Frank Cottrell Boyce

This was a fantastic audiobook! I recently read [b:Cosmic|1999660|Cosmic|Frank Cottrell Boyce|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5194ZnLdSjL._SL75_.jpg|2256869] and loved it, so I thought I should start in on some of Cottrell Boyce's other books. This was, as expected, completely great, and I'm so glad I got the audio version of this because the narrator was amazing.

So the story follows narrator Dylan's family. They own a petrol station in a tiny town somewhere in Wales called Manod. Life in Manod is disrupted when the nearby hollowed-out mountain becomes a storage site for famous works of art.

No plot description can convey how wonderfully silly and clever this book is, so let me just throw out some key words: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, market research, perfect crimes, Vincent Van Gogh, maximum speed 120 MPH.… (més)

This would be a great choice for reluctant readers who like outer space, science, jokes, MMORPGs, and/or British things. It's so funny and it really flies by. I think I read it in under 3 hours and I enjoyed every minute. On top of the comedy and rollicking plot, it had some deep philosophical moments that bordered on the existential. I mean, being lost in outer space will definitely get you thinking about the meaning of life, whether you want to think about it or not.

Liam is only 12 years old, but he's so tall that people are always confusing him for a grown-up. He takes advantage of this when he can, especially when the opportunity arises to visit a super-secret theme park with the greatest thrill ride ever created. The only catch is that Liam can't go as a kid; he has to go incognito as an adult. Liam's perspective as a child pretending to be an adult is amusing and full of insight. In his study of "dadliness" his conclusions are fantastic because they're both funny and true.

The only reason this misses five stars for me is because I was totally skeptical of the ending. Granted, this is not realistic fiction, but even as science fiction it really stretched believability in order to come to a happy conclusion. Specifically, **Spoiler Alert** how did a bunch of untrained kids (geniuses though they may be) pilot a rocket ship around the moon and land it safely on the earth using a video game and maths? Ridiculous.… (més)