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| Source: Amazon.com |
From the book's cover:
The year is 2017. Lucy Pavlov is the CEO of PavSoft Industries, home of a revolutionary operating system that every computer in the world runs on. Her personal wealth is immeasurable, her intelligence is unfathomable, and she's been voted World's Most Beautiful Woman for three years running. To put it simply - she has it all.
But not everything is quite right in Lucy's life. For starters, she has no memories prior to 2015. She also keeps having run-ins with a unicorn. And to make matters even worse, a bomb is hurtling through interstellar space, headed straight for Lucy - and the planet known as Earth.
The review:
The Wikipedia page that gives up the following short synopsis for Blonde Bombshell is tiny (they call them “stubs”, but this is stubby even for a stub), and in my opinion that is a darn shame. This novel deserves more. Blonde Bombshell is a 2010 comedy novel written by Tom Holt about a race of dogs on another planet that decide to destroy Earth because humans were playing their music too loud. Short synopsis of Blonde Bombshell taken from Wikipedia.org.
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| The author, Tom Holt. / Source: GoodReads.com |
You know, this one reminded me of Battlefield Earth, by the time I was done with it. Blonde Bombshell was one of those books that kept surprising me with how intelligent and entertaining it was. But it didn’t start out that way. For the first few chapters, the book’s plot was so confusing that I got frustrated and pondered quitting. I realize, having completed the book, that Holt is setting up the reader for his plot to unravel in a satisfying way, but the concepts he is talking about are kind of obtuse. There are unicorns, dogs with humans as pets (not a typo there - dogs WITH human PETS), a “type six probe designated as Mark Twain” (that’s a quote you’ll have to get used to reading, and it becomes rather an endearing appellation after a while), and an incorrigible drunk who ends up… well I’ll not ruin the novel’s ending if I can help it. Which in a nutshell means I endorse a recommendation to read Blonde Bombshell, if you are any sort of veteran of my book reviews.
Blonde Bombshell was quite entertaining. Holt has a knack for witticisms. Of course, the author is a Brit, and so some of the slang is from across the pond, as it were, but this doesn’t detract heavily from the novel’s charm. The characterizations are enjoyable, and the plot moves along fairly plausibly, once you get the hang of Holt’s style and the strange scenario he is pulling together here.
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| This image is from the game, "Robot Unicorn Attack 2." I couldn't make that up if I tried. Of course, the probe from the book that takes on the appearance of a unicorn is much more realistic looking and non-robotic. If you were wondering hos this ties in, in the story, the bomb vehicle arrives at Earth and scans our databases, looking for a creature to replicate that will be "inconspicuous" for use as a scout. Thus, a unicorn. / Source: destructoid.com |
One bonus, the audiobook narrator for Blonde Bombshell did the type six probe called Mark Twain's accent in the style of Bela Lugosi, which made a great touch. Here is this alien construct that is trying to acclimate to Earth, and he is screwing up all over the place as it is - despite his good looks, which his orbiting computer boss determines he needs in order to get along well in Earth society - and the vocalizations in a Lugosi-esque style really give the story nuance.
Blonde Bombshell: overall recommended, if you like sci-fi and don’t mind the learning curve to get into the novel’s quirky setup. It was funny and a lot of fun. Smart like Battlefield Earth was, but with a more dry and yet spot-on sense of humor. Well worth the read.
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| Try as I might, I couldn't see "the type six probe designated as Mark Twain" with any face other than Lugosi's. Readers of the hardcover/paperback will miss out on this, I think. One of the highlights of the audiobook. / Source: martingrams.blogspot.com |
Learn more about Blonde Bombshell, by Tom Holt, on Amazon.com
The parting comment:
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| Source: LOLSnaps.com |
Best waterski ever. Though I bet the Ostar, the planet where super-intelligent dogs live in Blonde Bombshell, would find this image highly distasteful. Thus one more reason to want to blow up out planet.
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