Terminal Alliance (Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse #1)

The concept of a cleaning crew becoming heroes in a space opera in itself is amusing. But a lot of the humor misses, plus some of the logic and science errors took me (someone with an engineering degree and a heavy science background) frequently took me out of the story. But it’s a nice casual pleasant story with some action and some characters that are amusing, if not always fully fleshed out. Enjoy it for what it is, just don’t expect a whole lot from it.

“Terminal Alliance” is a space opera whose heroes are a janitorial staff. Big points for originality!

Earth has suffered a plague that turned humans feral, feeding off each other and anything else alive. A few humans have been returned to an improved normalcy by an alien species, including our hero, “Mops”, and her crew, who take care of things most of us wouldn’t want to even consider on a spaceship. Then things go very wrong.

I enjoyed the tone of this book; it’s light but still has substance. Because of the feral plague, humans are feared as violent beings who are hard to kill. They’re viewed rather like unsophisticated playground bullies, with many species giving them a wide berth. That’s a different way to look at our species, when so much science fiction is human-centric.

I especially enjoyed the playing with genders (some aliens want their race to be called by the pronoun “she”, while others want to alternate pronouns, being “she” and then “he” and back again). And I enjoyed that the aliens are not generally humanoid and the way author Jim Hines describes completely alien (to use a phrase) accommodations for different species’ needs.

I will buy the next book in the series when it comes out. I read “Terminal Alliance” with appreciation both for the plot as well as the way it made me think about about my human-centric perspective.

I can say with absolute authority that I have never considered the day to day operations of a janitorial crew on a spaceship and that was why Terminal Alliance appealed to me. I was curious to see how this story would be developed, also, the cover really intrigued me. I was not expecting to love this story as much as I did! It was a hilarious satire filled with double entendres delivered in the most serious of ways! I was immediately enamored with this story and its characters. Every character in this book is developed perfectly, including the alien species. I adored how the aliens were written in an environment that was unique to each of their needs. There were such wonderful details throughout the reading of this book that I did not want to set it down!

Mops and her crew were a lot of fun to follow. When all the chips were down it was up to Mops to keep her crew in line and keep her eye on the prize. Which, in this case, was saving the crew aboard the ship who appeared to have reverted back to their feral, pre re-education state. Without a clear plan or an inkling of how they were going to be successful, Mops knew that she was going to have to try and do the impossible. What she never expected was to uncover secrets that would put everything she knew into an entirely different perspective. Terminal Alliance was a perfect read that had all the right components! It was witty, snarky, creative, moving, and even had a great cover-up plot. I absolutely loved it and I am eagerly anticipating its sequel!

I love watching the team use their cleaning supplies and knowledge of unusual shipboard systems to fight the bad guys at every turn. Watching them try to run the military ship is also highly amusingthey spend most of their time running through tutorials led by Puffy, the Pufferfishs friendly tutorial-giver. They also end up dealing with some highly interesting glitches due to their lack of experience. Hines turns their lack of military background into a source of both hilarity and creative obstructions.

This isnt, however, a one-note joke in which the only interest comes from the creative concept. It has constant action, excitement, and danger. It kept me riveted the whole way through. The world-building as a whole is also quite interesting, with a handful of alien races, all of which have their own quirks and interesting individuals. I never felt as though they were monolithic or stereotyped. It only takes the one book for Hines to start blowing open the assumptions hes already built about the world. Im eagerly awaiting the next installment!

From both a sci-fi and a humor perspective, Terminal Alliance is a fantastic book with great characters, wonderful world-building, a riveting fast pace, unusual secrets to uncover, and some great laughs. I highly recommend it.

Janitors in Space? The premise is simple but the complexity of the characters and universe draws you in. Didn’t want to put the book down.

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