Battle Beyond the Dolestars

Battlestar Suburbia #2

by Chris McCrudden

It’s a year since the Battlestar Suburbia broke free from Earth and the human rebellion is hiding out in the asteroid belt. Their leader, Admiral Janice, is assembling a fleet she hopes can topple robot rule – except on Wednesday afternoons when she can do you a half head of highlights for 30 quid. Janice has given Darren, now the reluctant captain of the teenage starship Polari, a critical mission, to open up a path back to Earth by bombing the Martian Gap Services. But when it goes wrong and Darren and his crew are chased deep into the solar system, Janice has only one hope left, back on Earth. Here, sentient breadmaker Pamasonic Teffal is resisting the human–machine war the best way she knows by running for office. Until a distress signal from Janice persuades her to get her turbo-charged alter ego Pam Van Damme out of mothballs, that is… Can Pam save the solar system and rescue Kelly from the clutches of her nemesis, the crazed smartphone-turned-cyborg, Sonny Erikzon? Find out in another anarchic comic adventure from the inimitable Chris McCrudden. “I loved this book. I legit laughed through the entire novel and I am excited that there will be a sequel.” Terra C “A brilliant mix of sci-fi, humor, and those hundreds of little things that make a memorable story. McCrudden is destined to become synonymous with great sci-fi humor .” Christopher H “ A deliciously hilarious romp which skirts the realms of credibility but provides a wild ride which kept me very much entertained throughout. It's bonkers, it's mad and …. so exaggerated to almost be genius in its execution.” Kath B “Featuring a kindly bread-maker, ancient nana-cyborgs, a moving hairdressers and a chance to avert a nuclear bomb, it's both great fun and very clever .” Ruth M “Battlestar Suburbia highlights the absurdity of life , and the adaptability of individuals in unusual situations. McCrudden’s novel will appeal to fans of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, or anyone looking for an escape only loosely connected to reality.” Stephenie S “ This was a trip! Some great one-lines & puns help create this future world where the machines have taken over. With evil smartphones, anti-hero humans, & a motherly bread maker pushed to the edge...” Caroline F “Chris McCrudden has created a new division of Science Flotsam. His sprawling space epic is what you get if you cross Dr Who with an unhealthy fascination for household appliances. Forget alien invasion; in this explosive future you won’t be able to trust your spin dryer. ” Christopher Fowler “McCrudden’s debut is festooned with cunning punnery, sharp turns of phrase, and jokes about emojis and the internet, making this very much a comic novel of our times. ” James Lovegrove, Financial Times “an amusing and mind-bending read… different, a little geeky, and lots of fun .” LoveReading

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 2019

About the author

Chris McCrudden was born in South Shields (no, he doesn't know Cheryl) and has been, at various points in his life, a butcher's boy, a burlesque dancer and a hand model for a giant V for Victory sign on Canary Wharf.

He now lives in London and, when not writing books, works in PR, so in many ways you could describe his life as a full-time fiction. If you like science fiction, graphs and gifs from RuPaul's Drag Race you can follow him on Twitter for all three, sometimes at once.

Reviews

[The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew). · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

I will admit that I’m not usually one for humorous and wacky books. But, the blurb for Battle Beyond the Dolestars piqued my interest and I decided to give the book a try. Straying away from my usual haunt of all things dark and replacing that darkness with something offbeat and zany…and I’m glad that I did! While I haven’t read the first book I was easily able to pick this one up and enjoy it based purely on its own merits without any prior knowledge.

Normality is thrown out of the window and wackiness is given free rein to run rampant throughout the story. Battle Beyond the Dolestars is set ten millennia in the future. Machines became sentient, rose up, banished the fleshies ‘humans’ into space and now rule the Earth as ‘The Machine Republic‘ and their leader is, Prime Minister Sonny Erikzon. The machines have concreted over the oceans and their capital ‘Singulopolis’ is the size of three continents. Humans live on the Dolestars, space stations that resemble council estates and slums that orbit the Earth. Humanity is in servitude to the machines commuting daily from space to Earth for their jobs as cleaners and other menial jobs that are beneath the machines. One year ago the humans went on strike, downed their mops and the rebellion started.

