Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

Not a perfect book, but amusing, clever, and unusual, all of which get good marks from me. Elements of absurdity, but anything that distracts me these days is good. We all know so many people who could be discombobulated by their smartphones realising they are more intelligent than the operator, don't we?!

I love a good social commentary, and this book seriously delivered. It reminded me a bit of if Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had a baby with Smart House, The Jetsons, and Wall-E. AI has taken over the world, humans are reduced to the cleaning crew of earth, Kelly and Darren accidentally kill a machine and have to go on the run, and it all unravels from there. This is a fun, imaginative read that sheds some light on realities of our current world, without feeling too heavy or bogged down to engage with. I love that!

Battlestar Suburbia by Chris McCrudden was interesting enough while I was reading but ultimately mostly forgettable and I skim read most of it. I do want to give this book another try when I'm not in a reading slump though.

With thanks to Netgalley and Farrago

Battlestar Suburbia is a fun and unique book that I really enjoyed, very funny with some laugh out loud bits

I tried to read this on three separate occasions, and each time I found the writing style to be a bit forced and jarring. The concept seemed really interesting, which is why I gave it a few shots, but ultimately it wasn't for me!

Utter silliness here. It was fun, but not really a patch on the best of sci-fi/fantasy humorists, and heavy-handed with the points it was making

This was a very amusing science fiction story - the machines have taken over! Even humble household appliances hold positions of power. Humans are left to clean or offer "personal services" to their machine masters, but come the revolution......

I did not enjoy this novel at all - it felt a little like the author was trying to emulate Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin and some other sci-fi influences, but it was missing a spark. I did not find this novel amusing and, honestly, struggled to finish it.

This book is an enjoyable reading. It's fast-paced, full of action, weird (in the best possible way) and fun. But it was lacking something, even if I could not say what this is. It's something I can't pinpoint, sorry. I was expecting something more, and even if this book has some great things in it, it could have been more. And that's why I just gave it 3 stars and nothing more. The story is good, the worldbuilding is interesting and I enjoyed a lot all the weird elements in it. But... but the characters, that are good, could have been way better. They are... not plain, they have their own personalities, but not enough. I mean, they have their own voice, they are not plain and they are not completely bidimensional, but they are not full tridimensional. Am I making sense here? They were just a hair short of "enough". And I think that, for me, this was the main problem.
But if you are in for something fun and fast to read, with some weird elements (and I loved them, let's be honest!) and a good story line to follow, well, this could just be the right reading for you!

DNF 22%

This is such a disappointment. Toted as the modern answer to Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde, I was requesting it before I even read the blurb.

I can’t even tell you what it was about because it felt like such a mess. There was a cleaner in space who is one step away from being homeless and a sentient breadmaker and a robotic prostitute and, to be honest, ten pages in I was bored.

I felt like he was just trying too hard to be off-the-wall and funny and didn’t quite succeed in being either.

I love Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and their irreverence and humour and this was nothing like that. I know that sometimes you have to allow characters to develop and storylines to play out but it was just too screwball.

Maybe I’m being harsh and I just wasn’t in the mood that day. Maybe if I went back I’d get sucked in and really like it. But not for now.

This is a quirky, very clever book. Machines have taken over, and humans are only good for cleaning. A nice touch is that we’re not talking about futuristic ‘transformer’ or ‘Terminator’ type machines, but ones that we’re familiar with – smartphones, hairdryers and so on. They have mega advanced intelligence, and some have developed physical attributes, such as legs, to generally improve their quality of life. They do still have to recharge themselves, which is their Achilles heel.
There’s dry wit and dark humour, but definitely no slapstick. The novel presents this machine-dominated scenario as perfectly possible, and we’re encouraged to do the same. It’s actually very thought-provoking, as well as highly original and very entertaining, and we meet some fascinating characters. A sentient bread-maker couldn’t really be anything else but fascinating, now could it!
If you want a book that’s definitely off the beaten track but which has that ‘just maybe’ fascination that you get in all good sci-fi, then this is definitely one for you.

