...Wow... How to sum this book up? Imagine Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets David Bowie meets a Channel 4, late-night-just-got-back-from-the-pub-boozed-up version of Eurovision, with a soupcon of Red Dwarf.
This book is brilliant(how many books do you read make you think "hang on, if the universe keeps expanding to the point where it starts to rewind to the beginning (better technical explanations are available), ready to start again -has the Big Bang happened more than once? Are we the first iteration of the universe?") and utterly, utterly ridiculous. If you're familiar with the tone of Douglas Adams, you will recognise the style here (yes, there are a lot of very long sentences but they are so very fun to read - particularly out loud) but it is NOT an attempt to emulate/copy it - if Radiance (another great book) was classic/golden-age Hollywood, Space Opera is an explosion in the glam-rock section of the record store with a lot of sequins, glitter and a thesaurus thrown in.
"Life is beautiful and life is stupid." So much better than all the other inspirational quotes out there, and definitely one to live by.