Year Zero

A Novel

By: Rob Reid

Narrated by: John Hodgman

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

An alien advance party was suddenly nosing around my planet.

Worse, they were lawyering up....

In the hilarious tradition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Rob Reid takes you on a headlong journey through the outer reaches of the universe - and the inner workings of our absurdly dysfunctional music industry.

Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it's a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news.

The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity's music ever since "Year Zero" (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang. The resulting fines and penalties have bankrupted the whole universe. We humans suddenly own everything - and the aliens are not amused.

Nick Carter has just been tapped to clean up this mess before things get ugly, and he's an unlikely galaxy-hopping hero: He's scared of heights. He's also about to be fired. And he happens to have the same name as a Backstreet Boy. But he does know a thing or two about copyright law. And he's packing a couple of other pencil-pushing superpowers that could come in handy.

Soon he's on the run from a sinister parrot and a highly combustible vacuum cleaner. With Carly and Frampton as his guides, Nick now has 48 hours to save humanity, while hopefully wowing the hot girl who lives down the hall from him.

©2012 Robert Reid (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Fans of Douglas Adams will rave about this smart, funny satire. Debut novelist Reid, founder of Listen.com, has crafted a masterly plot that deftly skewers the American obsession with music, money, and power. Fast paced and original, this is highly recommended." (Library Journal [starred review])

"Witty and original - I loved it. A biting satire of the record business and those who run it...and ultimately ran it into the ground." (Cliff Bleszinski, creator, Gears of War)

"With chess master precision, the refreshingly ray gun-free novel wittily plays with the possibilities of its fantastical plot. It mixes airtight point-and-counter point rounds of arguments with wild travails to distant worlds. The careful cohesion of Year Zero is a marvel given its star-hopping digressions." (Buffalo News)

Great and creative book

If you could sum up Year Zero in three words, what would they be?

Comparing this book to The Hitchhikers Guide is a little unfair. It's in a similar "comedy of the absurd" style, but not an epic tale.That said, it's still a very funny book. The reviews of the non-audio book format have been largely very good and I have to agree with them for the audio book. John Hodgman's performance was great and perfect for the story.I can only assume that those who don't like it, just don't "get" the humor.I completely recommend Year Zero and can't wait for more.

Fantastic Buy Buy Buy

Great book. I've listened to it a few times and it never gets stale. Ties into current technology and fantastic ending.

Superb

Any additional comments?

Excellent snarky science fiction with a good hard dig at corporate greed. To be honest, the story tailed off a little, however Hodgman's performance is masterly making this a must-listen audiobook, particularly for people paying attention to the legal wrangling of the music industry over the last decade or two.

Great Idea Too Much Urban Vocabulary and Repeats

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Loved the idea and enjoyed the first chapter but the plot was stale and the language wearisome.

Would you ever listen to anything by Rob Reid again?

No

Which character – as performed by John Hodgman – was your favorite?

Hodgman did a great job!

Very entertaining, well performed voice acting

Very entertaining, well performed voice acting. Felt like Armada meets disc world. Small but well done cast of characters

Ingenious and Fun

A satirical and audacious story of interplanetary music and law. It all makes our world make sense in a strange world.

Silly, Fun and a good story.

Would you consider the audio edition of Year Zero to be better than the print version?

I found myself laughing out loud to this book. The performance provided by John Hodgman, provides an edge of the printed material.

Any additional comments?

When you need a light hearted, but engaging book to listen too... This is one to consider.

What a great story with a twist never before used!

If you could sum up Year Zero in three words, what would they be?

Refreshingly funny, captivating

Who was your favorite character and why?

They were all good but Frampton was spot on for a teenager who is more interested in the right now than the fact that earth and all mankind may be destroyed at any moment and probably because of him and his sister.

Have you listened to any of John Hodgman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but he did a fantastic job.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me laugh quite often and look at space opera's and sci fic books in a whole new way.

Any additional comments?

I wish there were a series of these books to keep the story going!

Great Sci Fi For Music Fans

I love the cynical, ironic tone of Rob Reid’s humor. This book is full of original ideas and pokes fun at our pop culture by viewing it through the eyes of aliens who worship it. I am a huge music fan and appreciated some of the inside jokes. Really pokes fun at celebrity culture. A very entertaining read. The narrator credibly voiced everything from corporate lawyers to giant snail-like aliens.

Eh.

This is no "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I was disappointed and did not make it all the way through the book.