Warning: watch out for [EXPLETIVE] spoilers (even if they’re minor).
After devouring Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja last year, this was the book that I’ve been waiting to come out, i.e., my most anticipated read of 2017. It felt like it took an eternity to actually come out and even though I get that publishing is a slow business, I was impatient.
Feels dramatic, I’m sure, but anyone who has ever waited for their next favorite book to come out knows this GIF is perfect.
I wanted to know what happened next. I wanted to see how Captain Rogers was going to handle being acting admiral of The Flagship. I wanted to see how they were going to manage an invading Thelicosan fleet. I wanted to see how many times the Viking could punch him in the face (and see if how, and if, their relationship developed). I wanted to hang out with my favorites again and laugh more than I usually do when escaping from reality in the hands of a paperback. And, let’s be real, here.
I missed Deet.
So, I’m sure you can imagine my excitement when November 7th finally rolled around or my gratitude to my public library, who was willing to buy a copy to add to their shelves since money is a bit tight for me (while I’m hoping to get my copy underneath the Christmas tree). I dove back into the hilarity of Captain Rogers’ world, curious if the impatient wait was worth it.
Spoiler: it totally was.
It had everything I loved about the first book–the characters, the antics, the satire and the guaranteed sore abs from laughter–and then amped it up a little bit, by adding in the POV of the Thelicosans, specifically Grand Marshall Alandra Keffoule, Secretary Vilia Quinn and Commodore Zergan, as they try to deal with the message they accidentally sent to the Meridian’s: “We’re invading.” The solutions they come up with are absurd, hilarious and mathematically fueled, leading to a lot of chuckling and trying to turn the pages faster on my end. I also found myself relating a lot to Quinn as I read and rooting for her to unwind as the book progressed (I wonder if she can teach me how to do that…).
It was really fun to see a different culture living in this space opera, especially a culture that this non-mathematically-minded brain couldn’t fully understand, yet still found their jokes to be funny, anyway. It was fantastic to see Rogers grow as a character, without losing the humor that made me fall in love with him in the first place. It was awesome to discover a few twists and turns I was so not expecting (I see you, Zoo Keeper), not to mention that freakin’ ending.
But, as we all know, the best thing about the book, hands down?
Deet.
Considering I read this book in, what, two, three days, I’m now left in a familiar position as I was before I read this book. I have a greater understanding of what’s going on with Admiral Rogers and his crew and the questions I had before I read Communication Failure have been answered. But now, I have even more questions than I had before and, perhaps, an even greater desire for the last book of the Epic Failure trilogy, Miserable Failure, to come out.
So, back to Azkaban I go.
*commence waiting sequence*
Read on!
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