| Title | : | Terminal Alliance (Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0756412749 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780756412746 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 358 |
| Publication | : | First published November 7, 2017 |
This would have worked out better for all involved if they hadn’t arrived after a mutated plague wiped out half the planet, turned the rest into shambling, near-unstoppable animals, and basically destroyed human civilization. You know—your standard apocalypse.
The Krakau’s first impulse was to turn their ships around and go home. After all, it’s hard to establish diplomatic relations with mindless savages who eat your diplomats.
Their second impulse was to try to fix us.
A century later, human beings might not be what they once were, but at least they’re no longer trying to eat everyone. Mostly.
Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos is surprisingly bright (for a human). As a Lieutenant on the Earth Mercenary Corps Ship Pufferfish, she’s in charge of the Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation team. When a bioweapon attack by an alien race wipes out the Krakau command crew and reverts the rest of the humans to their feral state, only Mops and her team are left with their minds intact.
Escaping the attacking aliens—not to mention her shambling crewmates—is only the beginning. Sure, Mops and her assortment of space janitors and plumbers can clean the ship, but flying the damn thing is another matter. As they struggle to keep the Pufferfish functioning and find a cure for their crew, they stumble onto a conspiracy that could threaten the entire alliance.
A conspiracy born from the truth of what happened on Earth all those years ago…
Terminal Alliance (Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse, #1) Reviews
-
4.5 Stars
Well…. I was all excited to start listening to this book with my awesome friends, but I ended up reading the June book thinking it was the May book 🙄😂🤣
Anyhoo! I listened to the graphic audio through the library and it was awesome. And, I found the first two books in Hardback at the thrift store so yay for all of that.
I enjoyed the book and the cover is awesome!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 -
This author's Magic ex Libris series is one of my favourite series ever so it was time for me to explore his other books and see if they are as good. In
Terminal Alliance Hines is reaching out into Space Opera and he does it in style.
I just love this man's imagination! Humans are scarce now after the Apocalypse and cured, non feral ones are even rarer. They are employed by the Krakau in necessary jobs, thus Mops is in charge of a team of space janitors who get to do some really unpleasant tasks as they keep the plumbing working in a space ship. After a series of unfortunate incidents Mops and the team end up running the ship, fighting some major battles and pursuing a cure for the ferals across the universe.
Basically this is a fun book. The character of Mops is brilliant and the rest of the team are also good. There is a lot of humorous banter and some hilarious situations when they bring their knowledge of sanitation systems into fight scenes. Hine's imagination knows no bounds when he is creating aliens and their life styles.
A totally entertaining book, very well worth the read! Now where is the next book...….. -
Centuries in the future humans have survived the apocalypse but succumbed to a disease that turned them into feral zombie-like creatures that eat anything including the alien Krakau diplomats who arrived on Earth to make peace with them. Eventually the Krakau found a way to cure the humans, rescuing several thousand to train as soldiers and support staff for their battleships. Marian 'Mops' Adamopoulos is one such human in charge of a sanitation and hygiene crew who look after maintenance and plumbing on the battleship 'Pufferfish'. When the rest of their battleship is infected with a bioweapon, Mops and her crew suddenly find themselves in charge of the ship and on the hunt for the source of the bioweapon.
Hines injects plenty of his quirky humour and satire into this space adventure. I love the image of a bunch of sanitation engineers saving the universe with their maintenance tools and cleaners. They are a smart bunch with plenty of imaginative ways to use their skills to get out of sticky situations. Throw in some good world building and interesting aliens and the result is a fun and clever mystery with plenty of action. -
I am the type of person who wonders where the bath rooms are on the Enterprise and the Death Star. Sure, the Falcon has neat hiding holes, but how are the toilet systems? Does the head have a seat beat? And how did Luke go to the bathroom on his way to Cloud City or wherever? Does the transporter take care of bodily functions?
In part this is curiosity, in part this is because I would be the one losing her lunch in the bathroom, so I really want to know.
Hines’ latest book is about those on such famous ships who rarely get mention and never get thought about – the janitors. In other words, Finn before he got sent to a planet where he didn’t like killing people unless they were people he knew.
(Sorry, I like Finn. In many ways, his reactions later in the movie are the most realistic, but that beginning sequence does Finn’s character a disservice. He is cheering killing people he knows).
Mops is a human in charge of a cleaning crew on the Pufferfish (the ships in this novel are named after the deadliest animals in human history). The human race has go through a collapse, not so much destroying everyone, but turning everyone feral (like zombies but not dead). The Krakau have developed a cure for this temperament, and humans who are cured work as mercs. The species has a reputation for stupidity, toughness, and blood thirstiness. Unfortunately for Pufferfish, on a recent assignment, the majority of the human crew has gone feral. The only ones who haven’t are Mops and her crew: Kumar, Monroe, and Mozart. There is also Puffy, who is more of hinderance, and Grom who is like centipede. Mops is determined to find out what happen and to cure her crewmates, leading to the adventure story that is the book.
