Easy and entertaining read ( )

I received this book as an LT Early Reviewer.

No Free Lunch is the fourth in the Hal Spacejock series, however this is the first one I've read.

Hal is a freelance space cargo pilot, captaining the Volante, and assisted by robotic Clunk. Hal arrives on a new planet in the hopes of securing some profitable cargo contracts, and becomes involved in solving the puzzle of some mysterious mining activities.

The cover gives an impression of Hal as a square-jawed Chesty Bond character.

He gives the initial impression of being slightly less technical than he needs to be, bored (or lonely, perhaps), and a little opportunistic.

Upon my first reading I couldn't work out whether Hal was meant to be a bumbling buffoon, or sincere, if a little hapless.

I reread the book a considerable time after the first reading and decided upon the latter.

In summary, a fairly entertaining spaceport novel.

I couldn't finished it. I re-tried several times, once I tried to imagine that I was 14 again but that didn't work. Imaginative failure on my part perhaps. In terms of general readability or actual writing I don't have any grumps, but it just didn't work for me. Can't say I hated it either, I don't think it should be banned or anything. It just didn't grab me one way or the other. ( )

Well, I tend to be a very serious, somber fellow, so normally I wouldn't be caught dead reading one of those humorous SF/F books*. But, well, I was on vacation, you know? And every once in a while it's fun to lighten up a bit.

The Hal Spacejock books are satirical action tales about a not-entirely-competent freighter pilot (Hal) and his too-serious robot partner (Clunk). I've reviewed the other three books in the series, and my sense all along has been that they're entertaining reads, but that the silliness was occasionally too strong for my taste. There would be scenes where the jokes felt like they interfered with the stories, or broke my suspension of disbelief. Enjoyable, but each time I ended up giving four stars out of five over on old Amazon.

Hal IV, ironically, is a five-star book. Haynes has improved with each of his novels (which is exactly how it should work). This time, Hal joins up with a young peace force officer on her first assignment, while also trying to deal with a rival freighter pilot. Hal makes an interesting deputy, and I was surprised at how well the romantic subplot between him and the peace officer worked. Naturally, the assignment uncovers all sorts of nastiness, and things roll along at a good clip. If you've read any SF at all, you'll probably figure out some of the mystery long before our investigators, but the book also threw in some twists I wasn't expecting.

This book works. The humor flows with the story, and the story is the most cohesive and engaging of all four books. At least one of the twists at the end did feel a bit too coincidental for me, but that was a minor thing. I won't tell you how it all wraps up, but it left me curious to read book five.

Also, Haynes has made the first book in the series available as a free download at http://www.spacejock.com.au/Hal1Download.html if you want a free taste of the series.

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*Yes, that was completely tongue-in-cheek. ( )

No Free Lunch, the fourth book in the Hal Spacejock series was a light and enjoyable sci-fi comedy, though admittedly there was not a lot of science involved. It reads like a cross between Red Dwarf and the old pulp science fiction action-adventure stories set in space.

Hal and his trusty robot sidekick, Clunk, arrive on the planet Dismolle short of cash and short of employment. Hal gets caught up with the local Peace Force officer, Harriet Walsh, and in the course of helping her with an investigation he gets deeper and deeper into trouble.

While the characterisation is a bit thin, the pace is quick, the jokes free-flowing and the action fun. Some scenes perhaps required a bit more polish, and the character interaction (particularly between Harriet and Hal) was in many ways uninspired, but ultimately that's not important. This is a book to read a for a bit of fun and a few laughs, not for a realistic portrayal of the human condition.

It was enjoyable, amusing, very readable and a great book to sit down with on a Sunday afternoon and laugh yourself silly for a few hours. ( )