The Android's Dream by John ScalziMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The summary of this book is kinda odd. Earth is in danger of being attacked by a more powerful alien race if they don't locate a special blue sheep, all of which are being wiped out by a conspiracy, and it falls to a single bureaucrat (with the help of a dead friend) to protect the one woman who unwittingly carries the secret of the blue sheep in her DNA.
Oh, and the diplomatic crisis is caused by a human who uses a special device in his butt to deliver devastating insults via the language of scent to his alien counterpart. Ha!
Sometimes, I think Scalzi is just messing with us. It almost feels like he took a bag full of mad-libs (with stuff like "someone gives insults in the language of farts" and "there's sheep DNA in a pet shop owner" and "the hacker is in the computer, and he's dead") and selected a bunch, then had to come up with a way to use all the weird ideas. But, as usual, however unlikely, it works.
The action is continuous, damn near breakneck, and though it's filled with actual life-or-death stakes, the witty banter (actual banter, mind you; not the awkward, wooden snarking that too many authors try to skate on) keeps the action light and hilarious. It gets tied up a tad too quickly, which seems to be the way he likes to finish his books, but it's satisfying and complete.
So it's strange and funny and exciting and thought-provoking and silly. I give a star for each one.
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