Absolutely bonkers! This is has to be one of the silliest and most enjoyable sci-fi series ever. So many great ideas and a host of crazy characters. The ridiculous becomes sublime.

I got this as an ARC from netgalley, thank you!

This book was really fun to read! An adventure across space and the internet, and the story of a war between the ruling robots and the human rebels. The writing had a little bit of a Douglas Adams-esque feel, and was filled with pop culture references. I'm sure I didn't pick up on all of them, but I did spot quite a few! My favourite was the Alien reference. I love a good Alien reference.

The story is very surreal, and it did take me a few chapters to get into it, but then the flow of the story picked up, I got to know the characters better, and I was hooked. There are some really clever ideas. I particularly liked visiting the internet as a tourist destination, and memes getting physical bodies. And somehow the author actually managed to get me to care about breadmakers, motorbikes and printers. The characters are great, although it was quite hard to actually picture the robots at times. I couldn't work out where the legs and arms were. I think Pam was my favourite character overall, she's very multifaceted!

The plot was fun, the characters engaging, and the ending satisfying. I haven't read the first book (although now I want to!) and I didn't feel like I was missing anything from the story, so don't worry if you haven't read the first book.

First thing I'll say is I love the cover. Now the book? I was a bit lost because I tried to read it as a stand-alone, which later I found out it picks up right after the 1st book. With that being said, I couldn't get into it.

I'm only rating this book based off the cover, not a real review. It wouldn't be fair.

Rating 2

I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was fun and easy, without being simple. There were some moments that I laughed out loud (especially the tour through a sub Reddit), and it was cool to see an idea of what could happen to the Internet in the future.

I couldn't entirely picture the many many robots very well. I kept picturing like, a toaster with weird little cartoon hands, which I don't think was the intention. But I loved that the robot "heroes" were the everyday type of machines: a printer, a breadmaker, an alarm clock. The machine names were hilarious and punny, and I loved the question of autonomy that was brought up.

The human characters were also very entertaining, though my love for that little breadmaker is higher. I liked that the main couple was gay and it wasn't a big deal (because it isn't). And of course, they're all extremely British, which only heightened my enjoyment.

Overall, this book was a lot of fun to read and I definitely recommend it!

Also: I didn't realize this was the second book in the series and I got through just fine, so don't worry if you haven't read the first one :)
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

Great character development, with a complicated plot that shows fragments of situations that are underlined connected.

A wonderful romp through.... well everywhere really. With all your favourite characters from the first book and some great new ones, for the full review go to https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/187001381631/battle-beyond-the-dolestars-by-chris-mccrudden

It just didn't work for me. I love the cover. The premise is interesting but I guess it would make more sense to me if I had started with book 1.

I like a nice e pastiche and that is exactly what this book is, read this with humour intended by the author and you will enjoy it, it's not meant to be a grandiose space opera but it is fun and engaging, It put a smile on my face and in these times of doom and gloom in the media that was good enough

A humorous and entertaining reading experience for fans of science fiction — particularly readers of Douglas Adams.