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)

great.

Will Wheaton is terrific. Very well written. Overall the story was entertaining. definitely worth listening.

excellent

I loved it. can't wait to check out scalzi's other books. great narration too Wil Wheaton.

Middling, in every aspect

The narrator was... inflexible. But serviceable. He did well enough that you could sometimes engage your suspension of disbelief that different persons were talking, but not before you adjusted to the inflexibility.

The book itself technically made me laugh aloud, though the number of times could be counted on my right hand, and I tend to laugh pretty easily compared to most people. It was nowhere near the consistent stream of giggles you'd get from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or similar.

The story was functional, but only existed as a framework to hang a riff on Hollywood's day to day functions on, plus a couple odd observations about humanity. The books ends abruptly, and without preamble, and generally leaves you with a "That's it? I guess that's it. Well I guess I'll do something else now." feeling, which is somewhat expected after a completely neutral experience.

I'd only go out of my way to recommend this to people who work with actors or the Hollywood talent recruitment side of things, since it's rich and seems to be a case of "write what you know", so I'd guess it'd be interesting & funny to the right audience. I'll probably forget about this book within a fortnight.

More please!

The only downside is that now this is the level of fun and interest I expect from Scalzi!

just great

the book was very well written. It had great characters and overall a very original idea

wonderfully delightful

I enjoyed it very much, I felt like it was never to slap sticky or serious while still being very thought-provoking perfect for a light listen on a road trip or commute to work

Unpredictable, Funny, and Fun!

Wil Wheaton expertly narrates this fast and funny book about a Hollywood agent who gets a rather unusual client. I loved the pacing and the characters in this story, and found the humor to be biting and often laugh out loud funny. This is my second Scalzi book (Fuzzy Nation was the first) and is my favorite so far. If you want a fun, sci-fi read, you've found the right book my friend!

4.8

loved this book. do not listen unless you have a good sense of humor. love for sci-fi is a bonus but not required. it even has a good message. the narration is perfect.

Quite amusing, in a sitcom way

This is no classic piece of scifi, but it's quite funny and the narration is lively. The dialogue is way too snappy & witty to be at all realistic, much like a sitcom. Not a huge amount of substance to this book, but its entertaining and not too long and plodding like scifi sometimes tends to be.

Fun, fun, fun.

Excellent in all ways. Story, narrative tone of each character pure perfection.
One of my top favorite purchases.