John Scalzi has a great storytelling ability coupled with a great sense of humor. Both are on display in this enjoyable novel.

Taking place in the future, Earth has joined the other planets in becoming spacefaring peoples. During their contact with the Nidu, an Earth diplomat becomes involved in the assassination of a Nidu diplomat, both planets prepare for war.

It seems the only way to defuse this situation is to find a sheep that can be used in a Nidu ceremony. The catch is this is a specific breed of sheep called the Blue Android. There is another catch, the sheep is not a sheep at all. No more spoilers.

Into this mess is thrust Harry Creek of the State Department. harry must try to figure out a solution to this mess, but there are many more players involved than he thinks. Thus begins a humorous journey where Harry and his "sheep" must avoid dangerous assassins, enraged aliens and even their own government.

A very enjoyable sci-fi story that stands out for its wacky plot and great humor. A funny, exciting book that is very well written and very entertaining.

The alien life forms, cultures and worlds Scalzi creates were really well thought out and fascinating (so complex and so believable). The plot was about political intrigue and power games in general, with a large dose of action, AI personalities, iffy science and some well formulated toilet humour. The twists and turns kept me on my toes - newly introduced characters, reactions or facts help shifted the focus of power on a number of ocasions and I was never sure what the ultimate outcome would be. All this was well executed and extremely clever.

I've read Scalzi before - he is one of my favourite authors. For some reason, though, I didn't enjoy the book as much as I probably should have.

Maybe the emphasis on politics was too much for me? There were definitely too many characters and names for me to keep track of and I didn't really care who came out on top.

The AI characters were my favourite quirk, but none of the other characters really appealed to my imagination, not even the main players. I think this was what ultimately let me down.

For me, this was one of Scalzi's less successful books, hence the 3 stars.

3.5 stars

This book is pretty weird yet still coherent with a fun plot.


It starts off with a major diplomatic incident caused by farting—I bet this first chapter was the result of a writing prompt—and then turns into a hunt for sheep.



Then it becomes a cat-and-mouse game that was a lot of fun. There’s also a real church with a fraudulent founding (and a sheep fetish) and a cheap cruise. And some lizard aliens. All this comes together, eventually. It feels like Scalzi wrote a bunch of satirical scenes for fun and later strung them together.



It takes a while before a good guy emerges in this story: Harry Creek. (This late appearance of a good guy is most likely because I couldn’t remember any characters’ names for a long time.) He works for the government, like many of the poor saps in this book, and his job is giving people bad news. But he’s also a bad-ass war veteran with cool skills. Best to go into this knowing as little as possible. It’s strange and funny and suspenseful all together.

Wonderful audio narration by Wil Wheaton. I was especially impressed by his ability to pronounce alien names that seemed to be spelled unpronounceable on purpose. He speaks so fast, I had to put the speed at 1.0 and even considered slowing it down.

While the title is inspired by PKD, the story has little to do with that book.

Language: Moderate amount of strong language
Sexual Content: vaguely mentioned once or twice
Violence: Not too graphic: assassination attempts; fighting resulting in broken bones; aliens who eat people, torture
Harm to Animals: A pet dog is killed.
Harm to Children: None
Other (Triggers): double-crossing, annoying villains

3.5 stars or a bit more. It was a fun read, a conspiracy theory, SF adventure with lots of tongue in cheek humor, coincidences & odd aliens. Scalzi has a lot of fun poking sticks at legal systems, religions & diplomacy. There is a lot of computer work in it, including some very interesting points about data collection & privacy that is quite obviously pointed at our current system. An interesting read, although I doubt I'll ever read it again. Half the fun was not knowing what would come next. Now that I do, I don't think it would be nearly as enjoyable.

4 Stars

My first John Scalzi book that I have read and I will now grab up his other books as I am now a fan. This is a tough review to write as by saying what I like about this book might make it seem like it less than it really is.

This is a funny book. It is filled with clever wit, funny parodies, and downright corny jokes. The jokes are all over this one and give it a great feel, without actually detracting from the science. This is a science fiction novel, a space opera, and a futuriistic conspiracy novel where the stakes are nothing less than the fate of the Earth and all the people living on it. The jokes add color and flare to the action and chase scenes. They coincide with the plot points and move the story forward. At times they have you laughing out loud.

The first chapter had me hooked, an Earth trade representive developed an anal device and used it to enrage an alien diplomat by farting. "We're pretty sure that it's a device used to send chemical signals the Nidu could smell and interpret through a code of theirs. We think that your guy hid this until he got into the room, and the used it to enrage the Nidu negotiator into a stroke. He had a heart attack right after. He died laughing, Ted. It didn't look very good.". Too funny, an alien strokes out because of too much bad farting and the gassy man dies of a heart attack laughing his butt off.

"Dr Atkinson had warned James for years to eat a more balanced diet..." James was eating too much meat.

"Then in the afternoon we start on livestock quotas. We begin with sheep."
" Do ewe think that's a good idea?". Haha so baaaaaad it's funny.

