Ashley Perrin has only just graduated from college and started a civil servant job working as a community liaison for the Third District. It’s challenging for human Ashley as the Third District has a large alien population. More aliens, in fact, than humans.
There’s nothing wrong with a large alien population, but it does mean more of a challenge for Ashley as she has to field complaints and solve a wide variety of neighborhood conflicts – including an unusual, alien hornet that threatens every living thing in the entire city.
It’s only her first day and she hasn’t even checked out the drawers in her assigned desk, but the most terrifying thing facing Ashley is her turn in the office karaoke.
This is a short book – maybe more short story than novella even – but it’s got all the hallmarks of a ‘typical’ John Scalzi book: smart and sassy leading characters, oddball situations, and supporting characters designed to be outrageous (usually to get a chuckle).
There’s not a lot of ‘grit’ here. As a short, it seems to be designed just to be fun rather than provide any kind of insight into human behavior or keep you wondering how things will be solved. And it is fun. Especially if you already like Scalzi’s work.
There’s a lot of potential here for something more than just a short story/novella. Either Ashley or the district itself could sustain a novel or collection of related shorts. I notice that Goodreads refers to this as part of the Third District series, which contains exactly two books – this, and An Election, first published in 2010.
Looking for a good book? If you’re looking for some quick, entertaining, lightweight scifi, John Scalzi’s Constituent Service will fit the bill.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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Constituent Service
author: John Scalzi
series: Third District
publisher: Subterranean Press
ISBN: 9781645242840
hardcover, 152 pages
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