I think I laughed on the second sentence, which I expected, but not that soon. It might be a record. I love the concept of this series with multiverses and many (MANY) Max Tundras. The inclusion of different characters, including the different Maxes, really make it fantastic. I especially like that they all have chosen different names, because if not, it would be nigh impossible to keep track of them all. It's entertaining, weird, and funny - all the best things for fiction! I think the crazy boos were my favorite part of this one.

Chapter 42 has The Best title EVER. What a phenomenal nod to HGTTG, another hilarious sci-fi story.
This is just a phenomenal series and I'm so excited for the next one!

Both tongue-in-cheek and wildly hilarious!

Canadian author Mark A Rayner is a very bright, very intuitive thinker who just happens to have a razor sharp sense of humor and parody when he writes. He is on the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University. His books to date include THE AMADEUS NET, MARVELLOUS HAIRY, THE FRIGGULARITY, THE FATNESS, PRIVATE THERAPY AND OTHER CURES, THE GATES OF POLISHED HORN, A MILKSHAKE APOCALYPSE, ALPHA MAX, and now BETA MAX – the second volume of The Tundraverse series.

The subtitle of Mark’s book illuminates the novel that follows – ‘A Profound Frolic through an Unreasonable Multiverse’ – and the validity of his choice is present from the opening lines: ‘Deep within the heat of the sun, motionless for years, sat a shimmering scrotum. Of course, a scrotum would be vaporized immediately, but this was a sack of another kind. It was a vessel created by another species to travel between universe. It held not gonads but, nonetheless, contained seeds…of destruction.’’

Attempting to synopsize this delectable tale may just spoil the fun of discovery for other readers. Best to simply share a portion of the content that sets the stage to seduce potential readers to enter this Tundraverse: ‘Inside the ship was a room. The other species called this space a Xoda. And the Xoda had equipment inside it. Equipment that looked naughty. Most of the shapes were rounded like boobs, but some pieces tended towards the phallic. The purpose of this equipment was to allow the species, called the Xaxta, to survive physical death. This allowed them to transfer to a new cloned body that waited in a container that was definitely on the phallic end design-wise, or it could transfer them into a giant (booblike) receptacle that could contain their consciousness.’ The manner in which Rayner composes this combination of science fiction, satire, absurd fiction, parody of our disordered and at times ridiculous ‘reality’ with such precise clarity opens a feasible unirverse (uh, excuse me, tundraverse) to which we all can relate! Said before, say again - Not only is the story hilarious, but true to Mark Rayner’s style, it makes crafty insights into such topics as gender identification among other issues that create a completely satisfying reading experience! Highly recommended.

Accompany three people named Max (also coincidentally being the very same Max) on their quest to save not just one but all parallel universes at the same time. Incredibly funny and absurd!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I don’t typically pick science-fiction books but this one sounded interesting and it did not disappoint! There is a summary of the first book at the start but I’d recommend reading book one if you want a full immersion in the world the author has built. You can read book two with just the summary as well - which is what I did. It’s a crazy, fast-paced romp through space and the multiverse with unique and lovable characters while stretching the mind. Max and his many iterations navigate readers through adventures rooted in space science, relationships, and existential questions about life with a good dose of humour, poking fun at everything at the same time. Time, pun intended, flew by as I devoured the book!