Hal Spacejock: Amazon.co.uk: Simon Haynes: 9781920731892: Books

Concept/World
I loved the rustbucket spaceship, the Black Gull. The description of the food aboard the space station had me in fits.

Story
The story rockets along right from the start. Hal Spacejock leaves a trail of destruction everywhere he goes, with non-stop action all the way through.

Characters
I just loved the characters - Navcom, the spaceship computer with attitude, the brilliant and much put-upon Clunk and, of course, Hal Spacejock himself. Hal is hilariously stupid, doing whatever seems like a good idea at the time with no thought for consequences. He manages to survive far more by luck than judgement, and usually because he's saved at the last moment either by his ship's Navcom or by Clunk, his robot sidekick. The villains are convincingly unpleasant, greedy and ruthless.

Overall
I highlighted parts of this book that made me laugh out loud. By the end of the book I had 29 of them. The only other books I've read that made me laugh this much are Terry Pratchett's. This story does contain swearing so isn't suitable for younger readers. Simon Haynes is also writing a series for younger readers, though,"Hal Junior". I enjoyed Hal Spacejock so much that I bought a copy of that to review as well. I have also bought the next in the series to read just for fun. I'm a big fan of Red Dwarf so I'm not sure I'd agree with the blurb on the cover that says Hal Spacejock is better than Red Dwarf, but it's certainly up there alongside it.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice sci-fi Humour, 3 Dec 2011

By

Mikeedude (Cornwall) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hal Spacejock (Kindle Edition)

Hal spacejock is sci-fi's answer to Mr Bean ,everything he does is a catastrophe but he always seems to comes out on top in the end.
Some really funny moments in this book and the characters are great. The story covers Hal's attempts as a down and out freelance freighter pilot struggling to stay above his debts. He meets a robot called clunk who seems able to get him into and out of even more trouble.
I really enjoyed reading this book as it kept a good pace all the way through the story,and gave some laugh out loud moments.
I will try the second in the series to see if the humour carries on but as the first is free at the moment its definitely worth a try.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, funny and action packed. Reminiscent of a Douglas Adams (and that's a big compliment), 7 Feb 2012

By

W. Paddick "K60PAD" (Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hal Spacejock (Kindle Edition)

Having read a couple of free Kindle books, my expectations weren't high BUT Hal Spacejock is brilliant.

I loved the sardonic characters and convolouted plot twists and turns.

Have already bought the next in the series and expect to go through them all.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Shades of Red Dwarf.
Set in the future, the story follows our two heroes. Hal (of the title) an inept spaceship pilot stumbling from one crisis to another, and Clunk his robot assistant who gets Hal... Read more

Published 1 day ago by Chopper