Space Opera

February 19, 2018
Valente (Radiance) imagines Eurovision in space, with high and deadly stakes, in this frenetic, imaginative intergalactic extravaganza set many years after the brutal Sentience Wars roiled the galaxy. The hero is “leggy psychedelic ambidextrous omnisexual gendersplat glitterpunk financially punch-drunk ethnically ambitious glamrock messiah” Danesh Jalo, aka Decibel Jones (“Dess”) of the glam-rock trio Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros. The band was huge for a feverish minute, but is long defunct: Mira Wonderful Star was killed in a car crash, and Oort St. Ultraviolet is now a session musician with an ex-wife and two kids. Dess, awash in faded glitter and despair, pines for the double-platinum days, so when a “seven-foot-tall ultramarine half-flamingo, half-anglerfish thing” appears and explains that he must compete in the Metagalactic Grand Prix for the future of his species, he jumps at the opportunity. They don’t have to win, but if they come in last, humankind is toast. Can Dess and Oort, with help from a fast-talking red panda named Öö, save the day? Valente’s effervescent prose is wildly creative and often funny, but frequent tangents can make for chaotic reading. Her many fans will be enthralled with this endearing, razzle-dazzle love song about destiny, finding one’s true voice, and rockin’ the house down. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary.

April 15, 2018

The Sentience Wars ended a century ago, but the not-so-subtle combative spirit of the conflict lives on in the Metagalactic Grand Prix, a universe-wide talent contest in which entries compete for not only the glory but their own survival as a species. Sentience is proven by performance, and when humans reach out to the galaxies, they discover that the grim aliens they expect are actually brightly painted performers attending Eurovision on steroids. Earth's population soon finds itself in the crosshairs of a group that takes glitter and glam to the extreme--and to the death. Not-so-sensational Britpop star Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros are tasked to represent Earth and hopefully take the title of the greatest band in the universe. That is, if they don't self-destruct before the lights go up. VERDICT Valente's (Radiance) action-packed saga brings life to the backstage drama of the best concert you ever attended, in outer space. An exciting read for fans of Douglas Adams and David Bowie.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018
This nearly literal title about an intergalactic battle of the bands is perhaps operatic in scope (in a comic vein, at least) but is more rock than opera.After a devastating interstellar war in which various alien species fought for the right to be considered sentient by all the other species, peace was declared, and everyone agreed on the best way to determine sentience: a song contest. Only if a species was judged capable of baring its inner soul musically--that is, if a jury ranked it second-to-last or higher in the Megalactic Grand Prix--would it be permitted to continue existing. Now it's Earth's turn to prove its sentience, with a band personally selected by the galactic alliance known as the Great Octave. Unfortunately, just about everyone on their shortlist is dead--except for the two surviving members of washed-up glam rock band Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros. Can Decibel Jones and Oort St. Ultraviolet reconcile their differences, survive the plots of their murderously competitive rivals, and manage to sufficiently wow their judges to ensure the survival of humanity? Tune in for your life! Valente's (The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home, 2016, etc.) acknowledgements admit she was inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest, David Bowie, and Douglas Adams (many plot elements, the prose style, and the occasionally violent but determined whimsy of it all practically reach peak Adams saturation). The storyline is also strongly reminiscent of an episode from the bleakly comic Adult Swim cartoon Rick and Morty, which featured a similar contest and stakes--perhaps infused with a dash of Daniel Pinkwater's Slaves of Spiegel, about an intergalactic cooking competition.Light on plot and originality but a charming amusement all the same.

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July 1, 2018

Decibel Jones is shocked to wake up from his hangover and look into the big, beautiful eyes of a very large, blue, flamingolike creature (an Esca) and to realize he is not hallucinating. Instead, Jones learns that he and his defunct band, the Absolute Zeros, have been selected to represent Earth and perform in the Metagalactic Grand Prix music contest. They will either save Earth, enabling humanity's membership as a sentient species in the galaxy, or doom the planet to annihilation. It's a lot to take in, but Jones does his best. He locates his estranged, former instrumentalist, Oort St. Ultraviolet, and the two unwillingly sally forth with the Esca to save the world. On the way, readers are treated to a fascinating and hilarious galaxywide tour of prior Grand Prix winners, losers, and runner-up civilizations. Teens will eat up this hysterically funny, clever wordfest, written in the vein of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, complete with ultra snarky narrator and galactic-weary ennui, with a bit of the fatalistic vibe of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. Alert readers will catch amusing and appropriate classic and contemporary sci-fi and pop culture references. VERDICT Get this tale of intergalactic musical derring-do for your space and snark fanatics.-Gretchen Crowley, formerly at Alexandria City Public Libraries, VA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2018
Billed as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Eurovision, Valente's latest novel for adults (after Radiance, 2015) delivers perfectly. Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes is a blip in glam-rock history, until aliens come to Earth to gather contestants for a galactic musical competition, with nothing but the survival of our species at stake. The other surviving member of the band, Oort St. Ultraviolet, has tried to move on, but when the fate of humanity depends on getting the band back together, you get the band back together. Decibel and Oort get a crash course in galactic civilization and try to come up with a new work of species-saving genius on the 11-day trip to the contest, while coming to terms with their history. Valente has pulled off another spectacular feat of world building (it's worth reading just for the descriptions of previous performances) and a story which is uproariously funny, sweet, and hopeful.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)