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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
The publisher sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was quite looking forward to this. It was marketed towards Star Trek fans looking for a parody of Trek. I'm afraid I was rather disappointed.
The first two hundred pages of the book were all atmosphere and no plot. I think it's fun to parody things but you have to have a story. Around page 200 a story does begin to unfold and I liked the book better from that point forward.
Trekkies will recognize story elements from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Voyage Home and episodes like "Spock's Brain" and "Assignment: Earth" but for me, those fun moments were overshadowed by a sort of listless wandering. The dialogue was difficult to parse. Erikson is trying to create his own version of Whedon-speak or Buffy-speak but it doesn't work for me.
Maybe others with a different sense of humour will disagree with me.
I was quite looking forward to this. It was marketed towards Star Trek fans looking for a parody of Trek. I'm afraid I was rather disappointed.
The first two hundred pages of the book were all atmosphere and no plot. I think it's fun to parody things but you have to have a story. Around page 200 a story does begin to unfold and I liked the book better from that point forward.
Trekkies will recognize story elements from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Voyage Home and episodes like "Spock's Brain" and "Assignment: Earth" but for me, those fun moments were overshadowed by a sort of listless wandering. The dialogue was difficult to parse. Erikson is trying to create his own version of Whedon-speak or Buffy-speak but it doesn't work for me.
Maybe others with a different sense of humour will disagree with me.
These are the voyages of the Willful Child and it's arrogant captain, Hadrian Alan Sawback, who is this
combined with a healthy dose of this:
and a some of this:
In my quest to read more science fiction, I have made a point of reading scifi books by authors whose fantasy novels I have enjoyed. Steven Erikson's epic Malazan series led me to this book, which is more than just science fiction. It's his very tongue in cheek homage to Star Trek, a show he loves dearly, and an obvious cathartic break from his decades long work on Malazan. For these reasons, I can most certainly appreciate the effort, but frankly, I'm just not a fan.
Not that the book isn't well written. Lots of interesting characters and Erikson's already proven skill with words and his sharp wit. It's not easy to nail comedic timing in a non-visual medium, but Erikson manages some fantastic sight gags with just words on a page. The banter and power struggle between Sawback and Tammy, the AI that's taken over his ship, is particularly amusing.
The problem is that the jokes get old fast when it's just a variation of the same. Particularly the ones involving Sawback's lechery and misogyny. I get it. This is satire and I'm fine with that. But after a while, it all gets boring because Sawback and his people really don't learn or grow or do anything. Sawback is the intrepid hero who is always right even when he's wrong, and even though the women don't indulge his antics, much of which come from inner monologues anyway, I grew tired of hearing about it.
The ridiculousness of Captain Kirk is reknown and I praise Erikson for being able to satirically critique something he loves so much, but I think he could have done so within a few less pages. When I heard about the sequel, [b:Willful Child: Wrath of Betty|28220781|Willful Child Wrath of Betty|Steven Erikson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1455361938s/28220781.jpg|48249443], I had to roll my eyes because I can't help but think that this is just going to be more of the same, and, I predict, somewhere along the way, this will happen:
www.bibliosanctum.com
combined with a healthy dose of this:
and a some of this:
In my quest to read more science fiction, I have made a point of reading scifi books by authors whose fantasy novels I have enjoyed. Steven Erikson's epic Malazan series led me to this book, which is more than just science fiction. It's his very tongue in cheek homage to Star Trek, a show he loves dearly, and an obvious cathartic break from his decades long work on Malazan. For these reasons, I can most certainly appreciate the effort, but frankly, I'm just not a fan.
Not that the book isn't well written. Lots of interesting characters and Erikson's already proven skill with words and his sharp wit. It's not easy to nail comedic timing in a non-visual medium, but Erikson manages some fantastic sight gags with just words on a page. The banter and power struggle between Sawback and Tammy, the AI that's taken over his ship, is particularly amusing.
The problem is that the jokes get old fast when it's just a variation of the same. Particularly the ones involving Sawback's lechery and misogyny. I get it. This is satire and I'm fine with that. But after a while, it all gets boring because Sawback and his people really don't learn or grow or do anything. Sawback is the intrepid hero who is always right even when he's wrong, and even though the women don't indulge his antics, much of which come from inner monologues anyway, I grew tired of hearing about it.
The ridiculousness of Captain Kirk is reknown and I praise Erikson for being able to satirically critique something he loves so much, but I think he could have done so within a few less pages. When I heard about the sequel, [b:Willful Child: Wrath of Betty|28220781|Willful Child Wrath of Betty|Steven Erikson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1455361938s/28220781.jpg|48249443], I had to roll my eyes because I can't help but think that this is just going to be more of the same, and, I predict, somewhere along the way, this will happen:
www.bibliosanctum.com
John Scalzi, a very good author, couldn't make this work for an entire novel in Redshirts. Why I decided to try it with an author I've never read, I'll never know. It's an attempt at a Star Trek comedy of errors and its single note goes sour very quickly. I was fed up in 50 pages and gave up in 70.
