I was hoping for something fun and fast like Dark Matter, We Are Legion (We Are Bob), or All Systems Red with writing maybe like John Scalzi: crisp and funny. And while this certainly was fun and fast, the writing itself just wasn't up to snuff. There were a few times I had to read a passage over to figure out exactly what the author meant by a phrase, and it just wasn't seamless reading that allows you to fall fully into a book.

I also didn't think most of the aliens (with the exception of the Triwin which were excellent) seemed alien enough. They were pretty much humans with human emotions and responses and actions with different bodies. And surprisingly, our female main character, Nina, didn't seem human enough. We don't see her show a lot of emotion or have a lot of agency. She makes decisions, and even though we see those from her perspective, we don't really get to see why she made the decisions she did.

But it was a quick read, and it was fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat books!

Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc is a swashbuckling SF adventure story with an ensemble cast of likeable oddballs and misfits imagined by Ash Bishop. Released 6th Sept 2022 by CamCat Books, it's 416 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a sort of hapless-Earth-guy-gets-dragged-into-adventure with bug-hunting aspects for good measure. It's not at all derivative, but fans of testosterone fueled alien SF (a la Correia, Eric Flint, John Scalzi, and the other boys in the band) will find a lot to love here. Like much of the subgenre, it's rollicking, full of rapidly developing violence and mayhem and the plot is moved along from action scene to action scene with minimum filler.

I received a very early unedited copy which was admittedly choppy and difficult to parse in some places, but the editorial notes provided for review said that the ARCs were pre-edit. Despite the difficulties, it's a story with clearly good bones and the action scenes are well described and choreographed.

Four stars. Recommended for fans of action adventure SF. I really enjoyed it. Recommended for fans of adventure SF doorstop books (the paperback has over 600 pages).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

It's pretty rare that a book is balanced like this one. This book had a really strong beginning (fast, interesting, fun characters, hints of an emotional journey to come, etc), which made me excited to keep going. However, the middle was boring enough that I lost that momentum and gave up on the book around 80%.

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/p9jR6lNil0M?t=534

This is a book about Russ and Nina, twenty-somethings in a small mountain-west town that get entangled with intergalactic exterminators.

My biggest complaint about the middle of this book is the lack of emotional stakes. Russ and Nina choose to continue with the alien exterminators plot, and their main motivation for it is to earn money. There are emotional reasons why they might want to have money, but those weren't given much emotional weight in the narrative. So why do they decide to pursue this course of action, one that is dangerous and likely to get them killed when they could find jobs elsewhere (Nina, in particular, is very qualified for a number of jobs on Earth). I don't think the characters or the story much care about that. The plot becomes focused on these alien side-quests and training programs instead of on any emotional arcs for the characters.

My secondary complaint about this book is the writing of Nina. Some other reviewers may point to the many times the book reiterates how large Nina's breasts are, but I don't think that is actually a problem. The size of Nina's breasts does actually become a plot point, and so I don't think it's bad to establish it for a small payoff. But the problem I had with Nina is something else. When Nina is being harassed at work, she doesn't even consider finding a new job (despite being shown to be a very capable and smart girl with an engineering degree). When Nina fumbles a romantic encounter that she actually wanted to maybe happen, she has barely any emotional reaction. When push comes to shove, Nina usually becomes a damsel in distress for Russ to save (despite being much more excited than him at the prospect of battling space monsters, and in many ways more skilled than him). Yes, the author did a good thing by attempting to include a competent female protagonist. However, in the end, she doesn't actually feel competent or female.

Thanks to Netgalley and Camcat Books for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

Russ Wesley accidentally gets mixed up with a bunch on intergalactic exterminators who are so impressed by his marksmanship that they insist he joins them. His friend Nina tags along and suddenly she and Russ are rivals for the one available place on the team. The book is quirky and entertaining, and there's some imaginative worldbuilding and a cool robot, but I admit I almost gave up at around 65%, though I persevered and it finished well.

Starting by saying this book took a minute to get into. It's a weird thing, but certain fonts throw me off. Once I downloaded the book a second time, it took off! From the worldbuilding to the characterization and plotting, this book is a wonderful read. Simply put, an aimless sharpshooting drifter returning to Montana after his beloved grandfather's death get mixed up in the high stakes world of bounty hunting aliens. From there, it's like riding a rollercoaster in zero gravity. Highly recommended!

