Year Zero

The book started off very well, with the encounter of an ordinary human lawyer named Nick Carter met with two alien beings. They represented some sort of intergalactic council that have decided that earth's music made it worthy of notice to the rest of the universe, and now wanted to purchase the license to all of its music.

The story started to crumble in the very next scene, where the protagonist met up with his cousin in a restaurant where an alien controlled parrot started to ask him what the two other ones wanted with him. This scene was very confusing and unamusing. Sudenly it was a common thing for aliens to come to Earth.

The next scene has him go home and invite his hot neighbor over, because she has a surprise birthday present to him. Listening to the author to describe how infatuated Nick was with her felt a little cringy and cliché. Then she said she had a new man in her life, that turned out to be a cat. And the present was actually just a bottle of wine. And then an alien (another one!) shows up and Nick acts as that is just the most normal thing in the world.

Those sort of things resembles a lot like The Hichhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is fine, but it was played out SO much better in Douglas Adams's book. Plus I did not like any of the humor so for far, besides the opening scene.

Read 1:31 / 9:53 15%

This was a fun romp through aliens and music copyright law. It reads a lot like a one of John Scalzi's less serious efforts (so much so that I originally suspected it was a pen name.) Anyway, the author also wrote the non-fiction “Architects of the Web” and founded Listen.com aka Rhapsody, so he knows what he's talking about. (Re: music, probably not re: aliens.)

I really liked the idea, but not the execution - much like [b:Redshirts 13055592 Redshirts John Scalzi http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348617890s/13055592.jpg 18130445] which I plan to give another try in hopes I was simply in the wrong mood for it. I doubt I will give this another chance.I view this as primarily a humorous farce type of book, but I only laughed a couple of times. Strange things were given really long descriptions which did not advance the plot - in certain places stalling it completely. It was a fast-paced book, which is not a problem, but some things seemed to just happen and not get any description (counter to the aforementioned too long descriptions). Perhaps the pace was too fast, not giving time for important plot points to sink in.Maybe I was just too excited to read it and had too high expectations :(PS - the Linux geek in me did like the computer stuff :)

Year Zero is about the wacky hijinks of aliens, and their human copyright lawyer, trying to deal with the recently discovery that they owe the Earth literally the entire universe's wealth in music licensing fees for all the music they've been pirating for the last 40 years. It was written by Rob Reid who is no stranger to the world of music and copyright law. The very, very absurd and ridiculous world of music and copyright law. This farcical and comedic novel is a perfect foil to point up just how comedic (in a black comedy sort of way) the reality of the subject is. In fact, the slowest parts of this fast-paced novel is where copyright law and licensing are discussed. But the thing is, the real subject – the revolving-door lobbying, the absurd legal penalties, the paranoid and spiteful barriers to licensing improvement – is so absurd that it actually doesn't take away from the farcical fiction of the story.

One of the ups and downs of the book is just how much it tries, tries hard, to emulate Douglas Adams. Maybe not quite a “Hitchhiker's Guide” novel, but at least a “Dirk Gently” novel. At times Reid handles it quite well and I laughed aloud at the pun or slapstick or wacky description, but much of the time, I listened with a small smirk the occasional eye-roll and groan. The novel bounces around from clever to silly to clever quite a bit, and the number of times aliens are depicted saying, “Well, duh!” got a little tired. ...and then, like a Family Guy gag, it was to over-used that it almost became funny again.

In any case, it was a fun read, well written despite the groan-worthy puns. I hate puns!

This is a cute book, obviously inspired by the H2G2 tradition, although I don't know that I'll remember it a few years from now. The story of galactic internet piracy and the law firm out to protect the planet is entertaining if flimsy. If you like oodles of musical references and can suspend your disbelief across the Milky Way, it's a fun read. Overall, the characters are pretty stock, though so I found it a little hard to invest in the story and finish the book, even though it's relatively short. I enjoyed parts of it, and I love a good use of the footnote, but was a little disappointed in emphasis on the farce over the characters.

The premise of Year Zero is a bit hilarious - aliens discover how amazingly awesome Earth's pop music is, and hold it to be the greatest art form in the universe. Thus it is wildly shared, downloaded, and distributed throughout all of outer space. Unfortunately, because the people of Earth are not yet advanced enough to belong to the greater galactic society, the aliens must abide by Earth's laws when handling their artistic content. Which means they owe the people of Earth a lot of money. Which, of course, is a good reason to try to get rid of them. The story follows the adventures of Nick Carter (a human lawyer, not the boy band musician), as he, along with his neighbor and his cousin, must work with Carly and Frampton (of alien reality tv fame) to save the Earth from other aliens who want to destroy it.

