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May 17, 2011

Stephen rated it:

A funny, clever "feel good" story that will leave you with a smile on your face...

3.0 to 3.5 stars. This excellent debut novel definitely belongs in that category of comforting, mood-enhancing stories that are a great pick me up. In the spirit of classics like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the Discworld Series, this is a madcap, quirky adventure set in a bizarre universe where advertising and corporate sponsorship have run completely AMOK.

Li More...

1 comment like (21 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2011

The Holy Terror rated it:

I have to say this book was a lot of fun. There were some parts that I actually had to pause and take a moment because I couldn't stop laughing. It was a nice quick read and from the first chapter I was hooked. Something that's really telling of a great book is if you're not reading and maybe off doing something else, you're daydreaming about the story and thinking, "I wonder how he's going to get out of that mess?" and "I need to get my work done and go read to find out what's go More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2009

Secoh2000 rated it:

In a universe where ads run rampant, heck even the dirt you stand on tries to sell you something, a planet stands out... a lone jewel in the cosmos. The last of the "Your name here" planets that is not spoiled by advertisement or rampent technology.

Cole, our brave blundering villain, finds himself in a bit of a pickle. A series of unfortunate events lands (or is that crashes?) Cole on this unique planet; doing more good then his reputation allows. But what other choices More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 15, 2009

Sid rated it:

The Sheriff of Yrnameer is likely the funniest book I have ever read. The hero Cole is one of those 'whores with a heart of gold'. Except he's not a whore. He's a thief, smuggler, liar, cheat, and maybe just a little dim, but he makes up for it with a sharp wit and an extraordinary amount of luck.

The world of Yrnameer - meaning the book, not the planet - is a corporate squeezed, advertisement upchuck of futuristic sci-fi. Normally, I don't like science fiction, but Cole doesn't r More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2009

Dorcas rated it:

A silly, silly space adventure. Really reminded me of an old Star Trek novel (yes, I've read a few) called "How Much for Just the Planet" by John M. Ford, where anything and everything crazy happened. Only they didn't break out in song at wacky moments in this one.
I enjoyed it.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Jana rated it:

So, what does it say on the jacket again?
“In the spirit of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, The Sheriff of Yrnameer is a sci-fi comedy at its best – mordant, raucously funny, and a thrilling page turner” Whoa, that is setting the bar pretty high, innit? I hope I won’t be disappointed.

So, what have we got? A hapless space rogue, a multi-tentacled intergalactic bounty hunter on his heels, a conscious computer/robot that loves people, some do-gooders in need of help, a community More...

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Sep 21, 2011

Madeline rated it:

WOW!!! The Sheriff of Yrnameer was one of the most original books I've ever read. It's about a space rogue named Cole, who is not only good at cheating his way out of things, but is also good at not paying back debts to some very important people. Wait, I don't really think I should call him a person, because I'm pretty sure people would not threaten to lay eggs in other peoples brains. He's a feared bounty hunter who Cole's in debt too. But, Cole doesn't have any money, so he does what More...

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Oct 26, 2010

Sam rated it:

When I first saw her green mopey face from across the bookstore, I thought it might be love. Then I saw she was all hardcover and I was like, "Hey, you know, you're not really my type. I prefer a cheap date." I thought that was it, kerblammo. Fate opens a door and I slam it in the face of yet another shot at love.
Then, six months or whatever later, I see a familiar face peeking at me from behind Batman's pizza butt. It was my missed connection, my own craigslist loveline! And she More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2010

Tony rated it:

I picked this up because (A) I'd like to try and read more sci-fi, (B) the cover and title caught my eye, and (C) I'm always on the lookout for good comic fiction, and given the author's work on The Daily Show, I figured this might be a good bet. The story is about a hapless space rogue on the run from his creditors, who gets embroiled in a pretty girl's quest to smuggle something, all of which lands him in a bunch of dicey situations from which he must make daring escapes. If that all sounds ve More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 15, 2010

Alan rated it:

Give this one a little time to get rolling. I was not at all impressed to begin with, but it grew on me. Kinda like a parasitic organism, maybe, but it grew on me.

