He is disappointed to learn that the ship Jon Pym is not a warship and is more rust than he'd have wanted. Also the mission, picking up Rhianna Mitchell from the New Francisco space station and delivering her to the empire, is not as exciting as he'd hoped. But between fighting void sharks, Ghast storm troopers (nazi ants), and Republic of Eden fanatics evidence start to pile up that Mitchell perhaps is more important for the war effort than they thought. Which would be fine until they realize that they were not chosen for this mission for their skill. Rather they are the lure in a trap. But with the ship sent to swoop in and save them destroyed they are truly alone stranded on a backwater planet.
My thoughts
This book is a lot of funny and very weird.
I wouldn't call it fast paced so much as problems appear and gets solved within just one or two chapters. Someone gets kidnapped in the next chapter they are rescued, staring down a Ghast Warship some Moloks Suruk befriended shows up and kills them. Thinking about it usually the answer to their problems is violence. This may sound like a bad thing but it's to charming for me to be annoyed at it. It's very turn your brain of and enjoy the ride sort of thing.
Similar to the plot the setting is... everything, as long as it's a reference. So every planet or people is almost a new setting; the British is in the 19th century, New Francisco is 70s hippie era. But plenty is inspired by fiction, Rick Dreckitt a stimulant hitman who's horrified that he can no longer tell the difference between humans and robots and worrying that he might accidentally kill a fellow robot. It's clearly a reversed Bladerunner situation, but there are also quick glimpses or war of the worlds, the matrix and a clockwork orange (the youths gets beat up by a predator). Despite all this it feels cohesive if only because everything is equally as out of place.
Victorian England wasn't known for being progressive not really about anything but here that mostly manifests as Smith saying he dislikes foreigners and aliens. Though he shows no actual dislike for any he meet and neither does his superior have any problem with Suruk tagging along. When it comes to women it's mostly shown by Smiths inexperience with sex. Instead the Republic of Eden (right wing USA) gets to be evil for their patriarchal ways. It's an interesting choice.
Now don't get me wrong I don't want my main characters to be upholding the patriarchy but it does feel like it's trying to have it's cake and eat it too.
The book is a lot, but it's fun and the characters are...I hesitate to call them likable but entertaining.
If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Space captain
