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A review by labunnywtf
A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy by Alex White
5.0
Until every one of you is willing to stand up, we haven't gone far enough. So keep on betting your futures on a single, tiny starship crew. Take a load off and leave the rest to us .... Keep your damned medals.
If my praise and adoration for [b: A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe|35520564|A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (The Salvagers, #1)|Alex White|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504129587s/35520564.jpg|56936451] did not sway you to start this series, let me please reiterate.
You need this single, tiny starship crew in your damn life.
This was such a phenomenal follow up to the first book in the series. I'm not going to lie, I was concerned. I have had bad luck with First Book Syndrome. Where you fall head over heels for a book, an author, a cast, a setting, and then you read the next book and you go, "Wait...."
::coughDivergentcough::
In the aftermath of the battle at the end of A Big Ship, our crew has not taken any down time. Well, maybe just my literary soulmate, Boots, who has used her money to buy a huge plot of land and make whiskey for a living. (Seriously. soul. mate.) But as we saw at the end of the first book, just when she thought she was out, they drag her back in.
Their mission is SUPER simple. They just have to take down some gods.
NBD, just another Tuesday.
Except that after word got out what they did, people are singing their praises and raising glasses in their favor. But there's always those people. Those dissenters. Those conspiracy theorists. Those people who see someone doing good, and decide that they are the villains.
You know who these people are. You know their real life counterparts.
The Children of the Singularity don't wear red hats, but believe me, they're there.
And they are everywhere. And they HATE this crew. Because destiny. Insert all of the eye rolls here. You will hate these guys.
What you will hate even more than these guys is our villain. I thought Mother from the first book was bad. But, see, Mother didn't touch on any of my own personal phobias. So, being creeped out by her was just fun. Lord Vraba, though? Lord Vraba needs to stay 85 paces away from me as I crab walk backwards out the damn door.
Props to Alex, btdub, for having Nilah call Lord Vraba out for that hoity toity title in a way JKR never bothered with Voldemort.
There are so many things I want to talk about and I just feel like I would be rambling. This is the problem with books that fill me up like this. It's not that I can't put my feelings into words, it's that I have too many damn words and I want people to actually read this review and decide to read the book for themselves, not roll their eyes at the TL;DR and keep moving.
I mean, WE HAVE CREEPY AMAZING TWINS IN THIS BOOK. When we first met them, I was hoping for Weasley vibes, but what we got was Simon and River Tam, and it was 8,600 times better than I ever could have dreamed. We have Charger, a sorry replacement for my Ranger but a precious baby mountain lion killing machine who is a LITERAL CHILD and 'cries' when Ornah takes his damn legs away.
We have SO MUCH REP. We have gender neutral characters, asexual characters, bisexual characters. And no one bats an eye or thinks it's strange, because THAT IS WHAT SCI FI IS FOR, to show that this abominable world can grow and evolve and it's WONDERFUL.
We have BANK ROBBERY. ESPIONAGE. INFILTRATION OF A MUTHAFUCKIN' MOUNTAIN FORTRESS. A character who is like the Bob Ross of evil. ("We're the Children of the Singularity, not the Children of the Vulgarity.") FISH PEOPLE.
ALSO ORNAH, BUT IT'S FINE, I'LL LET THAT SLIDE.
Seriously, I know we got the back story on Ornah and it's CRAZY SAD and upsetting, but JFC, she is such a fucking brat and I wanted her to get hit with a wrench a couple of times.
Okay, I'm going to stop now.
One last thing. The writing. The writing in these novels is just so damn good. Y'all should know, my relationship with science fiction is SPOTTY, I get lost in the phlebotenum and my eyes glaze over and this is never a genre I reach for. Not only do I plan on re-reading these two books in preparation for the third, but I am anxious to read the rest of Alex's work. If they're anything like these, I am going to love every minute of it.
Let me give you my favorite example. In one scene, the captain, Cordell, is bringing food to Boots, in her quarters. She's just had a rough time of it, so it's a kindness that he's bringing her this meal. And she asks if he brought her a fork, which he has forgotten.
Now, I caught on almost immediately what was going on, but it is never implicitly stated, at all, in the text. Because Cordell is bringing her both food, and bad news. And Cordell knows that when Boots hears said bad news, she might, in fact, stab him with the fork.
