Reviews

Außerirdisch by Dennis E. Taylor

meedamian's review against another edition

5.0

Love love love. Whenever Dennis and Ray cooperate, greatness emerges. It was super fun!

pcro99's review against another edition

2.0

There's nothing I enjoy more than discovering a novel filled with humour. Any genre will do. But if you are going to do it in the science fiction genre, you are inevitably going to be compared to the Master, Douglas Adams. Perhaps this is unfair, but it is a reality. Especially when you involve a sardonic, back talking, sarcastic artificial intelligence character that oh so resembles a similar character in Hitchhikers.

I listened to the audio version of this book as the great Ray Porter did the narration. Parts of the story and the characters were enjoyable at times, but the humour was so forced. At times I expected rim shots to be added after the very telegraphed jokes. Instead of laughing, I found myself rolling my eyes.

It's a short entry. That's the best part.

titleistmuffin's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Not a work of genius but a charming alien romp nevertheless that hits the mark for Taylor’s typical style of Trekkie send-up fiction with lots of solid technobabble and windows into alien cultures. As with some of his other work, the main characters suffer from essentially all being the same person, all talking the same way, and not really having any true character flaws. It’s a simple good guys vs bad guys narrative but the dialogue is still sharp and witty in many places with some solid nerd references and jokes sprinkled throughout. The imaginings of

Gen technology and ship features and the tit-for-tat with the Loranna

were the most rewarding sequences of the book for me. 

kakahu's review against another edition

3.0

The author gets a bit heavy handed with his politics which detracts from the story.

irix88's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

agenn's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

joshhall13's review against another edition

3.0

That was more like a well-written rough draft of a story.

msholyoak's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

caphaloralb's review against another edition

3.0

It's fun Sci-Fi high jinks as I've come to expect from this author. However, the incorporated references to current events feel extremely heavy handed and on the nose.

Overall the plot hits you over the head with a cast iron skillet. Snarkily explained to you by the AI character that hates humans and how dumb they are (reminds me of skippy in ExForce novels).

It's fairly short and it's perfectly fine to listen over a long drive or two, but don't expect anything fresh or too interesting.

nicovreeland's review against another edition

2.0

DNF at 15%. The style of humor in this book is just a bit too try-hard for me. Even Ray Porter couldn't save it