Not my normal fare. I tried to get into it but I couldn't do it. While I understand the parallels made to "the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy", it lacked the wit of Douglas Adams and was more like ChatGPT on cocaine. ( )

One of the most fun books I've read in a while! Wacky space romp, reads as a loving tribute to Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide. ( )

I imagine Catherynne Valente thought to herself...

I think I'll write something sort of like Douglas Adams, but with MORE!

If you throw a lot of words at me, all trying to be super funny, a few of them will land. But when you do it in every single sentence with no guidance at all from an actual plot or characters, it becomes exhausting. So exhausting, in fact, that I stopped reading about 2/3rds of the way through. ( )

Valente calls this book a "weird little rocketship" in the afterword, and that's about right. ( )

I originally tried reading this but found it so aggravating. Valente seemed to ramble in her prose. I couldn't handle it. Well, I'm here to say that the audiobook is an enjoyable listen even if this Hugo nominated novel ends up just being an impressive impersonation of Douglas Adams (another author whose writings work better as audiobooks). This is literally what it sounds like: a Eurovision in space/Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy mashup. This is isn't a bad thing, per se. It's entertaining. It's amusing (at times). But it's light plot, light characterizations (things I critique Douglas Adams for) as well as lack of originality (something I don't critique Adams for), wears this story down, which is sad because if Valente wasn't trying so hard to mimic Adams (which here the pastiche is spot on) this could of been a bit more memorable of a story. Many plot elements, the prose style, and the occasionally violent but determined whimsy of it all practically reach peak Adams saturation It features a lot of things I enjoy in a story: silly humor, references to rock history/pop culture, etc. but it honestly doesn't have much of a heart. I couldn't really connect with the has-been, burned-out, Bowie-wannabe rock star called Decibel Jones who is inexplicably chosen to sing in an intergalactic competition for humanity’s right to exist, and nor did I care if humanity survived or not but I think I was suppose to.

This occasionally charming and humorous story is ultimately disappointing. But if you want a little absurdity in your life and read all of Douglas Adams, try this out. Maybe you'll like more than me.

( )