Monday, January 25, 2016

Off the Bookshelf: ALIEN HUNTERS, by David Arenson

This was another book I got from Nook on a Free Book Friday. It looked ... interesting. I mean, besides the fact that it was SF, it had a cool ship on the cover, and it was Free!!

Some kinds of humor just aren't my style or taste. For instance, some people think the Three Stooges and Jerry Lewis are the pinnacle of humor, while I think they can fall way over the side too often into obnoxious, moronic, and immature, with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer the size of the Empire State Building. I like subtle humor. I like humor that makes you stop and think, and you chuckle and read faster, rather than laughing out loud and falling off your chair. Disc World. Make sense?

So the humor in this book escapes me, but that doesn't mean it's wrong or it doesn't work -- it just isn't mine.

Too many things didn't work for me -- but then, I admit I'm really, really picky. Comes with the territory, being an editor. And I don't like being promised one thing, and then being disappointed. For instance, the "aliens" that this ragtag group of misfits hunts ... are essentially the space-age version of rats, termites, squirrels in the attic, and other vermin, but on the sometimes gigantic and really disgusting scale. Kind of a let-down when that was revealed.

On the other hand, the characters the author has created to populate the ship that not only is named after a dragon but is shaped like a dragon? Unique individuals, cleverly and expertly drawn. Each with so much to offer the story, each consistent within themselves. So that tells me this is a matter of taste, not talent. The author has got the talent. It's me, not him.

I know there are many people who will like this story as the characters go haring off across the galaxy, pursued by really disgusting characters out to rule the universe, spraying blood and gore wherever they go (even among themselves), on a quest to find possibly the last member of a magical race, while they bicker among themselves and try to keep the demon member of the crew from drinking the really expensive fuel for their ship. Try it, you might just like it!

No comments: