5/5 stars

Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (The Earthman Jack Space Saga, #2) by Matthew Kadish

To Be Published on 9/15/15…

Earthman Jack is Really, Really Cool…

A while back, Hugh Howey—indie author extraordinaire and vocal advocate for self-published authors—shared a letter on his blog from some guy named Matt Kadish who had written a book and self-published it on Amazon. Hugh Howey hasn’t lead me wrong yet, so looked up Matt’s book on Amazon…600+ pages for $.99? Harry Potter meets Star Wars? Uh…duh. I downloaded Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet immediately. And then didn’t read it. For like a year.

I can’t remember what made me finally pick it up, but I can tell you that once I got going I plowed through it. I hadn’t had that much fun reading in, I don’t know, maybe EVER! (Read my original EJ1 review here). I Immediately went back to the beginning and started again, this time reading out loud to my kids—and they loved it as much as I did.

I’d found a rare thing. I’d found a self-published book that deserves to be read.

That was early last year, and since then I’ve been anxious to get my hands on the second installment, Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army, to see if Matt Kadish can deliver again. Now that I’ve had my hands on every page, I think I might have to start calling him Matt “The Mailman” Kadish because—yep, you guessed it—he delivered. Big time.

Like EJ1, EJ2 starts off slow—not slow like boring. Slow like brisket in a slow cooker. Once the action gets going around the half way point, the blood pressure and the laughs (Isn’t that a great combination?) both reach levels only found in the best books.

Certainly Earthman Jack isn’t for everyone. Like, for example, if you’re boring and don’t like to laugh, I suggest you go read something more your style. Maybe try something by that Stephenie Meyer person. But if you can handle some good, light hearted fun without taking yourself (or your books) too seriously, you really need to read Earthman Jack. Start with the first one though.

A warning for my more discerning followers: There is some “15-year-old-boy speak” in this book. Things like “Most girls would at least let you cop a feel…” or “Yeah, remember that thing she does with her tongue?” came up a handful of times. Nothing I would feel uncomfortable letting my 14-year-old read, but things I’ll likely filter out when I read it aloud to my 8-year-old.

Also—and this is a biggie—there is a cliffhanger the size of the Grand Canyon at the end of this thing. I wish I had Matt Kadish’s phone number, because I would have called him demanding an explanation when I turned the last page to find out what happens and I find this instead:

Earthman Jack will return in…

EARTHMAN JACK

VS.

THE CONCLAVE OF CORRUPTION

Curse you, The Mailman. All I know is that you’d better deliver Book 3 soon.

Because Earthman Jack is really, really cool.