Space Captain Smith - book review

[watervole]

  This was the first library book I borrowed on my Sony ebook reader. (and I'm waiting to see if Amazon censor that line from my book review...)

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. There's not much in the way of character development.

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.

Comments

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I was left with a pretty similar reaction. It was OK as far as it went, but not the sort of book to delve deeply into characterisation and, for me, the humour almost missed the mark. Trying too hard, I think. Pity because I so wanted to like it wholeheartedly. I kept wondering how Terry Pratchett would handle the same subject matter and came to the conclusion that it would be with a much lighter touch, but he's treat the subject seriously rather than sending the jokes through in advance on the clacks.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I found it tried a bit too hard for the jokes. It was jokes made by characters, rather than humour that developed from the characters.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

My booklog of Space Captain Smith is here: http://birdsedge.livejournal.com/135929.html Re-reading it I think we're pretty much in agreement.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, Suruk was the only character I felt had any real personality - yet we never find out why he became Smith's friend.