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)

Entertaining

I was sucked in right from the start. this story was funny and very nicely narrated.

Wry Sci Fi humour

I don't like to compare Sci Fi writers of different eras, but this is worthy of Pohl and Harrison at their best. Sci with humour is rare, and well written sci fi humour is rarer still. Wil Wheaton does a better job of this than some of his earlier efforts at performing audio.
If "Hollywood vs aliens" with a different slant appeals, then I highly recommend this offering

Another fun romp by Scalzi

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

Fun Smart Approachable

What other book might you compare Agent to the Stars to and why?

Not sure.. Kind of stands on its own.

What about Wil Wheaton’s performance did you like?

Wil brings out the characters John creates like no one else. A Scalzi book read by Wil is an instant buy for me.

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

Not extreme just fun and funny.

Any additional comments?

Red Shirts is on sale now. In the middle and its quite good.

Richer then Year Zero

Awesome first contact. Year Zero was more hilarious tho and only wish I would have listened to this first before venturing on to this more main line classic.

A wonderful trip through the stars

A soft pallet story, with just a touch of suspense I couldn't stop listening. This was a purchase well made and truly appreciate. I haven't had so much fun listening to a story about humanity told through the eyes of another life form. I wanted more in the end but was satisfied that it ended exactly as it did. I wouldn't be opposed to a sequel perhaps.

90% Semi-humorous Flippant Sarcasm

What did you like best about Agent to the Stars? What did you like least?

It feels a lot like other John Scalzi audio books narrated by Wil Wheaton. It's inventive and funny, a story about a Hollywood agent trying to figure out how to make aliens make a good first impression is bond to be, but most of the characters are sarcastically bickering in every single conversation to the point where the general emotion of any given situation within the story seems to have the same tone.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The story was okay. It even had some touching moments mixed into the sarcastic humor. What might have improved the story would have be more moments of Stein trying to adjust to Joshua's presence.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Wil Wheaton has a bizarre effect on this story. He can be a good narrator, but his character voices all seem to sound the same; snide and intense. When combined with Scalzi's writing style for this story, every character suddenly starts to sound like they all have the same personality. When the characters converse, this gets a bit confusing if the discussion involves more than two characters.

Any additional comments?

John Scalzi writes a lot of interesting and fun stuff. However "Agent to the Stars" seems to be an average sample of his work.

Wonderful

I wasn't expecting a book like his from John Scalzi. I've become accustomed to his action packed sci fi, but this book keeps you entertained the entire time even without empires collapsing and aliens invading with the goal of making meals out of us all. It's very thoughtful on what makes us human and what links we may be surprised to find we have with our interstellar neighbors.

Wil Wheaton is also at his finest. He's quickly become my favorite audible performer. I can't be sure whether or not I'm biased due to my love of Star Trek TNG, but his talent in this arena is superb. Very entertaining

Highly entertaining!

Narration was excellent! Story was very funny and kept me interested all the way through! No slow parts! Will next look for more books by this author. With a library of over 850 audio book, I rarely write reviews, but I thought this book deserved one! I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a funny interesting science fiction story!

just okay

to me it seemed like the story could have been put together better . a lot of talking and not a whole lot of adventure and doing stuff .lot of office talk and political talk but if you're into that kind of thing this might be the book for you . I'm more of the type that likes adventure and actually out exploring.

here are a few books that I suggest and can recommend

1 Isaac still ,the forever man
2 cosmic delivery boy
3 will save the Galaxy for food

Scalzi & Wheaton are a great combo...

4.5 stars.

Once again, John Scalzi knocks it out of the park! This books was so insanely funny and bizarre.

An alien race, having first heard radio broadcasts, and then watched television and movies from earth, decide they want to reach out and extend the hand of friendship to its people. To do so they procure the help of a talent agent to help reveal their presence to the world.

This was one big, fun, and insane shenanigan. I love Scalzi's writing. His imagination is limitless and he is well on his way to becoming my favorite writer...or at the ver least, my favorite scifi author.

I read the book while listening to the audio. Wil Wheaton was the narrator. Need I say more? He is one of the best narrators and I will listen to just about anything he does. I think he and Scalzi are a match made in heaven.

This was a fun read/listen.