I've also checked out the first book in his fantasy series. Let's hope it's better.
I've also checked out the first book in his fantasy series. Let's hope it's better.
Fun, fast-paced and easy read: but the over the top farcicality gets a bit tedious. It's Erikson putting Pratchett and Adams in a blender and turning it up to 11. Nobody should not read this book, but I can't think who I'd actively recommend it to.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Not sure when or if I will continue on with this series. Was funny in some parts though.
Fun at times, but not much else here.
A lot of the humor is confusing - are we to laugh at the Affiliation or its discontents? Is the Affiliation a direct parody of the Federation or a depiction of the Federation more likely to be extrapolated from the struggles of today? At times it is hard to tell whether the author is satirising misogyny or feminism itself with the macho Captain's hijinks. This seems like a pretty important point to clarify, although the author's past writing would suggest it is a clumsy but well-meaning man's attempt at the former. I did like that the prologue presents the worst possible outcome of a First Contact "savior from the stars" scenario, in contrast to the much more hopeful treatment he gave the topic in the mostly-serious Scifi novel Rejoice: A Knife to the Heart.
Harder-core Star Trek fans than I might love this book, provided you're also a big fan of the likes of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. I've never been a fan of long-form written humor myself, and the only Trek series I've watched start-to-finish is DS9, arguably the least "Trek" of the 90s Treks. But I liked Erikson's Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas enough to give this a try. It is a brisk enough read, however, and the lampshaded "episodic" nature of the story makes the book tolerable in short installments for those, such as myself, who prefer humor in article or short story length. I'll check out the next installment to see if Erikson recaptures some of that B&KB shine.
A lot of the humor is confusing - are we to laugh at the Affiliation or its discontents? Is the Affiliation a direct parody of the Federation or a depiction of the Federation more likely to be extrapolated from the struggles of today? At times it is hard to tell whether the author is satirising misogyny or feminism itself with the macho Captain's hijinks. This seems like a pretty important point to clarify, although the author's past writing would suggest it is a clumsy but well-meaning man's attempt at the former. I did like that the prologue presents the worst possible outcome of a First Contact "savior from the stars" scenario, in contrast to the much more hopeful treatment he gave the topic in the mostly-serious Scifi novel Rejoice: A Knife to the Heart.
Harder-core Star Trek fans than I might love this book, provided you're also a big fan of the likes of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. I've never been a fan of long-form written humor myself, and the only Trek series I've watched start-to-finish is DS9, arguably the least "Trek" of the 90s Treks. But I liked Erikson's Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas enough to give this a try. It is a brisk enough read, however, and the lampshaded "episodic" nature of the story makes the book tolerable in short installments for those, such as myself, who prefer humor in article or short story length. I'll check out the next installment to see if Erikson recaptures some of that B&KB shine.
This book was an improvement on the previous entry in the series.
I found myself quite engaged during the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home sequence, where we saw 2015 Earth through the eyes of the crew. The satire here was easier to pick out because it wasn't filtered through the lens of an already fictional world. I especially liked the dig at people who didn't "get" Verhoeven's Starship Troopers.
I felt the satire of Trump/Americans early on in the book was a bit on the nose, as was the Walmart satire, but these sequences still felt more fully-realized than comparable sequences in the previous novel. And on the nose or not, I always appreciate the kind of anti-capitalist red meat Erikson throws in at every opportunity. I hope Karsa does socialism or green anarchism or something in Karsa Orlong Trilogy, just to mess with right-wing Malazan fans (I assume there must be some, given the military fantasy nature of the series).
Erikson's work on the Malazan books shows an author who is more than capable of evolving when needed, (particularly between the first and second entries in the series), and he's produced a better version of "Trek parody fic" here than in the previous iteration. I'm glad this series is improving and I figure I may as well see what the third (final?) book has to offer. Maybe long-form written comedy is an acquired taste?
I found myself quite engaged during the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home sequence, where we saw 2015 Earth through the eyes of the crew. The satire here was easier to pick out because it wasn't filtered through the lens of an already fictional world. I especially liked the dig at people who didn't "get" Verhoeven's Starship Troopers.
I felt the satire of Trump/Americans early on in the book was a bit on the nose, as was the Walmart satire, but these sequences still felt more fully-realized than comparable sequences in the previous novel. And on the nose or not, I always appreciate the kind of anti-capitalist red meat Erikson throws in at every opportunity. I hope Karsa does socialism or green anarchism or something in Karsa Orlong Trilogy, just to mess with right-wing Malazan fans (I assume there must be some, given the military fantasy nature of the series).
Erikson's work on the Malazan books shows an author who is more than capable of evolving when needed, (particularly between the first and second entries in the series), and he's produced a better version of "Trek parody fic" here than in the previous iteration. I'm glad this series is improving and I figure I may as well see what the third (final?) book has to offer. Maybe long-form written comedy is an acquired taste?
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes