Review: Battlestar Suburbia by Chris McCrudden

Battlestar Suburbia by Chris McCrudden
A hilariously subversive space adventure 

Publishing Date: September 20th, 2018

My Rating: 4/5 - definitely hilariously subversive, definitely a space adventure

On Goodreads




When I started studying computer science - over 6 years ago now, I'm getting old - the professor who held the introductory lecture recommended reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Since then, the amount of times the number 42 has been called out in lectures when we were asked to give random numbers has risen to the uncountable.

If you've ever read A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you'll know that when I compare Battlestar Suburbia with it, it will end up being a fun, if weird read. For me, this book did not disappoint, and while I did receive it via NetGalley in return for an honest interview, I will be picking it up as a hard copy as well.



It's the future. Robots have taken over, and humans have lost their spot at the top of the food chain. Reduced to what the robots consider "clumps of inefficient matter", humans have the opportunity to start a career as cleaning personnel - and few other possibilities.

When we get to know Darren, he's just lost his livelihood and has been deemed incompetent and thus unsuitable for a job as a cleaner. Who else should it be but him who kicks off the event that will change the status quo?

I started this book not expecting much, and it took only a few pages for me to laugh out loud for the first time. I'm a computer scientist - humor that revolves about technology is my jam, and this book delivers beautifully. The witty way language was used and electric appliances were anthropomorphized managed to get me through the first third of the book.

[T]hat was the thing about smartphones. The skilled ones were so good at giving great User Experience you didn't realise until afterwards that it was you being manipulated.

After the first third, I was well and truly hooked. Before that, the writing was funny and clever, but to me not actually engaging beyond that. By chapter 18, however, I'd come to like the characters - even Darren, who, in the beginning, seemed uninteresting and annoying in his passiveness. His character development throughout the novel is very well done, and he ends up being quite the badass in the end. Still, Pam was probably my favorite.

Additionally, the plot picked up quite a bit by that point and once I reached the halfway point, I didn't want to stop reading anymore, I was so caught up in the story. The ending was nicely done, but it left us with some questions - reason enough to buy the second book for me.

Altogether, this was a fun read, if nothing groundbreaking. It starts out quite lighthearted but then it gets a bit less so as the story goes on - always with the hints of oh-so-clever humor that I adored so much. Maybe it's the nerd in me, but I'll be recommending this to all my friends.

On the Internet, however, World of Warcraft avatars merged with Reddit trolls to spawn a line of programmes so fanatical about defending the purity of their messageboards that they made a terrorist cell look like a basketful of sleeping kittens.

Because really, the humor.

Sonny sighed the sigh of a terminal mansplainer.

It's just so great.