Being a Hines book, there is much laughter. Part of it comes from the use of names, cured humans take names of famous people. So, Monroe, for instance, is named for Marylin. There are also the various reactions to human things, such as a dig at erotica. For the reader, there is the added bonus of reading being forefront in the story.
Truthfully, at the start the book is a bit slow and one of the big reveals, isn’t really a surprise for the careful reader (and Hines doesn’t treat it as such, to be fair). Yet, this book is also one of those books that illustrates the strengths of sci-fi, in particular humorous sci-fi.
The treatment of humans in the novel by other alien species is basically any ism that is in society today or in the past. Some of the comments, for instance, you have seen in the descriptions of Africans by Europeans or white slave owners. Hines is also getting the reader to think about how knowledge is transmitted or not transmitted; in fact, he tackles several big questions in this book. By doing so, quite frankly, he cements his place as America’s Terry Pratchett, who also dealt with big questions in funny ways. -
Actual rating: 4.7658952335569789 stars.
You need to read this book because:
① I said so.
②More importantly,
Ilona Andrews said so.
③ It’s funny as fish.
④ It’s more than just funny as fish.
⑤ The world is refreshingly unique and uniquely refreshing.
⑥ The book is Super Extra Fast Paced and Action-Packed (SEFPaAP™).
⑦ The somewhat riveting plot keeps you glued to your Kindle/papyrus scroll/earbuds/
headphones/whatever.
⑧ The characters are surprisingly complex and slightly pretty well-written. Also, I might or might not adopt some of them in the very near future (Grom the Glacidae, aka the super sexey little guy on the cover = 😍😍😍).
⑨ Best character names ever. FYI and stuff.
⑩ Tentacles, yay!
⑪ A starship fleet that includes the EMCS Pufferfish, the EMCS Hippopotamus, the warship EMCS Mosquito, the dreadnought EMCS Honey Badger, the bomber EMCS Cone Snail and last but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, the EMCS Mantis Shrimp .
⑫ Reasons.
• Book 2:
Terminal Uprising ★★★★
• Book 3:
Terminal Peace ★★★★★ -
This is my favorite Jim Hines book to date.
His trademark sense of humor puts a janitorial crew aboard a cruiser in the middle of a mystery that turns into a plot that reveals far wider significance than anyone in this fascinating universe could conceive.
Basically, Earth's population was zombified, nearly obliterating itself before it was rescued by the Krakau, who managed to keep ten thousand humans alive. As humans are hardy and eat pretty much anything, they are useful for as a combination dockside police and marines--given all the dirty military jobs nobody else in the Alliance wants.
But the Krakau, in saving humanity, has also completely rewritten human history and language--cured and reprogrammed humans now speak "Human" and they injest their food through tubes of gray gunk.
Mops, the lieutenant in charge, has the typical misfit crew: a tough ex-infantryman named Marilyn Monroe, a gun-ho sanitation tech named Wolf who is super bloodthirsty but also pretty much incompetent, Kumar, the nerdy rule follower, and Grom, who isn't human at all, but Glicidae, a kind of gigantic centipede, who is also a nerd addicted to video games.
This crew is out in space, wearing their containment suits as they clean up yet another disgusting mess, when the cruiser abruptly goes silent, and when they get back inside, they discover their human shipmates gone feral-zombie, and the Krakau officers dead.
That's when things really take off. Mops and her crew have to survive, figure out how to run the cruiser, and figure out who attacked and what to do about it. Hines has fun turning old space opera tropes inside out--the crew has no idea how to run a cruiser, and screws up constantly. Meanwhile, things are getting dire as dangers and threats build: someone clearly meant everyone on board to die, and is trying to rectify their error.
Mops and her gang deploy their sanitation knowledge in entertainingly imaginative ways to get out of increasingly dangerous situations as they run down clues about the attack, and begin to put together a picture of a much bigger problem. Along the way we get to meet a gang of colorful species.
The characterization is top notch, with tons of wit as well as janitorial humor; the pacing builds nicely to a cinematic climax, and though we get a satisfactory resolution, there is an even more tempting setup for future novels. Considering the pacing and the humor, there is a surprising amount of social commentary, including on who writes history, why, and the fallout when a culture discovers that it has been lied to by the authorities.
I am really looking forward to the next adventures of Mops and her gang. -
A virus has decimated earth, leaving the humans mindless beast. Magnanimously, an alien race takes curing humans on, bringing them back to their previously cogitate being. Putting them in janitorial positions among their race on a starship. When the starship is attacked, it leaves the humans in charge, where they soon discover that the history they were told was not all they were lead to believe.
Lots of antic, humor and action make this a fast-paced entertaining romp through the galaxies.
Terminal Alliance host a cast of highly original cast of extraterrestrials and re-created humans I've ever encountered. Plots within plots and mad machinations vividly and lively paint amazing worlds that have burst from Hines imagination.
I received this ARC copy of Terminal Alliance from Berkley Publishing Group - DAW. This is my honest and voluntary review. Terminal Alliance is set for publication November 7, 2017.
