Carl Brown

Fascinating read. Not for everyone, and parts were somewhat confusing and/or implausible to me (oddly enough, not the Alien parts, but the Human reaction parts).

But very very good, very original and fascinating aliens and societies.

Where the first book had a bunch of different 80s fandoms that were given a few pages each, this one has much longer sections about a smaller number of 80s fandoms. If you enjoyed the nostalgia of the first one (I did) and you're into the smaller number of specific fandoms that this one goes into in greater depth (I am not), then you might like it as well.

If you didn't read or listen to the first one (e.g. if you just saw the movie), do not read this, or you'll be hopelessly confused. It leans in very hard to things that were in the first book, but were changed for the movie.

Very thought-provoking.

Quite a comprehensive book, but if you've been carefully following the COVID-19 news the last 6 months, there won't be much here that's new to you.