Fun, somewhat interesting points (if not ideas...), but ultimately a little underwhelming. ( )

The Book of Ralph by Christopher Steinsvold is a highly recommended first contact story.

When a message appears on the moon saying "Drink Diet Coke" and the Coca-Cola corporation denies all responsibility, Markus West is asked to help with the Congressional investigation into the lunar advertisement. Coca-Cola is found non-culpable for the ad, but the world is still a-buzz over the audacious ad. Markus is called back to help when, exactly a year later, a giant can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup is floating above the front lawn and planning to land at the White House.

After it lands, out of the can jumps someone in a space suit waving the American Flag to the Rocky theme song. While most Americans think the whole fiasco is another promotional stunt, this time perpetrated by the Campbell's Soup Company, the giant can is really a space ship and Ralph is an alien who is trying to arrive undercover and warn us of an impending invasion by malevolent extraterrestrials who wish us harm.

Once ensconced away to a secret hiding place, Ralph freely shares some information about the evil aliens coming (from the planet Kardash.... which makes them Kardashians - one of the better bits of humor). During a large part of the plot Ralph shares his thoughts about a host of philosophical topics with Markus. And then the bad aliens arrive.

The novel moves along quickly, with humor tucked into the narrative throughout, and most readers are going to keep reading during the less-than-exciting discussions in order to find out what happens when the Kardashians arrive to spread chaos. It's not that Ralph's philosophical discussions are tedious or boring, they are insightful, but when you are waiting for the bad guys, well, you tend to race through the slow stuff. The novel does take a dark turn once they do arrive.

The writing is good and the narrative will hold your attention. There are several funny scenes and they will help you through the dark ones. At the end it did feel more like a vehicle for the author to share his thoughts and worldview with readers. I suppose that is the case with most novels, but it just felt much more obvious here, perhaps because it was set in a first contact sci-fi story. Don't necessarily allow that to stop you from reading because it is, on the whole, an enjoyable, thoughtful story and the evil aliens should give most readers pause in the way they try to cause chaos on Earth.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Medallion Press.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/07/the-book-of-ralph.html ( )

This story starts off terrifically and uniquely but does not maintain the pace. Initially it is an interesting and amusing take on first contact with alien species for human beings which begins comically. Unfortunately, the pace and the light-hearted, comedic occurrences give way too rapidly to philosophizing and all too common comment on the condition, social, environmental, etc. of the human races' current condition. By the end of the story we are glad to see it go as too much effort is devoted to expounding the author's beliefs and tenets. This is sad because it began with such great promise. ( )

I got a real kick out of the first third of this book. I laughed, I told my friends how good it was and how much I was enjoying it. I posted about it on Litsy. The next third felt, well, awkward as if the story had somehow gotten lost in the tangle of philosophical talking heads. And from then on it just went downhill for me as it turned into a weird sort of shaggy dog story.

It's so disappointing to be reading a book you think is amazeballs, and then watch it crash and burn. But on further consideration, I'm not sure what Steinsvold could have done with his premise. It's one of those ideas writers have all the time: What if someone put an ad for Diet Coke on the moon? Then we riff off of that for a while, and there's always some good stuff that comes out of it, but in the end that's not enough for a whole novel. If you can come up with a snappy ending, you can probably get a short story out of it.

But you know the story is going badly wrong when as you're reading, you're thinking "Will you shut UP already?" Probably the author wants you to be furrowing your brow and thinking "My, that's deep," and maybe it is, maybe Steinsvold's disdain for popular culture is really significant, and there is much we can learn from it, but honestly when I get repeatedly whacked over the head with A Message my receptivity suffers. I'm not stupid, I got the point in the first chapter. Time to move along.

Could the author's hand be heavier? I doubt it. Could he belabor points more completely? I can't imagine how. Could his ruminations on the nature of life and being human go on much longer? Oh god, I hope not.

So points for a good beginning, but this one was about as big a literary disappointment as I've had all year. ( )

This is a different kind of alien visitation story. I liked it. A wise old alien makes contact with Earth in an unlikely and disarming way, warns of the imminent arrival of different aliens who have evil intent, and imparts the philosophical message that all hate is a form of envy. That kind of sums up the plot in a sentence. As I said, I enjoyed the story. Two things rather put me off, though. There are a few scenes in which the actions of the characters seem unlikely to me. I won't say what those are for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but there were times when my reaction was something along the line of, "Oh come on! No one would do that." The second thing I didn't quite care for was the prose. The book is written in first person past tense, rather like a memoir. It has a colloquial style, which felt rough and choppy to me. This is all a matter of personal taste, of course. It's still a good story, which is also a personal assessment, but I can recommend it to readers who have read and enjoyed books by Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. I can't honestly say it measures up to either, but it's orbiting the same kind of creative star. ( )