Book review: Scum of the Earth by Alexander C. Kane

I'm a big fan of Alexander C. Kane. I absolutely loved his Andrea Venon series about a personal assistant that works at a corporation that provides superhero protection to cities. I, likewise, was a huge fan of his Dragon Heist book that was a modern day Dungeons and Dragons adventure in a world taken over by dragons where some Alabama rednecks decide to rob the dragon kings of Tennessee. Still, I was a bit hesitant about this particular novel because it had such an offbeat premise: what would it be like to follow a novel about a collaborator with alien invaders?

Ezra Barker was a Senator's aide before the invasion of the Merg that resulted in the conquest of the planet within a few hours. A weak-willed but (arguably) decent sort, Ezra went along with the Senator pulling a Kent Brockman and welcoming our new insect overlords. Ezra lives marginally better than most humans, at least not serving in their slave mines, but is crippled with guilt and anxiety over his job of handling the paperwork for the world's slow slide into extinction. He dreams about the girl he can sometimes see from his window but arguably isn't even a coward because he seems like he'd be happy to die.

And man, is this book hilariious!

I know, with an intro like that, I bet you are expecting a laugh a minute. However, it absolutely is a hilarious black comedy that is awesome from beginning to end. Part of this is due to the fact that we're aware Ezra is "scum of the Earth" but it invites us to compare him to other people who have their own reasons for working with the Merg.

There's the Sergeant Hayes who is a police officer so full of his own self-righteousness that he completely misses the atrocities committed or justifies them without a second thought. After all, there's the LawTM and there's chaos and rebelling would be the latter. The Senator is a self-serving parasite but fully embraces a genteel Southern charm about every "regrettable" mass murder or atrocity that she justifies in keeping the Merg pacified. Sadly, I think a lot of us think they pretty much reflect the authorities in our time with only mild exaggeration. Which is the only political joke I'm going to make this review.

What makes this a comedy, or more precisely a farce, rather than a tragedy is that Ezra gets involved with the resistance and keeps bumbling his way into making actual progress against the Merg. This annoys the resistance to no end given they have captured Ezra to execute him as a war criminal. They may be the good guys but in the words of Paul Verhoven, "Oppression doesn't make you a good person, it just makes you oppressed."

In conclusion, this is a really funny novel. I strongly recommend people pick up the audiobook version because the narration is fantastic and a lot of the jokes land much better spoken than read. I found the ending to be surprisingly uplifting despite the premise as it's a reminder that evil and stupid often go hand in hand.