Rex Nihilo is a Fun Sci-Fi Comedy Series

Way back in 2013 I reviewed Mercury Falls, a religious comedy sort of like Good Omens but maybe not as good--pun intended.  I think I got that book from Amazon Vine, back when they had tons of books along with cheap Chinese junk.  I never got around to reading any of the sequels to that though.  As an early Fun Fact:  Amazon published Mercury Falls (like 50 Shades of Grey and some other books it was originally self-pubbed before one of Amazon's new imprints snapped it up) and later produced the Good Omens TV series.

But the point of this entry isn't about that!  This is about the series Robert Kroese (who's from Grand Rapids--or Gren Repids as they say according to Richard Ford's The Sportswriter) wrote after that or maybe around the same time or whatever.  It's more of a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy type thing as it's a sci-fi comedy.  Though it's not very much like Hitchhiker's Guide except for the basic genre.  Spaceballs might be a little better comparison or even my own Chet Finley vs The Machines of Fate.

The series focuses on Rex Nihilo, a con man who's basically like if Han Solo never went straight in Star Wars.  Instead of a Wookie, he has a robot named SASHA--Self-Arresting near-Sentient Heuristic Android or whatever--he seemingly bought with a load of machine parts.  Sasha is our narrator so we know that Rex is pretty much a dumbass, but Sasha is his property so she can't just leave him as much as she might want to.

The first book takes a lot of cues from Star Wars as Rex hooks up with the rebels of the "Revolting Front" and their leader Princess Wilhelmina (or Princess Willie, who is basically a fat Princess Leia) on a forest moon--so-called because there's one really big tree.  They're battling the Malarchian Empire, which has an armored henchman called Heinous Vlaak.  Unlike Spaceballs there is no placeholder for the Force.  

Rex wins a planet in a poker game but then finds himself saddled with over a billion credits in debt.  To pay this off he has a great idea:  get the Malarchian planet-killing weapon to blow up the planet and then petition the Empire to reimburse him for damages.  Most of the book is Rex ineptly playing both sides as things keep going wrong while Sasha is constantly at his side, trying to keep him alive.

There's a clever twist at the end that involves the Sp'ostles or Space Apostles who are sort of like Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons who go around trying to convert people to believe in their religion, which is dedicated to the vastness of space.

Overall this one was OK as an introduction to Rex, Sasha, and this universe.  Not particularly great.  I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads but 3.5 is probably more apt.

Aye, Robot by Robert Kroese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book, Aye, Robot, picks up after the first one.  Rex and Sasha inadvertently become space pirates!  While the first one had a lot of Star Wars cues, this one really doesn't mimic other sci-fi properties quite as obviously, which is maybe why I liked it.  Also the author and me as the reader had settled into the characters and everything better.

I don't want to give a lot away but basically it involves the Sp'ostles in a big way and also a shit-ton of spaceship fuel.  Along the way, Rex and Sasha pick up some new friends:  the huge man-child pirate Boggs, the weirdly cobbled-together robot Donnie, and a robot parrot named Steve who used to belong to a famous pirate Rex and Sasha inadvertently kill.

This was my favorite of the series.  Maybe because it wasn't so overtly parodying things.  Maybe it was just a more fun story.  Or maybe because the characters get a chance to grow some more.

The Wrath of Cons by Robert Kroese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third book, Wrath of Cons, is a bit of a step back.  I gave them the same rating on Goodreads only because you can't do half-stars but definitely I'd say this would be 3.5 stars--and that's being generous.

When I first saw the title I was thinking of "cons" as sci-fi conventions, which itself might be a fun book.  But it actually is about the other kind of cons--as in con man cons, the things Rex specializes in.  Where the first book took cues from Star Wars, this one takes cues from Star Trek--notably the "Genesis Device" in Wrath of Khan--and the Wizard of Oz.  Maybe for those reasons--especially since I'm not an Oz fan--of that or the HBO prison series--I really didn't like this one as much.

