Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

How should and intelligent race from another world reach out to the entirety  of this world? Approach the world leaders at the UN, land in the middle of the White House lawn?  The  Yherajk are a bit more savvy and came up with a better plan.....hire a Hollywood agent.

Most of this story takes place in and around Los Angeles so, which is just the right backdrop for a tale centered around the entertainment industry.  Even though the book is not abundant with detailed description, the scenery that is there is sufficient to convey the look and feel of story.  This is one of those stories where less is often more.

Agent to the Stars is one of those books where the plot development goes almost hand in hand with the growth of its characters.  We get to see how Thomas Stein, ambitious young Hollywood agent, transitions from up and comer to  somebody noted for something more than his ability to sell the abilities of his clients to TV and movie producers.  Thomas introduces us to some more varied and equally interesting characters.  Everything from aged agents to spoiled performers to ...well.... aliens from another planet.  There are two typical ways to show character development: show or tell.  John Scalzi  opts for a much lesser used method that I won't go into (spoilers).  Suffice it to say, this method also allows the story to move forward.

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi is an entertaining and amusing read.  This is by no means classic literature but, it is a very fun story.  One that I suspect would make a good movie.  There is very little violence but there is some language here and there as well as frank discussions of human sexuality.  For those reasons I would give this a PG13 rating.