The story is a straight forward sci-fi involving the Earth, Alien races, traitors, and impending war(doom). There are many cool creatures, gadgets, and technologies. Creek is a likeable lead and Robin is equally easy to identify with. There are a couple of typical bad guys for us to hate, and a pace that keeps us interested. The action is decent, and the prose is competent too. I really feel that it is the integration of so much humor and sattire that made this one a good read.

I highly recommend this book to science fiction readers that don't take themselves too seriously and fans of books by Terry Pratchett would probably appreciate the wit of John Scalzi.

Harry Creek had the misfortune of being an infantryman in Earth's biggest military defeat of the 21st century. His best friend's brother died in his arms during the retreat. Now Harry's kind of drifting, but he's about to get a short, sharp shock....

Robin Baker runs a small pet shop on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. She's leading a dull-normal suburban life, but she's about to meet Harry, on a truly memorable first date....

Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? inspired the title, and yes, unusual sheep are involved -- but this novel reads like prime-period Heinlein, updated to the 21st century. From the opening lines -- "Dirk Moeller didn't know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was ready to find out." -- the pace and story-telling never slacken. We have a Competent Man protagonist, a spunky female lead, snappy dialogue, sneering villains, the Fate of Earth in the balance.... even a clever analogue to the Church of Foster (here the Church of the Evolved Lamb). All set in a well-lived-in near-future where the aliens have come to call. LOTS of aliens. Moore's Law marches on, with cool new cybertoys, with much the same problems of today's cool cybertoys.... And lots more really Neat Stuff, which I'm not going to tell you about here, but which you're gonna love ❤️. Trust me.

This is a pretty near perfect light planetary romance, ending splendidly with all Biters Bit, and the Good Guys (and Girl) well-rewarded. Really a wonderfully entertaining book -- definitely a keeper. This is my second John Scalzi novel -- I liked Old Man's War, but that was apprentice work, compared to The Android's Dream. Sure, there's a place or two where Scalzi noodges the plot-logic a little hard. Yeah, it's wish-fulfillment fantasy, laid on a little thick. So what? This is a remarkably well-crafted entertainment, squarely in the center of my SF home-comfort zone . If you don't have just a whole lot of old-fashioned SF fun reading this one -- well, our tastes differ greatly. Highly, and enthusiastically, recommended.

I always hate it when I don't like a book someone recommends to me, but after a chapter and a half I realized that a) I hadn't found a single character I liked yet, and b) the author and I don't share the same sense of humor at all. So, back to the library with this.

I could have read The Ghost Brigades, could have read Fuzzy Nation, but if there is a book in the “to be read” stack whose title is an unmistakable Philip K. Dick reference, then this was clearly the right choice.

And it was a good choice

Like a book by PKD, John Scalzi’s The Android’s Dream packs a lot to think about into an economically written, tightly wound package. From the genetically designed electric blue sheep, to a variety of alien races, to competing paranoid and invasive government agencies, featuring and aggrandizing a small business owner, to a complicating and weird religions Scalzi has done for Philip K. Dick what he did for Heinlein in Old Man's War – he has highlighted the best of the grandmaster and re-tooled the message for today’s audience.

The Android’s Dream tells the unlikely but highly entertaining story of Harry Creek, an erstwhile, reluctant but capable hero who is not out to save the world – but he’s just the man to do just that. Harry meets up with Robin Baker, a charismatic, flirty pet shop owner with a mysterious past. Scalzi throws these two into an adventure that could have originated in a poverty stricken, paranoid rented house in northern California in the mid sixties.

And like the very best of PKD, Scalzi casts as his protagonists the ordinary folks who display their greatness behind the scenes, while quietly saving us all in understated Ghostbusters fashion. Dick’s greatest heroes are rarely the power elite, more often the small-time, unnoticed everyman whose character provides the framework and foundation of a greater society.

If you like Scalzi’s work, if you are a fan of Philip K. Dick, if you like a quirky but fun modern science fiction work that does not take itself too seriously, The Android’s Dream is a good read.

The Android’s Dream: More like The Fifth Element than Bladerunner
Originally published at Fantasy Literature

The Android’s Dream (2006) is one of John Scalzi’s earlier books, and a stand-alone rather than part of a series, so I couldn’t resist given the obvious Philip K. Dick reference in the title. I decided to go into this one without knowing anything about the plot or reading any reviews at all. I know Scalzi’s humor and style from the OLD MAN’S WAR series, Redshirts and Lock In, and I love the audio narration of Wil Wheaton, so I figured I’d give it a try. I was also surprised that this hadn’t already been reviewed on FanLit, which has covered pretty much all of Scalzi’s prolific output.

Initially I was a bit nonplussed by the opening sequence, essentially the most elaborate “fart joke” in a tense human-alien diplomatic meeting in the history of the genre (tiny niche, I know). It suggests we’re in for something more along the lines of The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy or The Fifth Element than the profound and melancholic ruminations on what separates humans from replicants in PDK’s classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep that I had expected from the title. But the story certainly throws out enough ideas, computer hackers, AIs, mercenaries, phony religious cults, secret government agencies, intense action sequences, and humorous quips sprinkled throughout, to provide the entertainment that Scalzi has become famous and very successful for delivering.

