Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet by Matthew KadishSeries: The Earthman Jack Space Saga #1
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: 1st July, 2013
Publisher: Privateer Press
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:
Jack Finnegan only has to worry about dealing with school bullies, suffering through detention with his homeroom teacher, and getting noticed by the girl of his dreams... at least until an army of evil aliens invade Earth. Suddenly, this teenage slacker finds himself at the center of a galaxy-spanning conflict - where the lives of everyone on the planet are in jeopardy, soldiers use Quantum Physics to become superheroes, and the enemy uses some mysterious form of magic to make themselves practically unstoppable.
The secret to ending the conflict and saving the universe may lie in a powerful ancient spaceship, which it seems can only be flown by Earthmen. Now, Jack and a rag-tag group of allies must overcome impossible odds, defeat an unkillable enemy, rescue the princess of the galaxy, and save the universe from a threat more terrifying than any it has ever faced.
Can this underachiever rise to the occasion and become the hero Earth needs? The fate of all life in the galaxy may rest in his hands.
Hey, so do you like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? How about Doctor Who? Are you interested in physics? Does Quantum physics make you all tingly inside? Does binary code make you want to dance? How about the multiverse theory of the universe? Well friend this book has it all!
No but seriously, this is a novel with a working knowledge of science that brings a layer of believability to the events that unfold during the story. So an army of religious zealot aliens convinced that they have to cleanse the universe blow up Earth, leaving one survivor – a teenage boy whose only talent is underachieving in life. Jack Finnegan, our intrepid protagonist, is saved from the same fate as every other human being by the coincidence of the girl he’s on a date with turning out to be an alien. They escape onto a spaceship along with her two guardians – coincidentally two of Jack’s teachers – and the story snowballs into a hectic action-packed plot that takes Jack pretty much all over the place. Also, science.
The characters were a lot of fun tbh. I found Jack to be a mostly engaging protagonist and enjoyed his ability to think on his feet. Twas very Jim Kirk-esque. Shepherd was also flawless and the space pirates were AWESOME. I particularly enjoyed how this story started off with a very small group of characters but by the end had extended to include so many more, all of them adding something to the story. Except the girl whose name I’ve forgotten and can’t be bothered to look up because she was that boring. Did she do anything but sit around being a damsel in distress? I don’t think so. Whatever, Princess Peach *salutes dismissively*
I mean, I do find science fiction a bit of a chore to read at times – maybe it’s all those years I was stuck in top set science with a horrible teacher and/or aliens not holding my interest for very long but I found myself tuning out for a lot of the story. I did find this quite readable and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject/genre, it just seems to be an ongoing struggle for me to care about comedic science fiction.
Page Count: 680