By A. Lee Martinez

This book is a prime example of one I picked up from Amazon’s daily deals. Every day, Amazon puts four books on sale for about a dollar or two. Usually these are little-known titles, but most turn out to be pretty good nevertheless.

I indulge myself and buy one or two of these every month to give myself something new to read. That’s not many considering Amazon will put a few hundred books on sale in that time period and I’ll usually end up spending about $4-5 in total.

In the case of this book, it should come as no surprise that the title is what first caught my attention. It sounds like a bad B-horror movie and the plot isn’t that far removed from such. That along with the colorful cover and some positive reviews were enough to convince me to shell out a few bucks for the pleasure of reading it.

In actuality, it’s closer to what is known as pulp science fiction, which was the cheap, quick thrills they pumped out in the early 20th century. This work is as much a parody of those flimsy pieces of literature as it is a tribute to their memory.

Emperor Mollusk is just your typical Neptune-native turned global-conqueror who served as the ruler of Earth for a brief time before his recent retirement. But instead of settling into an easy life of relaxation befitting of a former world power, the Emperor is trying to avoid an onslaught of assassination attempts.

Such a sequence of unbelievable sci-fi scenarios would only be tolerable with Martinez’s deft use of quick pacing and comedic relief. The book never takes itself too seriously as it skips from one death-defying feat to the next. You should take every laser-beam-shooting pterodactyl with a certain grain of salt.

For this reason, this book was as entertaining as it was bizarre. Martinez never makes the mistake of trying to explain exactly what is going on — not that we always need to know. The audience has just enough information to stay afloat, but not so much that we get bogged down with exposition.

It’s clever, quick with quirky characters and even pacing. Not for everyone, but good enough for an easy read with some deeper plot points. I give it five out of five tentacles.