I love the concept for this novel, which is basically Eurovision meets The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In fact, that Douglas Adams series seems to be the exact model for author Catherynne M. Valente, from the zany screwball comedy to the cleverly subversive observational humor underlying it. When humans attract the attention of the federated species of the wider universe, we are invited to participate in their annual music competition -- and so long as we don't decline, forfeit, or come in last place, we'll be welcomed with open tentacles rather than exterminated. As the earth's champion, the aliens have chosen a washed-up Bowie-esque glam rocker whose sensibility they think most matches their own.

That's all a fantastic setup, but unfortunately, the excitement starts dissipating after the musician and his former bandmate are whisked across the stars to compete. Most of the remaining action in the book is just setup for the main event on the final pages, interspersed with Hitchhiker-like travelogue entries about some of the other worlds and peoples in this setting. The writer's imagination is on full display there, but she seems to lose track of the story and undercut the emotional climax of what follows. As a result I like the end of the tale substantially less than its rocketing beginning, and I don't imagine I'll stick around for the forthcoming sequel.

[Content warning for the c-word and discussion of human atrocities.]

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For me, just meh.
And I couldn’t cope with the US references the main characters kept making, we don’t have 7-11 in the UK. It’s not a big deal but it kept pulling me out of the moment to be angry.

This is probably the first book I’ve read not by Douglas Adams to capture his general tone and vision of a hilariously dysfunctional galactic society. I greatly enjoyed this read.

As a lover of Becky Chambers, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, I really wanted to love this book. The storyline seemed right up my galactic highway, and at first, the writing was exactly what I was looking for.

But then each paragraph became a cacophony of words all shouted at you by a guy holding the microphone too close to his mouth so you could only catch the intention and not really each word. By the time it got to the actual opera and actual meat of it all, i was too tired to get through it properly and give it the attention it needed. I felt a bit dizzy reading so many words crammed together in a short 200+ word book.

Having said that, there are so many standalone quotes I highlighted. There are some beautiful gems of wisdom scattered throughout it all.

The characters, the worlds, the premise sound so interesting and I really wish I could've got more than this scream-fest concert of a story it became.