My Rating: 4 stars
Written by: Jim C. Hines
Series: Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse (Book 1)
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: DAW
Publication Date: November 7, 2017
ISBN-10: 0756412749
ISBN-13: 978-0756412746
Genre: Science Fiction
Itunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/term...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Terminal-Allia...
Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/term...
Reviewed for:
http://tometender.blogspot.com
-
This took me a bit to get into but once I did it was very enjoyable. A light space opera type with some interesting twists and turns. The humor did not hit me as much as others but in general space janitors save the human species is definitely more funny than not. Good, diverse aliens with motivations you can buy into.
I will read the next one -
A plague on Earth killed most of humanity, leaving the survivors feral. Feral humans are incredibly dangerous. An Alien species, the Krakau, had planned to invite humanity to join an alliance with other sentient alien species. But after the plague decimated Earth, the Krakau decided to save the human race from their new feral existence instead. The Krakau can give humans "rebirth", returning them to normal, but it is rumored that injury or severe stress can sometimes make humans revert to feral behavior. Reborn humans serve in the Earth Mercinary Corps (EMC). Reborn humans make great mercenaries because they are strong, resistant to most diseases, and recover quickly from injury. Reborn humans are the crew for the EMCS Pufferfish. Humans do the grunt work for the Krakau Command Crew, who controls the vessel. Following a battle with enemy vessels, a bioweapon kills the Kraukau commanders and reverts the human crew members to shambling, dangerous ferals. The only humans not effected are members of a janitorial crew who are wearing protective suits to clean up a sewage spill. They go from cleaning up the poo to being chin deep in it. And their leader, Marion "Mops" Adamopoulos, suddenly finds herself captain of the ship. Not only do they need to figure out how to fly the ship.....but they also discover some sinister secrets about the apocalypse that basically ended human civilization on Earth.
Terminal Alliance is a funny and enjoyable read. The concept is incredibly creative, and executed masterfully. I laughed out loud multiple times as the zany crew worked their way through problems and situations after being forced to take over the ship. While hilarious in many spots, the plot is actually quite complex. No spoilers from me....but there's a lot going on! Mix a bit of Red Dwarf, Star Trek and The Orville....and you get the antics on the EMCS Pufferfish. I love it when I read a book that shows such creativity and wit. It definitely put a smile on my face. Terminal Alliance is the first book I have read by Jim Hines -- I can't wait to read more!
For more information on the author and his books, check out his website:
http://www.jimchines.com/
**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Berkley via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** -
Due to a self-inflicted bio-engineered plague, humanity has suffered a devastating regression to become non-sentient savages barely surviving in the ruins of our world. That's when the Krakau showed up and began the project to rehabilitate humanity, recreating our language and history from books in the ruins. Now there's 10,000 uplifted humans who the Krakau have put to work in the Earth Mercenary Corps and who act as shock troops for the Krakau Alliance. After all, humans are nearly unkillable, monstrously strong and still unspeakably savage. At least they're not too bright.
Lt Marion "Mops" Adamopoulos is a longtime veteran of the EMC and the head of the shipboard sanitation crew of the EMCS Pufferfish (all the EMCS ships are named after deadly Earth animal life). When a mission goes terribly wrong and only Mops and her crew with one other alien are left, Mops has to work out what happened, save her people and stop a deadly new weapon being used by the enemy.
This book has a relatively serious plot, if you can take a group of janitorial staff going up against hostile aliens, but it has a lot of fun along the way. Of course there's lots of toilet humor, but there's a lot of fun with the cobbled together Earth history, the way that the aliens see humans and the "terrifying" alien species they encounter. Mops is a great character and all of her crew are fun, particularly perennial screw-up Wolf and gamer-centipede Grom.
Moving on to book two shortly. -
The author was kind enough to send me an early review ARC, which I appreciate a great deal. I have read all of Hines's books, and the reason this book gets five stars from me is it is the author's most ambitious project to date.
Don't get me wrong. Hines is one of the most versatile authors working in speculative fiction today, and I love that he ranges far and wide in his take on the speculative. Terminal Alliance has so many moving parts. It makes the philosophical statements he makes in his Goblin series (you missed this? Go look again!), has the strong moral characteristics of his princesses, and is full of the kind of self-examination we get in the Libriomancer series.
AND in and of its own self, this is easily the most interesting group of extraterrestrials I've seen in SF in a long time. In a publishing world of Roddenberry style humanoid aliens with facial appendages, Hines gives us aliens that are patterned on other life forms of earth--octopi, bugs, muppets--but he gives them excellent personalities and distinctive traits for each alien and alien culture. No Mr. Spock Vulcan monoliths here. Different planets have different factions that don't get along. Hmmm...that's kind of refreshing.
Additionally, Hines's humor wends into satire in this book. To get these jokes, you have to understand our current culture and see how the future warps and distorts it. We get the jokes the characters in the book can't get. There's plenty in there that's funny for its own sake, but man, the social commentary on current times. It's pretty good.