One thing I will say about this book - it's funny. Especially for people who grew up during the days of Windows XP and Napster. One of the great things about science fiction is that it can point out the insanities of modern society without becoming a boring essay or a long-winded political rant. I feel like this book does a lot to point out many of the absurdities we have to deal with in today's society, especially as we adapt to the changes and challenges that new technology presents. The story itself isn't anything new, and while the characters are funny, they aren't particularly original. The humor of this book is spot on though.

The only problem in writing a book that mocks modern technology, is that it becomes outdated almost as soon as that technology does. I had a moment while reading this when I realized, if I gave this book to any of my students they would be totally lost as to why it is so brilliantly funny because they never had to deal with many of the technological issues this book harps on. Which is rather sad, actually. The book is good, but it isn't going to have that lasting, timeless quality that really brilliant science fiction is capable of achieving.

So I would say I highly recommend this book, because it is good for a laugh, but I would read it sooner, rather than later. The story was good, but the material is already starting to feel slightly dated, and I expect it will only continue to be less relevant as time goes on. So I'm glad I pulled it off the shelf when I did, because it proved to be a fun and worthwhile summer read. Oh, and my apologies to the person who sat next to me on the plane - I didn't mean to interrupt your nap-taking with my incessant giggling.

Nobody should ever be compared to Douglas Adams. It's unfair. Not to eulogise the dead but Adams is literally incomparable. That's why I respect the bravery of Eoin Colfer. Now there's an idea. Rob Reid matches and often surpasses the wit and glorious absurdity of Eoin Colfer. Year Zero not only paints a beautiful tale of the absurdity of our laws but packs the story full of excellent geeky nuggets both musical and Monty Python. Plus there's some damn fine science fiction concepts packed in like the ideas of wrinkles and The Townshend Line. Absolutely a pleasure to read.

Aren't we at the point yet where just because something involves aliens, spaceships and more than a few laughs, we don't have to invoke Douglas Adams? (not that I have anything against the man or his work) But this book owes more to Scalzi's [b:Agent to the Stars 7945523 Agent to the Stars John Scalzi http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316638539s/7945523.jpg 18280048] than to anything about Arthur, Ford or Zaphod (or even Dirk).I'd give this 4.75 stars, really. Rounded up. But whatever, the important thing is that this book is a hoot. There's nothing about this that isn't funny–the plot, the characters, the commentary on the music industry, congressional shenanigans, trendy restaurants, Microsoft...whatever Reid touched on, he hit squarely and hilariously. I laughed out loud a whole lot. And then some more.I think towards the end, plot lines and plot points got a bit out of control. But honestly, he just reminded me of most of [a:Christopher Buckley 16903 Christopher Buckley http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1191422295p2/16903.jpg]'s work in that regard (and several other ways now that I think of it)–though I think Reid did a better job of pulling it all together at the end than Buckley usually does. And the coda? Perfect. And more than made up for any flaws.

Entertaining and certainly has a certain Douglas Adams flair, but gets a little bogged down with pop culture and music industry references. 2.5 decades after I first read Hitchhiker's, I could recommend it to my son, knowing that he would find it funny. In 25 years, this book will be far less funny to someone not familiar with the current music scene.

What a great concept for a book! It combines a “first contact” storyline with an underdog civilization vs the unimaginably vast intergalactic civilization storyline as well. Then it throws in the absurdity of the American legal system and shakes them all up. Doing this and ending up with an interesting story is quite the feat.

This isn't a deep book, but if you, like me, enjoy a light and fun read, this is worth picking up.

Short Review: The funniest book I have read this year, a perfect geek novel. Yes it is based on copyright law, but yes you should still read it. As at least today (Oct 14, 2013) it is on sale for $0.99 on kindle. Well worth that price.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/year-zero-novel-rob-reid/

This book tries a little bit too hard, in my opinion. When it's funny, it can be laugh out loud funny. But unfortunately, it usually isn't all that funny. What it is, mostly, is strange and slightly unbelievable. But if the subjects of music and copyright interest you, give it a read anyway. It won't change your life, but you'll at least have an enjoyable time with it.