I thought this might be a fun book to read, so thought I'd take a punt on it. However ,I soon thought I must be in the wrong age group to enjoy it ,by about 50 years ! It seemed very young, and I just didn't connect with the characters or the story, sorry not for me.

DNF @ page 110

As much as I love the idea of the Intergalactic Exterminators. Inc and the cover, there is very little about the actual story that kept my attention. A lot of the interactions between the characters felt overly juvenile and cring worthy. Nina, the side character is extremely one dimensional making her very annoying. And I don't care for the choices that Russ is making.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #AshBishop, and #VictoryEditing for letting me read and review #IntergalacticExterminatorInc.

Russ and Nina are in need of some financial help and a break from the stress of just trying to live a regular life. Then one day, Russ finds a rare gem in his late grandfather’s book shop. He asks his grandmother about the stone, and she does not know anything about it. She tells Russ to take it to Nina, who might know what it is. Only, Nina has no clue, as well.

Thus begins a story unlike any Earthling could imagine. This story gave me many Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy vibes. There is planetary traveling, portals, humor, odd creatures, witty banter and a smidgeon of romance.

If you enjoy the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and need something similar, I highly recommend Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc.

There is so much potential for more of this story, I am hoping for a series. I would love to learn more about the Intergalactic Exterminators crew.

This is pretty unique and entertaining. In some ways the beginning was stronger than the rest, and I didn't always stay engaged. Nonetheless, the author's great imagination shines thru, and I look forward to Bishop's next work.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

This was one of those books where I thought ‘that looks kinda interesting and fun, let’s give it a whirly - gig and see then shall we?’

So I did!

And guess what? It was kinda fun!

The story revolves around Russ Wesley, a bit of a drifter who returns to the town where his grandfather lived after Russ hears of his death.

We hit the ground running with the story and are immediately thrust into a situation where, after Russ hits a deer. He encounters a strange group of people who are seemingly hunting an alien creature which is in the woods near his home town. The incident is the catalyst for him becoming involved with a group of people called the Intergalactic Exterminators Inc. A group of misfit aliens whose job is to clean up other aliens’ messes.

Through a quick flash back we learn more about Russ, such as how after he has been to his grandfather’s funeral, he soon learns that his grandmother is about to lose the bookshop that is grandfather owned. He quickly tries to breathe life into the place by cleaning it up. This in turn leads him to find out that on the side, his grandfather also sold strange objects on the side via the internet in order to make ends meet, where he finds a strange rock. This in turn leads him to become involved with a local girl in the town who also happens to be a pretty smart electronics engineer and all round know it all called Nina.

The first part of the book brings us up to speed with the events prior to Russ meeting the Intergalactic Exterminators, and when we eventually get to the point where the beginning has some backstory, we learn that the reason for the visitation is due to one of these objects that his grandfather had acquired. However, he soon finds himself with an unwitting partner, Nina who manages to crash his party and also gets herself on the training program with an eye to helping her parents deal with crippling debts.

I have to say I enjoyed this story quite a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t perfect, but on the whole it was light hearted fun that I found to be immensely entertaining. I think because it gave me a nostalgic feel, reminding me in some ways of 80’s Sci Fi films like Battle Beyond The Stars. Don’t get me wrong, it is nothing like it, but it had that kind of feel to it.

I liked the characters. Russ and Nina in particular. And I think one of the reasons for this was due to the fact that they weren’t perfect. Russ can be a little annoying, and Nina can be self serving and short sighted due to the fact that she has some things going off with her father and she is doing her level best to help him. Similarly with Russ. He seems to make a lot of bad decisions in order to help his grandmother keep the bookstore.

In terms of the rest of the characters, they are a bit archetypal, but I didn’t mind that at all. It was a light and refreshing read, that had a decently paced plot, but also managed to get some decent world building in there as well.

