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Jason Golomb's Reviews > Agent to the Stars
Agent to the Stars
by John Scalzi (Goodreads Author)
by John Scalzi (Goodreads Author)
It's hard to imagine that this book started as an experiment by John Scalzi to see if he could write a novel. He ended up creating a wonderful story of alien first contact built upon the base of all of Scalzi's novels - creative plot and story-telling mixed with amazing dialogue.
"Agent to the Stars" is a story of first contact, where space produces alien good guys and Hollywood produces human bad guys. The premise is terrific...Joshua is an alien representing his race who were drawn to Earth by our 70+ years of TV and Radio signals. The aliens want help with their introduction to the planet. And so naturally, they've reached out to a talent agent - Tom Stein. As Joshua says, "We look like snot. And we smell like dead fish. We have seen "The Blob" and it is us. We need an agent to get us the role of the friendly aliens."
Fans of John Scalzi will recognize a few things. First, snappy and witty dialogue keeps the story moving at a fantastic pace. One can't help but compare the character interactions across several of Scalzi's books, but I was particularly struck by how similar the interplay was between Stein and his assistant Miranda, and Scalzi's "Last Colony"/"Zoe's Tale" characters John Perry and his assistant Savitri.
The aliens have loads of personality, but like the Obin in the world of Scalzi's "Old Man's War", they have the ability to share consciousness across their entire race. These aliens also have the ability move consciousness from one living vessel to another. I won't give away too much of the fun plot line, but in the context of what Scalzi would go on to write, it's a lot of fun to see him start playing with and crafting this premise. There's a little bit of a deus ex machina in this vein, but Scalzi is a deft writer and carries it off.
In his introduction, Scalzi states that he made minimal updates to the book in its current iteration. He spent a little time updating some of the pop culture references which fall from the page like candy from a machine. As usual, Scalzi's characters are well-shaped and interesting.
It was such a fantastic read that I was saddened by coming to the end.
The book is light and only serious in parts. But make no mistake, the book is seriously good.
"Agent to the Stars" is a story of first contact, where space produces alien good guys and Hollywood produces human bad guys. The premise is terrific...Joshua is an alien representing his race who were drawn to Earth by our 70+ years of TV and Radio signals. The aliens want help with their introduction to the planet. And so naturally, they've reached out to a talent agent - Tom Stein. As Joshua says, "We look like snot. And we smell like dead fish. We have seen "The Blob" and it is us. We need an agent to get us the role of the friendly aliens."
Fans of John Scalzi will recognize a few things. First, snappy and witty dialogue keeps the story moving at a fantastic pace. One can't help but compare the character interactions across several of Scalzi's books, but I was particularly struck by how similar the interplay was between Stein and his assistant Miranda, and Scalzi's "Last Colony"/"Zoe's Tale" characters John Perry and his assistant Savitri.
The aliens have loads of personality, but like the Obin in the world of Scalzi's "Old Man's War", they have the ability to share consciousness across their entire race. These aliens also have the ability move consciousness from one living vessel to another. I won't give away too much of the fun plot line, but in the context of what Scalzi would go on to write, it's a lot of fun to see him start playing with and crafting this premise. There's a little bit of a deus ex machina in this vein, but Scalzi is a deft writer and carries it off.
In his introduction, Scalzi states that he made minimal updates to the book in its current iteration. He spent a little time updating some of the pop culture references which fall from the page like candy from a machine. As usual, Scalzi's characters are well-shaped and interesting.
It was such a fantastic read that I was saddened by coming to the end.
The book is light and only serious in parts. But make no mistake, the book is seriously good.
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