I turned out to be a sort of slap-stick science fiction adventure: earthling kidnapped by aliens only to find he is slated to save his home planet but must fight his way through the rather bizarre universe to do so.

It’s the age-old tale of boy meets alien abductor. Boy meets stun-gun. Boy learns he’s the only one who can save the Earth from Extreme World Makeover by interstellar landlords. Yeah: he thinks it’s a bit much, too. Like everyone else on his planet, Bertram Ludlow hasn’t paid much attention to fluctuations in the intergalactic real estate market. But as a cognitive psychology grad student, he has given some thought to what a complete mental breakdown looks like. And this is pretty close. Now he’s discovering space is a mad and mind-boggling place where interspecies communication rests on the power of a gumball. Where androids demand better work/life balance. Where crime is Art, technology still has its bugs, and lasers don’t actually go “pyew-pyew.” It’s also surprisingly easy to get on the Universe’s Most Wanted list. So with the weight of the world on his shoulders and the cosmic law on his tail, can Bertram outrun, outwit and out-bid to save the Earthling squatters from one spaced-out redevelopment plan?

And it is pretty funny; full of sarcastic retorts, one liners, absurd situations and lots of word play. A send up of the absurdities of earth culture through the lens of aliens. If you like smart aleck and playful sci-fi you will enjoy this one.

I did feel like it was drawn out a bit too much and the plot suffered. Interspersed with the narrative plot chapters are what you might call marketing guide book parodies.  In the guise of a book on famous examples of marketing success these chapters fill the reader in on the bigwigs who are the seeking to buy Earth in this Extreme World Makeover competition that threatens to either kill of the planet’s population or make them intergalactic slave baristas.  These chapters are clever, and were funny at times, but they really slowed the book down (as noted they did add some important background information but I am not sure they were the best vehicle or tool for this).

And the marketing and reality show aspect as a hook was a little thin at times; there are a lot of side characters and alien cultures to try and digest and they are rely all that developed. But, to be fair, you don’t read these kind of books to think to deeply about the plot and plausibility. And if this becomes a series, the author is working on book two I believe, then the details can get filled in as the story progresses I suppose.

My verdict: a genuinely funny intergalactic comic adventure that could use a little more polish and plot tightening.

And a few nights ago I decided to start reading – and promptly read it straight through. It turned out to be a a great little story – action, adventure, intrigue and humor all in less than 200 pages.

The inside flap offers this teaser which was enough to hook me:

It was a stupid, inane, suicidal idea. Which makes it quite hard to explain why I decided to help. I guess it boils down to this. Charlie was my best friend. I missed him. And I couldn’t think of anything better to do. Really stupid reasons which were never going to impress the police, teh headmistress or my parents.

Looking back, I reckon this was the moment my whole life started to go pear-shapped.

What was the crazy idea? To spy on their teachers. This leads to a startling revelation which leads to further insane acts and as is the way in these stories trouble with a capital T.

The book was originally published in 1994 under the tile Gridzbi Spudvetch! As you might imagine the title didn’t exactly help sales and the book soon was out of print.

Its popularity with school children, however, and I am sure the success of Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, convinced him to re-work and re-publish the story.

Boom! strikes as a great romp – a fun and lighthearted sci-fi adventure. Booklist capture the sentiment well:

It’s exactly the kind of caper you imagine when you’re a kid, filled with adult conspiracies, secret codes, and wisecrack-filled escapades. Sure, it gets a little tiring during its zany spaceship finale, but it’s hard to find much fault in a climax featuring a giant, disco-obsessed alien spider named Britney.

If you are looking for a tight plot and adult complexity you will be disappointed I think.  The switch between the introducing of the characters, and the setting, and the sci-fi adventure part is abrupt for example. This is one of those books where you just have to suspend belief and enjoy the ride – which I found easy to do.

The characters are likable and well done (even if a little thin given the shortness of the book) and I didn’t find the very British dialog hard to understand but some young readers might.

There is even a certain - admittedly cheezy – lesson involved: friendships and family are what are important when push comes to shove.

All in all a great little story.