Cole is the protagonist. Cole is, to put it bluntly, a con man and a criminal, the kind of lowlife who'd sell his own clone to the highest bidder just to buy passage offplanet, though he's not very good at it. He's massively in debt, in fact, after having unsuccessfully tried to rip off a pair of tudpees (creatures who loo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 31, 2009

Becky rated it:

When we first meet Cole--just Cole--he's being dangled upside down by a many-eyed, many-tentacled debt collector with a rich, mellifluous voice named Kenneth. Since Cole is unable to pay his debt immediately Kenneth is about to deposit his eggs through Cole's eye socket and into his brain. Cole escapes, barely, and will continue to escape, barely, for the duration of the book.

Oh yes, The Sheriff of Yrnameer is that kind of book. It's antic, it's wacky, it's high concept, it's in t More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2010

Jasmine rated it:

This book is like a giant one man show where every character is played by zaphod beeblebrox, the good british zaphod with the one head that is always napping not the disney one, that well honestly I turned the movie off before he showed up so who knows.

If you have seen the ultimate hitchhikers guide chances are you have read the story young zaphod plays it safe. This novel feels a lot like a play on that, sort of. You know how the old alice and wonderland cartoon is a play on that boo More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2009

Megan rated it:

I don't usually write out reviews for the books I've read here on goodreads, but after Michael Rubens, the author of this book, sent me a message thanking me for reading his book I feel compelled to write a little something.

This is the most fun book I've read in a long time. It's a humorous space sci-fi book that is similar in tone to Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. There were also moments that reminded me of Firefly.
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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2009

Lisa rated it:

Set in the Wild West of outer space sometime after the destruction of the Earth — we know this because one character has a glowing commemorative chunk of the planet, labeled “At Least We Got The Terrorists” — “The Sheriff of Yrnameer” is a silly, fun romp across the universe.
Every cliche in the book is in this book: Our Hero, Cole (not Han Solo), is a petty criminal who picks up some unexpected passengers while fleeing Kenneth (not Jabba the Hutt), a gangster to whom he owes money. There a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2009

Michael rated it:

The problem with witty or humorous genre fiction is that Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams make it look so effortless. Reading one of their stories or novels is always a comic delight and the prose and language flows so easily across the page that it would be easy for the reader to assume that just anyone can do it.

Too often, many of us have tried and come up extremely short. And more often, some of those who have tried to emulate the success of Adams and Pratchett have ended up pu More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2010

Erika rated it:

Yrnameer is the last of the “Your Name Heres”--planets that haven’t gotten corporate sponsors yet. It’s pretty rare, so rare it’s become a myth. Mentioning Yrnameer is a sure way to earn a laugh because it’s a well known probability that Yrnameer, if it exists, is in some remote location; even if you wanted to reach it, you couldn’t.

Lucky for Cole--space pirate extraordinaire--he’s just hijacked a spaceship on InvestCo3 with the coordinates for Yrnameer ready to program in and it’s More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2009

Hank rated it:

This book is a rarity: a funny Sci-Fi book. I don't think I've read one since Douglas Adams died. The protagonist in this novel is Cole, a likable rogue who is frequently on the verge of getting murdered in a horrible way. The character trying hardest is Kenneth, a friendly, very large insectoid. Cole has welshed on repaying Kenneth a few times and Kenneth plans on getting even by implanting fifty thousand eggs in Cole's brain via one of his eyes. When they hatch, the larva will feed More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 08, 2009

Caroline rated it:

As a fan of satire, science fiction, Terry Pratchett, and non-stereotypical protagonists, this was an easy book for me to fall in love with. Throw in a crazy journey following Cole (a general "me first" kind of guy, but charming even as he tries to weasel his way out of situations) as he flees a lobster-like tentacled bounty hunter with a fantastic voice that wants to implant his alien eggs into his brain, and this was a real winner for me. As if that weren't enough, Rubens tossed in s More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Karen rated it:

I picked this up in the Powell's in the PDX airport, on our way to Austin for the weekend. I was hooked by the first paragraph, and if we hadn't been on our way to a friend's bachelorette party and wedding I would have finished it the same day. As it was, I snuck it along on the party barge the next day. Clever, light, witty, funny. Definite tones of Douglas Adams, but with the geekiness dial maybe turned down one notch, the focus a little more on character arc and story. Definite shades of More...

