"Master of Formalities" by Scott Meyer (2015)

**A novel about a space butler.  Yes.  It's great**

Scott Meyer is quietly very, very dependable.  Some might know him as the author of the webcomic "Basic Instructions", which is how I discovered him (although he will probably inform people that he once opened for Weird Al as a standup comic).  But as an author, he has a knack for delivering light, fun scifi/fantasy novels.  His books are generally silly and fun, but with surprising and pleasant insight into human character underneath that.  But underneath that is basically more silliness and fun

While his most popular works are the Magic 2.0 series, starting with "Off to be the Wizard", I have a special place in my heart for his standalone novel, "Master of Formalities".  Again, to be clear, it's a novel about a space butler.  You don't have to imagine Anthony Hopkins, but objectively speaking you really should

We have a galaxy full of powerful planetary and multi-planetary governments, knit together by unspecified technology.  Wollard, our main character, is in service of Lady Jakabitus, the ruler of a planet who is at war with the Hahn world, a proxy war being carried out on the faraway planet of Orphion 6.  That said, while we hear news about the war, the book takes place almost entirely within the Palace, and is a generally fun romp

Wollard's technical position is a "Master of Formalities", meaning he works as a representative of the Arbiters, a galactic body that all civilized nations have agreed to allow to make sure every acts in "good form".  What follows, then is a very fun little book-length discussion on the importance and purpose of etiquette.  Wollard explains it early in the book to his protegee:

“We deal in etiquette, Phee. We see to it that proper form is maintained and the Formalities are respected. Why is etiquette important?” 

“Because it maintains civility, making it possible for people from different worlds to interact with a minimum of unnecessary conflict.” 

“No,” Wollard said. “That is what etiquette does. Why is it important?” 

Phee felt a renewed pang of embarrassment when she realized what Wollard was getting at. “Because everyone agrees that it is.” 

“Yes,” Wollard said, turning to face Phee. “The only reason etiquette is important is that everybody has agreed it is important."

Listen, like I said, this is a book about a space butler.  And it's super fun

The book is of course, deeply allegorical, almost a parable.  It certainly draws spiritual inspiration from e.g. Star Trek, where each planet they visit has a particular character or culture, and these are stand-ins for characters that we observe in the real world.  Lady Jakabitus, for instance, is a conscientious ruler who does what she can to improve her subjects' lives.  She measures her success on whether she accomplishes this goal

On the other hand, the "bad guys" of the book, the Hahn, are instead the type of rulers who enjoy the trappings of power for their own sake.  ". . . on the Hahn home world, one's status is demonstrated expressedly by inconveniencing others.  The more people you can inconvenience, the higher your status."

So yeah, it's not a particularly subtle allegory, but as far as, "there are two kinds of people in the world . . ." dichotomies go, it's a pretty fertile one for discussion.

I loved this book because it takes a cool setting, far future outer space (nanotechnology is the in-vogue tech for the book) but then just tells fun stories about people.  My favorite scifi starts on that premise, "tech changes, people don't", and while some authors take it in serious directions, Meyer is happy to just play around with it

Laughs are had, lessons are learned.  Later in the book, we meet a character who comes from a planet with terrible climate who has learned to embrace hardship and be improved by it.  In the middle of a silly space butler novel, this bit of wisdom gets dropped as he speaks to a young man who has gone through hardship:

“But I didn’t do it by choice,” he admitted. “It just happened to me.” 

Lord Kank leaned toward Rayzo. “I suspect that’s not entirely true. I bet there were times when you could have avoided him and chose not to, or you could have backed down, and didn’t. Even if I’m wrong, the great thing about suffering is that it makes us stronger whether we seek it out or not.”

I've read this book probably a half-dozen times, at this point.  Even at about 500 pages, it breezes by.  And we get to meet Wollard (and spend the day imagining Anthony Hopkins), Phee, Rayzo, Lord Kank, and all many of colorful characters.  Laugh a bit, think about how people are people, and enjoy the scenery.  What more can we ask for, in a book?

I loved this book

It’s impossible to build something without destroying something else. Every statue represents a ruined piece of pristine, unused clay, which in turn represents a hole dug in the ground somewhere.