Mechanical Failure (1) (Epic Failure Trilogy)

… not told as well as some. The tale belongs to ex-Sergeant Rogers, who through an unfortunate situation is remanded back to the military to serve an additional three years (or be subjected to some undetermined harsh punishment in the salt mines), this time as (horrors!) an officer. In the short time Rogers has been away, things have changed dramatically in the Fleet as the ongoing (200+ years) peace with the various enemies has gotten uneasy (or so he's told). Onboard the flagship (conveniently named "Flagship"), chaos reigns as personnel have been reassigned to random jobs, there's motor oil in the scrambled eggs, and the Admiral appears to be a smooth-talking idiot. Oh, and a bunch of droids appear to be running things. After the third (fourth?) executive officer in a row has committed suicide, Rogers is assigned that role and quickly wants to check out himself. He doesn't of course, as there are people and ships and worlds to save (and scotch to drink).

The general situation is similar to the TV show "Angie Tribeca" but in space. "Tribeca" is theater of the absurd, just as this novel is, and it's something that you either get or don't. Here, the general story is good, it's funny at times, you do get interested in the characters (especially the Viking), the repartee is generally well-done, and Rogers' struggles to overcome the stupidity of almost everyone else onboard the flagship (including the droids) does hold your attention.

But I thought the actual absurdity and stupidity of the people who are supposed to run a starship went a bit overboard; most of the crewmen and women don't seem to have the smarts to do anything (including running a starship) other than do what they're ordered to do and take things literally. As a satire and parody it certainly works; as an absurd satire, not so much. This type of situation has been much better done by Harry Harrison (his Stainless Steel Rat series), Keith Laumer and his Retief series, John Scalzi (Red Shirts and The Android's Dream), Catch-22, and the TV series "Psych" amongst others.

If you like "Angie Tribeca", I suspect you'll love this book. I do think this book is somewhat original and it avoids a lot of the tropes found in the genre; I'll likely read the follow-up books in this series just to see where the anti-military ex-Sergeant Rogers eventually ends up and to see if he can really keep the peace going despite the stupidity around him.

Purchased at my local Indie bookstore, Page 158 Books on White St in Wake Forest, NC, for our Scifi BoTM club.

I especially love it when a story demands I read it all in one setting. I started this at 10PM, expecting to fall asleep after a chapter or two and pick it up later. I finished the novel around 5AM the next morning, reading it straight through the night.

4+ stars. Starts out as implausible campy satire, and its good at that. Had some full body laughs in every chapter. Entertainment is what we're after here, isn't it?

Anyone with any military XP knows there are those certain MOS's with a history of a scam of some kind going on behind the scenes. The supply guys who could be running anything short of guns, you tend to take care of them because they might hook you up with an extra first aid kit when you are deployed. The ship's engine room guys are the most likely to have a still hidden away in the bowels and boilers... and this is our unlikely scam-artist and sand-bagger turned reluctant hero. Rogers is exactly that kind of guy, rolled out of the service and smuggling whatever he can, and double-crossing both sides as he does it.

So, for the price of that guy getting scammed and shanghaied back into the service, we earn an excellent guide to narrate us through the crazy world of the shipboard service. You can't con a con man. Rogers notices things are in serious disarray. People are put out of their occupational specialties in the name of cross training that makes no sense. It’s as if someone wants the worst possible people put into the critical roles that count if a war comes... and the word on the fleet is, a war is coming, and soon.

Our unlikely hero Rogers has greatness thrust upon him. In the crazy uncanny way Colombo stumbles through an investigation and figures it all out just in time to avert disaster, so seems to go the fast rising star of our Sgt, no, Lieutenant, no Captain Rogers.

I enjoyed the way the usual love interest B-story is averted when the would-be love interest is a hulking Viking female Marine officer. Rogers responds with thinly veiled masochistic gravity like a moth to the flame which he wants to get burned by. The droid barber character provides some of the greatest running gags throughout the book. I like the symmetry here, how our hero ends in the equivalent position the story opened with: right in the crosshairs of multiple enemies about to fire at him.

We are all looking forward to Lieutenant Lietentant Zeija presenting book 2 in our morning Intell briefing soon.

Filled with wit and some great dialogue, this was a great book that I had to finish the day I got it.

It takes it time setting up the stage for the first third, but is densely packed with jokes and banter. Once everything is in place, the plot takes off, keeping the humor intact, but amping up the action. There were some great recurring themes, and several laugh-out-loud moments. I loved the friendly jabs at the various military stereotypes, and it was hilarious when Roger's 'dream came true'.

Snappy dialogue, a great setting, and I am really hoping for a second book.

OK, before I start, let me say that I love space operas. My favorite genre, and from the few nuggets I was able to glean from reviews, I expected to love this book. Boy, was I in for a disappointment. Some may call Zieja's writing style witty. I just call it lazy. The entire book, as far as I managed to get before putting it down in disgust, was an protracted effort at sarcasm and "wit". Every cliche you could imagine is thrown in, in seemingly random order. Just plain stupid. How he managed to convince someone to publish this thing is anyone's guess. I cannot stress too much how much I hated this book. Do not buy it!

Waste of paper. Trees died for no reason. Not funny, not anything.

Not sure what the other reviewers are smoking but this might be one of the worst books I've ever read. It's like a 10yo boy trying to emulate Douglas Adams. It's terrible. Would love to give it zero stars.

This is the author's first book...and it shows. Absolutely awful

I was introduced to a genre never explored, military/Scifi humor. I found the book totally entertaining, even laughing at loud! I would highly recommend the adventure. Can't wait for the second of the trilogy!

Overall an amusing book. I almost didn't read past the first 20%, but I did, and ended up buying book 2 as well.

I loved this book. Has the feel of guardians of the galaxy meets Stripes wrapped in iRobot.

The opening sequence drew me in and following the chapters really delivered a captivating story with lots of comedy. After 18 years of military service I really appreciated the creative take on military subculture and some of the funny things that we experience while serving.
This is the first fiction book I have read in over 15 years. Joe has me hooked and looking forward to the rest of the series.

Awesome read - this was a refreshingly comical sci-fi - and part of a trilogy! I read this one so fast, I picked up the second (Communication Failure) immediately. Definitely looking forward to the third book.