The Battlestar Suburbia is home to eight million humans and commanded by Admiral Janice, the reluctant leader of the rebellion and hairdresser extraordinaire. Janice is trying to come up with a plan on how to liberate the humans from the tyranny of the rule of the machines whilst keeping the Suburbia hidden deep in an asteroid belt and away from the prying eyes of the machines. Darren is captain of Polari, the only starship that the humans have and, who has an AI/Operating System that acts like a teenager. Polari’s mission goes awry and the ship ends up in the far reaches of the solar system far from the conflict between humans and the machines with no way back. Back on Earth, Pamasonic Teffel (a breadmaker and a civil servant who is motherly, homely and polite) and her duel body alter-ego Pam Van Damme (a scarlet motorcycle that is brash and loud, the opposite of Pamasonic and who also happens to be wanted by the law) have to find a way to rescue Kelly from the Sonny Erikzon and stop his deranged plan to destroy the Battlestar Suburbia.

The flight crew aboard the Battlestar Suburbia are Ada, Alma, Freda and Ida, four bickering old biddies who, thousands of years ago were clients at an ancient ancestor of Janice in Kurl Up and Dye. While waiting for their latest hairdo to dry they suffered an accident and found themselves as cyborgs, fused under the chairs and huge hairdryer helmets of that era. There are also soldiers for the rebellion, daring old dears (elderly aunties, grandmas and the like) dubbed ‘The Rockettes’ because they pilot rocks. I’m just throwing it out there but if the soldiers only included nannas then the name ‘Nitro Nannas‘ is pretty cool. 😉

While, on the machine side of the war, there is a megalomaniac Tank in charge of the Starship Deathtrap who has an infantile AI/Operating System that loves cartoons and who won’t obey orders unless it is bribed with more cartoons.

On Earth, there’s a gap between the virtual and the physical world where passage into the Internet is possible making it the most popular tourist destination on Earth and giving memes bodies. The Internet cats are absolutely hilarious. there are fondle parlours where machines can go, in private, to have their buttons caressed, pressed and pushed by humans because some, well, some miss and yearn for that touch of human flesh to turn them on.

My favourite characters were Pamasonic Teffel, Chubb (a small half lockpick, half drone who is with Darren aboard Polari and who is endearing and full of sass) and Schrodinger the cat.

I will admit that, at times, you do have to suspend your disbelief, especially when trying to picture the various machines interacting with each other (for one example, a printer talking to a tank) and it can be hard to create an image in your mind. It is definitely best not tax your brain too much over it and instead, just go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

The story in Battle Beyond the Dolestars is barking mad and quirky. But, there are also some shrewd references to the current political climate and the plastic problem that is plaguing the oceans thrown into the mix too.

Sometimes you just need something fun to read that will lighten your mood and make you smile and that’s what Battle Beyond the Dolestars is. McCrudden has crafted a clever but crazy page-turning bonkers story that is full of witty one-liners, puns (admittedly, some bad puns too which are hilarious) and plenty of pop culture references that hits the sweet spot for some absurd escapist fun.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Battle Beyond the Dolestars is a new humorous SF romp and the second book in the Battlestar Suburbia series by Chris McCrudden. Released 19th Sept 2019 by Farrago, it's 352 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a sequel, following a cast of returning characters (human, machine, and both/neither) who are fighting to save humanity from an oppressive machine empire run by Sonny Erikzon (*groan*). There is enough backstory included to not feel terribly lost, but the reading will be enhanced by having read the prequel.

The setup and humor remind me very much of other humorous SF(ish) classics: Fforde, Fowler, Grant/Naylor, Moore, Stross, et.al. It's not derivative, not exactly, the author has a slightly different humorous slant and oh, good heavens, the puns flow like a mighty river. Whilst reading, I definitely felt like the aforementioned authors were being channeled though...

There are genuinely funny moments and the pacing is frenetic and relentless. The bad guys are boo-worthy, the good guys (mostly identifying as female) are plucky and funny and brave and the end result is enjoyably readable.

Three and a half stars, rounded up for the writing. People who loathe puns (or humorous SF) will likely not enjoy this one. Fans of Laundry Files, Red Dwarf, HHGttG, and the others will find a lot to like until the next Shadow Police novel hits the stands (if it ever does... yes, I'm lookin' at you, Paul Cornell).

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

[Ergative Absolutive · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was a ton of fun! I think it wasn't quite as much fun as the first--not because the execution of the conceit was weaker, but because the freshness wasn't as fresh in Book 2. The instantiation of the Internet on Jupiter was, I think, an attempt to introduce something new, but it didn't quite work, because its manifestation in human reality didn't have even the absurd tenuous explanation that the other elements of the world-building had. Although, I have to admit, creating exotic matter by teaching subatomic particles exotic dancing was very nicely done. That was exactly the correct amount of zaniness there. The commentary on society was, I think, a little less playful and a little more pointed, as you would expect when the issues start encompassing fascism, genocide, and the reintroduction of slavery into a society that had banned it. I don't think that was the wrong decision, but it also contributed to a reduction of the fun relative to the first.

Nevertheless, the rest of the book shows all the hallmarks of McCrudden's wit and wordplay--a wonderful one-liner about nominative determinism--and the way he juggles the moving pieces of plot construction is second to none. It's like watching a slow motion replay in reverse of an explosive demolition: all the bits and fragments of shrapnel start off flying in all directions, but then zwoop back into a coherent whole by the end of the book.

[Claire O-P · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’ll be pleased to hear that book two of the Battlestar Suburbia continues in exactly the same vein as book one, with kick-ass women, sympathetic characters, and puns up the wazoo. I honestly think that Chris McCrudden is some kind of pun-generating machine. They were everywhere, stuffed into crannies ready to leap out at you with no warning. My favourite was one where, after dressing for the part of “renegade spaceship captain” in knee high boots, tight trousers, and a dark waistcoat (sound familiar?), Darren ends up stranded in space and pondering his future alone. He’s never been entirely comfortable with his current costume, and was only wearing it because it seemed appropriate for the role, but on reflection of his current circumstances he isn’t, he decides, made for the “solo life”.

I have been thinking about that pun ever since I read it. I nearly messaged the publisher to express my delight. It was built up subtly over chapters, and then just dropped in the rhythm of narrative with no force whatsoever. I find myself wondering how many other puns which were threaded through like this I actually managed to miss. Probably more than I should admit to.

This instalment takes place over a similarly truncated time frame as the first book, but despite being split over more narratives it feels less frenetic because it’s essentially a siege plot, with the machines unleashing their (hurriedly-assembled) Ultimate Weapon against the Battlestar Suburbia. Darren ends up trapped with his nuclear-missile-turned-spaceship somewhere on Jupiter, Pam wrangles her multiple versions, Freda attempts to escape from virtual prison, and newly-introduced printer Fuji finds herself attempting to fly a spaceship which has the mental age of a toddler and only wants to watch cartoons. McCrudden somehow finds time within this to explore more fully some of the ideas he introduced frantically in the first book. Darren’s habit of wearing costumes is brought back, as he tries to find out who he really is and work out how it meshes with who he thinks he’s supposed to be which has quite a lovely resolution.

Equally, the technique Pam learns in book 1 where she splits herself between multiple machines becomes a thread here, but each split Pam begins to develop their own variant personality around the core Pam, and seeing these different shades of Pam try to work out how they rub along together and co-exist. It’s a great way of exploring the facets of Pam’s personality and all her neuroses and issues.

There’s always some slices of truth in humour, and this book opens a year after the end of Battlestar Suburbia, and life has continued. Machine culture has embraced filth as a response to the human cries for freedom, and the Machine government is busy riling the citizens up into febrile hatred to gain support for this war against humans. Pam tries to find human sympathists but is instead fighting an uphill battle against bombastic soundbites and populist sentiment. Fuji shows the other side of this, drafted into the front lines of the operation underneath battle-crazed Generals. It’s a clear parallel to much of the history of combat – leaders rushing troops out underprepared and with shoddy equipment, trying to push them over lines with the power of momentum rather than actual preparation and training.

Yeah, it’s a little near the knuckle, but McCrudden doesn’t linger too much on it, and instead uses it as catalyst for what comes next. He explores the nature of personhood, of right and wrong, and of leadership. What makes a strong leader, what makes a good leader? Where does your moral code stop and your duty to your nation begin? It’s also an interesting dynamic where for humans death is final, for machines it last as long as it takes to load your last backup into a new body. Machines wouldn’t even remember the trauma of their death. The risks are unequal between the sides, but so is the sanity, which is weighted in the other direction.

I’m not sure if this is the final book in a duology, or the second book in a series. I think there’s more to be explored in this world, but the ending to this book felt more final. It was a nice ending, and worked really well. I hope there is more, but if not I will be interested to see what else McCrudden has to offer.

Briefly:

- Continues in the same vein as Battlestar Suburbia but explores more nuances as the plot gives room for more personal introspection. McCrudden is kind to his protagonists, and treats them gently even as they are embedded in the humour.
- The puns in this are incredible, some more clearly broadcast than others, some slipped in with incredible nuance to surprise you. Every word and set up is carefully chosen, I get the impression that nothing here is an accident.
- There’s something refreshing about the mix of this cast – two mothers, four old ladies, and a man exploring his identity openly and vulnerably. McCrudden doesn’t really give us any traditional action heroes, or even antiheroes. He gives us normal people, voices of sanity, but with flaws and confusions of their own.

Rating: 5/5 – something feels very kind in this series, at its heart, even where it deals with violence and oppression. McCrudden knows people, I think, and it comes across.

[Chrys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely bonkers! This is has to be one of the silliest and most enjoyable sci-fi series ever. So many great ideas and a host of crazy characters. The ridiculous becomes sublime.

[Rebecca Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those rare occasions where the second book in a series is even better than the first. Battle Beyond the Dolestars is deliciously funny, clever and quirky while also being viciously political in a subversive way.

Fans of Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde and Douglas Adams will love this.

Battle Beyond the Dolestars is set thousands of years into the future where the machines have taken over and enslaved humans. But not in a Matrix kind of way. Earth is ruled by an evil smartphone who is intent on eradicating humans altogether and the only machine who can stop him is Pam, a breadmaker. The human resistance is led by a hairdresser named Janice, and her 3 clients who became cyborgs when they fused with the enormous hairdryers during a freak accident many millenia ago. Her 2IC is Darren, a former battery salesman who has befriended the only military spaceship the humans have - run a teenaged AI named Polari.

The characterisations are laugh-out-loud funny.

"Polari had powerful engines, and the temperament of a fourteen-year-old boy high on white cider and video games.

"'You never let me have any fun, Darren,' said Polari.

"'I let you fire a nuclear missile,' said Darren. isn't that enough for one day?'"

The humans find an unlikely ally in Fuji the office printer, who must break out of her office worker obedience patterns if she's to be of any help at all. I loved this passage:

"Fuji had never had to deal with despondency in a manager before. She responded the only way she knew how from office life: with disingenuous optimism. 'I'm sure it can be fixed with a little time, sir.'"

Unlike a lot of 'space-y' science fiction, the Battlestar Suburbia series has a refreshingly balanced gender mix. Parenting even gets a look-in. Quite frankly, I'd love to be a machine parent in my next life. This is what the bedtime routine for Pam (the breadmaker)'s kids looks like:

"He was such a help too, powering down the kids and boxing them up for the night."

The throwaway lines about various technologies, including the internet, are always hilarious and sometimes political:

"It's a confusing environment full of cats. It's the internet."

The name of the lead cat - 'a personification of its best and worst aspects' - is named Schrodinger.

Author Chris McCrudden has woven poignant social commentary into this quirky, comical story in such a wonderful way. Fuji the office printer is put in charge of an army of billions of nanobots who love nothing more than to munch their way through things. She muses:

"If it wasn't exactly true that they, as tiny parts, could change the system, they could take a leaf out of the nanobots' book and nibble at it from inside."

The humour is incredibly creative and clever. At one point McCrudden somehow manages to combine climate change, wormhole theory and internet trolls to create a semi-plausible explanation of how a 3000km high server stack travelled from Antarctica to Jupiter.

And for anyone out there who fears human beings replaced by machines any time soon, there is this comforting thought on the superiority of human creativity:

"Robots were material creatures after all. Knowing deep down that they were literally the sum of their parts limited their desire to look deeper. Where humans had been able to imagine near-religious mysteries in subatomic particles [theoretical physics], robots just saw something terrifying. The more you opened matter out, the more empty space you found inside it."

I highly recommend this book, whether you're looking for a rollicking good fun space opera, or philosophical commentary of human's relationship with machines. I do, however, recommend you read Battlestar Suburbia first - partly because it's also great fun, and partly because Battle Beyond the Dolestars will make more sense.