The plot involves a major diplomatic incident between the UNE (United Nations of Earth) and the Nidu, a more powerful alien race that is the ostensible ally of humanity, a new junior member of the Consolidated Confederation of Worlds, in which the Earth is sitting at the “loser’s table in high school”, as Scalzi puts it so succinctly. So it is up to ex-military State Department “Xenosapient Facilitator” Harry Creek to track down an a rare species of blue sheep called Android’s Dream that holds the key to a major power struggle for succession on the Nidu homeworld. What follows is a madcap, zany, action-packed, whirlwind adventure, from shopping mall shootouts to some pretty cool computer hacking by AIs, and leading up to a grand finale on the Nidu homeworld at the coronation ceremony, with the fate of the Earth and intergalactic war hanging in the balance.

As typical for Scalzi, The Android’s Dream produces dozens of eminently quotable quips about this future society, our own human foibles, etc. However, as the story frequently veers from snarky humor to intense action sequences, sometimes I felt like Scalzi was not quite in control of the tone of the story. It’s much like a Luc Besson movie, with frenetic action, slapstick humor, and then random moments of seriousness. I also think the author was still finding his voice, though his debut novel Old Man’s War was a near-perfect pastiche of Heinlein that updated and improved on Starship Troopers. So I don’t think it really hung together in the end, despite being filled with promising elements. Still, if you are a fan of zany SF thrillers, you probably won’t be disappointed.

I went into this blind, as usual, and really didn't know what was going to happen and it was hilarious. The beginning had me laughing out loud wondering if Scalzi was serious and wondering where the story would go from there. And he managed to keep it going to the end.

The events were funny, captivating and action filled.
There were many characters pulling different strings. I really liked Creek and Robin and their interactions.
I Like how nothing ever seems too serious in Scalzi's novels, no matter how dire the situation.

I also enjoyed the gadgets he came up with and the world this story is set in.

I can recommend this to anyone who likes some fun science fiction.

And I also recommend listening to the audiobook narrated by Will Wheaton, he just brings the story to life.

A delightful romp of a space opera crossed with an espionage caper. For this entertainment we bid goodbye to the gloom of dystopias and dark post-apocalyptic struggles (with or without zombies) and return to a time when humans of merit have the agency to save the world from villains. The villains here include aliens with colonial exploitation of Earth in mind and bumbling, backstabbing bureaucrats vying for a piece of their action.

Instead of invading, the reptilian Nidu are buying up our suburbs and bribing our politicians for beneficial business deals. The Earth’s administration has recently joined the Common Confederation of intelligent galactic species as a junior member, on the lines of a third world country missing the military might required for power and respect. We know we are in for a bit of madcap Spy vs. Spy when some dirty tricks by agents of the think tank American Institute of Colonization to stall trade negotiations with the Ministry of Trade to make the Nidu fall out of favor ends up backfiring.

Dirk Moeller didn’t think he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was willing to try.

Bravo for Scalzi not being afraid of employing low humor. Also, for leaving it alone most of the time. I won’t spoil the fun with details, but it’s fair to say that the Nidu are angry, and though far down in the power structure of the confederation of species, they have the capacity to crush Earth. It’s enough to make permanent enemies in the Departments of State and Defense start to work together. The Nidu are able to extract a favor, which is to locate a blue sheep of a special rare gene-mod breed needed as a critical part of coronation of the next ruler of their extreme top-down society. Our intrepid hero Harry, a lowly State Department staffer, is assigned this important but daffy task and soon uncovers why a certain pet store owner, Robin, is the key to resolving the sheep chase.

But a rival Nidu family line wants that secret to take the throne themselves. And Harry, due to his training as a soldier in a disastrous Nidu-on-Nidu colonial war they dragged humans into, has the skills and motivation to protect Robin against both rival factions and humans bought in as mercenaries. A pyrotechnic shootout and escape at the mall with Robin is enough to make him turn rogue on the order of Bruce Willis in “Die Hard.”. A lot of thrilling action is served up with aplomb and eventually we change venue to off-planet locations. Their secret weapon is an AI created as a simulation of Harry’s compatriot Brian, who lost his life in the Nidu war. The big showdown has a surprising and satisfying conclusion.

When it was all over, my first reaction was to grade it 3 stars as pleasant, mindless entertainment. But soon I came to recognize how this kind of clever fun is rare in sci fi literature these days and upped the stars a notch. After all, I consider comic thriller films like Men in Black and The Fifth Element worth high stars, and unlike some old Heinlein novels of yore that approached comparable madcap plots, I didn’t have to put up with libertarian preaching.

I'm glad I read this after reading John Scalzi's Redshirts. Had I read The Android's Dream first, I would have been slightly disappointed in Redshirts, as it wasn't as funny as The Android's Dream. And it wasn't just funny, either. It had memorable characters, great action sequences, and a plot filled with twists, turns and intergalactic political intrigue.

And to think I almost stopped reading this book in the first chapter when a character kills an alien dignitary with an anal device programmed to send farts with insulting scent messages, thinking it was too sophomoric for my tastes. I'm glad I didn't, as it gets exponentially better -- wittier and less low brow -- after that initial tonal display of this book.