REVIEW: Year Zero by Rob Reid Narrated by John Hodgman

Year Zero by Rob Reid Narrated by John Hodgman
Publishing information: Audible
ISBN: 9780345534415
Standalone
Copy: Out of pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Audible
Amazon

Synopsis: "An alien advance party was suddenly nosing around my planet.
Worse, they were lawyering up. . . .

In the hilarious tradition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Rob Reid takes you on a headlong journey through the outer reaches of the universe—and the inner workings of our absurdly dysfunctional music industry.

Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it’s a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news.

The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity’s music ever since “Year Zero” (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang. The resulting fines and penalties have bankrupted the whole universe. We humans suddenly own everything—and the aliens are not amused.

Nick Carter has just been tapped to clean up this mess before things get ugly, and he’s an unlikely galaxy-hopping hero: He’s scared of heights. He’s also about to be fired. And he happens to have the same name as a Backstreet Boy. But he does know a thing or two about copyright law. And he’s packing a couple of other pencil-pushing superpowers that could come in handy.

Soon he’s on the run from a sinister parrot and a highly combustible vacuum cleaner. With Carly and Frampton as his guides, Nick now has forty-eight hours to save humanity, while hopefully wowing the hot girl who lives down the hall from him."

Not sure why I even attempt these types of books as the humor always falls flat with me. I should just avoid books that claim they are in the spirit The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. However, I did give Year Zero a shot and couldn't find the rhythm or humor.

The character of Nick Carter is a lawyer who deals with patents and copyright and when aliens come to see him to secure his services things quickly grow out of control. Nick is your average Earthling so when the aliens come to visit he is already out of his depth.

Year Zero relies heavily on jokes, jokes that fell flat for me. There is also a lot of pop culture thrown at the reader at about one or two references a page. Some of which is already past its prime.Needless to say it didn't take long for me to want the stroll down memory lane to stop. It almost felt like that was the focus of the novel instead of the characters and the plot, which is what I enjoy when I read.

John Hodgman is the perfect narrator for the book unfortunately I just didn't care for the novel. While Reid was doing his best to channel Douglas Adams, he tried too hard and failed. It felt forced and not natural.

Overall 4/10
Narration 8/10