I anticipated really enjoying this book as I don't read much sci-fi but this sounded anarchic and fun, and the comparisons to "hitchhikers guide" confirmed the decision. Unfortunately, alrhough there were some good story lines (the brothel for example) I was ultimately disappointed as it felt the author almost tried too hard with the puns and humour and maybe a more subtle approach would have made this reader enjoy it more.

I enjoyed reading this book. There was an interesting set-up using some very real fears - of some people at least - that AI will rise up and take over the world. There was smooth easy writing, and a fast-paced plot. It definitely has Hitchhiker vibes. It took me some time to get into the world, and that was mostly due to my struggle to imagine what the machines look like. Every time I felt I finally had an idea of what the machines had evolved to, with hints of their origins, there would be another description or machine that made me have to rethink things again, which pulled me out of the story. Sometime half-way through I let this go, and my experience was a lot smoother, and the second half of story flew by. The other thing - which may be very personal as well - was that the naming of some, if not most, of the machines was a little too on the nose for me, a little too much of a pun. If they were less obvious throwbacks to current styles and brands it would be a lot more clever!

All in all I did enjoy this story, and I will be looking out for the second book!

Brilliant but completely bonkers.
It took a few chapters for me to wrap my head around the concept of sentient toaster ovens and the like. But the author does an amazing job of bringing the entire cast to life.
There are puns aplenty, and thankfully they are backed up with intelligent and well thought out humour. I loved the whole brothel scenario, especially the camera - don't think a book has made me laugh quite so much in a while.
Was really happy to discover that this is going to be a series, there's so much scope and potential.

Wildly imaginative! A future where robots and mechanicals rule the world and humans are left to mop floors for a living.Human down the sewer pipe - not unlike Alice down the rabbit hole. This is a fascinating world of talking toasters and coffee pot bosses and light pole security guards and a human who lost his entire means of supporting himself to a careless robot driver who bumped off the road and sent his workplace flying into space. With no way to recover his goods he is forced to look for work but things go all wrong when he accidentally kills a lightpole security guard. He is forced to disappear on the run from the law. This is a thrilling run and an enjoyable read!

There're not so many valid book that mixes sci-fi and humour. This one is amongst the few where the mix works well.
I laughed a lot and it was a really pleasant read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Farrago and Netgalley for this ARC

Anyone who knows me knows that I do love me a good bonkers read once in a while. This book most definitely ticked that box! It also came hand in hand with the most eclectic mix of characters that I have ever experienced. In the world that the author has created, machines have reached sentience. Not only that but they have usurped humans in the pecking order. But this isn't enough for them as we soon discover with some very hilarious repercussions. But. like any mad faction trying to take over the world and change it to suit their wild, wacky ideals, there's an uprising. A small band of people trying to fight back. This is their story...
Darren loses his livelihood when his cart is hit off course and careens into space. An unsuccessful trip to the job centre ends in him short-circuiting a lampost when he meets Kelly, forcing the two of them to go on the run, their pictures having been taken. Kelly takes him to her mother's salon which is bizarre in its own way but I'll leave you to discover this in your own time. Meanwhile Pamasonic Teffal, a breadmaker is tasked with a secret mission, sent by her power-crazed, smartphone boss, to dive into the now mostly defunct and illicit internet to glean information he needs. Things go a bit south for her too and she is also forced to flee. And then thing get really weird and what happens next is a deliciously hilarious romp which skirts the realms of credibility but provides a wild ride which kept me very much entertained throughout.
It's bonkers, it's mad and it's all a bit silly and the humour is a bit banal in places so it won't appeal to all but, for me, it was so exaggerated to almost be genius in its execution. It had a proper storyline in amongst all the silliness and there were some extremely profound observations as to how technology is usurping human interaction even in real life today. The way that the author has used current technology and caricatured it, weaving it into the story, including the names of characters and places, is very cleverly done and I found myself applauding along the way.
All in all, an enjoyable read that really didn't take itself too seriously so you should bear that in mind if you do take the plunge, and follow suit. A wickedly funny book that kept me occupied and held my attention throughout, making me laugh and cringe along the way and leaving me wanting more of the same at its conclusion. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Interesting novel. Although the basic plotline is not very innovative, the way it's written makes up for it.
Fast paced action, sprinkled with some morality questions, and a clever, witty take on anthropomorphising machines.

I had a difficult time getting through this book. According to the description, this should have hit all the bells and whistles for me, but sadly, did not. I can't quite put my finger on why it didn't. Other than, I never really connected with any of the characters, nor cared what would happen next in the story. I found it more of a chore to continue than a joy to read. It's certainly different, which normally I find that to be a pleasure, it has some "out there" characters, and again usually I find that fascinating. Like I said, I can't quite explain why this didn't work for me.
My 2 star rating is in comparison to Goodreads.com star system, meaning it was okay.

A funny book on life after every machine on earth has gained sentience and overthrown humans as the primary beings in society. Pam - A breadmaker- has been given a task by her boss - the smartphone- when things start to go wrong...

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this! Set in a future where machines rule and humans are reduced to servant status, with machine cleaning parlours as equivalent to massage parlours, Darren and Kelly accidentally kick off a revolution.
Featuring a kindly bread-maker, ancient nana-cyborgs, a moving hairdressers and a chance to avert a nuclear bomb, it's both great fun and very clever. The world-building is excellent, it feels reminiscent of numerous sci-fi worlds but without being derivative of any in particular, just slightly familiar ideas.
Definitely worth giving it a go! It does feel like it sits slightly outside the pure sci-fi genre and reminds me a little of Terry Pratchett - using known tropes of the genre and twisting them (although not quite as good, but it is a debut, so possibly one to watch).

