I went into Duckett and Dyer Dicks For Hire with zero knowledge about what this book was about. I’d heard it was a Sci-Fi novel that was funny. And I knew it had placed well in several competitions, as I’m a follower of the author, G.M. Nair, on Twitter.
Let’s just preface this by saying: Wow. What a crazy rollercoaster. This book was wacky. And when you read “wacky” I’m not sure you’re comprehending me. The first 100 pages have a very “normal” vibe to them, mostly. Then all hell breaks loose and the sensical became the nonsensical. If this book wasn’t obviously a humorous, non-serious Sci-Fi novel, I could list a lot of problems I had with it. But it’s not, and so I could absorb the absurdity without being too annoyed (typically I’m a person who likes things to make sense/be realistic).
I had few issues with the writing… aside from a few editing issues (missing or wrong word and a few places of very minor head hopping) Duckett and Dyer was written very well. Fast-paced and smooth. I whizzed through this novel in three nights and I’m interested in reading more—especially after the ending.
Humor, like all things, is subjective. Some people will probably really hate this humor. Some people will really gravitate towards it. For me, I didn’t find it overly funny, but I didn’t find it stupid, either. Some jokes landed better than me than other ones, but that’s normal, obviously. If I were to pull out a plot criticism, it’s that when in other… places (I’ll use this word to avoid spoilers) we don’t spend a lot of time there. There’s a lot of movement in this novel, where the main characters, Michael Duckett and Stephanie Dyer, go to various… places (again, avoiding spoilers) and we don’t really see/experience much before they’re whisked away to some place else.
The best part of the novel is easily the relationship between the main characters. The journey was interesting and intriguing. I want to see a lot more in this regard, and I also don't want to spoil anything. I think this book works really well when you go in blind.
Overall, I give Duckett and Dyer a 4.5 out of 5. For the purposes of Goodreads/Amazon, I rounded down because I just wanted a little more out of this book. I’m optimistic about the sequel and recommend it to anybody wanting to read a REALLY wacky Sci-Fi novel.
You can purchase Duckett and Dyer Dicks For Hire here.