I liked Jim Hines as an author before. I am also more impressed now than I have ever been, and I'm the academic that called Goblin Quest the current equivalent to Pilgrim's Progress. Step back and just let Hines write. I'm looking forward to whatever comes next. -
Jim C. Hines has been on my radar for a long time, but I haven’t actually read any of his books until now! When I saw this on NetGalley, I was intrigued. I know Hines mostly as a fantasy writer, so I was curious to see how his science fiction would be. Turns out Hines’ Terminal Alliance reminds me a lot of John Scalzi’s
Old Man’s War universe.
Side note: This book was published in early November, but I was only approved towards the end of last month.
Terminal Alliance is set in a future where humanity has only recently been rescued from a self-inflicted “feral” virus by the Krakau, squid-like aliens who have formed a loose confederacy of worlds. Humans are infants compared to most species in the galaxy now: the Krakau are slowly “reawakening” as many feral humans as possible, but they’ve had to reassemble human culture and history from our spotty records. So all the humans alive take their names from historical figures. The protagonist is Marion Adamopoulos, or Mops, her name chosen after the scientist responsible for the virus that wiped out her species. Mops is the chief janitor—yes, janitor—aboard the EMC Pufferfish. But when a bioweapon takes out the Krakau in charge and renders everyone except Mops’ janitorial team (and one other alien comrade) feral again, it’s up to Mops and her janitor squad to save the day.
It sounds tongue-in-cheek, I know, and in some ways it is. In other ways, it’s devastating and heartbreaking.
I mean, Hines has essentially created a universe in which humanity has no real connection to the past and no real future. Mops might be a fan of Jane Austen’s work, but she probably lacks a coherent grasp of the context of what Austen was writing. And because there are so few reborn humans, and they are essentially dependent on the Krakau, humanity’s position in the galaxy is tenuous at best. No amount of situational comedy is going to soothe this wound. But, it might contribute to a very enjoyable plot.
The sinister secret conspiracy stuff is about as subtle as a panto villain, but I suppose it gets the job done. Much more enjoyable is the way that Mops and her crew aren’t that competent at what they attempt. As space janitors, they aren’t exactly a crack military squad—and it shows. They rely on their ingenuity, training, and grit—and it gets them far. But they make lots of mistakes too. Although there is much to be said for competence porn and watching Jason Statham–like action heroes just mow through crowds of bad guys, I also enjoy the obverse scenario where people are plucked out of their comfort zone and struggle realistically with adapting to their new situation.
I like how Hines uses the opening of each chapter as a way to infodump without overwhelming the reader. It works well here, because it allows him to push the plot forward very quickly while still informing us about the wider universe. I found myself anticipating these moments at the start of every new chapter, but they are never so long that they overstay their welcome.
There are a few things that didn’t quite work for me. Much of the characterization, for example, was a little too glib (this is a problem for me with Scalzi’s work too)—Wolf and Mops’ interactions are a case in point. Similarly, I just never really got to know many of the characters beyond, perhaps, Mops. They all feel fairly cookie-cutter and stock to me. Finally, the climax feels like it drags on for a while, with a lot more false starts or red herrings and exposition than there needs to be.
So, Terminal Alliance is a competent, fun, and rewarding book. I might read the sequel—it will be interesting to see what is in store for Mops and her crew now. However, it isn’t making any of my lists, so to speak.
-
This is a lot of fun, and I laughed out loud a couple times. Mashing Firefly and Guardians of the Galaxy together and substituting space janitors for ex-soldiers works rather well.
-
The moment I saw the cover of Terminal Alliance, I was sold. That gorgeous image of janitors in a hero pose on a space rock was irresistible. I was so down for space janitors. The actual book, however, did not quite match my mental image. And there was lots of room for nitpicking for anyone so inclined. My review may seem highly critical, but that’s only because I feel it was a good book that could have been great.
Terminal Alliance was not quite the story I had wanted. I really wanted to see what happens to janitors when the captain and bridge crew take the ship on an adventure. Instead, I found a familiar space opera plot with unlikely heroes. As entertaining as that was, it certainly was not as unique as a story following the duties of low level crew on a spaceship. (To be fair, I would have known what to expect if only I had paid more attention to the plot synopsis on the back.)
The story I found certainly had its charms. It opened with the EMC Pufferfish responding to a Prodryan attack on a Nusuran freighter. The Pufferfish drove off the fighters, but suffered an unknown attack that reverted the humans to mindless killing machines and left the head janitor in charge of the ship. Mops then chose to go rogue and investigate the attack with her spunky crew of janitors and a videogame obsessed bug. This naturally led into a high-stakes, wide-ranging space opera adventure. It was a familiar plot, but it was entertaining. I would absolutely watch a Terminal Alliance movie.
The plot was basic but fun, and the characters followed suit. They were archetypal, flat, and utterly serviceable. The Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation team was led by the shockingly competent and heroic Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos. The rest of the team consisted of a gruff but reliable combat vet, a young woman with a chip on her shoulder, a neurotic clean freak, and a videogame obsessed techie. Notable side characters included a sympathetic admiral and Jabba the Hutt style crime boss. The villains were stock bad guys. They filled their roles, but no more.
