Saturday, March 30, 2013

Books read in 2013: No. 17 -- Hal Spacejock

by Simon Haynes

Started: March 25
Finished: March 30

Notes: I've not read much science fiction of late, so thought I'd dip back into the genre by experiencing an author new to me and his novel of a space freighter pilot down on his luck and in desperate need of some cash. Sounds fun to me!

Mini review: This might be the most fast-paced novel I have ever read. It's not necessarily an action fest in the traditional sense, but the character movement never lets up. And the jokes! They never let up, either. To a small extent, all that constant action and joking grew a little tedious for me after a while, mainly because there's little chance for the reader to try and catch his breath for a while. There's also not a lot of character background, but it's not necessary for this novel. Hal Spacejock is almost like an uproarious sitcom in the way it's written, and what the reader learns of the characters during the action is enough to keep things going. As for the plot, imagine a not-so-talented Han Solo and a less-annoying-but-helpful C3PO teaming up for a a smuggling adventure. Would I recommend this one? Yep. I give it a solid four out of five stars.

1 comment:

Charles Gramlich said...

Have not heard of this one. I should check it out. I've actually been on something of an SF kick lately.