Astro-Nuts
By: Logan J. Hunder
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Publisher: Night Shade
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:

Astro-Nuts by Logan J. Hunder is the sort of story that may work a bit better on the screen (as a movie, television show, or anime) than on the page. Something about it simply didn’t work. I wasn’t quite as hooked as I thought I would be after the initial first chapter.

The plot is about Captain Cox and the ship the SS Jefferson. When the captain and crew find a derelict ship floating in space, they go to get a better look and walk straight into an interplanetary fight. Now wanted and on the run, the crew travels the solar system trying to save themselves.

Unfortunately, the reading experience didn’t quite live up to the synopsis. It’s not misleading in any way; what you see is very much what you get. But what I first imagined would be one of the book’s core strengths—its humor—turned out to be somewhat the opposite.

Humor is relied upon quite heavily in the book. This is both a good and bad thing. Certain scenes work extremely well with situational humor. The first chapter, for example, was a fun twist on the familiar scenes we’ve all seen in many other books and movies. It was just enough to hook the reader without being too much or overstaying its welcome.

However, as the book went on some of the humor began to feel a little forced. Witty dialogue and comebacks grew tiresome. That isn’t to say that the humor or dialogue were overdone or poor. Some sections just had such an overload of humorous one-liner after humorous one-liner that it was fatigue-inducing.

This also made a rather strange reading experience for me. I found myself having to flip back pages or chapters to remind myself where exactly we were plot-wise, since I was getting bogged down scene by scene.

As with all novels involving a great deal of humor, how much enjoyment you get out of this novel is going to be up to your sense of humor. While there were aspects I enjoyed, Astro-Nuts by Logan J. Hunder ultimately wasn’t the book for me.