Space Captain Smith

I don't think a book has made me laugh this much in years - not just the wry grin that briefly passes as you encounter an entertaining passage, but full a full bore belly laugh. Both a parody and a satire, its greatest strength and weakness both being that it frequently relies on the reader's understanding the tropes & references in question - not an issue for a frequent consumer of science fiction, but perhaps underwhelming or even bewildering for someone just entering the genre. Some of it is cultural - I suspect that if you're not British, or at least British-adjacent (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc) there's some humour that is going to be missed. Not every joke lands, but enough do to leave me eagerly wanting to explore the show more rest of the books in the series. My main complaint, if you can really call it that, is that the "British Space Empire" as a setting is underexplored, but it is nonetheless a refreshing change of pace from how the future is typically portrayed. show less

I actually read the second book (God-Emperor of Didcot) first by mistake, but enjoyed it enough to go back to the beginning. This was well worth it for the introduction to the characters, particularly Polly who gets a much richer and more sympathetic depiction in this volume. I really enjoyed Frost's characterisation, which keeps tongue firmly in cheek and eyebrow raised, but nevertheless treats everyone with affection. Smith's imperialist nonsense gets little more shrift than the zealous rantings of Gilead or the Ghasts' propaganda, and the flaws in his thinking are cast into relief, but Frost never veers far from the joyful low-key silliness and Boys' Own Adventure tone it begins with.

It feels very British, with a beautiful mixture show more of sending-up, odd nobility, social awkwardness and innuendo that seems almost archetypical to me. From some other reviews I suspect this is not a universal book - in particular I think non-Brits may struggle to appreciate it, as well as potentially people who haven't read the kind of stuff it's based on. For me, though, a very enjoyable read.

I'd have liked a neater conclusion to Polly's arc, in terms of where she came from - the Devlins seemed to just drop out of the plot entirely, despite sending a lackey who does play a role. Possibly due to come up in later volumes. show less

Just because you have a way with a gag it doesn't mean that you're excused from the requirement to deliver a bit of character development with your farce. Part of the problem is that I suspect that this story would work better as a graphic novel, where there would be an illustrated component to portray the emotional element that Frost is not really providing. Not to totally slam the walnut with a hammer, I suspect that another issue here is that I'm just a little too old for this sort of thing. Let's put it this way; I used to like Ron Goulart (another purveyor of satirical SF) back in the Seventies, but a few years ago I tried to reread him with no success.

Set in a future where the British Empire rules a good chunk of the stars, the book gives us an Empire with 1970's entertainment, pseudo-Victorian morality for the Empire and technology that feels like a second-hand car.

Captain Smith and his motley crew face the evil Ghasts and overcome them by plenty of derring do and stiff upper lips.

You'll need to have seen things like Bladerunner and War of the Worlds to get all the jokes.

There were some annoying point of view shifts in mid-paragraph - I suspect that's partly due to this being the writer's first book.

I found the book entertaining enough to read to the end, but not interesting enough to want to read the next one in the series.

Category 13 - comedy

Good

Isambaard Smith is a down on his luck former space captain who’s best friend sounds a lot like the alien in predator, especially his penchant for collecting skulls. Smith is offered a ship, piloted by an android who’s only companion is a hamster, to go to a hippy outpost and collect and return a woman who runs a shop. The story wobbily gets started and strikes an uneasily silly tone and it’s not until well into it, maybe the last third that it starts to hang together a bit better and the humour starts to work. It’s the first in a series and I’m tempted to try the second so it wasn’t awful but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. Do you like the sillier Carry On films? If so you may enjoy this, the show more stereotypical bumbling stiff upper lipped English officer who somehow always lands on his feet (like a more comedy version of Flashman, and that’s certainly echoed on the cover), silly alien empire, silly aliens full stop although the sidekick does provide some nice humour when he meets others of his kind, a former sex-bot who can’t help talking in innuendos and a lentil eating tree hugging damsel in distress. It’s not politically correct by any standard, the misogyny of the main character is in danger of being confused with the author, there are in fact some 3rd person parts that are suspiciously misogynistic, and yet despite all its faults I didn’t hate it and was even vaguely amused by the end. The second book promises to be about Tea and is called the god emperor of Didcot which I’m tempted by just for the title! (Didcot is a small town in England that is mainly known for having a very unsightly and dominating power station)

Overall – Very silly but can be entertaining show less

This book made me laugh out loud. That doesn't happen very often. I made my bf put down the book he was reading and read it right after I did. If I had waited I would have ruined the book by reading him all the funny bits, which would have been most of the book. I loved it, and loved the writing, the characters, and was impressed the with sheer amount of silly sexual innuendo. This book is Brilliant!

Space Captain Smith gently and fondly sends up the British Empire (moustaches, tea, stiff upper lip etc) and the sci fi genre while avoiding a clumsy caricature. It's light and entertaining, well written and the characters are sufficiently well thought out and likeable that I am keen to see what the next outing with the crew of the John Pym brings.
This is probably a good bet for Douglas Adams fans and people who find PK Dick just a little too surreal, also Red Dwarf, Blackadder Goes Fourth and Farscape fans might enjoy it.