Review: Get this now!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 27, 2013
"I will agree to live," said Apostle, hugging Mr. Smiths close and gluing his ear firmly to the other man's, "only if my favourite guest agrees to enjoy my hospitality. Songs around the Christmas tree, a roaring log fire, mulled wine, bawdy sex games and adequate radiation shielding."Mr Smiths' lips pursed, but also trembled."Very well," he said. "I consent. Just put the gun down."Apostle separated from Mr. Smiths, beaming, and set all three safeties on the weapon with one fluid movement."My guests," he said, "are more important to me than life itself." He clicked his fingers. "Domestics ho! A cake! A cake for His Majesty, in the shape of Latvia!"I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but I liked the description and decided "meh, it's free". I didn't regret taking the plunge for a second. Funny, believable and surreal, the characters are complex, nuanced, likeable, and most importantly, human.My big turn-off when it comes to the genre is characters that don't act like people, but rather like characters in a sci-fi novel. There is not one person in this book that I can't imagine meeting in a bar IRL. Even the main characters, a family of what amounts to space Amish, never fall into cliché, but remain likeable, intelligent and eccentric throughout.