I hate to leave a bad review, but I can't in good conscious recommend this book to any of my friends. For the life of me, I cannot understand why this book is so highly regarded. I could see this being very appealing to a 14 year old boy who loves fart jokes and silly aliens. But for me, it fell terribly flat. I love sci fi and fantasy, so it's not like I dropped into the wrong genre. Scalzi isn't a terrible writer, and there are some interesting ideas buried in this book. But it drowns in a convoluted damsel-in-distress plot that revolves around a cast of unlikeable and flat characters. It had a Scooby-Doo quality to it in terms of story development. I just couldn't get into it (although I did finish it), and I don't think I know anyone who would enjoy it. As a side note, I was really surprised that there was only 1 woman in this entire story, and she needed to be saved by the male "hero." It was odd, considering that Scalzi pro-actively identifies himself as a feminist, and his contemporaries are writing much more inclusive and well rounded books.

First off, Wil Wheaton's narration was excellent, as usual. He is the perfect fit for Scalzi's humorous tone and wit.

I've only started on my road to discovery of Scalzi. Until I finished this one, I've read "Redshirts", "Agent to the Stars", and a couple of short stories. "Android's Dream" is all I could have hoped for, yet it is my least favorite of the three thus far. Only because it is, by far, the most outrageous of his stories. So unexpected are some of the elements. It's out there, and for the first time, I felt the plot line came off a little forced.

Nonetheless, I still enjoyed it thoroughly.

This is fun romp, with lots of humorous bits and pieces of standard genre iconography, but not among Scalzi's best work. If you can get past the silly opening it's worth an evening or two.

The story starts off strong, which many of Scalzi's nooks do. That's no a bad mark against it, just stating a fact. The book gets off to a great start and you wonder where it is going to go from there. For those of you who haven't read this one yet, make sure you pay pretty close attention in the first parts of the book, as they will com back later in the story and tie everything together.

Let's see,negatives. There were some points in the book where it doesn't seem like everything matches up. Paying someone 300k in installments for a high ranked government contract when there is interstellar travel at the speed of light. It was like the entire universe changed but our money or its purchasing power.

The characters were good, although they seem to be cut out of the same mold as many of the characters of Scalzi has, with slight variations. He makes them work though, which is fine with me then on that one.

The plot line was good if not a bit more convoluted for what I like in my straight forward scyfi read, but to each his own.

I will continue reading scalzi just because i think he is a great writer and that he deserves a bit of credit for what he's done.

I came into Android's Dream hoping to find a strong read and I was impressed beyond my expectations. Wil Wheaton adds his touch to smart scifi that has quite a few laugh out loud moments. The plot takes turns and weaves political intrigue with funny and empathetic characters who must outsmart enemies who've been planning this for so long even their people have forgotten the original masterminds. With two or so hours left I thought, okay, I know what's going to happen, how is he going to keep things interesting? Then he threw in a curve ball that set up a great conclusion to wrap it all up and keep me laughing and mostly excited to see what would happen next. If there's a downgrade in this, it was that while the plot was smart, the turns were unpredictable, and the funny moments consistent enough, there was a sense that I didn't care as much about the events as I'd like to. The book is still very good, and it has a similar quality to Ready Player One in the fun, funny geeky tone, but it didn't quite hit the level of classic, have to tell your friends about that top two or three book you read this year. It is still very entertaining and I'm glad I discovered it.

I'm reading my way through Scalzi's back catalogue to see whether I like his earlier work. Looks like I do!

To complete an alien coronation ceremony, a very special sheep is required -- the Android's Dream. No other sheep will do. Unfortunately, there's a problem: they're all dead!

Troubleshooter Harry Creek is hired by his friend at the State Department to find an Android's Dream. But neither he nor his friend Ben understand what they're really getting into. After a violent encounter at a mall, they begin to suspect things are not as they seem!

This is a fun, fast-moving thriller that mixes aliens, espionage, diplomacy, powerful AI and a race to stay one step ahead of powerful organisations out to kill Harry. It mixes Scalzi's trademark humour and clever plotting to produce a highly enjoyable read. It's not as un-put-downable as, say Old Man's War, but it's very definitely a Good Read.

The title is, of course, a reference to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? However, The Android's Dream has nothing to do with Philip K Dick's classic.

