Reader Review Of Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army

Hey everyone,

So, last week I shared with you the first “official” review of the new Earthman Jack book, over at Kirkus Reviews.  Well, having an industry publication say your book is good is one thing.  But having normal readers like it is quite another!  After all, there are plenty of “critically acclaimed” books out there that are awful reads.  Considering how much readers loved the first book in the series, I approached a small group of fans to do advanced reviews of Secret Army.

Now, it’s always really nerve-wracking when you put your book out there and allow others to start expressing their opinions about it.  As the old saying goes – opinions are like buttholes.  Everyone has one, and they usually stink.  However, after the warm reception Ghost Planet received, I felt confident that Secret Army would be just as loved by readers of the first book.

Only 3 advanced reviewers have submitted reviews so far, but the first one I got was actually the most encouraging.  It comes from a gentleman named Dan Grover, who discovered my book through Hugh Howey’s blog, and became a fan after reading it to his kids.  When I asked if he’d be interested in an Advanced Review Copy of the new book, he responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!”  I now want to share his review of Secret Army with all of you, so you can get a sense of what fans of the first book are thinking.

Earthman Jack is Really, Really Cool…

I while back, Hugh Howie—indie author extraordinaire and vocal advocate for self-published authors—shared a letter on his blog from some guy named Matt Kadish who had written a book and self-published it on Amazon.  Hugh Howie hasn’t lead me wrong yet, so looked up Matt’s book on Amazon…600 pages for $.99?  Harry Potter meets Star Wars?  Uh…duh.  I downloaded Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet immediately. And then didn’t read it. For like a year.

I can’t remember what made me finally pick it up, but I can tell you that once I got going I plowed through it.  I hadn’t had that much fun reading in, I don’t know, maybe EVER! I Immediately went back to the beginning and started again, this time reading out loud to my kids—and they loved it as much as I did.

I’d found a rare thing.  I’d found a self-published book that deserves to be read.

That was early last year, and since then I’ve been anxious to get my hands on the second installment, Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army, to see if Matt Kadish can deliver again.  Now that I’ve had my hands on every page, I think I might have to start calling him Matt “The Mailman” Kadish because—yep, you guessed it—he delivered.  Big time.

Like EJ1, EJ2 starts off slow—not slow like boring.  Slow like brisket in a slow cooker.  Once the action gets going around the half way point, the blood pressure and the laughs (Isn’t that a great combination?) both reach levels only found in the best books.

Certainly Earthman Jack isn’t for everyone.  Like, for example, if you’re boring and don’t like to laugh, I suggest you go read something more your style.  Maybe try something by that Stephenie Meyer person.  But if you can handle some good, light hearted fun without taking yourself (or your books) too seriously, you really need to read Earthman Jack. Start with the first one though.

A warning for my more discerning followers: There is some “15-year-old-boy speak” in this book.  Things like “Most girls would at least let you cop a feel…” or “Yeah, remember that thing she does with her tongue?” came up a handful of times.  Nothing I would feel uncomfortable letting my 14-year-old read, but things I’ll likely filter out when I read it aloud to my 8-year-old.

Also—and this is a biggie—there is a cliffhanger the size of the Grand Canyon at the end of this thing.  I wish I had Matt Kadish’s phone number, because I would have called him demanding an explanation when I turned the last page to find out what happens and I find this instead:

Earthman Jack will return in…

EARTHMAN JACK

VS.

THE CONCLAVE OF CORRUPTION

Curse you, The Mailman.  All I know is that you’d better be ready with Book 3 soon.

Because Earthman Jack is really, really cool.

Five Stars

I found this review really encouraging.  Dan went ahead and posted his review to The Secret Army’s Goodreads listing, and other reviews are trickling in as the ARC readers complete the novel.  So far, all the reviews have been extremely positive.  You can check them out here if you want.

In case you couldn’t tell from Dan’s post, yes, EJ2 does indeed end on a bit of a cliffhanger.  Though, you have to consider that this book is part of a much larger story, and is meant to lead right into the third book.  Though there is a bit of a cliffhanger there, the book is also fairly self-contained, so you can read the whole thing and feel like you ingested a stand-alone story as well.  So for those of you who despise cliffhangers, don’t worry about it too much.  You’ll still be able to enjoy this book!

Tune back in on Wednesday when I give you a sneak preview of some of the artwork from the book.  I got a very talented artist to do illustrations for the special edition of book 2, and I’ll be revealing one of his works then to help give you a visualization of the story.  If you want to see the special edition of the first book, be sure to head on over to EarthmanJack.com and sign up to download it there.

See y’all Wednesday.

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