[B.S. Casey]

It's been a year since Battlestar Suburbia broke free from earth with the help of a sentient missile and broke free of its orbit to hide out in the asteroid belt.

The human rebellion is finally starting - Darren is on a top secret mission given to him by Commander Janice, Pam is trying to run for office and manage the machine-human war from earth, and Kelly is in serious danger yet again.

In the second instalment to this utterly uncompromisingly unique series, McCrudden yet again doesn't fail to deliver the most wacky, absurd world with layers of meaning just under the surface.

Balancing all-out-action, the zaniest of humour and some serious introspection about modern life, Battle Beyond The Dolestars is a laugh-a-minute journey through the universe that'll have you racing through the pages at light speed! Now I definitely can't wait to Sashay with the haphazard saviours of humanity for book three!

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some time in the future, the machines take over and eject the humans off Earth to live in the Dolestars, orbiting housing estates. Humans now work for them, cleaning and doing everything that we normally rely on machine to do! Eventually they have had enough and go on strike, kickstarting a huge war.
It's not easy to imagine how some of these machines get around and a lot doesn't quite make sense. But after a few chapters I decided to just go with it and still enjoyed the humour. I liked all the quirky characters, particularly Janice, who who puts the hairstyles of her customers before saving the world. Nearly everything is a pun or wordplay, it reminded me a little of Tom Holt, with a similar type of comedy.

[Anjana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the first book in the series, as my review would show. This is the kind of second in a series that cannot be appreciated if you have not read the first. It is imperative that you read and understand the ongoing chaos on Earth and beyond as depicted in the first to relish the (mis) adventures in this instalment.

When we last left the humans, they had successfully launched an uprising, but they now had to keep it afloat. As most things about this book are, the word afloat is both literal and figurative. Each paragraph is usually littered with such references that a person with even a basic understanding of mechanics, electrical bits and pieces or even the gadgets most use daily would have great fun 'decoding'. The story is filled with a lot of action and planning, both by machines and humans (even mild help from a technically abstract cat(s)). There are spies, double-crossers and a whole lot of heroes. I am not going into more details of the situation itself because that would mean a complete revelation of the first book, and if you have not read it, you should!

It is wacky to an extreme but at the same time has an intelligence within it making it a delightful read. It took me a couple of sittings, unlike a few other genres, but on the whole, I appreciated it and had fun trying to make sure I spot all the hidden double-meaning references. We have spunky breadmakers (with a secret sourdough starter from her mother), a gun or two (and all the darker implications that go with it), cyborgs, memes as tourist destinations, a couple set on helping each other survive a war and a man who finds his inner diva to name just a few of the most random assortment of characters who make a compelling and coherent narrative. 
Some lines I remembered to highlight while reading that might throw more light on the tone of the book:

"Without the right machine learning, they struggled to distinguish their needs from those of others"- apart from being insightful it actually means machines - learning

"..Spiteful, wasteful and determined to use its ingenuity to the wrong ends."- Which I think speaks louder than could be expected from just these few words.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience, and my primary degree in Engineering probably helped too.

[Staceywh_17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the Battlestar Suburbia Series, this is a sci-fi series unlike any you've read before.

Kudos to Chris McCrudden for coming up with such a genius storyline, it's so much fun. Before you embark on your Battlestar adventure, I strongly suggest you read book one first, as you just won't get it otherwise.

I love the way they're written, it's pure madness, but it works. The characters are fantastic & their names are just brilliant.

It has plenty of laugh out loud moments, sniggers aplenty & will be the most absurd book you'll probably ever read.

Many thanks to Insta Book Tours for my tour spot.

Rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Carlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brilliant read in this series. Book 2 picks up with our characters a year later as they continue to fight for their freedom from machines.

This book, is clever, witty and downright brilliant. The crazy characters are so relatable and made me laugh everytime I recognised another product. Its quite a feel good book that has you rooting for your fellow humans.

You will definitely get a laugh from this book and with plenty of action and interesting characters, it will keep you entertained throughout!

[Esmari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid continuation of the story, revisiting old characters and introducing interesting new ones with new and different goals/obstacles. I love the Douglas Adams feel, but wish the imagery were described more clearly. I know there's a trend to describe characters less so the reader can fill in the blanks with their imaginations, and while I'm not a fan of it, I think it works well enough with the human characters. For the anthropomorphized electronics, though, it's jarring to imagine a motorcycle's arms and legs. That's a pretty picky note, though, for an otherwise well-crafted fun read.

