Star Control: Interbellum by W.T. Quick. Okay, so a novel based on a DOS video game isn't exactly blessed from the get-go, but I had high hopes for this book, I really did. There is a definite feeling that the author knew nothing of the game when he wrote the story and had only a rough idea of what the aliens were supposed to look like. Star Control II is probably the greatest computer game ever, due in no small part to the rich story environment, the personalities of the aliens and the delightfully convoluded history of the galaxy. I figured the author was one of the nerds who loved the game so much he was going to make a fanfic epic, but this guy had no idea what he was doing. I won't go into the specific inconsistencies between the aliens' depictions in the game versus the book but the author tries to do too much too soon in too small a book. It looks like he was going to build a romance thread, but no. It looks like there's going to be a big battle, but no. It looks like there's going to be some big revelation as to why the humble main character was selected to go on this super important mission (seeing as that's the main storyline) but the author doesn't even give you a reason for that! The ending made no sense at all, even if the story is crap I won't spoil it, suffice it to say it's very hard to make sci-fi and fantasy/supernatural go together, and this fails miserably.