Doug Martin (1)

I received this as part of the Early Reviewers program, and while I really wanted to finish it so as to be completely fair....I just couldn't. Given its size and description I was expecting a goofy juvenile book, an expectation that was quickly quashed given the early shallow, homophobic, and sexist dialogue.
I was really unimpressed with the book with its simple, crude characters and ridiculous and overly-silly plot. I sincerely hope that the author intended it all as a satire as other show more reviewers have suggested, because otherwise this is just poor writing. show less

It's possible that Mr. Martin is a really funny guy in real life. That doesn't necessarily translate to writing a really funny book, unfortunately.
This book is cute, but not very well-polished. It needs another revision, fixing grammar and spelling errors which abound (just to note--a comma needs to be placed before a closed quotation when in the middle of a sentence, e.g., '"Sure," he agreed.'), to the point of distraction. The plot is pretty straightforward, and has its amusing ups and show more downs--a couple of "losers" getting over their heads in a get-rich-quick scheme that involves dinosaurs and dna (reminding me a bit of the movie Evolution at times). The big weakness is that the characterization, which should be a source of humor (see: Douglas Adams) is completely flat. The two leads are different enough, but not really fleshed out to any degree; this might work in a movie. It doesn't work in a book, in my opinion.

Maybe worth a read if you've got time to kill, but I wouldn't go seeking it out actively. show less

There are so many negative reviews out there for this book, I almost didn't bother with it, but the premise interested me so I gave it a try. I found myself captivated instantly and wasn't able to put the book down until I finished it. I frequently found myself giggling. No, this isn't "Hitchhiker's" and it's not Shakespeare, but it's been a long time since I was able to enjoy a comical sci-fi novel and I did enjoy this quite a bit. The end seems to predict a sequel, which I will be watching show more for and reading if it does appear. Many reviewers complain about this story being dialogue driven. Why is that bad? It kept me in the present and so I went with the flow of things pretty much as the main character did. I don't need to have endless pages of description of the clouds moving over the desert or boring passages of the history of the town in order to find the tale exciting. This is a show-me, not tell-me, story and it swept me away. I didn't notice all the errors that an editor should have corrected as reported by many other reviewers either. Commas were missing at the ends of quotations, but so what? It wasn't like I couldn't understand what was being said and I quickly adapted to ignoring that and enjoying the story. Perhaps it's part of the plot. :) If you like Douglas Adams, Spider Robinson, Steven Brust, Robert Asprin, and movies like Buckaroo Banzai or The Big Empty, I think you'll like this little gem. show less

In a nutshell: reads like a B rated movie destined for cult followings.

Much longer review - too much dialogue, especially the first few chapters. Random Characters that seemed to appear out of no where (just who was Sharon Kisses, and why mention her at all?). The plot itself was a bit random, it didn't really make much sense, the characters not very likeable, and the story kept contradicting itself. It tries to be funny, but comes off as bizarre. There were a few chapters that could be cut show more out entirely (what was with the domain names anyway?)

But, needless to say, I actually enjoyed reading this book. Great literature it is not. But, it does have its charm, a bit like Bruce Campbells "Army of Darkness". I advise reading this while drinking. show less