Like I said, it wasn’t perfect, there were a couple of things that I didn’t like. I thought at first there is a rather large onus on guns, as this is the primary reason that Russ gets recruited into the Intergalactic Exterminators in the first place. And, in the first part there is quite a lot of information about guns, such as type and specifications about them that I think just did not need to be there. In addition to that, there were a couple of instances where when the female protagonists were described, there was a bit of male gaze going on that did not need to be there in all honesty. On the whole, Ash Bishop did write some decent female characters, but there were some occasions where he described them in terms of body parts rather than how the characters actually were, but these instances were quite brief and I was willing to forgive the author and in reality, the comments were thrown out as Ash Bishop really didn’t do a bad job in most respects.

Intergalactic Exterminators Inc is a fun, enjoyable read that was pretty decently paced and more importantly kept me entertained

I’m kind of torn between calling this a three star this was ok book and a four star this was quite good book. I think I’m not 100% the target audience. I didn’t find the characters quite clicked for me. I believe the book more like to work for a male reader, it just feels very much like a guy book with lots of action and a very male perspective story. I think for a guy that’s looking for a light action sci-fi Thespis would be a great choice. For me it was merely pretty good fun, but I don’t need a sequel. I am rounding it up to four stars for that right reader,

Are you looking for a novel that’s half part Men in Black, half Dr. Who? Most likely, like me, you didn’t even know that’s what you were looking for. Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc was a pure gem to read. This was a pleasurable story of sci-fi goodness that Ash Bishop crafted. It’s fun and fast past, yet really character driven with lots of growth and emotion. This fun read is the first in what my heart hopes will be a long lived series.

I received an ARC copy of this book from CamCat Books and NetGallery. All opinions in the review are my own.

Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc.

[Blurb goes here]

I have mixed feelings about this story. They start with the poor writing from the first couple of chapters. Then extend to the undeveloped characters. Two of them have real gifts, one a crack shot, the other, impressively smart. Or so the author tells us. But do they get to use their abilities? Maybe twice or trice. Do they get to evolve? Do we really care for them? Not really.

The world building, while interesting, has a more than it share of flaws. Like a human being able to fool, and even disable intelligent robots, with childish mind games. It feels as if the author wanted to keep his characters out of danger, in almost absurd ways.

What I did like about the adventure was the setting. I mean, intergalactic exterminators? Aliens? Spaceships? Count me in.

Thank you for the free copy!

TW/CW: Sexual harassment/assault, violence, language, guns, insect violence

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc. is the story of Russ, a drifter who comes to a small Wyoming town for his grandfather's funeral. By mistake, he discovers alien life and begins training to work with these aliens.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I almost DNFed it after the first chapter because I just didn't feel like it was well written. But I stuck with it and thankfully things improved a great deal after the first chapter. I still don't consider this a great book, but the story solidified into something I could read. I did not, however, find it to be 'comedic' at all.

Things I liked about this book:

1. It was a creative concept. I liked the idea of the exterminators and what they did.
2.The chapters moved pretty quickly, even though this book was incredibly long.
3.I liked that the ending was mostly happy.

Things I didn't like about this book:

1.It was WAY too long. It just seemed that there was too much going on and the book became unnecessarily bloated.
2. Russ was supposed to be a good shot and Nina was supposed to be crazy smart...but we only know this because the author tells us again and again. The characters are not well developed.
3. The guns. Sorry. I hate guns, and this book had way too much mention of them.

Basically, this book wasn't terrible, but it had a lot of places where it could be improved.

I thought that the book had some good points. The plot was interesting, the story-telling was good and there was some clever wording. But I found that there was a lack of character development among the main protagonists. I didn’t find them sympathetic; they were more or less generic. I also didn’t find the book particularly humorous. Thank you to Netgalley and CamCat Books for the advance reader copy.

This was such a good read! Finally something fresh, interesting, full of intergalactic aliens, portals, spaceships, murderous insects, predatory apes, funny (main character syndrome) robots, mysterious bookstores and awesome characters. Oh and those pain pills! 🤤 I've enjoyed every chapter thoroughly, the chemistry between Russ and Nina was great, i loved all the twists and the turns in the story and i absolutely CAN.T WAIT. for the next book, please tell me we'll have a sequel because I NEED IT RIGHT NOW 😩. (ok now that i calmed down i'm asking politely in lowercase). And this is the author's first novel! Congratulations and bravo!