Read March 2024
Recommended for very forgiving fans of Repo Man
★ ★
The down and dirty review:
A novella-length tale that skips the series set-up. Protagonist Frank intended to be a truck driver, but was kidnapped by an alien to pay his long-absent father's debts by working as a repo man. He's partnered with an AI-controlled ship and the two have a passive-aggressive relationship that sends to land on the 'aggressive' side of the scale more often than not. Yes, it's a weird set-up, but this installment focuses on his second big mission. Frank continues to bypass all that challenging emotional and world-altering crap in favor of showing signs of being TSTL™ (drinking random concoction found in supply cabinet on alien ship). Honestly, I side with the AI, Fetch, on this one.
"'You remember my fourth rule of space travel?'
'Do I have to?' How is it that computers can sound petulant?
I ran to the cockpit. The Calcars had reached my ship and were now pounding on the outer airlock door. 'Come on, Fetch.'
'When In doubt, afterburn.' If she breathed, I think she would've dramatically signed before saying that. Computers are smart--really smart--but they have the emotional IQ of a cat. Not the most empathetic, despite them telling you they are on innumerable occasions."
Nothing is remotely 'realistic'--using that term very loosely here--either emotionally or within the confines of the universe, as Frank stops at a waystation for a drink, gets in an alien shoot-out and briefly looses his ship. There's not sense of wonder, although there is the occasional explano-babble about waypoints and that "Waystations had some pretty impressive security bots. They needed to, since most aliens were assholes."
Frank tries to come up with rules to negotiate his new situation, but they tend to be fairly simplistic: "Back on Starhaven Station, I saw a guy pull out a knife on another guy, and the station's bots had hosed down both of them in some sticky slime in three seconds flat. That was the time I came up with my third rule of space travel: If you see rules posted, don't break them."
Language is simplistic, which reflects the first-person narration of Frank, young would-be trucker. I did think that for all the glossing over of the emotional challenges, Aukes did do a good job of conveying a near-death experience and the challenges around it.
I was a bit curious how it would resolve, as Aukes seems open to drastic measures (at a point in the last book, Frank loses his hand and has it replaced by a mechanical one). Actually, I'm getting a sense of early Star Wars IV fan-fiction, now that I think about it. However, this is more about the inexperience of the lead and a bit of snarky banter, without the charisma and confidence of a Han Solo.
I notice in the author listing that Aukes has also written three non-fiction works: The Tidy Guide to Writing a Novel: The clutter-free, 30-minute guide for writing a book right the first time, along with one on self-editing and self-publishing. Enough said.
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