Whatta Fiasco

This book has already been widely noted as having one of the most failingest of covers in recent memory. When grownups decide not to buy a book because they’d be embarrassed to be seen reading it in public even though it’s written by a geeky smarty pants like Charlie Stross? That’s a fail. On the other hand, the book is so chock full of sexed up robots that you have to admire it for being reasonably truthful in advertising. But I’d have been tempted to use the cover to make a nod toward Stanislaw Lem by using an image more in the style of Daniel Mroz. But that’s just me.

What you may not have heard is that this book commits one of the most egregious and writerly puns in science fiction this year. I am not even kidding. This was snorting coffee out my nose and getting stared at in a restaurant level punning. (Luckily I wasn’t actually drinking my coffee at just that moment so I only got stared at for laughing out loud.) Plus, it’s a fun story.

[powells]

I’m impressed. And entertained. And even though my eldest god kid I only five (and a half) I may have to squirrel a copy of this away to slip under her nose when she’s a little older. Come to think of it, this may be an excellent excuse to start reading more high quality YA fiction. Anyhow, bravo, Scalzi. Nicely done.

[powells]

It’s reasonably well written, and it has interesting characters and a rich world, but the fact that it’s written as a romance is highly distracting and making it much less likely that I’ll track down the rest of the story. It’s a good book, but it’s only a cousin to the book I wanted to read.

[powells]

Hooray for hard sf, particularly when the characters are more interesting than the science geeky bits, and the science geeky bits are pretty neat. If you’re feeling lots in all the math without numbers, read the afterword first. It will get you oriented enough to be able to enjoy the story bits. But if you like hard sf I expect you’ll be even happier reading linearly. Cool stuff.
[powells]