Willful Child

September 1, 2014
Bestselling fantasy writer Erikson (the Malazan Book of the Fallen series) takes a break from gritty epic fantasy to deliver this heavy-handed Star Trek parody. Capt. Hadrian Alan Sawback, commander of the Terran Space Fleet starship Willful Child, is pugnacious and perpetually one half-step away from a sexual harassment suit. His ship’s ongoing mission is “hairy, fraught, and on occasion insanely dangerous,” a good match for a captain who can’t abide the “hell of routine.” When a rogue AI named Tammy commandeers the Willful Child’s computers, Sawback and crew dive headlong into adventures beyond the Known Rim, encountering officially designated “Strange New Worlds” replete with vaguely Greek looking ruins, mysterious portals, Muppet-like aliens, and even a super-chicken soldier in a mechanized battle suit. After decades of humorous commentary on Star Trek, most recently John Scalzi’s award-winning Redshirts, Sawback and his crew come very late to the party. That tardiness, coupled with heavy-handed plotting and thinly sketched characters, make this feel more like a parody of parodies (particularly Futurama’s egomaniacal Captain “Zap” Brannigan) than a satire of the show itself.

September 15, 2014

Hadrian Sawback has gotten his first command on the starship Willful Child, possibly by cheating on the unwinnable academy test, the Mishmashi Paradox, that appears to be the only requirement to becoming a ship's captain. He wastes no time once on board, propositioning female crew members and dragging members of his staff into one dangerous situation after another. When an AI named Tammy Wynette takes control of the ship, Hadrian has no choice but to head for the Exclusion Zone, where Tammy hopes to find its maker. VERDICT This parody of TV's Star Trek from the author of the popular fantasy series "Mazalan of the Fallen" doesn't take itself at all seriously. Cocksure and ridiculous, Erikson's Captain Kirk stand-in blusters his way through every crisis with a strange combination of luck and bravado. The jokes fly so fast and furious (tending toward broad puns of the "And don't call me Shirley" variety) that as many miss as land successfully, but Star Trek fans will probably find themselves laughing along with the book's over-the-top moments. This could be a natural companion to John Scalzi's Hugo Award winner Redshirts.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014
This reviewer likes to imagine that after fantasy author Erikson finished his impressive and popular Malazan Book of the Fallen series, he threw himself a wildly drunken party where he introduced his friends Star Trek and Futurama. Thus, perhaps, Willful Child was born. Fans of both these television series can visualize what this raucous book is about: the fast-paced and far-flung story of a narcissistic spaceship captain, Hadrian Alan Sawback, exploring the galaxy with his misfit crew of humans, aliens, and artificial intelligence. It's a bold move for a novelist to consider the stamina necessary to keep up a constant barrage of jokes, especially when they are spread across one story line spanning some 300 pages. The book occasionally shows a funny-fatigue when it throws in a few disappointingly predictable gags to fill the space between the many inspired bits of humor. A bigger problem could also lie in the main character, who may come across as too much flaw and not enough redemption to more sensitive readers made uncomfortable by Hadrian as an uncouth, macho, sexual caricature.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)