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Mar 29, 2010

Sean rated it:

Cole is a cut-rate Han Solo. Hell, he's a cut-rate Lonestar. At least Lonestar had his Winnebago with wings; Cole lost his spaceship because he didn't have enough money to pay for parking Investco IV. This is bad news because Cole owes a lot of money to Kenneth, a multi-eyed, multi-tentacled alien who's threatened to lay eggs in Cole's brain if he doesn't pay up by morning -- which is, oh, about three hours away.

Running out of options, Cole decides to steal his friend Teg's spaceship More...

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Feb 12, 2011

Phillip rated it:

The cover of this book is what grabbed my attention and the story sounded interesting but once I started reading it I fell in love with it. What a wonderfully fun, adventurous, silly and crazy book this turned out to be. I read it in only a few days because I couldn't force myself to put it down. I've always loved the silly "Stainless Steel Rat" novels by Harry Harrison because they were fun and adventurous and didn't try to be anything they weren't. This novel gave me the same feelin More...

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Aug 24, 2009

Michael rated it:

Brilliant, stunning, hilarious -- at least in terms of the cover design, which is by the unbelievably talented Peter Mendelsund. The actual contents of the book are my fault.
www.michaelrubens.com

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 30, 2010

Matt rated it:

When describing this book many reviewers were invoking the names of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, two of my favorite authors, but I figured their names are invoked a lot mainly to sell other authors’ crappy books.

Well, this one really comes very close to being of the same caliber of Adams and Pratchett and the author isn’t even British as far as I know.

This is really like a Sam Rami/Bruce Campbell film meets Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but it still manages t More...

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Apr 07, 2011

Giraffeincognito rated it:

This light-hearted read was fast-paced and engrossing, enough to make me completely forget the exam I have tomorrow (oops?). The humour, while sometimes gently parodying, never got caught up in its own wit.

I also wanted to give accolades to the book cover which was what originally grabbed me: bold, quirky and interesting!

PS. While I wish the female characters had more agency, considering the acknowledged self-involved nature of Cole as narrator and anti-hero, that critiq More...

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May 03, 2011

Terrence rated it:

When I came across this book in the bookstore, I read the blurb on the dust jacket and summarily dismissed it as a lame idea. Never before had I heard of Michael Rubens, so his bona fide as a writer for The Daily Show with John Stewart really did not impress me; the only time I had heard of The Sheriff of Yrnameer was weeks later in a review on NPR. The reviewer said it was funny, smart, etc. Based on the glowing review, I reconsidered the book and set it on my list of books to get around to rea More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 18, 2009

Ulagon rated it:

This will not be so much a review as praise. Rare are the authors that can bend satire to their very whim. As of this date Michael Rubens has joined Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Walter Moers in this spirited vein. Sir, I laughed so hard at times because this book felt right at home in the quirky place that I call my mind. Thank you for creating such a wondrous tale and joining the select authors for which I buy hardcovers. Anyone who misses this book can not truly call themselves a fan of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 28, 2009

Benjamin rated it:

A fun sci-fi romp, with the scent of Brian Daley heavily imbued in the pages. Clever, inventive, and genre-aware, it's advertised as the work of a humor writer, with pull-quotes from professional comics. It doesn't live up to its hype in that regard; it's not laugh-out-loud absurd, or satirical, or regular-ol' funny. However, if one ignores the marketing and instead reads it as what it is -- a neo-classic piece of high adventure -- there's no reason why it shouldn't be a pleasurable, even glee More...

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Jun 11, 2010

Mary rated it:

A delightful, whimsical and occasionally violent foray into the future of corporate control and consumerism, this novel touches on the dark side of a (not very) possible future without delving into the "issues" far enough to weigh the story down. Which works perfectly. The anti-hero is a perfect anti-hero, the various annoying sidekicks play off the annoying possibilities of sidekicks with unerring accuracy. If you like science-fiction and silliness, pick it up.

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Jan 03, 2011

Matt rated it:

Would have given this one more than three stars but it wasn't that impactful. Seriously fun to read! In the vain of Hitchhiker's Guide it's an irreverent romp through Bendspace with irony hot on your heels. It DOES have one of my favorite characters in recent memory - Kenneth, the almost indescribably horrible alien bounty hunter with the mellifluous voice, romantic spirit and full ovipositor just itching to lay eggs in the protagonists brain.

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Dec 13, 2010

M— rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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