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Rating: 9.75/10 Stars
Synopsis
Have you ever wanted to quit your soul-sucking hell of a day job, tell your supervisors exactly what you think of them, set the office on fire, jump in your slightly used spaceship and scour the galaxy for lost treasures? Of course, you have. And Reggie, Maddy, Ed, and Harold are no different.
Joongee aren’t supposed to like adventure. Quite the opposite, in fact. They’re supposed to like safe, quiet office jobs, become engineers, programmers, or whatever keeps them away from a battlefield or anything remotely dangerous. But after one disappointment too many, Reggie decides that maybe, just maybe, there’s something to Harold’s crazy obsession with the mystery of the Lost Weapons of Koroth. There must be more to life than dying by slow inches in a cubicle. Right? He knows he’s got to do something soon, because if he doesn’t get his small clan away from Galactic Solutions, Maddy really will set the office on fire.
But the galaxy is a dangerous, unforgiving place. It’s full of pirates, overly enthusiastic and sparkly Ahkal-Tiki, and savvy business Krugeri whose minds are as sharp as their claws. It takes cunning, heart, and a whole lot of luck to survive.
Can our office workers-turned-adventurers navigate the treacherous galactic currents, follow the clues, and discover the treasure? Or will they find themselves begging to return to the old 9-to-5?
One thing is certain—there are bound to be hijinks along the way.
Review
Have you ever come across a series that just keeps you completely engaged from beginning to end? Well, Hunters and Hijinks was one such read for me. It starts off as Office Space in space, and morphs into an intergalactic treasure hunt, with a myriad of twists and turns that keep the reader completely engaged.
This book, and its sequels, is set in Kevin Steverson's Salvage Title universe, but this is a stand alone that doesn't require reading that series, although there are some Easter eggs if you are familiar with it. It's a universe with many different races, of which humanity is just one of many. In this series, humans aren't really a big part of the characters life. The four main characters are a species called Joongee, who basically look like humanoid Hyenas. They look pretty fierce, but in a hilarious twist, tend to be drawn to admin work. Lots of bureaucrats and customer service jobs are filled by Joongee. It's just a funny twist in the universe, and is very well done. The technology is very much advanced space tech, and there heve been some era's of higher and lower tech in the universes history. It's interesting seeing how some of these eras kind of come together in this story.
The characters are probably my favorite part of the book. Reggie, Maddie, Ed and Harold are all Joongee, office workers who would never seem the types to go on an adventure, but looks can be deceiving. The Joongee come in three different types based on size. Ed is the largest type, about 6'6", but is a big teddy bear in personality, which seems to be typical of the larger JoonGee. Reggie and Harold are the middle size, about 5'6", and are the most typical, with a range of personality types. Reggie is much younger than Harold, and has a much more active past than the rest, It's a fun series of revelations as his past is revealed, and the struggles he has to go through to not let that past affect how he reacts in current times. Harold is much more of a dreamer, someone who has been frustrated with how his dreams have been thwarted, but he is the Joongee with the idea to get out of the corporate grind and talks the rest into joining him on this epic quest. That leaves Maddy for last. She is the smaller type of Joongee, about 4'6", with attitude that's about two feet taller than she is. She is sharp witted and even sharper tongued, and she certainly doesn't suffer fools. She is also the one most likely to start a bar fight over an insult. She is such a fun character, and is my favorite character in the book. She reminds me of the small but fierce women in my family, and is just a blast. She and Reggie also have some romantic tension building, and it will be interesting to see where it goes.
The secondary characters are pretty fun as well. They add plenty of spice to the story, and some are fun Easter eggs, such as a mall cop named Blart at the biggest mall in the galaxy. They all have much more life and personality than you would expect, and you can tell the authors really took time and care to flesh them out as much as possible. Even the ship, named HIADA, has a personality, and that name is a hilarious acronym which ties into the story so well. And the Ahkal-Tiki? They may be the most hilarious alien race in the history of sci-fi. Nice horse breed Easter egg in that one, and as a former horse owner, I appreciate a deep cut Easter egg.
The antagonists are an interesting bunch. They range from the groups boss at their former employer, who I kept expecting to ask about cover sheets for a TPS report, to a group of Pirates who are more or less competent, and even have a connection with Reggie. There is also an unexpected antagonist who is a power broker, who is so devious and underhanded that you can see how his actions will drive the story continuing into book 2. He's the kind of villain you love to hate.
The narration is performed by Daniel Wisniewski, and he is the perfect voice for this story. He is one of the best in the business at breathing life into characters, investing so much emotion and depth to each character's portrayal. and he does such a wonderful job creating distinct voices for each character, no matter how minor. It's easily some of his best work. He's easily one of my top three favorite narrators, and I am excited to see what he does in the rest of the series.
This is a book that I think should have broad appeal for fans of sci-fi. It's got comedic elements, space opera elements and action/adventure elements, all which weave a great story that will keep the reader/listener engaged the entire time. I am very excited to see where the story goes from here. I give this my highest recommendation!
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