Whew. So.

This might be the toughest review I've had to write. How does one review a book that you love and yet found incredibly frustrating? How do you write a review when the sequel both is and isn't as good as the original? How do you write a review when everything about this book should have hit you square between the eyes and into the soul and yet...you aren't sure if this is a good book or not?

To start, I'll state up-front that Space Opera, the first novel set in this universe (I hesitate to talk about series because...well...reasons...), was one of my favorite books the year I read it. Nominated for the Hugo (fascinatingly...was eliminated in 4th for best novel, but in the votes for the other positions, ended up dead last of the 6 nominees...so weird). One of my pretty rare five star ratings. A mashup of two incredibly over-the-top things: Eurovision and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, featuring a washed up glam rock band, a sentient cat and some of the most bizarre aliens you'll ever meet...mixed up in a blender with a splash of pure Kurt Vonnegut. I loved it.

Six years later, we have a sequel. Apparently, portions of this were read at conventions and author events over the past years. To say that I was excited to see both the sequel and to get an opportunity to read an ARC would be an understatement. I positively squealed when it downloaded on my Kindle. And from the opening pages you get more of what you had in the first novel.

And yet...

You also get less. We need to talk about plot and character here. In the first novel there is a clear plot around the portions of the novel that are mashups of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and (again) a splash of Kurt Vonnegut. Those portions are AWESOME - I want to make that clear (even if Valente has never met a run-on sentence with 14 commas that she didn't love in this novel - which I'm pretty sure is intentional since I've read other novels of her's and it isn't a "feature"). I laughed audibly multiple times. I highlighted multiple sections. Valente definitely has an ear for the human condition and the absurdities therein. And if that's what you're here for...this is going to be a five star read. The prose is hilarious and the style is wonderful.

It also is the vast majority of this novel. There IS a plot (and a pretty interesting one!) but for most of the book, it is an afterthought. I found myself wondering if there was a plot at all until I was about a quarter of the way through the novel and it really only got serious about the plot in the last quarter of the book. Mostchapters are structured with 90% hilarious side information and 10% plot (often only at the very end of the chapter). It thus comes across as almost a travel narrative where a plot has been stapled on to the end.

It felt to me that what Valente wanted to write was a series of essays about both humanity and about the universe in which Space Opera is set...but someone said, "That won't sell - it has to have a plot." And I won't speak up as to whether or not that was necessary. I might have enjoyed it more without the plot. I might have enjoyed it less. I think she wanted to simply write the "Unbreakable Rules" children's book that is referenced in both novels...but someone told her she couldn't JUST do that.

And now I'm in the difficult position where I cannot figure out whether or not I can recommend a book that is not only one of the funniest things I've read in years, but also contains a humanist core of such warmth and purity that it will bring you to tears at times. When Valente goes full Vonnegut in this book...it will knock your socks off. But at times it comes across as a slog. There isn't really any character development to speak of. But it is so effortlessly funny, warm and diverse. It revels in the diversity of the universe in such a wonderful way. It makes me want more.

3.75 stars is the best I can do. Rounding up for Goodreads/Amazon. Is it as good as Space Opera? No. Is it a bad book? Absolutely not. Is it something I'd read again and again? Portions? Yes. Am I glad I read it? I just don't know.

Thank you to Netgalley and S&S/Saga Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can preorder your own copy (and figure out for yourself if I'm wrong on this) here.

This book is tap dancing on my last nerve. The prose is HILARIOUS, a pastiche of Douglas Adams that is so genuinely clever that I’m not even mad that it’s quantifiably too much.

However, I am so frustrated with the book’s structure. Mainly, chapters that are 99% funny side information about the universe with 1% plot thrown in toward the end. It’s not enjoyable to read. It feels like slogging through a travel guide in the hopes that there’s a plot somewhere to be found between restaurant recommendations and hiking destinations.

But I just kept going, because what plot exists is SO interesting. The characters are so loveable and unique. Catherine is truly a brilliant writer. If this were a collection of worldbuilding essays on the universe of Space Opera, I would have been SOLD. If it were a novella about the events mentioned in the novel, I also would have been sold.