A fun light book which takes one into the realm of what could happen in the future, although some would think, funny, bizarre and sometimes scary but still a good read,

Totally hilarious, quirky and one of a kind, I absolutely loved the story! Have you read one where the machines talk, cyborgs smile (Nope, not talking about Doctor Who here) and machines can be rebuilt to anything! Absolutely anything. A bread-maker turns into a glossy motorbike and a smartphone into a cyborg. Yep, all this is possible only in Battlestar Suburbia.

The machines rule the world. Human beings are cleaners - mop and bucket types. There are fondle parlors for the machines - yep! We, humans, see a glass as either half-empty or half-full. But how do machines see things? Battery half-full or half-empty. We have candy crush but machines, they have humanity crush. Ouch! Humanity crush is a simple but popular game where one has to match lines of identical human beings who were then dropped into a trash compactor!

McCrudden is a master storyteller. The concept of machines taking over human lives and outer space settlements was mind-blowing. And it just doesn't end here. The story is super hilarious. Sci-fi and humor is a unique combination and McCrudden has done a wonderful job in amalgamating both to create one of the best stories ever!!!

Battlestar Suburbia is the first book in the series and I am very much looking forward to reading the next book(s) in the series. This is one of the best books that I have read this year. Battlestar Suburbia is an Amazing, Entertaining, Hilarious and Unique story of man v/s machines.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Honestly, I'm not going to attempt to summarize Battlestar Suburbia. All you need to know is that it's weird and odd. It's also funny. It's worth giving a try. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I requested and received a copy of this book for honest review.

Set in a far future where the machines have taken over, but the machines are not AI or robots... they're household appliances. Humans have become subhuman, relegated to lives of servitude to the machines. However there is a seedy underground, featuring places like "fondle parlours" that service machines who miss the taboo of human hands using them. Within this hidden world two factions have been slowly growing: on the one hand humans who yearn for equality and the end of their servitude, on the other we have machines who feel humanity's subservience is not enough. Unfortunately, Darren is having a very bad day at the same time that complete stranger Kelly happens by when he accidentally terminates a lamp post This becomes the fuse that finally sets the two factions into action and while Darren & Kelly are now hopelessly tied together on the run for murder.

I would place this solidly within a similar vein of comedic SF with Ready Player One. It has a solid gimmick, no subtlety about it, and is wildly entertaining as a result of reveling in it. The characters are also quite well fleshed out, which is especially challenging in this instance, I kept forgetting one of our protagonists is in fact a breadmaker until anatomical references would come up. Beyond that, I highly recommend this for anyone who is a fan of heavy use of puns. I found it brilliant fun over all, and while I believe it is a standalone, but would definitely read more from this setting or author.

Entertaining and amusing, this captivating book held my attention throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Battlestar Suburbia is a really difficult book to summarise in any way that makes sense, but I’ll give it a go… Humanity has been downgraded to a secondary life-form, living to serve the electrical appliances that are now in charge. When Darren’s charge-cart gets knocked off the Mars-to-Earth highway, he thinks his day can’t get any worse. That is, until he accidentally short-circuits a sentient lamppost and finds himself right at the head of a human uprising against the machines.

As you may be able to gather from the synopsis, this book is very weird. Almost too weird. It took a really long time for me to get into it, so much so that I came very close to giving up and DNF-ing it. However, I’m glad I didn’t. When I finally found myself settling in to the madness, I LOVED IT. The general plot was insane but well thought-out and the characters, well, they were the best part.

Freda (an old lady cyborg) and Pam (a bread maker refitted into the body of a flashy motorbike) were my favourites. They were sassy and quirky and I loved reading about them. But all the other characters were good as well, and there were plenty of butt-kicking females.

The comedy aspect of this book is very good. It reminded me a lot of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but with a very different plot. It’s a fun, crazy space adventure with lovable characters and laugh-out-loud moments.

I'm not entirely sure what I've just read.

A book that actually got me to laugh out loud on more than one occasion and also managed to keep me chuckling once I had put the book down.

Not a very funny book. It has some great idea, but not very well exploited. Easy to read, easy to forget.