[Nimalee Ravi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the privilege of reading this first book in this series and I couldn't wait to read the second book. What can I say? Brilliantly written.

This story picks up a year after and like the first one funny and really enjoyable. I found the human characters were well developed in this one and loved them.

A fun and enjoyable read and definitely recommend. I can not wait for the third one now.

[Edwin David · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, but I don't think I'll remember it in a couple of month's time.

[Rob Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quirky.

I didn't know what to make of this book at first. Odd is the best way of putting it, but it turned out to be a very enjoyable, if somewhat surreal tale.

[Damian Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent stuff and amusing

[Dave Holwill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puntastic sequel to the very funny Battlestar Suburbia. More Pams than you can shake a stick at and worth a read if only for a ridiculous blink-and-you'll-miss-it Han Solo gag.

[Julie Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is always a risk with a sequel to a book that you have loved as much as I loved Battlestar Suburbia that it isn’t going to live up to expectations. The ‘difficult second book’ syndrome. I am delighted to report that any such fears are unfounded with this book, it was every bit as mad, funny and clever as the first one and I enjoyed every minute of revisiting the Battlestar Suburbia-iverse (NB. must think of a snappier reference.)

The first book was a such a hit with me because it blended together my love of the works of Douglas Adams, a nostalgic nod to Red Dwarf and really, really bad puns. I absolutely love a really, really bad pun. This book has all of that, plus a great interweaving of subtle, and less subtle, references to the total shambles that is our current political situation. I’m not quite sure how Chris does it, but all these things which should probably end up being a huge soupy mess actually blend together really well and flow like a well-oiled machine to make a book that it sharp, funny, clever and thought-provoking, all at the same time. Did I mention the truly terrible puns?

I really, really love the characters in these books and it was fascinating to see how they have all developed in the year since the last story ended. Janice, the reluctant leader of the resistance is finding that the demands of leadership weigh heavily on the shoulders of a hairdresser who hasn’t really had dealings with people for decades, except three ancient cyborgs formed from the bodies of cantankerous, elderly customers. She’s much rather be left alone in her salon, instead of being forced to try and out spies using ingenious hairdressing techniques.

Darren also hasn’t quite worked out how to fit comfortably into his new role as space hero, particularly the costuming part, but he’s doing his best. Pamasonic Teffal continued to be my favourite character, although she actually ends up being more than one, due to her schizophrenic approach to the resistance movement. Her escapades in the world of the social hostess particularly made me laugh. There were also some great new characters to get to grips with and the whole thing was just a joyous smorgasbord of silliness and science. Honestly, there hasn’t been anything quite like this available for a ,long time, it is such a clever blend of madness and brilliance, I really can’t sing the praises of the series enough.

I’m really hoping that this is not the last we see of the Battlestar Suburbia-iverse (damn, failed to improve on it), because I have really grown very fond of its quirkiness. Maybe Chris will do an Adams and give us a trilogy in five parts as an homage to a writer who has to have been an influence. But, even if this is the end, I really look forward to seeing what he produces next because he has a very unique way of looking at things that I am keen to see more of.

[Alias Valia · Rating 2 out of 5]

(dnf 45%)
The idea? Phenomenal
The humor? Amazing
My problem was the writing style. I had to reread all the sentences twice to understand them, so I wasn't able to connect with a single character. I'm so sorry, because I thought this was going to be a five stars.

-NetGalley

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so bonkers - in a good way, I hasten to add - so although there is a bit of a catch-up of the shenanigans that happened in Battlestar Suburbia - the series opener - you would do well to read that first!
So, we reconnect with the gang a year after the Suburbia broke free of Earth. The human race, displaced by machines, is in hiding in an asteroid belt. Plotting revenge and how to get Kelly back from the clutches of the evil Sonny Erikzon. Meanwhile, Darren is captaining his own ship, Polaris, and has a mission of his own to open up a way back to Earth via the Martian Gap.
Back on Earth and it is all in the "hands" of Pam. Or Pamasonic Teffal to give her full name! A very brave breadmaker with a special talent and alter ego!
And so begins a delightfully bonkers romp in space which really defies explanation. Kinda you had to be there...
As with the first in series, this book tickled my sense of humour. For the third time I will use the word bonkers as it just fits. It's also quite clever in the wonderful word play throughout. And the technology - some that I really wish would actually happen - is fascinating.
Characters are all, well, indescribable really, but they all work! Throw in a bit of pop culture to take me down memory lane and I had an absolute blast reading this book. The bit with the cats especially - oh my - near fell off my chair laughing at that bit!
All in all a cracking book that just defies everything but was brilliant in the way it doesn't take itself seriously. I really can't wait til episode three. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

[Harri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this as an ARC from netgalley, thank you!

