Let me begin by saying that I *loved* _Space Opera_, which was the first book in the series. I was eager to learn more about Decibel Jones, Mira Wonderful Star, and Oort Saint Ultraviolet. And, if you enjoyed _Space Opera_, you might enjoy this direct sequel. It continues the adventures of Decibel Jones, Mira Wonderful Star, and Oort Saint Ultraviolet. In her breezy, clever style Valente fills us in on every species from the Intergalactic Grand Prix. The result is like a cross between Douglas Adams and James Joyce. Sometimes it's brilliant, and sometimes it's a chore. I really enjoyed parts of it and parts of it I just trudged through. I had hoped it would be more about Dess, Mira, and Oort, but most of the book seemed to be about the politics of the universe and the purpose of all this was not clear, even at the end. Only a few of the species/factions were relevant to the plot. I have to wonder what Valente's editor was thinking in approving this for press.

I did genuinely enjoyed parts of it, particularly in the last third. And I enjoyed the clever commentary on contemporary political issues. There are some truly great one liners throughout. But overall, I would have a hard time recommending this to a friend.

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this review of SPACE ODDITY, the follow-up to Catherynne M. Valente's Hugo-nominated novel, 2018's SPACE OPERA. Before I go any further, I need to say that it's fitting that a funny thing happened on the way to this review, given the subject material at hand. But I digress. Actually, depending on how you look at it, two or three funny things happened on the way to the review. Look, I can't even count, because I've just realized that it's probably only two. One them is that I ended up spending way more time than I wanted to looking at the list of books I've reviewed since February 17th, 1999. That's as far back as I go on my current laptop. Not that I've had this laptop for more than 25 years, it's that I've managed to keep them around from computer to computer just in case I needed to refer to one of them one day. Which is what I was actually trying to do when I was preparing for this review. You see, somewhere in one of my reviews in the deep dark past, I wrote one that contained a statement something along the lines of "I'm not sure whether this book is a masterpiece, one of the worst books I've ever read, or something in between". I never did find that review - I have been writing these things going back to at least the mid-1990s (and to be honest, much further back than that, since I was writing for The Log of the SS Voyager back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, but stopped for several years after that) - but I think that if I saw the book on my shelf (which I can't because it's buried behind a bunch of books laying on their sides because I haven't read them yet) I'd recognize it immediately. Anyway, I wanted to pull that quote directly and use it here because, well, I think it's relevant.

Right about now, gentle reader, you're probably yelling at me in your head, "WILL YOU GET ON WITH IT ALREADY?"

Now go back and read that first paragraph. Rambling, sprawling, seeming silliness. Looking like it's going nowhere. That's SPACE ODDITY. Now look at it another way (which, by the way, you really shouldn't do because I'm going to compare that to what Valente has done in SPACE ODDITY and that comparison is downright criminal and ridiculous), in which that paragraphs contains some of the most wonderfully written comedic prose in the history of science fiction (see, like I said, mine is not that - I told you so). That is also SPACE ODDITY.

Let's summarize for the class. In SPACE OPERA, humanity's first contact with aliens involved taking part in a contest called The Metagalactic Grand Prix, an event styled after Eurovision (yes, THAT Eurovision) which pits alien races against each other in a contest meant to take the place of the nasty wars that previously threatened to ravage the galaxy. Our planet's heroic representatives, Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, participate in the 100th iteration of the MGP. If they had finished dead last, all humanity on Earth would have been obliterated, the planet cleansed, and the next inhabitants of Earth would be allowed to evolve and participate again at a later date, if they were found worthy.

I know. "WILL YOU GET ON WITH IT ALREADY?"

In SPACE OPERA, someone had to shepherd Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros through the process of getting ready for and actually participating in the MGP. In SPACE ODDITY, Decibel (Dess) and crew are making a galactic victory tour when they discover a species in a hostile (to life) planetary system that heretofore was unknown to the rest of the galaxy. According to the rules, they must shepherd the new aliens through that same process. The issue is that the MGP has literally just been held, and there were no plans to hold the 101st so soon. But through the various machinations of the aliens ostensibly in charge, a new version of the MGP must be held, even though the new species has no desire to participate.

