(Want to know more about my scoring system? Click here)

Let’s be honest now, I’m practically Howalt’s personal reviewer at this point. Whatever. Getting to read their stuff has so far been an unmitigated treat. So let’s review their upcoming novella, The Stellar Snow Job, publish by Spaceboy Books!

BACKGROUND AND LORES

For Alannah Jackson, space is not the final frontier. As a professional travel writer, she strives to create the best and most conscientious travelogues to every visitable planet in the galaxy. But she might have bitten off more than she can chew when she agrees to survey a previously unexplored world.

Private investigator Richard Hart is an expert in Interstellar human affairs. Weary of idling in space station bars, Richard and his snarky pilot, Eddie Macías, jump at the opportunity to take on an unusual and highly classified mission. (Anything beats retrieving lost pets or sorting out cheating spouses!) The new job whisks them, and their tiny but trusty spaceship, the Colibri, away to a distant solar system. Unfortunately, it’s in a corner of the galaxy overseen by a menacing power that’s not particularly fond of human involvement.

Will Alannah compose the ultimate, authoritative guide to an undiscovered land? Will Richard and Eddie make it home alive and, ideally, paid?

There’s no planet too distant, no job too strange, for Colibri Investigations!

I’m a sucker for a fleshed out universe. The less I need to wonder how things work, the less effort is required for me to suspend disbelief. So when Howalt explained in-universe how VoidNet and PlaNet (the intergalactic internet) functioned, I nearly squealed in delight.

The Stellar Snow Job is less a detective novel despite the focus on a group called “Colibri Investigations”, and more an adventure of discovery through space in a future where humanity have joined an intergalactic union, and it is indeed a concept that is interesting to explore. Technology borders on hard science fiction, a personal favourite. No technology feels like a deus ex machina, and are all sufficiently explained.

Despite its great effort and success at building an eye-catching universe, I was a little disappointed that the very first “alien” planet we visit was relatively normal. The length of a novella definitely detracted from the chance to explore the myriads of planetary possibilities. There are a lot of lore dumps about interesting things happening in the background which I had also hoped to have more visual representations, such as mentions of other “categories” of alien races.

(17/20)

Plot

Very much akin to us, the readers delving into this world Howalt has created for the first time, the novella focusses much more on world building than storytelling, though that’s not to say the story itself isn’t fun.

We get two parties’ point of views. Richard and Eddie from Colibri Investigations who are hired to look into a possible criminal act in progress, and Alannah, who embarks on an expedition that goes sideways for her, really, really fast.

It’s a very simple formula, with little deviation from what you’d expect. Such a thing is very much a Marie Howalt signature of storytelling. And as with her other stories, the exceptional part here is her ability to draw out every ounce of nuanced feeling in a scene. Would not have minded a couple of twists, though.

(17/20)

Characters

Three characters are our focus this time. Richard Hart is the brains of Colibri Investigations, a no some nonsense take charge former military man. Nothing really stands out about his character, neither positively nor negatively, though Howalt’s portrayal of his auditory dyslexia is definitely an A+.

Alannah Jackson is… kind of an idiot. She’s the kind of character you’d prefer to be a non-focal deuteragonist, instead of a protagonist that gets her thoughts narrated. Because following her train of thinking can sometimes feel like you’re digging through the aftermath of a comment section filled with film nitpickers.

I really want to see her grow as a character in future stories, if there are ever any more. But she lacks the mindset of growth as someone we follow in this book. Her better scenes are ones where we read about her actions through the others’ view points.

Finally, there’s Eddie Macías. Well, I love Eddie. The intrigue to her character is far stronger than the other two. And even if her past turns out boring, she’s just such a grounded, realistic character. Howalt’s portrayal of her addiction and self-control is also chilling.

(17/20)

Flow and Pacing

There was only 1 jarring editorial error in the book that broke my flow of reading. Given the length of the novella, I’d say that constitutes an excellent score, in my opinion.

The story started out relatively slowly, and the pacing was a little off in the introduction of the main plot. I felt like a chapter or two could have been condensed in the first third, and the climax could have been given another chapter.

Still, Howalt’s writing continues to be smooth, and I finished the 16 chapters in under 3 hours.

(17/20)

Themes

If you’re not one to think in a more scholarly mindset, you can be forgiven for thinking there aren’t any themes in this story. Any lessons to be learned are hidden in the background radiation, covered by pelso platings and accessible only to category 2 creatures.

How do you approach a new world? How do you treat the world around you? How do you explore? What do you do when interacting with the unknown? These questions don’t pelt your face as you read, but subtly egg you on behind the scenes, though no real answer comes by the end of a far too short story to really explore them in the given genre.

(17/20) *the scores are purely coincidence, I assure you

CONCLUSION

Let’s face it. I was always going to like this book. It ticked all my niche boxes. Despite longer form novels being where she shines the brightest, The Stellar Snow Job shows Marie Howalt can deliver lovely characters and compelling worlds that jumps out at lightspeed even in smaller dosage.

The Stellar Snow Job by Marie Howalt gets a hyped up 85% approval.