Very enjoyable listen. The idea of communication through olfactory senses was mentioned much earlier (1951) in the short story 'Cabin Boy' by Damon Knight. ( )

Starts out with ridiculous "death by fart" premise and an even more ridiculous concept of "the church of the evolved lamb" but morphs from comedy to pretty complicated story of political intrigue.

I really like the character of Harry Creek but found it somewhat hard to follow with all the new species and their odd names and motivations.

Liked the idea of the two true intelligent. Agents too. I'd like to see what trouble they could get into later. ( )

The Android's Dream (title based off Philip K. Dick's novel Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep) can be described as a satire of interstellar diplomacy. It stars Harry Creek, a low-level State Department deliverer of bad news to alien ambassadors to Earth who's also a war hero and a computer genius. When Earth faces destruction over a diplomatic faux pas (or a minor farting offence) with the Nidu alien race, Harry must find and deliver the Android's Dream, an electric-blue breed of sheep, to the Nidu for their coronation ceremony in order to avoid an all out war. Harry stumbles upon Robin Baker, a pet shop owner with sheep DNA in her genes that in fact align with the Android's Dream, and quickly finds himself dodging Defense Department assassins and Nidu space marines. In an effort to protect Robin, they flee Earth and find their own way to attend the Nidu crowning. Also on the quest for the sheep are disciples of the Church of the Evolved Lamb—founded by an early 21st-century SF writer of "modest talents" (no doubt a satirical stab at L. Ron Hubbard). This book was filled with plenty of alien gore that fans of Alien and Independence Day will enjoy as well as a great banter and plenty of humor. This is an intelligent romp that might be underrated and overlooked. Highly recommended if you can handle fart jokes. ( )

This book was just clean fun, which I really needed after the bricks I read before this one. This book reminded me (unsurprisingly) of the Old Man's War series by Scalzi, specifically the last installment "The Human Division". This is good because these books are clever, funny and inventive, it just wasn't really new. Of course, because this book was written before the Human Division, this is just a matter of reading order.
If you liked OMW, you'll equally like this book. ( )

I like John Scalzi’s novels. I find them so much fun in a crazy science fiction way. You can tell in them that Mr. Scalzi does not take himself too seriously and loves what he does. His joy at creating such absurd yet highly entertaining and intense stories seeps through each sentence. In The Android’s Dream, this amusement creeps into the bizarre world that is his futuristic Earth with its alien diplomats and political machinations that span the universe. The genius of Mr. Scalzi’s work is that he takes these bizarre plots and uses them to create genuine warnings about society. In the case of The Android’s Dream, his warnings are against blind patriotism and ever-present greed in self-serving civil service. It’s a danger that is as relevant today as in 2006, made palatable with his diverse characters as they race to obtain this one sheep before it spells disaster for the universe. ( )