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a trip! Comparisons to Pratchett, Fforde & Adams are well deserved. Some great one-lines & puns help create this future world where the machines have taken over. With evil smartphones, anti-hero humans, & a motherly bread maker pushed to the edge...

Battlestar Suburbia is a space comedy not only in the vein of Douglas Adams but also has elements of Red Dwarf, where the book’s characters are stuck in menial jobs however now serving sentient household appliances, old tech and psychotic smartphones.

The book follows humans Darren and Kelly who are brought together following the destruction of a lamp post which results them going on the run from the technological masters. Drawn into this is Pamasonic Teffal (Pam for short), a bread maker who is brave enough to enter the internet which is written as an archaic haunted house where sentient machines dare not enter, who is also on the run but from her smartphone boss with maniacal plans for the future.

Chris McCrudden’s first book is a great start to what appears to be the first in a series. Battlestar Suburbia spends a little time finding its feet in the first third however once you get past this you feel the story fly by and by the end you are hoping the writer delivers the second book as soon as possible so you can spend more time with Darren, Kelly, Pam and even Janice (Kelly’s mum) who, apart from becoming a glamorous potential Che Geuvara, runs a hair dressers on a housing estate / satellite moon orbiting the earth with her three ‘ladies’ still connected to the shop hairdryers who have lived for thousands of years.

Battlestar Suburbia is a comedy sci-fi story. Don't overthink it and it's enjoyable.

Years in the future, the robots have indeed risen. What makes this story fresher is that everything is so recognisable - a bread maker, a smartphone, a radio. It sets the time of their uprising to the near future. Devices made ever smarter for human convenience eventually become so smart they decide to take over. Humans are basically servants, main cleaners living off-world which does give it a nice angle but also allows some interesting plot points - both big and small.

The whole premise and plot is good. It could actually make for a very good serious and dramatic sci-fi read, but McCrudden takes a lighter comedy route that generally works well. Alas, some of the jokes are a bit laboured though. It means it's all a bit more enjoyable if you don't over-analyse anything. Kick back and enjoy, it's a decent, light romp.

I'm in two minds about this books. In a way it was very entertaining, with interesting characters, a story well developed with plenty of actions, mysteries and revelations. The author has worked a lot to imagine the background, which comes with many details, quite funny, for a very coherent whole - but not a coherent world...
When I began the book I was ready for advanced machines, overwhelming and terrifying, "The Matrix"-like. But not all. The machines are all powerful, but are looking like our actual devices (smartphone, motorcycle, hair-dryer, you name it), with a very advanced mind, and some legs, arms, etc. They speak, they move and still have the need to recharge their batteries. The descriptions are very good, quite entertaining, for a very cartoonish effect. The humans are now a sub-class, nearly slaves. The have on only job, cleaning. Nothing else. Some are intimately cleaning the machines, who loved human touch, in what are clearly brothels. Those low jobs are considered like prostitution in a rather weird but convincing way.
So far so good.
My problem was with the narration's tonality: for such a crazy theme, the tone was rather serious, dystopian even. It wasn't a goofy what's-the-hell kind of book, wrote with off-beat humour and a laid back style. It was earnest. And the whole sounded dissonant to my ears. I was frequently snatched from my read, wondering about some background holes: where the energy comes from? and the food? and all the human necessities? 

To conclude a well thought story, quite entertaining with endearing characters and some very inventive ideas, but with a lack of logic which prevented me to really approve my read. A shame...

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I loved this book. I legit laughed through the entire novel and I am excited that there will be a sequel. I don't want to spoil the book by giving away too much but essentially the internet becomes self-aware and the world ends up being ruled appliances. The main characters are a down on his lucky human and bread machine who is also having a bad day. Humans are treated as second class citizens and relegated to being janitors for the machines.

A fun light book which takes one into the realm of what could happen in the future, although some would think, the future according to McCrudden, has arrived.
It is a quick and easy read, and one many would enjoy.

Battlestar Suburbia is a bizarre confection, part humorous part surreal, but entirely unique.  Like Brazil ( the movie ), it is bitingly satirical in a way that can be funny, painful, or painfully funny.  The electronic appliances on earth have not only become sentient - they have also taken over. Humans are at the bottom of the totem pole, tasked with cleaning.  When Darren’s charge cart gets knocked into space, he’s eager to make some cash to retrieve his livelihood - even if it means acting as a personal cleaner. But instead of clearing out dust bunnies he short circuits a lamp post, which photos Kelly and Darren, putting them on the run.  One haphazard act after another leads them into unwittingly starting a revolution, and to Pam, a bread maker, discovering a conspiracy that drives them on a collision course.


From megalomaniacal smartphones to lock picking drones, appliance fetish parlors to hair salons that walk on mechanical legs, the world of Battlestar Suburbia is weird and wonderful.  It highlights the absurdity of life, and the adaptability of individuals in unusual situations. McCrudden’s novel will appeal to fans of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, or anyone looking for an escape only loosely connected to reality.


4 / 5


I received a copy of Battlestar Suburbia from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.


— Crittermom

I received a copy from NetGalley in the exchange for an honest review.
This sci-fi had some quirky characters, but I didn’t find it all that funny. There were some cringeworthy names for things that are a play on current tech, like the villains name “Sonny Erikzon” who’s a smartphone who wants to be human. Also an area on Earth called the “Ama zone”.
The story of the future where robots are the overlords and the humans are servants have been played out, but the way the author made the robot characters out of literally any machine was pretty cool and fun because the machine characteristics took after what the object was.

The blurb uses Adams and Pratchett as comparisons, but this is more like Ray Electromatic meets Axolatl Dreams. It passes the sniff test for whether or would still be science fiction of the characters weren't robots and he almost introduces new wonders fast enough to hold my attention. There's a bit too much in the robot massage parlors for my liking. The humor is more in the premise than in the execution.