That? ^^ Is my kind of writing. These are my kinds of books. Why are all of you still sitting there, go get the books and start reading.
If my praise and adoration for [b: A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe|35520564|A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (The Salvagers, #1)|Alex White|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504129587s/35520564.jpg|56936451] did not sway you to start this series, let me please reiterate.
You need this single, tiny starship crew in your damn life.
This was such a phenomenal follow up to the first book in the series. I'm not going to lie, I was concerned. I have had bad luck with First Book Syndrome. Where you fall head over heels for a book, an author, a cast, a setting, and then you read the next book and you go, "Wait...."
::coughDivergentcough::
In the aftermath of the battle at the end of A Big Ship, our crew has not taken any down time. Well, maybe just my literary soulmate, Boots, who has used her money to buy a huge plot of land and make whiskey for a living. (Seriously. soul. mate.) But as we saw at the end of the first book, just when she thought she was out, they drag her back in.
Their mission is SUPER simple. They just have to take down some gods.
NBD, just another Tuesday.
Except that after word got out what they did, people are singing their praises and raising glasses in their favor. But there's always those people. Those dissenters. Those conspiracy theorists. Those people who see someone doing good, and decide that they are the villains.
You know who these people are. You know their real life counterparts.
The Children of the Singularity don't wear red hats, but believe me, they're there.
And they are everywhere. And they HATE this crew. Because destiny. Insert all of the eye rolls here. You will hate these guys.
What you will hate even more than these guys is our villain. I thought Mother from the first book was bad. But, see, Mother didn't touch on any of my own personal phobias. So, being creeped out by her was just fun. Lord Vraba, though? Lord Vraba needs to stay 85 paces away from me as I crab walk backwards out the damn door.
Props to Alex, btdub, for having Nilah call Lord Vraba out for that hoity toity title in a way JKR never bothered with Voldemort.
There are so many things I want to talk about and I just feel like I would be rambling. This is the problem with books that fill me up like this. It's not that I can't put my feelings into words, it's that I have too many damn words and I want people to actually read this review and decide to read the book for themselves, not roll their eyes at the TL;DR and keep moving.
I mean, WE HAVE CREEPY AMAZING TWINS IN THIS BOOK. When we first met them, I was hoping for Weasley vibes, but what we got was Simon and River Tam, and it was 8,600 times better than I ever could have dreamed. We have Charger, a sorry replacement for my Ranger but a precious baby mountain lion killing machine who is a LITERAL CHILD and 'cries' when Ornah takes his damn legs away.
We have SO MUCH REP. We have gender neutral characters, asexual characters, bisexual characters. And no one bats an eye or thinks it's strange, because THAT IS WHAT SCI FI IS FOR, to show that this abominable world can grow and evolve and it's WONDERFUL.
We have BANK ROBBERY. ESPIONAGE. INFILTRATION OF A MUTHAFUCKIN' MOUNTAIN FORTRESS. A character who is like the Bob Ross of evil. ("We're the Children of the Singularity, not the Children of the Vulgarity.") FISH PEOPLE.
ALSO ORNAH, BUT IT'S FINE, I'LL LET THAT SLIDE.
Seriously, I know we got the back story on Ornah and it's CRAZY SAD and upsetting, but JFC, she is such a fucking brat and I wanted her to get hit with a wrench a couple of times.
Okay, I'm going to stop now.
One last thing. The writing. The writing in these novels is just so damn good. Y'all should know, my relationship with science fiction is SPOTTY, I get lost in the phlebotenum and my eyes glaze over and this is never a genre I reach for. Not only do I plan on re-reading these two books in preparation for the third, but I am anxious to read the rest of Alex's work. If they're anything like these, I am going to love every minute of it.
Let me give you my favorite example. In one scene, the captain, Cordell, is bringing food to Boots, in her quarters. She's just had a rough time of it, so it's a kindness that he's bringing her this meal. And she asks if he brought her a fork, which he has forgotten.
Now, I caught on almost immediately what was going on, but it is never implicitly stated, at all, in the text. Because Cordell is bringing her both food, and bad news. And Cordell knows that when Boots hears said bad news, she might, in fact, stab him with the fork.
That? ^^ Is my kind of writing. These are my kinds of books. Why are all of you still sitting there, go get the books and start reading.