I was told that the first sentence of this book alone would polarize me. I was subject to countless<\/i> cackles and wicked laughs whenever I said that I was reading this book for Mark Reads. John Scalzi himself laughed himself silly<\/i>. I live a brutally unfair life, I swear<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Dirk Moeller didn’t know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was ready to find out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And so was I<\/i>. Here’s what’s so great about this first chapter: It’s not merely a gimmick<\/i>. While it is a big fart joke at heart, there’s so much more here:<\/p>\n\n- First and foremost, we’ve got a lot<\/i> of worldbuilding, though I must admit I still don’t understand everything. I’ve read Redshirts<\/i>, obviously, but I also read Old Man’s War <\/i>in two sittings back in April. This seems to share a similar world with that series, though I can tell it’s not the same one. There’s colonization of Earth, but Earth is also<\/i> colonizing space, at least as far as I can tell.<\/li>\n
- Scalzi also gives his characters in chapter one a past<\/i>. Even if Lars-win-Getag and Dirk don’t survive this, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a story to tell. Dirk comes from a family of butchers, and that deliberately plays a part in the story<\/i>. It doesn’t just build character! And honestly, it’s things like this that inspire me to write, that inspire me to devour books so readily.<\/li>\n
- So, I do think I need to bring up Old Man’s War<\/i> at this point, since it’ll help me explain why I enjoyed this chapter beyond the 20-page fart joke. Old Man’s War <\/i>surprised me because of how Scalzi was able to navigate a genre with both<\/i> a sense of humor and a dedication to worldbuilding. Just because Old Man’s War<\/i> made me laugh a lot doesn’t mean it wasn’t a serious book. In The Android’s Dream<\/i>, Scalzi is as much a scholar of Heinlein as he is a re-inventor. We’ve got the scientific detail that gives this world life, but then we have an entire alien race who can speak through smells, and it’s humorous and<\/i> awe-inspiring.<\/li>\n
- I’m a sucker for revenge stories, so let me just get that out of the way. Revenge narratives are just so satisfying<\/i> to me, and I’m sure it’s because I grew up as an angry kid who held tons of grudges that he never got to act on. It’s wish fulfillment for me to read these type of stories. In this chapter, though, part of the fun is trying to figure out what the hell<\/i> Dirk and Fixer had planned. Meat? Smells? Nidu diplomacy? I don’t get it<\/i>. What was the point of farting in front of Lars-win-Getag? To irritate him? So? How would that avenge James Moeller?<\/li>\n
- The set-up for this is properly detailed, which is something Scalzi’s damn good at. He did it in Redshirts<\/i> and Old Man’s War<\/i>, and it’s kind of a spectacle. Exposition is a hard thing to write. I FINALLY KNOW THIS NOW THAT I’M WRITING A BOOK. You don’t want it to be too obvious, but you also want to make sure your readers have the information they need to understand what’s coming next. Scazli does this through flashbacks, woven through the narrative in the proper place, as well as using dialogue for exposition.<\/li>\n
- Still, I don’t quite get this world. How did Earth come to colonize space? Why are the Nidu being allowed to colonize our<\/i> world if they’re such assholes to us? What is the benefit of having them around?<\/li>\n
- I’m going to assume that I’ll get more information soon. For now, can we just appreciate the use of farts to anger a mildly incompetent alien so that he will erupt in anger and destroy negotiations? Yes? Because I surely appreciate it<\/i>. The entire scene in that conference room is a work of art, meticulously planned and executed, and it’s just so fucking surreal<\/i>. Surreal! That’s a good word. This book is firmly rooted in science fiction, and then I take a step back and realize it’s also starting off with a twenty-page fart joke. I am perfectly fine with this.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
- Plus, there’s a dramatic (and hilarious) irony to the fact that after Lars-win-Getag drops dead of a stroke, Dirk largely dies of the same thing his father did. While also causing a diplomatic incident he didn’t intend to cause (Lars’s death).<\/li>\n
- So if this is how the book starts, what the fuck is next<\/i>? I assume we haven’t met the main character yet. Seriously, I know nothing<\/i> about this book, so I don’t even know what it’s about. Except a Phillip K. Dick reference?<\/li>\n
- RITUALLY UNPREPARED.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Part 1<\/p>\n