I wonder if the author decided to leave the character development to the sequel. I would have loved to see more of Monroe, who seemed to have PTSD from his infantry service; what wounds do practically indestructible soldiers bear? I would have also liked to see Mops display some real leadership toward Wolf, leading her from discipline problem to functional crew member. The beginning of the novel promised conflict and character growth, and embedding that growth within the adventure plot would have given Terminal Alliance a lot more depth.
The universe certainly really gripped me more than anything else. I love stories with lots of alien species, and Terminal Alliance fit the bill. I counted nine alien species named and eight described. Most seemed to be part of a military alliance led by the Krakau. The novel did not go into much depth about the nature or history of the alliance. It focused more on the characteristics of each species, only touching the sociopolitical situation as necessary for the plot. Luckily, the species themselves were very interesting. They ranged from space squid to colonial tree organisms to giant insects with a proclivity for cybernetics. I was enamored enough to overlook the deficit, but it was one more thing separating the book from greatness.
ALIEN LIST
The Krakau introduced humans into this setting decades before the story began. Humans had suffered what amounted to a zombie plague, and were left with no intelligence and incredibly durable bodies. The Krakau developed a process to restore some intelligence, and began slowly converting humans into mercenaries for the Krakau Alliance. Humans got restored to some level of sapience, and the Krakau got terrifying and nearly indestructible shock troops in the war against the Prodryans. All of this is portrayed as genuinely magnanimous on the part of the Krakau.
Terminal Alliance was a humorous novel. It was not as laugh-out-loud funny as, say, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the novel against which I measure all comedic science fiction). Instead, I would describe it as tongue in cheek with a dry sense of humor. Sure, there were specific jokes (lots of jokes about gender swapped names and misunderstandings of human culture), but they felt more like set dressing than the main event. The humor was also undermined by confused premises. It was never clear if Terminal Alliance thought humans were always stupid, only post-apocalypse humans are stupid, or humans were never stupid and just underestimated by the other species. There were jokes that relied on each of these perspectives. Combine that with a fish-out-of-water premise, cross-cultural and cross-species misunderstandings, and some good old fashioned slapstick, and you have an idea of the comedy on offer. I think it served to give the novel a light and fun atmosphere, but it fell short of comedic greatness.
I hate to be so critical of Terminal Alliance. I genuinely enjoyed reading it. I just cannot avoid how much the book held back. I think it could have been - should have been - great. I suspect it was intended to be a series from the start, and the ending seemed to promise more exploration of the universe and more development for the characters. I just wish this book had enough depth to be a great story in a cool universe.
CHARACTER LIST (abridged) -
This was a fun space adventure. Humans on earth have sort of devolved into zombies, so this alien race takes them out a few at a time, cures them, and gives them jobs on their spaceships. On one of these ships, a bio-weapon takes out the command staff and turns most of the humans into zombies. Only the Health and Sanitation crew comes out unscathed, and they take it upon themselves to investigate what happened and cure their crewmates.
It was funny to watch a group of janitors and plumbers learn how to pilot a spaceship and turn on communications, sort of like on “Galaxy Quest” when the crew B.S.es their way around the ship. There are plenty of embarrassing moments.
But there’s also a solid adventure story with a mystery and action and clever escapes. So if you enjoy straight-up science fiction that’s not dark and depressing, you may want to check this out.
Book Blog -
Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse didn't sound like my kind of thing, to be honest. I read it simply because I love everything else Jim C. Hines has ever written. Well, I started reading it for that reason. I kept reading it because it was ridiculously un-put-downable. Apparently Jim C. Hines can be funny and clever in any genre. This book is like the deranged bastard lovechild of Douglas Adams and Elizabeth Moon. I'm already counting down the days until the sequel.
-
This is such a fun book, and its story is a fresh and original take on what could have been a real trope. The characters were marvellous, particularly 'Mops' and 'Kumar' and I loved the names that Jim Hines popped into the story at every opportunity.
There are all kinds of subtle themes running through the story, and the humour made me laugh out loud at times. I'm really looking forward to the next one. -
Stars: 5 out of 5.
I think I discovered my new favorite space opera series! This book is funny, witty, and very-well constructed. We get alien races, world-shattering conspiracies, a galaxy on the brink of an all out war... and a group of janitors stuck in the midst of it all.
I really loved the fact that our would-be heroes are not highly trained infantry soldiers (well, apart from Monroe, who was infantry, but got injured so badly, half his body is is artificial). They are just a team of janitors on a spaceship that happen to be the only group still standing and in their right mind when a biological weapon is deployed against the entire crew. And even that is mostly due to chance. It's interesting to see this group of people finding most unusual solutions to their problems and utilizing the full extent of their cleaning knowledge to effectively neutralize their reverted comrades without killing them, and to keep the giant ship afloat the best they can... not to mention, unearth a conspiracy, thwart a genocide and save an entire planet. I'd say that makes them pretty amazing, actually, especially for a species of aggressive monkeys that the rest of the aliens consider barely sentient.
