Androids Dream is set in the future, after the earth has had First Contact with aliens and has joined the Common Confederation of Planets. The basic plot is that one race of aliens, the Nidu, have a coronation ceremony coming up that requires a certain breed of sheep from the Earth call the Androids Dream breed. The human government is split in two on the issue, with half scrambling to procure the sheep and save the tenuous relationship between the two species, while the other half are trying to destroy all of this specific breed and start a war. The story mostly follows Harry Creek, a war veteran with the training and expertise to try and sort out this mess and Robin Baker, a pet shop owner with past ties to the Androids Dream breed.This story is one of the best I've read in a long while. Scalzi is a very good writer although my one complaint is that this book was very poorly edited. Basic mistakes like spelling and grammar were not fixed. Sometimes whole words were missing from sentences and you were left stumbling. If something like that really bugs you then hopefully its been fixed in a later edition than the one I picked up (if there is one). Still, if you can get past editing mistakes I suggest you pick this up. This was a very good book and one of the best sci-fi books I've picked up in some time.
