Customer Reviews

Hal Spacejock

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Can't believe I have had this in my reading pile for over five years. I picked in up in Oz back in June 2006 and it kind of buried itself in my pile of books.
It's not bad and the author does show potential. It took a while to get going, initially I was slightly underwhelmed but by the end I discovered I had grown more fond of Hal and Clunk then I was expecting.

It's slapstick space humour with a daft cago pilot and a sidekick robot that is slightly less daft. Here they try to transport a dodgy cargo in a ship that is barely spaceworthy and mayhem is the order of the day.

So it grows on you and it does have some very nice moments. Not Douglas Adams yet though.

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.

I picked it up because it was free and I wanted to try out the Kindle and I have to say I enjoyed the book. It's funnier then I thought it would be and an enjoyable read throughout.

Hal Spacejock, what an idiot, how is he still alive?

Hal makes Mr Bean look like Stephen Hawking, if it wasn't for Clunk, his poor downtrodden robot and the Black Gulls navcom not to forget a shed load of dumb luck he would be Bantha fodder. The Black Gull appears to be made of the same material as planes 'black boxes' as the amount of damage and abuse dished out by Hals utter incompetence, it still flies.

I don't know if I agree that it's better than Red Dwarf or Hitch-hikers, it is funny and made me laugh & groan several times.

I will definately download the next in the series and see how it goes.

Ok, that's three words that I'd use to define this book.

The main character has the right name but a seriously wrong attitude for his chosen career. A universe where machines do things so people don't have to, unless they want to. Hal Spacejock doesn't want to. But then he has to and discovers just how little he really knows.

Robots that have attitudes and cowardice. They have loyalties and prejudices too.

The bad guys are really bad, they positively drip with badness.

I read the book a few weeks ago, and it's taken me this long to realise how much I actually liked it. And I did like it. It's not a laugh out loud kind of book, the humour is too quirky for that, it's the kind of book that makes you smirk quietly behind your Kindle.

If sci-fi of late is leaving you a little jaded and fantasy with vampires has gotten a little too boring and samey, if some young rich guy getting it off on every page has annoyed you, then I can recommend this book to bring back the colour in your like.

In fact, I liked it so much that the second book is now on my must-buy list for next months salary.

This book is a wonderful mix of the best of hitchhikers guide and the disc-world novels with a touch of Laurel & Hardy thrown in for good measure.
The conversations between Hal Spacejock, Clunk, the robot and Navcom are often so silly that they are brilliant.
it is amazing how all the characters seem so incompetent that the fact that they not only manage to survive beyond the first chapter, but they always (eventually) come out on top.
Congratulations to the author on a great book. I look forward to reading more about Hal and his friends.

Review mode... Terminated.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot! Sure, it's a bit like Firefly, Red Dwarf and Hitchhiker's Guide, but they're all great, so who cares? I found Hal Spacejock to be a nice, easy read with a simple but fun plot, entertaining characters and I look forward to the next one!

For free, you can't really go wrong here!

Admittedly the title put me off, not a fan of the title at all and the comparisons to Pratchett put me off since I've struggled to get into the Discworld books but, as it was free I decided to give Hal Spacejock a go and I am glad I did.

It's hilarious from start to finish and I found it really difficult to put down. It also has a very good plot to go along with the humour and a cast of likeable characters.

Definitely going to check out the second book in the series.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read, it was easy to follow and was well written. It had a good sense of humour throughout and is one i would definitely recommend to others. If your looking for a guy bumbling along accidentally getting into adventures then this is the book for you.

The book was a easy read at the end of the day,it does go off plot a little and things like the Volent ship had crash
landed but the two droids had managed to reverse a truck out of it, and when Hal went to it with clunk it was on its nose ,.little thing are a bit annoying but still it was enjoyable ..