Let's mention that little twist, shall we? This story is set after humanity pretty much destroyed itself by turning all known humans into ferals. I would say it's an equivalent of zombies, only the infected are not dead and do not decay. They are stronger, faster, don't feel pain, can survive anything short of a decapitation... and are devoid of intelligence. They are basically driven by one instinct - hunt for food. And food can be anything - other humans, animals, aliens, trees, rocks, you name it.
Once another alien species, the Krakau, figures out how to cure those feral humans, they realize that they have a loyal and virtually unstoppable army at the tip of their tentacles. No wonder the mere mention of humans instills fear in the hearts of other alien species. Only not everything is as it seems and humanity saviors might not be as innocent as they are portrayed to be. For more information on that matter, read the book.
I loved all the characters I encountered in this book, especially Mops and her crew. They have their own quirks, but they are all very relatable and likeable. and Puffy, don't get me started on Puffy!
This is definitely a series worth reading for the story, the (somewhat dark) humor, the wonderful characters. I am definitely picking up book 2. -
Flip, parody of a MIL-SF space opera/zombie apocalypse crossover with a galactic conspiracy lurking for the future series.
My e-book copy was a moderate 360 pages with a 2017 US copyright.
Jim C. Hines is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He has more than ten (10) published novels in several series and stand alone. This is the first book in his Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse Series series. I have not read any of his books in the past.
TL;DR Synopsis
A tongue-in-cheek space opera giving homage to
Douglas Adams
HHGTTG and zombie apocalypse fiction. I seem to remember a similar use of the plot line of rescued humans from an earthly apocalypse being used as mercenaries by a galactic confederation in space operas of the dim-past? The author does a credible job of walking the fine line between comedic and Star Wars-grade space opera. Some of the humor was puerile. However, the janitorial-trained humans being incredibly effective as warfighters becomes a tired schtick before the end of the story.
The (real) Review
Technically, the writing was good. Both dialog and descriptive narrative were of about the same in better than average quality. It’s obvious that Hines is a competent author with several books to his credit. There were several errors that could easily have been found with better proofreading. For example, the Prodryan Squadron 52 at one point became "Squad 521". Also a de-zombified crewman Private Henson drops from the narrative. There was a single POV to the story. The pacing was good, albeit predictable. That is, the ‘discovery’ intervals segued into combats, which led to more discoveries and combats in a logical progression for a story in three (3) acts. The ending very much sets-up for a series in which the reader will buy more books. The story was intended to be humorous—it was, but the humor wore thin shortly after the mid-point. Firstly, I can rarely take a lot of scatological humor and janitors deal with a lot of shit. However, the humor was not consistently puerile, much of the time it was Doug Adam’s-grade arch. Unfortunately, it wasn't that that humorous throughout. In general, the premise that human janitors could
MacGyver a victory over foes with superior technology, firepower or training using janitorial supplies (like
toilet snakes) or cleaning service creativity was over-used. It could only be funny-- thrice, before there should have been something more.
The story contains no significant sex and drugs and only moderate violence. There were references to humans having had sexual congress, but nothing specific. The references might even be construed to have been garden-variety snog-fests. Folks could buy and use drugs for recreational purposes, but not on-board ship. Old fashioned alcohol use and abuse might have been referenced once or twice. Violence was moderately graphic, but not disturbing. It included physical and firearms usage and the use of cleaning equipment as weaponry. There were shipborne heavy weapons for space combat, which included missiles and beam weapons. Zombie humans ate people and aliens. Folks got roughed-up with bones broken. Folks got shot. Firearms included: ray guns, futuristic pistols, rifles, and machine-like gun projectile weapons. There was remarkably little blood and gore in the descriptions of the mayhem. Futuristic medical technology repaired up to moderate damage remarkably quickly. Body count was moderate, if you exclude spaceships being blown-apart.
The main character was Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos. Her’s was the single POV. She’s the remarkably competent head janitor on a space warship (Earth Military Corps (EMC) Pufferfish) manned by humans and commanded by squid-like aliens. There are human warfighters, she’s just not one them. Mops was the penultimate service industry manager and had the innate command skills of
Jack Aubrey. She’s the
Reasonable Authority Figure of the story. Unfortunately, she was a man referred to with the feminine gender. Mops was more than ably supported by her snarky
Benevolent A.I. Doc. Doc occupied a weirdly comedic monocular interface. Doc was the Deus Ex Monocle. Mops was initially hindered by her janitorial crew. That crew provides a not wholly implemented riff on the
Surrounded by Idiots trope. Her janitorial team includes: Marilyn Monroe, a disabled (male) ex-warfighter; Wolfgang Mozart a new (female) recruit with impulse-control issues; and
Sanjeev Kumar a (male) germophobic autistic. (Name games are an interesting part of the story’s humor.) Mops was also supported by a reluctant alien Glacidae
Techno Wizard named Grom. Grom was a human teenager in a rubber mask without hormonal issues. The alien Krakau Admiral Pashenbel Canon was a good gal. (All Krakau are female.) She’s Mop’s
Stealth Mentor. I assume she plays a big part in the series. The antagonists are alien Krakau Admiral Belle-Bonne Sage and the xenophobic alien Prodryan Burns Like Sunspots. Sage is inimical to all things human and was part of a Krakau conspiracy to subjugate them. Burns Like Sunspots is just a maniacal, killer alien with a fleet of spaceships. Except for Mop’s most of the characters were underdeveloped character-wise. However, they were easily recognizable as archetypes.
