The Pincers of Death – Toby Frost

The latest Space Captain Smith novel has been out for some time, and I honestly don't know why it took me so long to buy it, or so much time to get round to reading it! I've reviewed all the previous books in the series (Space Captain Smith, God-Emperor of Didcot, Wrath of the Lemming Men, A Game of Battleships and End of Empires).

Dastardly Ghast 462 has been Smith's nemesis throughout the series. He's also worked his way ambitiously up through the ant-man ranks, and now, for reasons I won't name here, he's decided Number One must die. And there's only one man for the task! Unfortunately, affable idiot Smith and the crew of the ramshackle John Pym are stuck on Radishia, forced to fight like futuristic gladiators for the Criminarch (a nice parody of current real-world leaders, but mainly Putin and Trump). The Deepspace Operations Group and Straalian forces (including Bush Captain Shane and Rippy the Kangaram) are chipping in, but ultimately it's up to Smith, Rhianna, Carveth and Suruk to battle their way to victory without giving supreme power to 462 in the process.

I don't think this is the best story in the series (Wrath of the Lemming Men and End of Empires are my favourites). And yet looking back, it's a good book, with puns and allusions coming thick and fast. Everything from Mad Max to The Hunger Games to The Village People gets drawn on. There are plenty of places where I did genuinely laugh out loud. Perhaps my appreciation is dulled a little by my familiarity with the style. I'd still cheerfully buy more books about the crew of the John Pym (though whether there will be any now the universe is a peaceful place remains to be seen). For me, reading this was less a hilarious surprise, more a warm, fuzzy appreciation of the humour and a shared love of all things geeky. So while I'm not raving about this, I'm still absolutely recommending it.