Read and Loved: Temporary Duty by Ric Locke

This is a quirky book that I enjoyed quite a bit. Also, I liked the previous cover much better than this one, so don’t let the cover fool you.

As a career naval officer, of course this one piqued my interest. I mean, sailors going directly from ships on good old Earth to ships with aliens? Come on, that’s like bait. Plus, these aliens just sort of showed up so there’s no build up of Earth tech or anything. It’s totally new.

Is the book perfect? Nope. But it sure is a fun romp. The story follows two sailors, low rankers who are young and already cynical, as they get assigned to the first alien ship to visit our planet. They have very little idea what their duties will be, but they assume it will involve mops and toilet cleaning.

Even their names are common, John and Kevin. I believe that was on purpose, as a way to illustrate in yet another way how everyday-sailor they are.

There is much adventure, derring-do, hilarity, bureaucracy (bureaucrazy in my lexicon), and romance. It’s a long book, and I had a great deal of fun reading it. Perhaps my enjoyment was partially because I’ve been the sailor at the bottom of the rank pile (I came in enlisted originally). Either way, it’s a fun read. Very space opera, but in a fun way instead of a laser beam everything you meet way.

Caveat: As always, the only books featured on Read and Loved are books written by authors I don’t know. This is my opinion purely as a reader. And yes, I like to feature books that I haven’t seen a huge buzz about.