Allow me to steal PW’s plot summation:

Anax, the dedicated student historian at the center of Beckett’s brutal dystopian novel, lives far in the future—the distant past events of the 21st century are taught in classrooms. The world of that era, we learn, was ravaged by plague and decay, the legacy of the Last War. Only the island Republic, situated near the bottom of the globe, remained stable and ordered, but at the cost of personal freedom. Anax, hoping her scholarly achievements will gain her entrance to the Academy, which rules her society, has extensively studied Adam Forde, a brilliant and rebellious citizen of the Republic who fought for human dignity in the midst of a regimented, sterile society. To join the Academy’s ranks, Anax undergoes a test before three examiners, and as the examination progresses, it becomes clear that her interpretations of Adam’s life defy conventional thought and there may be more to Adam—and the Academy—than she had imagined.

It turned out to be a quick entertaining read with some meaty philosophical issues in the middle and twist at the end.  It struck me as a sort of interesting experiment; not entirely successful but worth doing and enjoyable.

The first half of the book basically sets the scene.  Through the dialog during the examination Anax gives an overview of the history that led up to her chosen subject, Adam Forde, and sets the scene of his actions which play a critical role in the history, or myths, of the The Republic as it exists in Anax’s time.

Forde goes against authority and breaks rank in order to save a young girl.  His trial stirs up popular sentiment instead of rallying the populace to the authorities.  With this in mind they decide against execution and instead assign him the job of acclimatizing a robot with artificial intelligence.

There has been an effort to bring these sophisticated robots up to human or near human levels through prolonged interaction with humans.  The mahcines were programmed with the ability to learn and grow but on a number of occasions something had gone wrong and the robots had turned on the humans and killed them.

This interaction between Adam and the robot dubbed ART is the philosophical meat of the book.  Art and Adam have an extended conversation about consciousness and what makes humans different from very sophisticated computers.

At first Adam is resistant, to the point of violence, to Art’s way of thinking.  But slowly he begins to change his mind. It is just as this story is building to its conclusion – one that Anax thought she understood both the history and her own take on that history – the examiners at the Academy reveal a twist that changes her – and the readers – perspective on everything.

This is one of those books that is more about ideas than it is about literature; and it starddles that line between art and philosophy somewhat awkwardly.  As such it works on multiple levels.  You have the Greek aspect with nods to Plato, Socrates, Pericles, etc.  And The Republic looks much like the famous philosopher’s ideas about how society should be structured.  But this is also distracting because it isn’t a perfect fit; the ancient versus modern apocolypse, etc.

And while the examination provides an effective structure – for the most part – on which to hang the story line, trying to fit in the events leading up to the conversation between Adam and Art isn’t easy and Beckett gets bogged down on occasion.

The writing isn’t particular noteworthy but the story is interesting enough, and the book short enough, that the reader’s imagination will carry them forward; provided they are interested in the subject matter Beckett is exploring.

I have a feeling the deeper your knowledge, or interest in, the philosophy involved the more you might enjoy the book. Or perhaps too much knowledge spoils the over-simplified version, I don’t know. I felt like I wanted to go back and brush up on my Plato and The Republic in order to see the deeper connections. This certainly had the feel of a book you could read twice and enjoy it.

In the end, Genesis seems to have succeeded by not trying to do too much.  It is a clever and interesting fictional exploration of some deep and difficult questions but it is short enough and simply enough not to bore you.  And the twist at the end should bring a smile to your face as you re-think the story in light of the revelation (even if you saw it coming I think it is handled well).

Complete Review adds a note that is worth quoting as it provides some useful background on the books publication but also serves as fitting summation:

Originally published as a children’s/young adult title in New Zealand, Genesis is apparently being presented as an adult title in the US; the UK publisher is trying to have it both ways by releasing it both in adult and YA versions (i.e. with different book-covers). There’s nothing childish about the book, but it is relatively simple sci-fi, and is certainly accessible to younger readers — and probably far more satisfying to them. Nevertheless, it is also enjoyable for mature audiences. It succeeds far more as a novel of ideas than for any literary value (although the presentation — mainly in dialogue — is intriguing enough), and the ideas dealt with here should be of interest to readers of all ages.

I agree.  The simplicity and accessibility make it a good fit for younger readers while at the same time making it a refreshing read for older folks.

So if you are looking to explore ideas but don’t want to start with a heavy tome check out Genesis.