Hilarity ensues. I think.

So, for a large portion of the at least the first half of the book, nothing happens. Valente spends most of that time writing what is mostly, but not always, hilarious prose in an attempt to be funny. And some of it is very very funny, and some of it falls flat. She sprinkles in all sorts of pop culture references, from Monty Python to Pink Floyd to Douglas Adams (there's actually a badger named Douglas in the book, and the book itself has 41 chapters, because as Valente herself says in the Liner Notes, "Because you simply can never equal the greatest, you can only hope to come close. Occasionally.", to, well, whatever reference fit at the time. Or, it may not have fit, but it was funny, so it's there, and after all, isn't that the point (I wish I'd made notes of all the pop culture references so I could share them here, but I'd be here forever, and this review is 6 weeks late anyway) of the whole thing? But we don't actually meet the new aliens until halfway through the book, long after I yelled "WILL YOU GET ON WITH IT ALREADY?".

But oh my goodness, does the last part of the book make up for all the rest of the meandering, sometimes funny, sometimes not, prose. The strength of the ending is that the language and storytelling (maybe what came before wasn't meant to be storytelling, which is why it fell flat for me) became much more linear and straightforward. Maybe Valente was trying too hard to be funny, and when she stopped trying so hard it got better. And the ending did stick the landing.

I wanted very much to like, even love this book, and at times I did. Laughing out loud at the gym on the elliptica machine caused many heads to turn my way, but after a while those occurrences were few and far between. I don't know. Maybe this is one of these books that I'm just not meant to understand. But I did *like* it. And that's what counts, right?

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley.

This sequel answers the question “what happens *after* you save the Earth?” How do you then go on?

A welcome return to Valente’s Space Opera universe, where the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy meets EuroVision as a way to avoid interplanetary war. Space Oddity continues the prose style from the first book, with numerous comedic and outlandish descriptions, approaches, and reassurances from sentence to sentence that some things in the universe really do hold true, no matter how ridiculous. Decibel Jones is back, older, and not much wiser, but he’s doing his best, okay? It turns out that winners and survivors of the Intergalactic Grand Prix have … obligations, as well as charitable societies devoted to their ostensible care. This novel packs a punch, because under the flash, glamour, and comedic turns of phrase is a fierce adherence to the experience of being more experienced and a bit cynical when the universe needs you to not pay quite so much attention to what it’s up to.

Goguenar Gorecannon’s First Unkillable Fact is still true: Life is beautiful, and life is stupid.

To fight the darkness, humans have an adage about lighting a candle. This novel is what happens when you use a spotlight and a disco ball instead, in the best possible way.

Highly recommended.

Note: I received a free unpublished proof of this book, for a limited time, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

This book is a sequel to Valente’s previous book, Space Opera, which is necessary reading before reading this sequel in order for literally any of it to make any sense. To read this book without reading the first would be like walking into London and trying to navigate with a map of Barcelona that you’re looking at upside-down, written in French, when you don’t speak French and aren’t even sure whether the country of France exists or not.

Space Opera was a very enjoyable book, and one of the better things to come out of its specific sub-genre in a while, that being “Douglas-Adams-esque absurdist romps through the cosmos, with perhaps a touch of ‘Doctor Who’ on top for the discerning modern reader”. It is for this reason that I suspect it was nominated for the 2020 Hugo Award, because frankly, it is not a literary book and is very much just a very fun book. This is not to disparage it—there is nothing wrong with books that are merely very fun—but if you are looking for something meaningful and complex with a deep message about the world, you will not find it here.

Space Oddity follows the same basic formula, which isn’t really a spoiler, and it’s arguably a feature rather than a bug in my opinion because everybody hates sequels with inexplicable tone shifts that unintentionally retcon the original storyline into oblivion like a circular saw hitting a Jello mold at a 45-degree angle. Expect a lot of randomness, silliness, overly long and descriptive sentences, and general non-seriousness. There are deus ex machinas coming out of the woodwork all over the place. There are gratuitously happy endings, beginnings, and middles. It is “glitter all over a children’s art classroom”: The Book.