When Rex and Sasha attempt to steal the plans to "Project Shiva"--the aforementioned Genesis-type device--they wind up on a ruined Earth populated solely by robots mimicking 19th and 20th Century writers.  After being rescued, they start trying to peddle new planets, which lands them in more trouble.  There's an ending that takes its cues from Search for Spock before the story ends a bit unceremoniously.

What really saves this book for me is I really came to like the characters, especially Sasha.  As the narrator we really get to understand Sasha's struggles in being a robot who's not only tethered to a doofus like Rex, but also is not allowed to have original thoughts thanks to legislation passed by the Malarchy to make sure there's no robot uprising.  Sasha's character really made me think of Jewbot/Robobot on the stop-motion series Supermansion--made by Crackle but now on Amazon Prime--in that he was also a sensitive, intelligent robot mostly stymied because the humans around him are idiots.  Really I think they'd be a great couple and if anyone would give a crap I'd go write a fanfic of it.

Most of the supporting cast is fun like the sexy black market operator Pepper--who has her own spinoff book--the childish but loyal friend Boggs, and the misfit robot Donnie, who starts to really become his own entity by the end.  Really Rex is the weakest link as he never really deviates from that selfish, arrogant, stupid grifter he was in the first book.  It's like when I watch Mike Tyson Mysteries and I really don't like the title character that much but the supporting cast is so good it really makes up for his deficiencies.  Though you have to wonder why everyone is so willing to sacrifice for Rex in the end because he really hasn't done much for any of them--except inadvertently to save his own ass.

Anyway, if you're looking for some fun sci-fi reads, then these are a lot of fun.  I don't remember if I got all three for free or if I got the first one free and the others on sale but the point is I didn't spend a lot on them.  If they're not on sale now you can probably just wait until they are.

There is a prequel called Out of the Soylent Planet that I actually picked up last April but forgot about so I read that one too. It would have been better to read it first, but whatever.

Out of the Soylent Planet (A Rex Nihilo Adventure) by Robert Kroese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As far as prequels go this isn't too bad. Like all of the other books except the second one I'd actually give it 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up.

It's the secret origin of Rex and Sasha! It starts like a version of Star Wars (the original) with Sasha as C-3PO. Only it's more like if Han Solo had bought Threepio rather than Uncle Owen and Luke. They wind up on a planet that grows soylent that's not made of people. It's turned into a nasty sorta diet shake appropriately called SLOP. The company that makes the product has completely enslaved the planet and so Rex and Sasha have to find a way to survive and escape. Which of course we know they do as this is a prequel. That's not as important as finding out just how they're going to do it. What crazy schemes are they going to pull off this time? That's really how these books work. That and Sasha. For a robot she's really a fleshed-out character. Though strange we never mention the acting thing before this. Or did it? I don't think so. Also, Rex is a bit smarter than in previous books it seems--maybe because his memory hasn't been tampered with so much.

My only complaint really is it runs a bit long versus other books, maybe because most of it is all on the same location, so it's not quite the galaxy-spanning adventure of previous books.

Anyway, if you haven't read this series yet, start with this one. It includes the novella The Chicolini Incident that was also at the end of the third book. So you can read that as well and then start right in with Starship Grifters.

That is all.

#

On a final note, if you want another fun sci-fi read, I also liked this book about time travel, burritos, and a hot lesbian robot!  Basically a loser food truck cook, a cute grad student, and a Neanderthal fuck up the timeline and have to put right what once went wrong.  Mayhem ensues!

Time Burrito by Aaron Frale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A funny time travel story that's part Bill and Ted, part Back to the Future, and very entertaining all the way through. I really enjoyed it and I'm a little jealous because my attempts to write comedy never really work out so well. I could take a few hints from this. Anyway, go and read it right meow!

View all my reviews

There you go, if any Phantom Readers actually read this and cared they'd have some more books to add to their lists.