I just returned five serious books to the library barely cracked open. Realized I’d hit the density wall and needed to enjoy some frothy page-turners for a bit. This is ideal. Super action-packed, very funny, a touch of romance, and the earth is saved. That’s sort of a spoiler, but this is the kind of book where you know from page one that it will turn out ok. You read for the how, not the what.

I definitely enjoyed reading this novel, but I have trouble giving a book 4 stars when I can’t ignore the problems I find while reading. But, let’s start with the good stuff. This novel is hilarious. The situations, the irony, the tongue-in-cheek humour, and the blatant satire are all bang-on. I laughed quite a bit! The alien creatures, especially the Nagcht, were fairly original, and Acuna was a hilariously insane character – probably my favourite.

Yet, despite it being a self-acknowledged farce, I felt like it was missing something. The novel reads like a one off – while reading you know there isn’t going to be some emotional or literary value to it and you know you’ll forget it within in an hour of finishing it – I don’t know, to me, it was lacking a sense of poignancy and purpose. Not every novel has to have that, but given all the backstory, it seemed like there should have been more to it.

In this vein, it needed more physical description. I had no idea the Nidu were Reptilian in appearance until six or seven chapters in, for example. And, because we’re dealing with a one-off novel, all the exposition about diplomatic relations between Earth and Nidu had to be jammed in, making it read almost like a newspaper article at times. I would have loved to have seen this book fleshed out as a trilogy – going deeper into the Nidu culture and more background about the other alien cultures as well. It just seemed like a LOT of information to throw at a reader for such a short novel. And you couldn’t cut anything out, because it all was relevant to the plot. As such, I found the novel a whirlwind. It all made sense and I LIKED the general plot idea, but it just felt like I was battered in the face with information and then it was done.

Too bad, because it really was funny.

There was also something else that bothered me: why are there no female characters for the first 100 pages? If this is in the future, there are bound to be female congressmen and senators and FBI agents and all that in the background. And even in the main plot, the only female characters you have are the (albeit very funny) AI and Robin (who didn't contribute much). This was quite frustrating.

Man, Scalzi never fails to entertain. There are very few authors that compel me to read every single work they've ever written, but John Scalzi falls into that category for me. This is one I bought maybe 10 years ago and it's just sat on my shelf. Like with so many amazing books that have collected dust over the years, I wonder why I sat on it for so long.

Android's Dream is goofier than the other Scalzi books I've read (I haven't read Redshirts yet, but that's next). If Collapsing Empire were on the right side of the silly to serious spectrum of Scalzi novels, than Android's Dream would be on the left, with Old Man's War somewhere in the middle. To try to explain the tone of this book, I would say that if Terry Pratchett had co-written a novel with Philip K Dick instead of Niel Gaiman, Good Omens may have ended up something like Android's Dream. It's got some serious laugh out loud moments and also has some fantastic action and dialogue. I would love to see this made into a movie or even a mini series, ala Good Omens.

Read this book and read the rest of Scalzi's bibliography while you're at it.

Hilarious! I'm not sure if there are a bunch easter eggs to Philip K Dick as I didn't finish his sci-fi classic but I know I see a few!!

Again, great characters and super imaginative worlds!!

"Would you like to reset the default mode to not tell you when you are breaking the law?"

A brilliant way to end 2012. I was reading whilst other members of the household watched a very sad end to a long-running soap opera and my chuckles and giggles did not go down very well at all. I couldn't help myself though, things were just very funny for a reason hard to define and even harder to pin down in writing - but it was done here.

"Today, people have tried to kill me, the police are looking for me, and I've just discovered every Easter of my childhood, I ate one of my relatives with mint jelly. I'm just fine."

The opening chapter is brilliantly done, you get a laugh a minute from when they sit down at the negotiating table and the rest of the book has some pretty amazingly funny moments too.The end of the fourth chapter was perhaps the best in terms of dramatic tension and chapter 7 I think was the funniest of the book, serious overtones notwithstanding.

The ending was a little spoiled by the revelation of the inner ceremonial workings, which made it clear how things were going to turn out before the big climax. Still, that's my only issue in what otherwise is a very appealing, very enjoyable, Humanity wins work of science fiction. Loved it.

Great fun from the first scatological chapter on. Clever construction, fun characters, and great writing combine to make a delightful comedy-adventure sci-fi novel. Nothing much similar that I've seen.

The book starts with some wonderful alien race description, and gathers pace more and more, until the fun and clever conclusion.

Loved it!

I am now wondering which Scalzi book should be next.... Advice appreciated!