Cover Image: Happy Meals

Happy Meals

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Member Reviews

Impossible to classify, I simply stopped trying and went along for the ride. It’s a clever and engaging story but it is the characters and dialogue that blew me away. Some of the characters are really annoying and I always think that is a credit to the author - to be able to evoke negative as well as positive reactions in readers. This is weird and funny and captivating, I loved it.

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You know when a story begins with a constipated man getting called away from his "business" you're in for a fun ride. Krone's style is a little Douglas Adams and a lot of originality. Happy Meals is a quick, light read that will leave the reader wanting more.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

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i really enjoyed reading this book, the character were great and I really enjoyed the humor in it. I look forward to more books from the author.

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"Happy Meals", an Eaton Krone Sci-Fi work, is a fun read. The action is constant, as are the snide comments, and the mockery of the genre tropes. Throughout the reading process, I couldn’t help thinking this could well be the offspring of mixing "Dr Who", "Thundercats", and the campest early "Star Trek" episodes. It follows the constipated human Scout, who is both figuratively and physically full of it, and his alien crew; the sexy Faylin female pirate and her alien crew; the cannibal natives of a Dumb Planet; and the murderous forces trying to take over it all.

This is a jaunty romp, not a deep understanding of humanity. Expect fun and explosions, but not so much character development.

Who would enjoy this
"Happy Meals" is a great option for lovers of space fiction with an adult taste for off-colour jokes, and nostalgia for the earlier creations of the genre. This is particularly true for those who understand the tongue-in-cheek, eye-roll-earning silliness used to criticise sexualisation, racism, imperialism, stereotyping, cultural snobbery, etcetera.

Who should give this a pass
I would not suggest Happy Meals to readers looking for a new Phillip K Dick or an Isaac Asimov type of book. As other reviewers have pointed out, this is more in a Douglas Adams wavelength. This is no profound philosophical manifesto in story form, but humour in a Sci-Fi format.

Conclusions and suggestions
"Happy Meals" is an entertaining read, no two ways about it. It is quick-paced, smartly structured, wisely entrenched in its sub-genre. Mr Krone knows the scope, clear limits to which he adheres throughout.

Much as I have enjoyed this book, however, I found myself jarred by two elements:
The first is the, at times, dizzying action of constant movement and directions explained in the spaces described.
The second issue I had was with the Scout’s sudden personality change. There is an attempt at giving him a family history background to explain his previous attitudes, which is as blunt as it is ineffective.

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I’m still not completely sure what I read but whatever it was I really liked it. Lol Kidding aside, I’m not normally as sci-fi person, but I saw this books cover and was like yes I need to take a chance on this book. I’m so glad I did too, because this book had me laughing. Yes, there is a good sci-fi plot, and lots of words I had to use the footnotes in the back for, trust me you’ll want to use them too because they are amazingly funny tidbits of information. More than anything though, I liked this book because the author is a complete smartass and it shows throughout this book and this made for a fast read too. The characters were all great as well. I loved Phealix, Spence and Issy the most. Reg got on my nerves but he was a character, imagine Michael Scott from The Office, as a Lieutenant and you’ll see why he got on my nerves. Overall it was a good book, and I can’t wait to see where this series goes.

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