Story-wise, while on a mission, an alien biowarfare weapon kills the warship Pufferfish’s alien Krakau command staff and turns the human crew with the exception of Mops and her staff into zombies. Back on Earth all humans are zombies due to a long-ago apocalypse. The Krakau have ‘cured’ a cadre of humans. They in turn do service as mercenaries and service personnel for the Krakau. Mops gets her small crew of janitors to maneuver and fight the ship while bundling-up all the zombies more or less unharmed. She then realizes through a secretly sympathetic Pachelbel that Krakau High-Command's Sage is going to put down the ship's entire zombie crew. She goes rogue looking for a Prodryan hinted-at cure for the crew’s zombie state. During this quest, she becomes aware of the Krakau conspiracy to subjugate humans. The incompetent janitors develop into a warfighting crew like in
Kelly's Heroes. Mop’s finds the cure and does the Krakau a solid. With the aid of the threat of galactic political extortion (engineered with the helpful Pachelbel) they decide to cut her loose. They also take her zombie crew off her hands with a promise to de-zombify them with the cure she provides and not put them down. The end of story is very much setting up for the author’s series.
There was no world building. You really just need to be familiar with Star Trek and Star Wars space operatic tropes and you’re done. The trope usage was broad and recognizable enough that you can’t miss it. The aliens were mostly humans in rubber masks from different phyla, mostly animal, but with one significant plant. A weird name and speech pattern were signature of being alien and fodder for many jokes. Space combat was a little better than Star Wars in technical accuracy. Janitorial hand-waving was the solution to many problems. Towards the end, the janitors were acting more like the crew of the
Millenium Falcon then floor sweepers.
This was not a great work. All the clever humor was in the first half of the book. I thought the author did a good job borrowing the story’s look ‘n feel from
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the beginning, although with a more lowbrow sense of humor. That was literally fine by me. I can take an occasional fart joke. I eventually grew weary of the reliance on a janitorial solution to all problems, especially as the crew developed into a real team. The progression of the story was also very predictable. However, it wasn’t a lot of work for me to continue on to see which way the story went. Unfortunately, once the conspiracy had been exposed the author shamelessly segued into the sets-up for the money machine of the series--I lost interest. For me the Mop’s character and the Pufferfish’s story only had enough jokes to be worth reading once.
I likely won’t be reading the next in the series
Terminal Uprising.
Readers interested in a better parody of space opera might try
Redshirts by
John Scalzi. -
Lots of fun
-
Space-janitors, aliens, humor, and a plague of apocalyptic proportions? Yes, please. All of the above immediately captured my attention and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book.
When the apocalypse hits Earth and decimates much of the population leaving the remaining humans in something of a shambling, zombie-like state, an alien race swoops in to save the day. The Krakau have rebuilt the human race and the language, and now humans are pretty much human once again, only they’re now in space. Many of them, like Mops, are janitors tasked with cleaning up anything from waste to shipwrecks. When the ship that Mops is on encounters a wee bit of trouble, it’s up to Mops and her crew to save the day and show the aliens that they’re capable of much more than just janitorial services.
Hines is a master when it comes to creating humor-infused science fiction and fantasy novels, and Terminal Alliance is a perfect example. Both his world-building and his characterization were incredibly rich and detailed, and he manages to strike such an amazing balance between the serious and the silly like no other. Add to that, his plot and pacing were equally as fantastic, making this one of my favorite reads of 2017.
Highly recommended. Mops and her crew have quickly become some of my new favorites, and I’ll be be waiting (im)patiently for the next book in this series.
*eARC received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. -
Janitors in space, why not, I have seen it before (you have to watch Space Janitors, omg, looove that show).
Humans as always effed up and are now mindless beasts. The planet is kaputt. In comes aliens, saves a few and put them to work. As mercs and as janitors. One of those janitors is Mops, smart, resilient and really good at cleaning. And suddenly she is in charge of a space ship and what the, how does one even steer this thing? Ha, perfect.
I did have issues reading it, but that was ebook issues, I can not read ebooks anymore. The baby says NO. It takes too long reading them and that makes me lament. Funny should be read fast. You hear that, read it fast to enjoy it :)
Right where was I. Alien conspiracies. Bad aliens wanting to shoot them out of the sky. Scary humans. And so many things to clean!