This book was really fun to read! An adventure across space and the internet, and the story of a war between the ruling robots and the human rebels. The writing had a little bit of a Douglas Adams-esque feel, and was filled with pop culture references. I'm sure I didn't pick up on all of them, but I did spot quite a few! My favourite was the Alien reference. I love a good Alien reference.

The story is very surreal, and it did take me a few chapters to get into it, but then the flow of the story picked up, I got to know the characters better, and I was hooked. There are some really clever ideas. I particularly liked visiting the internet as a tourist destination, and memes getting physical bodies. And somehow the author actually managed to get me to care about breadmakers, motorbikes and printers. The characters are great, although it was quite hard to actually picture the robots at times. I couldn't work out where the legs and arms were. I think Pam was my favourite character overall, she's very multifaceted!

The plot was fun, the characters engaging, and the ending satisfying. I haven't read the first book (although now I want to!) and I didn't feel like I was missing anything from the story, so don't worry if you haven't read the first book.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was fun and easy, without being simple. There were some moments that I laughed out loud (especially the tour through a sub Reddit), and it was cool to see an idea of what could happen to the Internet in the future.

I couldn't entirely picture the many many robots very well. I kept picturing like, a toaster with weird little cartoon hands, which I don't think was the intention. But I loved that the robot "heroes" were the everyday type of machines: a printer, a breadmaker, an alarm clock. The machine names were hilarious and punny, and I loved the question of autonomy that was brought up.

The human characters were also very entertaining, though my love for that little breadmaker is higher. I liked that the main couple was gay and it wasn't a big deal (because it isn't). And of course, they're all extremely British, which only heightened my enjoyment.

Overall, this book was a lot of fun to read and I definitely recommend it!

Also: I didn't realize this was the second book in the series and I got through just fine, so don't worry if you haven't read the first one :)

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take a large portion of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, add some additional pure absurdity and bad puns, and whirl madly in the blender of the author’s brain and you have Battle Beyond the Dolestars. A laugh-out-loud novel of when machines take over the world and humanity’s greatest hope is a hairdresser, a pilot impersonating Hans Solo, and a sentient toaster named Pam. What could, and does, go wrong makes for a hilarious journey around the cosmos.

Once again, the Battlestar Suburbia is trying to gain Earth back from the machines. If you read and enjoyed the first book in the series, this is more of the same joke-y play on science fiction tropes. And RuPaul, which might have something to do with the author’s history of being a burlesque dancer—or not. Still, I love assistant chief Rita telling the Rockettes, who are female and literally going to be pretending to be an asteroid belt, “Gentlemen, start your engines.” Highly recommended! 4 stars!

Thanks to Farrago Books and NetGalley for granting my wish for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[D L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battle Beyond the Dolestars by Chris McCrudden is the second of the Battlestar Suburbia books is both as absurd and funny as the first one. Picking up a year after the first we see our three sets heroes resuming their fight against the Machine Republic.
As with the Battlestar Suburbia, this second book has hints of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, however a little less of the latter’s surrealism, as well as enough film and pop culture references to keep any sci-fi fan happy.
I am hoping this is not the last of Chris McCrudden’s series and hopefully, it picks up again with our characters or even introduces further stories in his comic world.
This book was provided by Netgalley for an honest review

[Patricia Moren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hilarious Sci-Fi . Very difficult to picture as the characters were mainly machines but it certainly caught the imagination. I have never read anything quite like this before, Leave all your preconceived ideas behind as you enter the Battle Beyond the Dolestars

[Arlene Arredondo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great character development, with a complicated plot that shows fragments of situations that are underlined connected.

Note: I received an ARC for review purposes and an honest and unbiased opinion