Space oddity

Now that the 100th Metagalactic Grand Prix is over, and humanity is firmly settled in the middle of the pack of sentient species, Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes (last seen in Space Opera, 2018) are expected to go on a contractually obligated press tour. Humanity is about to disappoint the galactic entertainment community again, and Decibel Jones is going to get them all into trouble trying to go "somewhere cool." He does not, however, manage to avoid a massive bureaucratic headache: "somewhere cool" turns out to be Eta Carinae, home of the Vedriti, who really are only happy when it rains. Rules are rules, and there will have to be another, hastily assembled Grand Prix. There's quite a lot of chatty, guidebook-style narration, which covers everything from how sentient life usually reacts to finding out it's not alone in the universe to the problems with the hero's-journey narrative structure. Valente's signature stylistic whimsy is very much on display here, and fans will certainly enjoy this answer to "what happens after you save the world."

In this gonzo sequel to 2018's Space Opera, Valente dives deep into cosmic absurdity and intergalactic hijinks, throwing temporal paradoxes, uncaring bureaucracy, and myriad pop culture references together in a glittering cacophony of extended metaphors and weird imagery. Mere days after saving Earth by surviving the interstellar music contest known as the Metagalactic Grand Prix, aging rocker Decibel Jones and his temporally resurrected bandmate Mira Wonderful Star now navigate a capricious, chaotic cosmos as part of their "Contractually Obligated Publicity and Interstellar Diplomacy Tour." It's relatively uneventful, until Decibel asks their ship to take them "somewhere cool" and promptly stumbles across a previously undiscovered species. Cue another round of the Grand Prix, as Jones and Mira sponsor a representative of the profoundly uninterested Vedriti in an effort to prove the species' sentience as per the galaxy's standards. This narrative through line hides within a solar system of alien logic, random asides, laugh-out-loud humor, and introspective time-outs. Still, Valente finds scattered moments of genuine emotion for her protagonists. Dense, elaborate, and wacky, this reads like Douglas Adams writing on a sugar high. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. (Sept.)