"Like a flock of cartoon ducks..."

Slab Steele might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer; he might be self centered and self serving, offensively dismissive, insensitive, and rather foolish when it comes to one particu!at girl. But he has a dream: to score the winning goal for his team at the Solar Craterball finals, and he doesn't deserve to be kidnapped by the strange Venue Flytrap fans he finally sees when the blindfold is removed, one a strange protohuman and the other a one time urinal cyborg, named Wizz. The story follows Slab through the glories and shambles that his life has become.
This is a genuinely funny story, dependant on punning as much as situational and lavatory humour, and more a comic hero style book than straight novel - even though the main character is not exactly warm and endearing, there is a certain pathos which makes him accessible. This is a long book, some fifteen and one half hours, filled with the fantastic adventures of his post kidnap associations with the strange couple, the journey to Venus to compete in the Big Game, weird weapons and Craterball matches, including a DeathGame, his relationship with Bertie, his hopes, fears and memories of growing up, and if it drags occasionally a little in the early stages, it makes up for it later. And the reader gets to know a lot about the intergalactic sport of Crater Ball.

Narration, by Matthew Broadhead, is superb. He is a man of many silly voices, well suited to each of the characters, with a nicely presented reading of the text which links them all. At times, the voice of Slab can be somewhat irritating, but that's the nature of the man. The last chapter, no:70, is shere pleasurable delight as he revisits out takes, laughing all the while. For this reader, this lifted the book to a five star review. There are a couple of repeated lines, not edited out, in particular a who!e paragraph in chapter 52, but mostly the production is good.

Overall, this is a silly, most enjoyable story, unexpectedly humorous and well written, made even better by the narration. I was very fortunate in being freely gifted with a complimentary copy of Slab Steele, at my request, by the rights holder via Audiobook Boom. Thank you for that. I even enjoyed all of the sporting descriptions, a rare occurrence in any literature, and especially loved Wizz, the flushing cyborg.
Try it for yourself - recommended.

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Hilarious

Slab Steele was a surprise to say the least, I'm a massive fan of Space Team and was looking for a smart Sci-fi comedy to fill the void. Slab Steele does exactly that in spades.
The story begins with, as you'd probably guess, Slab Steele. A washed up, failed sports star who just wants a second chance to hit the big leagues in 'craterball', until the poor dude gets kidnapped and hilarity ensues. It's a smart and absolutely hilarious book that kept me hooked and laughing throughout and I absolutely cannot wait for the next book.
Matthew Broadhead does a great job with the narration too, I had no complaints at all throughout.
If you're on the lookout for a sci-fi comedy seriously give this a shot, you won't be disappointed.

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1 person found this helpful