I suppose if I look at it closely, I think some of the ideas could have made a little more “sense” even for a funny book, just to strengthen the backbone a bit more. For instance, why do both books surround species competing with others in a music contest to be considered “sentient” by the comically-evil aliens running the galaxy? Why don’t the main characters take it a step further in the second book and do away with this whole thing? In a world where literally anything can happen, I find it kind of strange that the second book just sort of does the same thing as the first one.

I don’t think that the author is deliberately trying to send some message about how we must uphold the status quo no matter how bad it is. That said, given that Valente does include some light thematic undertones here and there about following one’s dreams and not going along with what other people think, then why are these characters who can literally do anything and are willing to take on anybody who stands in their way…only really focused on helping another alien win the competition? Granted, they are the only ones on her side, but it’s kind of weird for these characters who, again, don’t really believe in any traditional institutions at all, to go through the same song and dance instead of pulling off some equally improbable, equally comical twist in the action. I get the impression that the author didn’t really know where to go with the book, and therefore pulled out the same general framework for a second time.

That said, if you like silly, wacky books about Day-Glo alien creatures putting on a cartoonishly-evil version of Eurovision, as I do, it’s worth a read as long as you aren’t expecting anything “genius”. While the goofy descriptions of everything and explanations of things that really didn’t need to be explained sort of “carry” the book more than the plot does, they’re fun if you appreciate the novelty of this sort of thing. If not, you can skip this one.

I was super into this in the beginning: it was like reading *Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* for the first time, but a little more modern and less British.

But then nothing happened. And nothing kept happening. And then I was 30% of the way through and still nothing had happened.

And it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Saga Press!

I really enjoyed the first book, but I feel a little off/icked giving a book that heavily focuses on being queer and challenging gender norms, but also praises Harry Potter.

I would really omit that.

I'll start this off by saying I really enjoyed the first book of this series. I was very much looking forward to reading this second book and was able to read a ARC thanks to Netgalley and S&S/Saga Press.

I'd give this a 3.5/5 as a whole. It was a very enjoyable book with many laugh out loud moments and areas I just had to show off to friends due to the hilarity of them. I however do think the book was weighed down in some parts with a slow to start/loose plot for the first 60% or so of the book. There are strong moments during those parts though some awesome world building and more descriptions then you could possibly want (sometimes a bit excessive on descriptors).

Overall, this is a very fun book keeping alive the spirit and colorfulness of the first and it ends in a satisfying manner making it worth the read. You're sure to get plenty of laughs and maybe catch some other feels along the way.

This book was different to say the least...... I am really indifferent. Wasn't good, wasn't bad. Loved the title page.

If you enjoyed Space Opera, I think you'll also have a good time with Space Oddity. I found it to be both MORE than Space Opera but also less. To me, it was even more of the zany, "here's how aliens and societies work in this world," complete with all of the biting commentary of Space Opera. If that was the part you loved the most about the first book, you'll love this. However, it was also less of the overarching plot tying together the whole book. For me, that actually was my favorite part of the first--going into the backgrounds of the three band mates, the ways in which things failed for them, set against this absurdist background. I felt like the background to plot ratio here was more like 90:10. In that sense, this almost would have worked better as a companion novel filled with short stories. I think if you go into it with that as an expectation, you'll really enjoy it.

Space Oddity returns to the world of Space Opera with a new whimsical and thought-provoking journey, filling the universe with more imagination and complex characters. The writing definitely reminds of Douglas Adams and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at times, given the themes and style of storytelling.

The narrative is beautifully written but I occasionally found myself lost at times with the vast number of characters and with some more abstract parts of the storytelling. Overall I was captivated by the story and is highly enjoyable, especially if you loved Space Opera.

Thank you to @sagapressbooks and @netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

Space Opera was a wild Eurovision acid trip and Space Oddity keeps the party rolling with it's unhinged banter, epic sci-fi adventures, and enough musical pop culture references to stump any trivia night aficionado.

The first book wrapped itself up quite nicely with a few unanswered questions involving some side characters so I didn't expect a sequel but I'm not mad we got one!

Continuing where book one left off, Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros saved the Earth from absolute annihilation. Did they break a few intergalactic laws to survive? Maybe, but so did every other alien who tried to stop them from winning in the first place!

