My review of Agent to the Stars is available over at Bookspot Central where I'm an associate reviewer (US, UK, Canada). I enjoyed it - it's pretty much like other Scalzi books with a bit of the first-book syndrome going on.
With the basic premise of the novel being that an alien race has hired a Hollywood agent for representation and to properly introduce them to humanity, a suspension of disbelief is immediately necessary. One could easily nit-pick this novel and its details to death, but when you become tempted to do this, see the first line of this paragraph. This will certainly turn off more than a few readers, so if it sounds dumb and not at all like a proper ‘sci-fi’ novel, then this book isn’t for you. However, if the audacity of the potential stupidity makes you smile, this is definitely a book for you.
5 comments:
I have this on my to-read pile and really do want to get to it soon, but the pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Some of my trepidation with it is the fact that it was written before the other books of his that I like so much. But, given the fact that I enjoy him as an author I will eventually get around to giving it a go.
I'm sure you'll love it Carl, but I can understand the reluctance.
I will say that it a very fast read - it didn't take me long at all to read.
I read the original of this one that Mr. Scalzi had free online, though quite a while ago and I remember it was a fast and fun read, though nothing to remember later.
In the category of sf humor/parody with elements of seriousness, I found the Toby Frost Space Captain Smith novels - 2 so far, 3rd soon - more memorable
Humor a clueless newbie: what's "first-book syndrome"?
-anon
It's an intentionally vague term. But what I'm refering to is a sort of 'clunkiness' that many first time authors have - inconsistent pacing (not too much of a problem with Scalzi), clumsy infodumps, character inconsistencies and cliche, etc. Basically, the writing isn't as polished as more experienced author's.
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