Come Take Me

I wasn’t sure what to expect of this book when I saw it.  Admittedly, I was lured in first by the intriguing cover of a man staring up into a bright blue sky of stars forming the words “Come Take Me”.  Naturally, this piqued my curiosity:  Who is this guy?  Why does he want to be taken?  Furthermore, where exactly does he want to be taken to?

My answers to these questions came in the form of one 30-something, delightfully quirky, unlucky in love and life, often bullied, highly intelligent nerdish fellow named Marshall Shmishkiss.  This is a character whose imagination and thoughts are “out there”, figuratively and literally, as he would love nothing more in life than to escape the drudgery and mundaneness of his life on Earth and travel far, far away to the galaxies, planets and stars floating in the sky above him.  

In pursuit of his dreams, he posts videos on a website called ComeTakeMe.com imploring these yet unknown aliens through well-reasoned arguments the benefits of taking him.  In a particular moment of frustration brought on by discovering his beloved website is actually monitored by fellow humans who’ve been watching “The Shmish”, as they all call him, as their form of entertainment, he even offers to help these aliens rid the universe of these lowly-minded Earthlings once and for all. 

What follows is a wild, chaotic, in turns humorous and melancholic, thrilling adventure that Marshall, despite years of training and planning for, could never have anticipated when the fate of the universe ends up in his hands.  

First, I have to say that Marshall Shmishkiss is not only one of the most delightful character names I’ve seen, but one of the most genuinely endearing characters I’ve had the pleasure of reading about. There are SO many fascinating characters in this book, but Marshall’s trigger-tempered martial arts instructor, Aleksei was a particular delight for me.   I’m not a particular fan of most sci-fi or fantasy, but the story was so engaging, weird and fun that I bought in quickly.  It’s also a surprisingly insightful book, that brings up issues of not only how different we all are, but also how very much the same in many ways.  

It’s not Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or Star Trek, but it parodies or has flavors of each.  It manages to pay homage or reference elements while remaining its own unique story.  The author, E. M. Skyler mentioned in a final note hopes to write a sequel or even a series, so hopefully this won’t be my last adventure to the stars with “The Mushkiss”.  Until then … I’ll have to settle for these:

★★★★ ½ 

#ComeTakeMe #NetGalley