Most of my frustration with the book is that plot points are raised, but never go anywhere. For instance, we are presented at one point with the Alterna-Crew of the USS Enterprise (cleverly renamed here the Gumption) from the "Mirror, Mirror" TV episode. We encounter them once, and they're referred to a couple more times, but nothing actually happens with them beyond getting Bill from plot point 1 to plot point 1.1 - and we really could have gone from point 0.9 to 1.2 and never noticed anything amiss. Likewise, we're told that the Alien Historian is trying to alter the past to create a future without war - and that he's succeeding; but we never encounter a single instance of an altered timeline as we travel from cover to cover. If these were isolated instances Harrison and Sheckley might be forgiven, but nothing of consequence ever takes place in the book and large sections could be removed without affecting the story on either side of it.

If you have a few hours to kill and are given the choice between reading this book or taking up self-dentistry, check to see if you'll get any anesthetic first. You won't want to read this book without it.


Read the first, Bill the Galactic Hero; skip this one   January 30, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I read the first one about 6 months ago. A all-round good time, one mishap after another, the first book you wanted to see want would happen next, BUT this one! Jumps from one story line to another, with unbelievable plots, I know that it is Science Fiction but the authors could at lest try to make it believable. I felt it was three or even four books that were not related to each other, I would not recommend this one at all. I will try one more of the series, but if the next one is just as bad no more.


Good no-brainer   May 4, 2001
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is a good book for when you want to read something that has a plot and characters and all that literary stuff, but you don't want to have to actually think.


My Biography   June 13, 2000
If you haven't read this, but have read any of either author, then you haven't hallucinated anything yet.

It is a frivolous romp through a sad universe that seems populated with familiar faces by two of the great experts in the genre of humorous SF.

Read it or be forever the way you are. (Not that it will change anything permanent. Just a few yucks and a strange longing for a second right arm - even if the colours don't match.)

Filled with in-jokes that only a fan would get, it is a feast for the initiated.