Master of Formalities by Scott Meyer (2015)

A humorous science fiction tale of warfare through diplomacy.

• Master of Formalities by Scott Meyer (2015)
• 47North, Science Fiction, Humor
• Audible, read by Luke Daniels, Finished 10/29/2021

It occurred to me that I hadn’t written down any thoughts on any of the books I’d read or listened to between 2018 and 2022, so there’s a good chance I won’t remember them later. I figured I should try to rectify that with at least a short blurb about the ones that stood out to me, with backdated reviews.

Scott Meyer’s books come from Amazon’s pet publishing house 47North, so I think of him as a kind of in-house mascot writer for Amazon.

His books are generally absurd and not to be taken seriously, and this one is no exception. It wasn’t as funny as the Magic 2.0 books, but I thought the premise of a “Master of Formalities”–basically, a butler–having such a prominent role in the war between two planetary cultures was amusing. “Even when finding oneself engaged in interstellar war, good form must be observed.” I mean, how is it possible not to think that’s funny?

Anyway, I particularly enjoyed the chapters about “sports,” whose exact name I can’t remember right now, but I think it was just called… “sports competition.” In practice it was sort of like wrestling.

As always, it was masterfully read by Luke Daniels. A Scott Meyers/Luke Daniels combination is almost always going to be entertaining to listen to, in the same way as a Kevin Hearne/Luke Daniels combination, even if it isn’t exactly great or memorable literature.

(Written 1/18/2022, backdated to 10/29/2021.)