Bug Hunt by Isaac Hooke
Read by Luke Daniels
Part 1 of the Argonauts series
8h 16m
Podium 2017
BOOK BLURB
Rade got his ex-military teammates together and they pooled their savings to buy a ship and six mechs. The Argonauts were born.
But it wasn’t easy.
Ruthless bankers are breathing down their necks, vengeful warlords are promising to pursue them across the galaxy, and now a mysterious new client wants Rade and his Argonauts to escort her to a frontier planet.
Problem is, the new client won’t reveal her cargo. It’s probably something illegal. Well, Rade needs the money, so a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
They arrive to find the frontier colony strangely deserted. When the shit hits the fan and the Argonauts face a possible alien infestation, it’s time to pull out the big guns. Because if there’s one thing Rade and his Argonauts really love, it’s a good bug hunt.
And this one looks to be the hunt of a lifetime.
MY REVIEW
Fun, simple, fast-paced, no major surprises, but ticked most of my happy reading boxes for some light space opera. I did like the inclusion of sentient robots and how a few of our characters wrestle with the ethics of putting such beings in the first line of fire. Is it OK because we made backups of all their memories and personality so we can just download them into a new body if their robot body gets obliterated? Or are we losing one sentient being and just creating a clone of them later after all the fuss is over?
There are very few female characters and 2 of them are unnamed sex workers, 2 of them are perhaps of a more fluid gender being an artificial being and the other an alien. Shaw is the one woman who gets the most lines and nearly all her page time is spent dealing with relationship issues or having hot sex. So, yeah, the few ladies felt like the author was checking the Gender Diversity box for this book instead of being really invested in the lady characters.
Rade is a nice guy but a bit of an idiot. He is his own biggest obstacle but that also makes him lovable. He’s got some PTSD and is in denial about it. Of course, this infuriates Shaw, who loves him anyways. It’s cute but kind of a standard trope to bring some drama.
There are moments where the characters refer to past events and I did wonder if maybe I had missed a previous book in the series (as far as I know, I didn’t). But I think it’s just adding a little depth to this team. They’ve been through some traumatic fight with some aliens in the past and are leery of coming across them again. Despite the predictability of the plot, I still enjoyed the ride and I look forward to seeing what happens next to this crew. One of the sequels is called Mechs vs. Dinosaurs! How can I NOT want to read that? 3/5 stars.
The Narration: Luke Daniels did a very good job with this book. I will admit that I had a few books narrated by him that were just over the top with his silliest voices and I was turned off to his narrations for a while. But this book came up on the Hoopla Bonus Borrows and I decided to give him another shot because I loved his work on Iron Druid Chronicles. Anyway, he gives all the guys distinct voices and he does a decent job with the few female voices. I liked his evil Zoltan artificial being voice especially. No crazy over-the-top voices this time. Pacing was perfect. 5/5 stars.