Scan barcode
cmliwagdixon's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting story with an unlikeable protagonist
This first installment of “The Space Operetta Series" starts off promisingly enough. Set in outer space in a futuristic society that has mastered the art of human cloning, Lesley L. Smith fuses several science fiction tropes to create an original storyline. The protagonist, Jack Jones, is a singer/spy who has been cloned as an 18-year-old version of himself after being murdered. While he should have access to his entire lifetime of memories, they have been mysteriously deleted leaving him with no clues about his life past the age of 18. Can he solve his own murder before the killer finds out what he’s up to?
While the premise is entertaining, Jack is a character who is difficult to sympathize with. He is entirely controlled by his hormones. This seems to be done in order to remind us that the character is trapped in the life of an 18 year old, but Jack is remarkably juvenile — even for a teenager. By the end of the story, he begins to mature a bit which hopefully bodes well for the character’s continued development in the next book in the series.
This first installment of “The Space Operetta Series" starts off promisingly enough. Set in outer space in a futuristic society that has mastered the art of human cloning, Lesley L. Smith fuses several science fiction tropes to create an original storyline. The protagonist, Jack Jones, is a singer/spy who has been cloned as an 18-year-old version of himself after being murdered. While he should have access to his entire lifetime of memories, they have been mysteriously deleted leaving him with no clues about his life past the age of 18. Can he solve his own murder before the killer finds out what he’s up to?
While the premise is entertaining, Jack is a character who is difficult to sympathize with. He is entirely controlled by his hormones. This seems to be done in order to remind us that the character is trapped in the life of an 18 year old, but Jack is remarkably juvenile — even for a teenager. By the end of the story, he begins to mature a bit which hopefully bodes well for the character’s continued development in the next book in the series.
bookwormbunny's review against another edition
5.0
A Jack By Any Other Name by Lesley L. Smith is book 1 in her Space Operatta series. In this book we are quickly introduced to the main character Jack Jones...and then he's killed. Oops! LOL! Then we fast forward in time and he's been cloned and brought back by the company that he works for but the thing is...now he's 18 years old and they've lost the last 30 years of his memories so he has no memories of who he was and what he used to do i.e. singer, assassin extraordinaire and captain of the space ship Shakespeare. The murderer was never caught and now it's up to him to figure out who killed him and catch them. Wont be an easy task at all because while he tries to pretend that he's Jack Jones' son Jack Jones Junior it doesn't take much for a few people to figure out that it's a ruse and for a target to once again be painted on his back. Jack doesn't know who to trust but trust someone he must. Now if only he could get his teenage hormones under control so that he can focus and find who's out to get him before they take him out...yet again.
This is the second book by Lesley L. Smith that I have read and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love that the author starts the story off with a bang. First thing Jack is being propositioned to assassinate someone while at dinner with his wife but his wife has conveniently gone to the restroom and then two shots ring out...one killing the man soliciting him and a second shot killing him. Then Jack is brought back to life, cloned only to find that the last 30 years of his life have been lost/deleted and that he can only remember all the way up to what his new body's age is: 18 years old. Even though it's only been a month after his death his wife has already moved on to another man and remarried, yet...she seems to still harbor feelings for him. However Jack has no problems moving on since he has no memory of her and enjoying himself with the ladies. But he has a job to do...find out who murdered him and bring them in. Too bad he gets easily distracted. But when a crew member is murdered while on the Shakespeare, in Jack's cabin, he realizes he needs to focus on more than just the ladies and his singing and get down to business so that no more innocents are targeted or die in his place.
This book moves at a steady pace and keeps you thoroughly engaged as you read along. There is quite a bit of humor in this story and I absolutely love it. I love the different creatures on the different planets and how they are all so unique and well detailed. Normally a character being proud or too self-satisfied with themselves in a talent annoys me but Jack is so different that you can't help but like him and find such humor when someone doesn't react the way he thinks they should. The characters are really well done and are a lot of fun to read about. Each of them are different and unique and that's what really makes this a great story for sure.
This is not your normal run of the mill science fiction novel. This book is full of mystery, humor and quite a few surprises. You really get to see Jack even evolve from being the 18 year old who is just a horn dog to becoming more like the old Jack but more balanced as well. While we don't know a lot about the old Jack in the beginning it's nice to see the "new" Jack evolve, grow and develop.
I really enjoyed this book and I rate it 5 out of 5 stars. I love a good science fiction read and I've not read a lot of Space operas but this book is number 1 on my list no doubt. I honestly can't wait to read more in this series. This is one book that I will be recommending to all my friends who love a good science fiction space opera read. Two thumbs way up very well done indeed.