Instead I’m in a place where I don’t know if I can recommend one of the funniest, most heartfelt books I’ve read because the actual act of reading it makes it less impactful. This structure was clearly intentional, but I also am of the opinion it wasn’t the best idea.

When I hear books or author's described as 'for fans of Douglas Adams', I generally sigh and know I'll be disappointed. They mostly mean that it is scifi comedy with witty writing, but never in the class of Adams. I actually put off reading 'Space Opera', the first in the series, for that very reason. But eventually I picked up a copy and was pleasantly surprised. Written more in the style of Adams, it is witty and snarky and insightful. At times I could imagine specific lines coming from Adams himself. That first book was a pleasure to read and was nominated for at least one award. When I heard there was a sequel, I snagged a copy of the first novel's audiobook and listened to it again to remind myself of the story before I ready this new novel. In relistening, I both loved the language and got lost in the tangents. It was less cohesive than I remembered. But, gosh, the writing was so good. I finished the audiobook and the very next day the title became available for review. Timing was on my side. Again, the writing is amazing, smart, quirky, funny, witty. Again, the plot is a little meandering. The story picks up where the first novel ends. Decibel Jones having just survived the singing competition, he is on a publicity tour of the universe when he discovers a new possibly sentient species.

This is a definite recommend for people who liked the first novel. Because this novel has such a foundation in the first novel, I would not necessarily recommend it as a stand alone. This is a series for smart scifi readers, but even they might find the plot a bit tangetful. But, the writing, so good!

This is one of the books I've been looking forward since I heard Valente read excerpts from this at World Con in 2022 and ended up laughing my ass off repeatedly during the reading. Valente gets to take her wonderfully dry sense of humor even further, and deal with the whole thing that happened at the end of last book. Fantastic follow up, especially if you liked the last book.

I honestly don't know how to review this book. I don't know who I will recommend this book to. It is not for anyone new to Valente's work (for that I recommend Space Opera or Deathless). It might be for some people who like Space Opera, but not all of them. There's too much wordplay to recommend it to most sci-fi fans and too many aliens to recommend it to poetry fans.

But this is true of so much of Valente's work. She's a genius and a shapeshifter and completely unlike anyone else who is writing right now.

Also, good god she's having fun here. The writing is bouncy and playful and smart. She is a master at words and world-building. She has a great big sandbox here and she's having a great time in it.

There is no plot to speak of. Actually very little character development or story. This book is just jokes dressed up in a trenchcoat, and it's turtles all the way down.

That said, I had a marvelous time reading it. It's fun and silly and poignant and thoughtful and beautiful. It is maybe the most Valente thing she's ever written, and you can feel her pouring all of her hope and fear and despair and dreams for this world into it. No one that I know of can write such sharp, insightful things about humanity when also writing a whole lot about aliens.

I don't know who should read this book. I don't know if you should. But I know I should have, and I hope you will, too.

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

Every bit as beautiful and snappy as the first, but you knew you could count on Valente. This sequel resumes on the heels of the first and follows Dess, your favorite gendersplat galaxy savior; Mira, the impossible girl; and Öö, who is in quite a pickle.

Everyone is frustrated at their current predicaments, Dess is having to explore the galaxy, Mira is stuck having to hard reset every hour, and Öö is imprisoned for his time crime. In their quest to find the next entrant into the MGP (Metagalactic Grand Prix), Dess, of course, says he wants to see something interesting, and so the hand of the galaxy shows him this, and he takes under his musical, and probably actual sequined, wings, a resident of this place who has no use for emotions, except for when it rains.

Through all this, Valente takes us on a tour of the galaxy, the other, previous entrants into the MGP, and shows us how earth is adapting to becoming a tourist stop to the rest of the universe.

I'm extremely biased so I loved EVERY second of this novel: Valente's creativity is on full display here and her humor is second to none. There are so many things I wish I could quote, one particular page had me laughing so hard I was crying at work.

The book is as fabulous and flawless as its author and protagonists.