Agent to the Stars

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

The space-faring Yherajk have come to Earth to meet us and to begin humanity's first interstellar friendship. There's just one problem: They're hideously ugly and they smell like rotting fish. So getting humanity's trust is a challenge. The Yherajk need someone who can help them close the deal. Enter Thomas Stein, who knows something about closing deals. He's one of Hollywood's hottest young agents. But although Stein may have just concluded the biggest deal of his career, it's quite another thing to negotiate for an entire alien race. To earn his percentage this time, he's going to need all the smarts, skills, and wits he can muster.

©2005 John Scalzi (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Narrator Wil Wheaton animates the slapstick text with a tone that is appropriate for the story of a young Tinsel Town agent whose other clients are either equally deranged or aren't making him much money.” ( AudioFile)

clever

I like weird humor, so I really liked this book. Lots of nice surprises. Narrator perfect for part.

Grate Fun

If you could sum up Agent to the Stars in three words, what would they be?

i love John Scalzi's books but in this one he out did himself, smart funny.
Wil Wheaton is by far on of the best narrators, he did a superb job with this book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes it was

Good Fun in the Writing and the Reading

The first novel John Scalzi wrote (though not the first to be published), which he has called a practice novel, is quite a hoot, especially in audio, thanks to Wil Wheaton's well-honed humorous reading. The basic premise is a Hollywood agent taking on an alien species as a client to introduce them to Earth. The story is good, it's good fun, even if it's a bit facile. But the combination of humor in the writing and the reading makes it irresistibly enjoyable.

Tom, the narrator and main character, is expert at putting people in their place and getting what he wants and needs from them, no matter who they are. That he does this so easily and often is the main reason why I label the story as facile, but it's also the source of much of the good fun of the book. The most incendiary such moment is when he endures the tirade of a bitch of an actress/singer over a change in agent and then totally tells her where to get off.

I've listened to Wil Wheaton previously reading Scalzi (Fuzzy Nation) and another author (Ready Player One). There is no doubt he is a major reason why their brand of humorous science fiction works so well in audio. I've also read Scalzi in print (Android's Dream, which Wheaton narrates in audio) and Ready Player One (before I listened to it), so I can say with the full confidence of knowing the flip side that Wheaton is a significant contributor to my enjoyment of the audio versions. He reads fast, which I like, and with a humorous tone -- smarmy is the word -- that is pitch perfect for this type of material.

I loved science fiction as a kid -- the kind of space opera that kids eat up -- and have since been drawn on an intermittent basis to humorous SF (Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Harvey Jacobs's brilliant short story The Egg of the Glak, stuff like that). But in my adult life I gravitated toward literary fiction, away from genre. But there has been a renaissance in good, literary, and most importantly humorous science fiction that has brought me back -- Scalzi first and foremost, Cline's Ready Player One, Kroese, Scott Meyer, the Bobiverse, et.al.; Chris Moore and Lee Martinez on the supernatural side. Audio is a big part of that renaissance because they are that much more fun.

Even my wife loved Agent to the Stars is audio, and she is no sci-fi fan. That tells you all you need to know.

Fun & Entertaining

Any additional comments?

What a fun, entertaining read! Well written and Wil Wheaton was an incredible narrator with perfect comic timing.

Fun Fun Fun!

The best 4.95 I've spent in awhile! Sometimes I question whether I want to spend a credit on something less than 10 hours but this book is worth it. Even though I bought this book on sale, I would have spent the credit. The story is light, funny and it moves along with enough odd ball twists to keep you listening straight through. Wil Wheaton's skill as a narrator is well matched with this book. Read it if you like uncomplicated entertainment

A delightful listen!

Wil Wheaton is my new favorite narrator, and I'm definitely going to be downloading more John Scalzi audiobooks. Agent to the Stars is what I consider light reading; pure entertainment. Mr. Wheaton's narration adds color (and texture?) to the story, and the result was 100% fun. This audiobook would be perfect to listen to on a long drive.

Fun!

I liked this a great deal. The story was fresh, the dialogue was hilarious, and Wil Wheaton's performance was stellar. The ending seemed far-fetched, which is slightly ludicrous considering how much suspension of disbelief I'd used up until that point. I can still recommend this strongly, and I do.

Scalzi as we all love him!

Scalzi has another great one here. Telling the story of an alien exposure in this way was great! And to have it read by Wil Wheaton was just an added bonus. I truly enjoyed this one as my wife and I listened to it during road trips. Keep 'em coming!

Scalzi and Wheaton are at it again

John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton knock another one out of the park. I am not listening to their books in any particular order so I am not sure if they are getting better or if I am learning to enjoy the writing and performance more and more.

This is a great story with a handful of plot holes that distracted me a bit in the second half, but not so much as to ruin the book. I really enjoyed how the alien changes as his form changes, keeping some of his original personality while picking up a lot of the new forms personality. Very well played.

Agent to the Stars excellent literary romp

This was delightful fun.
Aliens, entertainment industry, Moral issues.
I personally loved the conflict resolution