Adam Andrews Johnson
Completed 11/27/2025, Reviewed 11/27/2025
4 stars
This book was a hoot and a half. I bought it at Beaverton Pride last June at the author’s booth, along with its sequel. He was an hysterical guy and I thought his books would be too. This one certainly is. It’s not great literature, but it’s excellent fluff. Imagine an out-of-control Star Wars in a queer-normative universe with tons of puns, glorious drag queens, hunky gay mandroids, tough lesbian bounty hunters, people-eating giants, abducted children needing to be saved, a ton of space pirates, and a lot of “pew pew” (laser gun battles). Everything, including the plot, is outrageous and fabulous. I read this in two days and wished I had brought the sequel with me on my Thanksgiving vacation because it leaves you on a cliffhanger.
The story begins on a spaceship that’s an all-male “reverse harem.” One mandroid named 5NTR0M (pronounced Phentrom) experiences a programming snafu and experiences real falling in love with Lyoth. The ship’s computer declares him a danger to the crew and needs to be decommissioned for study. But when that fails, the compassionate captain chooses to place the two lovers to a cozy island world, away from nasty computers that want to harm Phentrom. However, they are abandoned there when a mutiny happens. They discover that the planet has become a haven for space pirates. They meet Stawren and her father Jintrin, who runs a drag bar. Stawren, Lyoth, Phentrom, and a few others decide to lead a revolt to wipe the space pirates off the planet. It turns out Lyoth is not just a lover, he has quite the heroic past. Then they discover the mutiny plot and pursue the ship to save the captain and the faithful crew. This leads them to a prison lab at the end of the known universe, an unreliable wormhole, and a plot to overthrow the governments of the known universe.
Yes, it’s all very silly, but it’s also very enjoyable. The characters are rather wooden, but still somehow, very sweet. For most of the book, they are all unbelievably amazing at getting out of jams and leading rebellions. Things don’t get dicey for them until very end, during the lead up to the cliffhanger. One of my favorite scenes is when a bounty hunter tries to capture Phentrom at the drag bar and it turns out Priestess the drag performer is the bounty hunter’s boyfriend. He humiliates him into surrendering up Phentrom, throwing enough shade for an episode of Drag Race and threatening to withhold sex. It’s quite hysterical.
There were times when I thought the writing was clunky, with statements like, “They had a great time,” or “They really enjoyed themselves.” But I forgave the author those unnecessary obvious statements because the overall effect of the romp is just so fun. I think if I was a hardcore reviewer, I would say this is maybe a three-star book. But I also like to support the indie writers, especially in the LGBTQIA+ community. So I give this book four stars out of five. To me, a fun, fluff novel is just as worth the investment as serious genre literature. The escapism is worth it to me. It is more fulfilling than a 600 page, dark, depressing, heavy handed space opera. And I must say, the world building is absolutely terrific!
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