Will everyone read this book and absolutely adore it as much as I do? Probably, not, but it's still a wild good time. Space Oddity is an eccentric, eclectic, and an all around epic romp!

Space Oddity is the sequel to Catherynne M. Valente’s Science Fiction love letter to the Eurovision Music Competition, Space Opera, where humanities only hope in proving their worth and escaping alien annihilation was winning an intergalactic song competition. I had previously enjoyed Space Opera, which like much of Valente’s work I found highly creative and enjoyable.

Space Oddity even more than the previous book reminds me of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and if you are a fan of Douglas Adam’s classic hilarious work than you may want to check this out.

Some of the writing can be a bit dense since Valente has packed it with clever references and jokes; this can at times slow down the pace of the book a bit, but this is definitely a novel that focuses as much on the journey as the final destination. I loved how seemingly random facts and divergent story-lines all harmonized together at the end.

Not going to lie, I maybe comprehended 75% of what I read here. There were sentences that lasted for entire paragraphs that I had to go back and start re-reading again before I even got to the end. But I still enjoyed the story, though. Give it a try, why not?

This was not one I expected to hit like a sucker punch.
I would rate this 5 stars but the inclusion of a magical series written by a transphobic author gets it knocked down a notch. Otherwise, splendid reading experience.

Not ever expecting that we were going to get a sequel to Space Opera, the fact that we got a sequel and it is this delightful was a joy. Valente's writing is, as ever, like sinking into a warm bath, eating a delicious cake, and drinking champagne, after getting a full and restful 10 hours of sleep. Her language draws in the reader as she entangles them in the plot and by the time you're a chapter in you know absolutely whether you're hooked forever or if this is not the book for you (I put myself solidly in the former category). Decibel Jones helped humanity survive the last Metagalactic Grand Prix, but now that it's over, what can he do? This is where our story starts and I genuinely do not want to share more, as I firmly believe that this is one of those novels that is better the less you know before going into it. It's big, and weird, and beautiful, and I absolutely loved every single second of it.

I first read Space Opera in 2018. At that moment, it felt like this fun, didn't take itself too seriously, space romp. There's a distinct tone in both books which manages to be quirky, dry, witty, and sassy all at once. It's something that would be a phenomenal audiobook in the way it feels like someone is actually talking to you. You know those friends who have such a distinctive feeling to their narration? That's Space Opera and Space Oddity. It feels like a quirky stream of consciousness narration. And while that was something that I enjoyed in 2018, now in 2023 and about a million books later - and some revelations about how I read and visualize - I realize that these stream of conciousness type of narrations are incredibly difficult for me.

Thanks to Catherynne M. Valente, Saga Press, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This sequel to Space Opera does not require the reader to have read the earlier book – the author does a great job setting the stage for those unfamiliar with the story to date.

The story will best fit those who really enjoyed Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, although this is more off the wall with strangeness. Although well written, in the end the off the wall comedy proved to be too much for me and I yearned for more traditional advancement of the plot.

Space Oddity is Catherynne Valente’s follow-up to the gonzo sci-fi novel Space Opera. It’s a love letter to the universe wrapped up in witty asides, clever worldbuilding, and interesting characters. The prior book, while featuring exposition that explained the universe a large, felt like it had more of a plot. Space Oddity does have a plot, but almost as an afterthought to all the exposition. The plot involves yet another Megagalactic Grand Prix after a new species is accidentally discovered, and the political machinations involved in the whole affair. What kept me turning the pages was my curiosity about how this would turn out not only for our protagonists but for the galaxy. I could have done with less exposition and there were a few chapters that I skimmed heavily, but overall I found this to be an enjoyable sequel and would recommend it to anyone who loved Space Opera. Thank you to Saga Press and Netgalley for an advance reading copy.

I've read Valente before (loved Comfort me with Apples) and I quite enjoyed this crazy sci-fi mash-up & found it quite humorous. Would recommend to anyone who liked "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" or Sir Terry Prachett's books. FUN! Valente's mind is very interesting! Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for an advance readers copy of this book

LOVED this one! I absolutely devoured this book! I couldn’t get enough! It was such a different read but so good! Highly recommend it!