There is humour, there is action, but mostly there is humour, witty, sarcastic and fun. -
Funny and fast-paced. I laughed out loud many times. Nicely complex plot with a team of heroic human sanitation workers and multiple alien races with a range of different biological features that added to the fun read. I’ll definitely pick up the next book in the series.
-
Janitors in spaaaaaaaaaace!
So, clearly we’re in science fiction territory. Earth has suffered a plague, reducing humanity to a mindless, feral state. The Krakau worked out a way to restore the intelligence of select humans, allowing them to become useful citizens of the Alliance. Lieutenant Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos is the head of Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation aboard the Pufferfish, a starship crewed by the usual mix of races. They respond to a distress call, complications ensue, and Mops and her team find themselves on the run from the Alliance while trying to control a ship that they barely understand how to operate. And nothing less than the fate of the human race is at stake.
Yes, this is humorous SF, but the humor doesn't get in the way of the story. Mops and her team banter and charm and generally take the reader on one heck of a ride. I am definitely hooked on this series, and am looking forward to reading the rest of it. It's got something of a space opera feel to it, not in a bad way or anything.
This was all kinds of fun, and is highly recommended! -
Good introduction to a fun space opera with great characters and an interesting story. I will definitely continue the series.
-
Jim C. Hines "Terminal Alliance" is a fresh funny take on the classic science fiction trope of smart humans seizing their rightful place in a galactic universe controlled by a higher technologically alien races. Its slightly reminiscent of Andre Norton's "Star Guard", a classic sf novel originally published in 1955, in which Terrans have finally joined a galactic empire but are not allowed by the aliens who control the empire to go to the Stars on their own, but are only used as mercenaries because the galactic empire fears humanities talents, but some resolute Terrans are not content with the hand they have been dealt.
In "Terminal Alliance", Earth has suffered a devastating plague, which causes most of humanity to revert to a feral state. The alien Krakau have sought to help humanity. They choose, modify and "re-educate" selected adult humans who are then sent to help the Krakua Alliance as mercenaries or as sanitation specialists aboard spaceships. The Krakua have bio-engineered the human survivors with super human reflexes and strength making them the perfect soldier for their alliance. So short of a spinal or head injury, they can continue to fight. They have also changed the human physiology to remove what they think are impediments, essentially giving everyone a stomach line for food intake, because the Krakua think human food is disgusting.
Hines audaciously focuses on a group of mop wielding sanitation specialists with an expertise in cleaning machines, plumbing and spills as the main characters who have to thwart an alien plot aimed at their crewmates and the Krakua. And he pulls it off superbly.
Hines winning formula features a lot of humor surrounding cleaning, but also around smart characters thrown into unfamiliar circumstances. It takes real talent to turn accepted space warfare situations, gun battles on space stations and dealing with alien mob families and ratchet up both smart reasonable solutions in clever and funny ways. Hines keeps the action fast and the fun high.
Twelve years after being "re-educated" by the Krakua, Mops Adamopoulus is a Lieutenant and commander of a small Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation janitor team (SHS) on the Pufferfish, a Krakua space cruiser. During a small military action, some human crew members are infected with something and start to revert to ferals. It appears that they have taken out the Krakua command crew leaving Mops in charge of the Pufferfish with just her small contingent of janitors and a single alien Gron, a Glaciade, who rather play space invader like video games, facing the enemy Prodryans and having to fend off the ferals as well. Mops is supported by her AI Doc, a computer linked to the shipboard systems that Mops has upgraded, Wolf, a muscular crew mate who wishes she was a mercenary and Monroe, the ex-mercenary with a metal arm.
Mops and her team are soon on the Krakua wanted list, who want to "put down" the 200 feral humans on the Pufferfish. Forced into unfamiliar roles, Mops goes in search of the Prodryans, who infected her crew. Figuring out how to use the ship weapons, space battles, dealing with multiple alien species on an space station. Hines powers the story using wit and verve. Mops soon learns a Krakuan secret about how humanity devolved into ferals on Earth. We may not have caused the plague.
Six months after my first read, I zoomed through the book again this week. It's just a great fun unconventional read. The Janitors are taking over the Universe. Watch out. -
A really fun, funny, sci-fi romp. I enjoyed it a lot! It's got a good balance of action and interpersonal character development. It hit the right balance between fluff and heavy plot, and brings the reader along for a fun ride.
-
Giving up after 187 pages - this one just couldn't hold my attention. Parts were funny, but most of the jokes felt forced and I didn't care enough about the characters or story to keep going.
However, I do enjoy Hines' Libriomancer books! -
4,5
-
I vacillate between 3 and 4 stars on this one. I really enjoyed the overall story arc but the humor got tiring at points. As a mom of 4 my quota for poop and butt jokes is filled outside of my recreational reading. I pondered giving up on the book but having read 2 other series by Mr. Hines that I enjoyed, I decided to stick it out. I'm happy I did. It is worth all the poop and butt jokes. I will be reading the next one when it comes along.
