The Android's Dream

The Android's Dream
by John Scalzi

I am generally not a huge fan of science fiction. Well, except for Star Wars movies. But that's a whole different story. SF literature is usually not something I go for. But I found this book on the "new releases" shelf (even though it was published 3 years ago -- Viroqua may be a tad bit behind) and it caught my eye.

The cover artwork was cool, and the title was intriguing. I read the book flap, and it sounded funny and interesting. And it was! Hooray!

This book reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (OK. So I like one other SF book. Honestly, I can't think of any others!) It was witty, sarcastic, had great dialogue, and a wacky premise. There are a lot of characters, though. It got a bit confusing at first trying to figure everyone out. But the story was so good, that you got over it!

I just tried to write a sentence about the premise of the book, and it's awfully complicated -- there are a lot of things all tied together. So let me just say it's about interplanetary relations, a dead guy whose been brought back as the first "real" artificial intelligence in a computer, the US State Department, an alien that eats people while on a religious quest, a veteran of the worst battle ever who is a computer genius and gets sucked into the whole thing, and a sheep.

That may sound crazy, but it works! I may even have to start checking out other SF books, now! :)

©2006, Tom Doherty Associates
ISBN 978-0-765-30941-9