#jaques mckeown

[hoorayiread]

Will Leave the Galaxy for Good, a Book Review

Will Leave the Galaxy for Good, by speed-talking British man Yahtzee Crowshaw is the final book in the Jaques McKeown trilogy. Since it is the finale in a series with a lot of big reveals, I will keep this quite short:

It sticks the landing.

Three books of buildup, one huge question, and I left feeling very satisfied. The end.

[jenniferstolzer]

November Fanart Poll

It's time for November's fanart poll! what should I draw this month?

[starwarsbookwyrm]

Will Save the Galaxy for Food

by Yahtzee Croshaw

We've been watching Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation game reviews for years now, so when I heard that he also writes fiction and pulls his humor inspiration from Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and P.G. Wodehouse, I was pretty excited. And having slammed almost nonstop through the last two-thirds of Will Save the Galaxy, I'm still pretty hyped. I don't want to give away the plot with anything as boring as a description, but the short form would be "pulp scifi gets the Redshirts treatment."

The narrators' inner voice is crude as fuck, which is a word the author's very careful not to use. Instead he applies a string of substitute profanities with careful explanation that at first left me stumped. Why would the author feel the need for a footnote explaining his pretend profanities in such excruciating detail? Fantasy/scifi cussing is a trope I've always loved, but it never had to be explicitly described to the reader. Then I realized that having read the definitions, I could not un-read them. So the expletives and biologically unlikely comments were rendered much more vivid than a simple context-free substitution would have been. Yahtzee manages to be just as crude as usual without technically being profane. I hate it. I admire the craft and dedication to unpleasant mental images, but I hate it so much.

What I don't hate are the plot, characters, or the rest of the worldbuilding. It took nearly two thirds of the book for the humor to really start working for me, but it was absolutely worth the commitment. That kind of patient setup that pays off beautifully in the last third of the book is very satisfying.

[hoorayiread]

Will Desroy the Galaxy for Cash, a Review

Our intrepid hero, now going by the name Dashford, once again finds himself in need of some quick cash. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Warden happens to know of some rich doints who really deserve to get stolen from, and a shady team of characters ready to steal. So now, it's heist time, baby!

I'm gonna have to be more and more vague about these book synopses as I go. The books really build on each other in this fantastic way and they are full of surprises. Yahtzee is very good at making sure interesting things are always happening in his books.

While the first book in the trilogy feels like it could have been a stand alone, this one ends with a killer cliffhanger that left me suffering for YEARS. Thankfully, the last book is out so I can finally get my plying questions answered!

[hoorayiread]

Will Save the Galaxy for Food, A Review

Will Save the Galaxy for Food, written by former Escapist editor Yahtzee Crowshaw, is the first book in a trilogy that takes place in the far flung future. We explore a universe where spaceships travel across the galaxy and their pilots stumble into fantastic adventures on alien planets...

Or, at least, that's what used to happen. Recently, a new piece of technology was developed that made all of those pilots obsolete. Even worse, some hack novelist has made millions by publishing stories of their adventures. But when one of these unemployed star pilots steals the writer's identity, he finds himself caught up in a web of intergalactic crime!

I am actually a huge fan of Crowshaw's books, and this one is my second favorite (its sequel is even better). His writing is the kind of hilarious that makes me cackle like a hyena, and its a damn shame more of his fans aren't familiar with these books. I have them on Audible, where he reads them aloud himself, and by god is it a treat! The third book in this trilogy only just came out and I have high hopes.

But the premise of this book may be what really draws me to it. A bit about me, but I have spent years trying to be a professional artist. I have the skill, but these days it feels like more and more art jobs are being replaced by new technology. There's less and less work, and more and it feels like we're all fighting for scraps. Its not unlike the situation that the pilots in this novel face. In fact, I feel like a lot of workers are being squeezed out of their jobs. This book becomes more and more relevant with each passing day. And that's the mark of good sci-fi.