Willful Child

Captain Hadrian Sawback commands the Starship Willful Child, a vessel whose crew is sent out to claim distant planets for Earth, a mission that often means conquering or destroying whatever lives there. Sawback is confident to the point of recklessness and not especially sharp, a figure who resembles a brash, heroic starship commander filtered through a sitcom family man. Alongside his mixed crew, he lurches from one narrowly averted disaster to the next as the ship moves through the vast emptiness between the stars.

The novel is written as a send-up of the space exploration adventure, especially the Star Trek tradition the author grew up loving. Its target is the familiar pattern of humanity charging across the galaxy in the name of progress, leaving damage and gadgetry in its wake. The jokes come thick and fast, and the story is often over the top, but the satire is aimed carefully at the genre's conventions while the book also keeps a clear affection for them.

The author is best known for the Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy sequence. Willful Child shows a different side of his writing: a lighter, sharper comic voice. It will appeal most to readers who enjoy science fiction spoofs and who know the genre well enough to recognise what is being mocked.