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A review by missknown
Murder on the Interstellar Express by Gregory D. Little
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
Disclaimer: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for free. All the thoughts and opinions here are my own.
I saw this book pitched as Deadpool humour paired with the obvious reference to Murder on the Orient Express, and I was so ready to see a funny murder mystery set in space. Sadly, nothing worked out for me.
This is not Deadpool humour. Just because the F word is used a lot, there are innuendos and some sarcastic remarks, it doesn't mean it's like Deadpool's. There are other subtleties that make it work that I didn't see present here. For starters, the third-person narrative wasn't a good choice. This turned innuendos and sexual jokes that should have come from the character into the narrator sexualizing the character. I felt I wasn't laughing with the character but instead laughing at the character. Deadpool narrates his own story so any sexual jokes are about himself or, if they are about others, they are never in a demeaning or judgemental way.
This brings me to another point, the protagonist is a female character. In the early chapters, there is a joke about the character being versatile in linguistics and referring to her talent to use her tongue in other ways... if you know what I mean. Wink, wink. And this joke would be fine if it wasn't told by the narrator. When I read it, all I could think of was every time I listen to teenage boys and even grown men and women, making this sort of remark implying the female in question was a slut. So the main character, the one I should root for, laugh with and accompany in this book and in the ones that will come after, was reduced to an object, sexualized, judged and disrespected. And this was not what I signed up for.
The humour really missed the mark for me. And about the murder mystery part, it was only about 20% of the story when the murder happened. I can't speak of how good or bad the mystery will be. I wasn't enjoying the narration, I didn't connect with the characters and there wasn't anything to keep me going. Forcing myself to continue reading this book wouldn't turn it into a favourite despite how good the mystery might be. I would only get more upset. So the best thing to do is close the book and move on.
I saw this book pitched as Deadpool humour paired with the obvious reference to Murder on the Orient Express, and I was so ready to see a funny murder mystery set in space. Sadly, nothing worked out for me.
This is not Deadpool humour. Just because the F word is used a lot, there are innuendos and some sarcastic remarks, it doesn't mean it's like Deadpool's. There are other subtleties that make it work that I didn't see present here. For starters, the third-person narrative wasn't a good choice. This turned innuendos and sexual jokes that should have come from the character into the narrator sexualizing the character. I felt I wasn't laughing with the character but instead laughing at the character. Deadpool narrates his own story so any sexual jokes are about himself or, if they are about others, they are never in a demeaning or judgemental way.
This brings me to another point, the protagonist is a female character. In the early chapters, there is a joke about the character being versatile in linguistics and referring to her talent to use her tongue in other ways... if you know what I mean. Wink, wink. And this joke would be fine if it wasn't told by the narrator. When I read it, all I could think of was every time I listen to teenage boys and even grown men and women, making this sort of remark implying the female in question was a slut. So the main character, the one I should root for, laugh with and accompany in this book and in the ones that will come after, was reduced to an object, sexualized, judged and disrespected. And this was not what I signed up for.
The humour really missed the mark for me. And about the murder mystery part, it was only about 20% of the story when the murder happened. I can't speak of how good or bad the mystery will be. I wasn't enjoying the narration, I didn't connect with the characters and there wasn't anything to keep me going. Forcing myself to continue reading this book wouldn't turn it into a favourite despite how good the mystery might be. I would only get more upset. So the best thing to do is close the book and move on.