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Year Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid
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Year Zero: A Novel (edition 2012)

by Rob Reid (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8165926,674 (3.52)22
Absurd sci-fi comedy is good. Okay, so maybe some things ring more like fantasy than sci-fi, but it's intended to be sci-fi and I had a good time. The ending gave me a good giggle. For sure, I'd read more. ( )
  Noeshia | Oct 23, 2020 |
English (58)  Italian (1)  All languages (59)
Showing 1-25 of 58 (next | show all)
This was an entertaining story similar to The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It has some good laugh-out-loud moments. However, I cannot give it more than three stars because a) there is gratuitous foul language used, including taking the Lord's name in vain, and b) a fawning endorsement of Bill Gates's "humanitarian" efforts in the epilogue. ( )
  jfranzone | Feb 14, 2024 |
A fun sci-fi romp reminiscent of a good Dr. Who episode or a Douglas Adams novel. ( )
  Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |
I enjoyed it. There were a few areas that made me roll my eyes. A couple of the jokes were really predictable but overall a good read. ( )
  cdaley | Nov 2, 2023 |
Maybe I picked up this book at the wrong time. Maybe the comparison to Hitchhiker's set the bar too high. Whatever the reason, I didn't find the first few chapters entertaining enough to keep reading. ( )
  talon2claw | Dec 31, 2022 |
not as funny as it could have been ( )
  GridCube | Jan 17, 2022 |
Douglas Adams is inimitable. His imagination fires off in all directions, with you never sure just what he’s going to say next. Reid doesn’t imitate Adams but channels his genius in ways I didn’t think was possible. Year Zero is a fantastically ridiculous story that doesn’t stray too far from Adams’ style.

If your interests cross over between music (piracy), computers, and aliens, then this is best story for you. We start off slow and easy and eventually build into a crescendo of fantastic images that are laugh-out-loud funny.

The idea of the “Refined” league is preposterously awesome. Reid builds an incredible universe of aliens that are so in love with human music that they’ll hold lip-sync concerts, make faux reality shows, and carry around the entire library of human music. Oh, and when they listen to our music, they go into so much ecstasy that it literally kills them.

But that’s not all. The aliens are as strange as they can be. Between 2D entities, insect-like creatures, cute teddy bears with sharp weapons, and humanoid sluts, you’ll never see what’s coming. Reid channels his inner Adams in hilarious ways that even Adams would have appreciated.

Most notable is the fact that the most powerful organization in the universe – the Guardians – are impotent. In contrast, the actual most powerful organization in the universe is the Union, which is a government workers union.

What the book does best is music. From the peppiest pop to the heaviest metal that can be, this book covers them all. You won’t be disappointed at all by the music references, though many of them are from the ‘70s and will be lost on younger audiences.

I also loved the geekiness it exudes. It’s filled with jabs at computers, especially the whole Windows vs. Mac debate. And there’s a wonderful reference to why a particular operating system is such a pain in the ass. I didn’t see that coming.

The biggest star of all, however, is the human characters. While they aren’t exactly developed in detail, the characters still feel real and work well within the story. Without spoiling too much, I loved how the lawyers were represented as ruthless, inhuman machines with a soft corner for legalese, money, and rappers.

I haven’t had as much fun with a book in a long, long time. If you’re looking for something geeky and fun, then go pick this up right now. Just don’t pirate any music while you’re doing so! ( )
  bdgamer | Sep 10, 2021 |
John Hodgman's narration really made the audiobook version of this great. Not sure I would have enjoyed quite so much on the page. ( )
  jlweiss | Apr 23, 2021 |
Fun, silly read which somehow makes copyright laws hilarious. ( )
  illmunkeys | Apr 22, 2021 |
This recommendation from a friend was a fun, silly read. ( )
  joyblue | Dec 12, 2020 |
Absurd sci-fi comedy is good. Okay, so maybe some things ring more like fantasy than sci-fi, but it's intended to be sci-fi and I had a good time. The ending gave me a good giggle. For sure, I'd read more. ( )
  Noeshia | Oct 23, 2020 |
Clever idea; sloppy execution. Both Benj and I look forward to a remix of this book by a more talented writer. ( )
  librarymeanslove | Oct 1, 2020 |
Best quote - "Could Windows really be anything but an alien conspiracy?"

If you liked Hitchhiker's Guide, this book will remind you how much you've missed the Universe. ( )
  dkayw | Aug 26, 2020 |
I had a great time with this very funny book, but a few things should be accounted for.

1. You have to be a music nerd.

2. You ought to have a healthy respect or disrespect for music copyright laws and the dimensions they involve.

3. You must have a sense of humor.

One really ought to be a must or most of the great references and jokes will be lost and it is entirely possible to learn and be impressed by the great solutions to the copyright kerfuffle here, so you could squeak by with number two, but I'm gonna have to insist on number three. :)

That being said, this is a light and completely snarky SF about music. Specifically, how the rest of the galaxy so completely loves our music that it has been secretly stealing every single song we've produced to their great joy... and as we soon learn, their great dismay... because they respect the law. Or at least, they apply that respect to the home world's system of laws where the art is produced, and this is where the biggest problem arises.

Stolen songs here comes at a cost of 150k per song in damages. Current estimation of damages across the galaxy is about 1/3 the total gross wealth of the galaxy. Earth would be RICH AS HELL if it wasn't for that little spark of expediency called ... destroying the debt owed.

Good music? Sure. But we can't pay that much!!!! Kill em.

:)

So yeah, this does have a bit of a DNA vibe going on and it is very funny throughout because those galactics love everything we've made, but that's where the similarities end.

No spoilers, but a single Earth lawyer's journey through the galaxy is fantastic, and the eventual solution is geeky and fun as hell. Thank you, Lessig! :)

( )
  bradleyhorner | Jun 1, 2020 |
This is a quirky novel. It had a great premise, but didn't really deliver much. Year Zero made me smirk occasionally, and snort a couple times, but it wasn't as funny as promoted to be. It could have been so very much more than it was. The business part of the legality of music was a bit beyond me, and a little boring also. The name dropping, trend mentioning, and band/singer naming seemed a little dated.
The narrator or he audiobook is John Hodgman, and he was pretty good at all the characters. The surprise at the end, of the "earthling" that turned out to be an escaped alien, was pretty interesting for about a minute, but I guess it makes sense for the novel.
It also sounds like there will maybe be a sequel coming along, in the future. I'm not sure if I'm all that interested in it.
3 stars, and only recommended to those who like silly Martian stories. ( )
  stephanie_M | Apr 30, 2020 |
Fun parody of the music industry. A little uneven but worth the read. ( )
  Skybalon | Mar 19, 2020 |
Enjoyed it, it really was very silly (Douglas Adams' style silly), but in a fun way. Felt like it finished-off rather abruptly, while the plot was concluded, the requirement for a long, almost unrelated epilogue suggests that he had further plans, which never quite fit into the final piece (in an afterword, the author in fact says it was only in the 2nd or 3rd draft that he was convinced to include a plot! You can tell.) Still, I enjoyed it all, and if the universe created wasn't designed to be pretty-much non-violent, it'd be fun to revist! ( )
  Loryndalar | Mar 19, 2020 |
Ein recht unterhaltsamer Ausflug in die Untiefen des Copyrights im Musikzirkus, und wie tief es die Erdbewohner im restlichen Universum in die Bredouille reiten kann... die immer wieder zu lesenden Vergleiche mit Douglas Adams sind meiner ganz bescheidenen Meinung nach dann doch an den Haaren herbeigezogen, dafür fehlt es dem ganzen einfach an ausgereiftem Sprachwitz und konsequent umgesetztem Wahnsinn. Der Schluß schwächelt auch zu sehr, unter anderem weil in Sachen Hauptprotagonist arg vorhersehbar, um mehr als drei starke (gäbe es hier halbe Sterne, wären es dreieinhalb) Sterne von mir zu bekommen. Für die spaßige Lektüre zwischendurch aber genau richtig! ( )
  Horrortorte | May 17, 2019 |
This novel is satirical comedy or farce. Previous reviewers are correct when they write that it is reminiscent of the Douglas Adams "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" series. It also reminds me of Southpark and television satire of that ilk. The novel has its funny parts, but by the end it was very predictable and cliched, proving that it could have used some tighter editing. The author uses the comedic novel form to make some pointed remarks and observations about society and culture in much the same way that Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert did in their comedy routines. If you like that sort of thing, you will like this novel. The novel is chocked full of remarks and asides about the music industry and television and movies from 1980 to about 2000. For many people that puts it in the same category as "Ready Player One." I think this novel is meant to be satire and I read it as such. Even so, I got bored with this novel and would have had trouble finishing it, if I hadn't been reading it for a YA Science Fiction Book Club. That said, the YA's liked this novel much more than I did. ( )
  benitastrnad | Jul 26, 2018 |
I won this book through First-Reads, and man am I glad that I did.

[b:Year Zero|22199|Year Zero|Jeff Long|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167343629s/22199.jpg|3162384] has been compared to [a:Douglas Adams|4|Douglas Adams|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1189120061p2/4.jpg]' [b:Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|11|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide, #1)|Douglas Adams|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327656754s/11.jpg|3078186], which in terms of humorous sci-fi, is comparing it to the best of the best; even if you aren't a fan of [a:Douglas Adams|4|Douglas Adams|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1189120061p2/4.jpg] you still have to acknowledge his writing prowess and fame.

Here's a horrible confession: I liked [b:Year Zero|22199|Year Zero|Jeff Long|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167343629s/22199.jpg|3162384] more than [b:Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|11|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide, #1)|Douglas Adams|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327656754s/11.jpg|3078186]. There, I said it. I enjoyed it more, and I felt that it resonated far better with my generation. The book was hilarious, truly inspired, and had enough geeky references that I'm certain it'll cause even the most cynical Farker or Redditor to laugh out loud.

The book was fast-paced, intricately woven, and irreverent as hell. It had me laughing, and thinking about it even when it wasn't in my hands. Seriously, get this book as soon as possible and read it. You will enjoy it. I guarantee it. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't laugh at this book. ( )
  Lepophagus | Jun 14, 2018 |
It starts off really funny, but not gonna lie I got kinda tired of the joke after about the halfway point. Like, seriously I should have written this review earlier because I find it hard to have an opinion anymore. Like two months after watching a mediocre movie or television episode and someone asks you, "How was that?" and you're like, "Uh... it was... okay? I think? I mean, I finished it so it couldn't have been bad... " ( )
  Joanna.Oyzon | Apr 17, 2018 |
Very reminiscent of Hitch-hikers Guide books. Delightfully pokes fun at a number of human institutions, including copyright laws, lawyers and Microsoft. ( )
  bness2 | May 23, 2017 |
Very funny ( )
1 vote SA_Jane | Feb 18, 2017 |
Not as good as "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", but quite humorous and entertaining. Well worth the read. ( )
  ThothJ | Dec 4, 2015 |
Not as good as "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", but quite humorous and entertaining. Well worth the read. ( )
  ThothJ | Dec 3, 2015 |
Not as good as "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", but quite humorous and entertaining. Well worth the read. ( )
  ThothJ | Dec 3, 2015 |
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