Book Review – Agent to the Stars

Author: John Scalzi
Cover Artist: Mike Krahulik
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: August 2005

In John Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars, his first novel, which is still available to be read online for free, aliens have decided to visit Earth. Unfortunately, they are not too easy on the eyes (or the nostrils for that matter, as they smell like week-old dead fish), and have seen to it that the best course of action before revealing themselves to humanity is to take on a Hollywood agent for proper representation. Thomas Stein, one of the up-and-coming new agents in the field, is selected for the job. But is he ready for it?

The alien, Joshua, an obscurely named glob of green goo of the Yjerajk, arrives right at the moment when Stein is about to make the biggest deal of his life involving his biggest client to date. Regardless, the order to market this alien comes straight from Stein’s boss, and there’s no denying the man. Together, as a sort of slapstick tag-team duo, Joshua and Stein make plans for how to introduce the world to a species of aliens that communicate mainly through bad smells. This is all done while they learn a thing or two about each other’s society. And also while neighbors’ dogs become possessed.

Taking a mixture of Hollywood satire and comedic science fiction clichés, Scalzi creates a story that is brilliantly paced, containing intelligent aliens that aren’t bent on world domination and funny observations without being tiresome or trite. Many consider comedy in science fiction to be, well, a joke, something to scuff at in passing. This is not the case here, where Scalzi does more than just make you chuckle; he presents situations that are downright hilarious to imagine, engaging to read, and fun to tell other people about. Once Joshua arrives and Stein accepts what he must do, it’ll be hard for most readers to put the book down.

An interesting tidbit for you comic fans is that the cover art for Agent to the Stars is done by Penny Arcade artist Mike Krahulik, the only book cover he’s done so far.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, or Alan Dean Foster’s early work. It’s not deep science fiction, with wires, spaceships, animatronics, and intergalactic war. If you want that, go read Scalzi’s Old Man’s War or The Ghost Brigades. But what Agent to the Stars is, is a fun, light-hearted romp in a fast-paced world with characters you’ll love to follow and aliens you’ll adore to ponder.

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