This is the second book by Lesley L. Smith that I have read and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love that the author starts the story off with a bang. First thing Jack is being propositioned to assassinate someone while at dinner with his wife but his wife has conveniently gone to the restroom and then two shots ring out...one killing the man soliciting him and a second shot killing him. Then Jack is brought back to life, cloned only to find that the last 30 years of his life have been lost/deleted and that he can only remember all the way up to what his new body's age is: 18 years old. Even though it's only been a month after his death his wife has already moved on to another man and remarried, yet...she seems to still harbor feelings for him. However Jack has no problems moving on since he has no memory of her and enjoying himself with the ladies. But he has a job to do...find out who murdered him and bring them in. Too bad he gets easily distracted. But when a crew member is murdered while on the Shakespeare, in Jack's cabin, he realizes he needs to focus on more than just the ladies and his singing and get down to business so that no more innocents are targeted or die in his place.
This book moves at a steady pace and keeps you thoroughly engaged as you read along. There is quite a bit of humor in this story and I absolutely love it. I love the different creatures on the different planets and how they are all so unique and well detailed. Normally a character being proud or too self-satisfied with themselves in a talent annoys me but Jack is so different that you can't help but like him and find such humor when someone doesn't react the way he thinks they should. The characters are really well done and are a lot of fun to read about. Each of them are different and unique and that's what really makes this a great story for sure.
This is not your normal run of the mill science fiction novel. This book is full of mystery, humor and quite a few surprises. You really get to see Jack even evolve from being the 18 year old who is just a horn dog to becoming more like the old Jack but more balanced as well. While we don't know a lot about the old Jack in the beginning it's nice to see the "new" Jack evolve, grow and develop.
I really enjoyed this book and I rate it 5 out of 5 stars. I love a good science fiction read and I've not read a lot of Space operas but this book is number 1 on my list no doubt. I honestly can't wait to read more in this series. This is one book that I will be recommending to all my friends who love a good science fiction space opera read. Two thumbs way up very well done indeed.
xk8linx19's review
2.0
A Jack by Any Other Name was about a guy named Jack who's killed, his body is uploaded into an 18-year-old clone of himself with none of his adult memories, and he's charged with finding his would-be murderer. And it's kind of a weird one - I'll admit up-front that I don't read a ton of traditional "pulp" sci-fi. I watch a lot of it (TV/movies), and that's my biggest point of reference for this book and review.
"AJBAON" felt very Trek-y, particularly in that Jack spent most of the book sexing his way across the galaxy a la Kirk as opposed to actually trying to figure out who wanted him dead. It was weird and ultimately distracting. There was also a big nod to "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in what amounts to a probability drive - when the drive is engaged, what's improbable becomes probable. In practice within the novel, it's a big wishing machine - literally a deus ex machina. With the probability drive engaged (and Jack can tell because, when it is, all of a sudden his junk stops working), Jack can make any wish he likes: the ability to tell if someone is lying, bringing a character basically back to life, and (perhaps laziest of all) that he miraculously has a plan for how to track down his murderer and wrap up the plot. There were some charming parts to this book - most notably the Shakespeare quotes and musical references (I'm such a sucker), and the writing was clean and precise, if a bit repetitive, and it cracked a few decent jokes. But the interesting plot set-up was almost completely ignored for most of the novel, and fixed at the last minute by magic (the author obviously imposing their will upon the book). So, like I said before, I don't read a lot of sci-fi. But I do know that this book was rife with lazy storytelling so, in good conscience, I can't recommend it.
"AJBAON" felt very Trek-y, particularly in that Jack spent most of the book sexing his way across the galaxy a la Kirk as opposed to actually trying to figure out who wanted him dead. It was weird and ultimately distracting. There was also a big nod to "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in what amounts to a probability drive - when the drive is engaged, what's improbable becomes probable. In practice within the novel, it's a big wishing machine - literally a deus ex machina. With the probability drive engaged (and Jack can tell because, when it is, all of a sudden his junk stops working), Jack can make any wish he likes: the ability to tell if someone is lying, bringing a character basically back to life, and (perhaps laziest of all) that he miraculously has a plan for how to track down his murderer and wrap up the plot. There were some charming parts to this book - most notably the Shakespeare quotes and musical references (I'm such a sucker), and the writing was clean and precise, if a bit repetitive, and it cracked a few decent jokes. But the interesting plot set-up was almost completely ignored for most of the novel, and fixed at the last minute by magic (the author obviously imposing their will upon the book). So, like I said before, I don't read a lot of sci-fi. But I do know that this book was rife with lazy storytelling so, in good conscience, I can't recommend it.
More...