Bookworm Speaks!- Randoms by David Liss

Bookworm Speaks!

Randoms 

By David Liss

****

Acquired: Barnes and Noble Booksellers

Series: Randoms (Book 1)

Hardcover: 496 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (August 25, 2015)

Language: English

****

The Story: A science fiction superfan finds himself on his very own space adventure when he’s randomly selected to join an alien confederacy in this “exhilarating” (Booklist, starred review) middle grade debut novel.

Zeke Reynolds comes from a long line of proud science fiction geeks. He knows his games, comics, movies, and TV shows like Captain Kirk knows the starship Enterprise. So it’s a dream come true when he learns the science fiction he loves so much is based on reality—and that he’s been selected to spend a year on a massive space station. To evaluate humanity’s worthiness, the Confederation of United Planets has hand picked three of Earth’s most talented young people—and then there’s Zeke. He’s the random.

Unfortunately, Zeke finds life in space more challenging than he’d hoped. When he saves his transport ship from a treacherous enemy attack, he’s labeled a war criminal. Now despised by the Confederation, rejected by his fellow humans, and pursued by a ruthless enemy, Zeke befriends the alien randoms: rejected by their own species, but loyal to each other. But their presence in the Confederation may not be so random after all, and as the danger increases, Zack’s knowledge of science fiction might be the only thing that can save himself, his friends, and Earth itself.

The Review: According to the text, the author is a full-blown science-fiction nerd. Indeed, references abound of various Science Fiction franchise: Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Stargate, Firefly, even Warhammer 40K! Zeke is like the uber nerd. (Not many references to fantasy or comic books though, but not all geeks are the same) What makes this character really stand out is that his knowledge of science-fiction is actually useful. Many of the tropes found in science-fiction turn out to be true and his knowledge greatly aids him. This is very refreshing as the other common tropes portray nerds having a command of thoroughly useless knowledge. The nerds shall rise… 

While this book is marketed towards young adults, full adults can find a lot in this book, particularly the depiction of government. Ostensibly, the Confederation are the good guys and the Phands are the bad guys. The author does go out of the way to say that the Phandic Empire is evil and from what we see, they’re right. They’re an expansionist empire that ruthlessly subjugates other planets but what is done very well on the author’s part is making the Confederation not all that great either. 

As the book goes on, it becomes clear the government of the CUP is corrupt and cowardly. Their devotion to law and order quickly becomes fanatical adherence and inflexibility. While it’s understandable that they would want to avoid open war with the militaristic Phands, they perfectly willing to sell out whatever and whomever in order to appease them. The leadership is more concerned with preserving they power and keeping public opinion on their side. They seem unwilling to actually do anything for fear of rocking the boat. Tell Bookworm if that does not sound familiar. 

Zeke grows up very quickly over the course of this book and it is not always pleasant to watch. Loss of innocence never is. A lesson that has appeared more and more frequently in popular media is that dreams are only the next stage. Even after your dream comes true, it brings its own set of challenges and hurdles to overcome. Zeke realizes that going to space won’t be the fantastic adventure his beloved tv-shows say it is. 

The ending is particular is a real gut punch. 

In a lot of ways, this is the perfect young-adult book. Zeke’s journey is a parallel to becoming an adult. His wide-eyed innocence at going into space slowly falls away as he becomes to the reality of his situation and what the people around him really think about him. This is something everyone goes through and it makes Zeke very relatable, even if he quotes Star Trek a bit too often. Speaking of which…

The main problem for Bookworm is ironically what makes it so appealing to the science-fiction geek: it gets a bit too meta at a few points that frankly, it breaks the spell for Bookworm. When Bookworm reads a book or video games, what he always takes into account is the immersion level, how good the world building is. Bookworm’s favorite

Another problem is the character Steve, the Cockney-accented space lizard, or more specifically his name. Bookworm gets the joke: the word ‘Steve’ is not a complicated one and it is entirely likely that other peoples could use the word as a name as well. The thing is…Steve is up there with John and Bob as completely generic male names. When reading the book, Bookworm had to remind himself, “Oh Steve’s the lizard.” The joke is clever but the execution falls flat. 

Finally, while it works as well as any science-fiction concept, the idea of basing an entire civilization and personal development on video game-esque skill trees seems particularly silly. Perhaps it is a commentary on the controlling nature of the Confederacy but Bookworm rolled his eyes at that a few times. The fact that Tamret can hack this ancient, unfathomable, technology only makes it more unbelievable. 

Final Verdict: Randoms is passionate love letter to Science Fiction nerds and geeks everywhere of all ages. Perhaps it is a bit too focused on that particular demographic but the heart of the book appeals to any reader. Can’t wait for more! 

Four Serenity Badges out of Five

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