Anne E Johnson’s Green Light Delivery is a fun fast paced romp through odd planets. With a full cast of quirky characters, Johnson tells a tale of believing in what you do no matter how banal it may seem to others. With obvious influences such as Douglas Adams, a charming story unfolds.
Webrid is a carter, like his mother and grandfather before him. It’s not glamorous work, but it mostly pays the bills, and it gives him time to ogle the sexy women on the streets of Bexilla’s capital. Mostly, he buys and sells small goods and does the occasional transport run for a client. Then he gets mugged by a robot. Now, with a strange green laser implanted in his skull and a small fortune deposited in his bank account, Webrid has to make the most difficult delivery of his life. He doesn’t know who his client is, or what he’s carrying, but he knows that a whole lot of very dangerous people are extremely interested in what’s in his head. Literally. And they’ll do whatever it takes to get it. With the help of some truly alien friends, a simple carter will journey across worlds to deliver his cargo. And hopefully keep his head in the process.
Despite the length, Green Light Delivery feels more like many novellas- not very visually detailed with a blurred pace. This occasionally leaves the reader somewhat confused . However, the jovial manner makes you still chuckle as if at a joke you only half heard. The ensemble cast are extremely quirky but have the habit of blurring into one another. This usually is because their jobs are very similar yet are also what defines them. The different alien races are somewhat intriguing but never fully explained. This helps add to the blur of adventure.
Green Light Delivery has the somewhat complicated honor of being a book I am unsure of despite reading. I genuinely neither like nor disliked this book. Much of this was because the entire journey felt like a psychedelic adventure of chance. There isn’t much substance, but neither is it pretentious. I will say that I am intrigued enough to wonder what happens next. ‘ Had there been more details and visualization, I think I may have quite enjoyed Green Light Delivery. As is, I am left with an odd feeling of ‘Hmmm, what was that?
