Review: Campy, Funny, and Fun
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 12, 2011
What kind of novel is it?  Well it's sort of satire science fiction ... erm ... it's political commentar... er, that's not really right either ... how about this: there are aliens, and the book is an absolute riot.  The dialogue is great, the descriptions are droll and witty.  Here's an example:There's only two sorts of people who wear jumpers, coats and ties," said Ant under his breath."Racetrack tic tac men and policemen.  Leg it."They legged it.Unfortunately, he legged it after them.There are one or two places where it wears a bit thin, but I found myself chuckling on pretty much every "page."  The two main characters, Ant and Cleo, are well developed, heartwarming, cocky teenagers that somehow manage to stow away on an Alien craft (even getting their chance to vomit in zero gravity!) Their shenanigans get them involved in an interplanetary cold-war type conflict.A few notes.  One, the book is by a British author.  There were a few slang passages that I had to really think through, but it isn't incomprehensible by any means.  Two, being British, it sometimes pokes fun at Americans.  If you are militantly patriotic and can't take a joke, perhaps you should, you know, not read it. If you can take a joke and enjoy a discworld type humor, only from a sci-fi angle, you should definitely grab this one.Overall Rating: Four Stars.  If you are into campy, quirky dry humor - or if you have a secret desire to send all of the rednecks to the moon - I recommend this book as an excellent read.