's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.0
wookieeatemyshoe's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0