Very funny. It's Hitchhiker's Guide with a lot more swearing and bar fights. ( )

This book was light and fun, in the same genre as books like Rosetta man and Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy. There were a lot of species and character names which were necessarily foreign so it was challenging to read certain parts but eventually it became clear which names were important to remember through their repetition and it didn't make the story hard to understand. I enjoyed it and will read the second. ( )

Poor Chuck. He's just out there, driving his long-haul truck when he gets sucked into a world of corporate misdealings … in space.

Rollicking good fun, though the gender stereotypes felt a bit overdone for my liking.

I have mixed feelings about this book.

On the one hand, it is well written enough to keep me going to the end. On the other, I feel like it was confused about its genre. The plot at times seems like a space opera and at times seems like it is trying to be a spoof on space operas. One can be Star Wars or Space Balls, but not both at the same time.

If this book was supposed to be in the vein of a space opera, it failed because at times it was irreverent and stupid. If it was supposed to be more in the vein of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it failed because it was at times too serious.

As a space opera, I felt the mystery was a good thread to keep all the pieces of the plot together. The side plot of the marauder who made money to free his people could have been so much more. As it was, that plot line came up at times but was never fully developed. Maybe that character somehow got together with the protagonists and fought along side them to make the universe a better place, or maybe he died saving his fellow and became a sad martyr to the cause. Also, if it is a space opera, motive really needed to be developed more. I assume it was business rivalry, but a little more on this plot line would have added a lot. Also, I think not saying what was in the case was a cop out.

All of this leads me to believe this was a spoof on sci fi. Most of the book wasn't serious enough to be a space opera. There was a way too long detour to an earth obsessed planet full of drinking rednecks, a lot of obvious innuendo, language, and partying. Both protagonists are the sorts of people you wouldn't expect much from but aren't anything to be afraid of either. They seem to try to do the right thing but get into the obvious scraps with the equally obvious escapes. In a spoof this is a fine plot format because the book isn't about the plot so much as it is about how many funny events and dialogs you can put into it. Sadly, there was only one part that made me laugh out loud (Firefly anyone?) Other than that it was only mildly amusing and honestly the only thing that kept me from tossing this book aside as a stupid read was the fact that as a spoof it is supposed to be outlandish.

As a spoof the plot became way too serious. The side plot of the marauder shouldn't have been included at all if this was a spoof. He should have been a pretty flat bad guy character. But to make him bad with a good reason just confused the main plot.

All in all, I felt the characters were decent. The plot was ok. The details needed work. There were obviously earth and alien slang, but sometimes the aliens started to use/understand earth slang. Need more consistency there. The sarcasm was fun and did add. ( )

This book is not for serious sci-fi readers. It's for people who like to have fun reading.
I love sci-fi as a setting because it frees the author, and thus the reader, from getting hung up on the limitations of reality. Now, most sci-fi tends to rely on theoretical possibilities they seldom depend on that possibility. It's just a tool to move the story forward and Space Tripping is no exception.
Space Tripping does diverge from most sci-fi in that it isn't a serious action book, or a commentary of the current state of affairs, or a criticism of some political or social issue. It's more of a fun action romp through the galaxy that feels like a hybrid of the Dukes of Hazard, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Fifth Element. And that's not a bad thing.
The plot is relatively simple but the heroes are fun and likable, the bad guys are cruel and evil, the settings feel familiar but exotic at the same time and the chemistry is just right to drag you along this weird and wild adventure. I stayed up late to finish this book and look forward to the next one so I can confidently say I would recommend this book, but only if you can have fun reading a book.