I’m currently ploughing my way through Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain on my kindle (81% through – woo!) and although I’m enjoying it, it’s pretty heavy going so I wanted something light for my audiobook listening. I had previously listened to, and enjoyed Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi, so I though this book would be just the ticket.
It’s a sci-fi story set during covid lockdown times. The hero is randomly fired from his job and ends up working as a food delivery guy when he meets an old friend who offers him an interesting job opportunity.
SLIGHT SPOILERS: The job is in an alternate universe inhabited by Godzilla like creatures and a whole ecosystem based on violent creatures struggling to survive in a world with giant predators whose metabolism is based on nuclear reactions! Sometimes these nuclear reactions cause a weakness in the boundary between the two worlds allowing the giant creatures to pass through (and have movies made about them).
I enjoyed the book – it was lightweight and it did make me laugh out loud once or twice as well as having moments of pathos and a satisfyingly evil baddy.
I also liked the afterword by the author explaining how he had been writing a serious tome but that covid and American politics had him in a funk, and he had to clear his palate by writing something fun, instead.
Sarah Wray Writer 