Do I need to read the other Willful Child books first?

It helps — the series has recurring characters and running jokes — but each book is relatively accessible. Start with Willful Child (book 1) for the best experience.

Is this related to the Malazan world?

No. The Willful Child series is science fiction set in a Star Trek-parodying future.

Is this good for readers who normally only read Erikson's fantasy?

If you have a high tolerance for broad comedy and Star Trek references, yes. It is tonally unlike anything else in his catalogue — deliberately so.

Willful Child

Science Fiction Space Opera

Pages: 352
Published: 2018
Language: English

The third and final Willful Child novel continues the adventures of Captain Hadrian Sawback and the crew of the AFS Willful Child — a starship whose captain is equal parts James T. Kirk, Zapp Brannigan, and id unchained. The Search for Spark sends the crew in pursuit of the mysterious Spark, a mission that provides Erikson maximum opportunity to deploy his deep love of Star Trek against his deep understanding of what makes the show so ripe for parody. The Willful Child series is Erikson's fully comic mode: slapstick, pun-driven, absurdist, and surprisingly warm beneath its irreverence.

Prose complexity: 4/10

Adventurous Mysterious

Steven Erikson

Steven Erikson was born Steve Rune Lundin in Toronto in 1959 and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He trained as an archaeologist and anthropologist — completing fieldwork on Indigenous sites in the Canadian Shield — before earning a graduate degree through the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He writes under a pen name adopted to avoid confusion with the American novelist Steve Erickson. The world of the Malazan Book of the Fallen has its origins not in a manuscript but in a tabletop roleplaying campaign....

Captain Hadrian SawbackProtagonist

A starship captain of boundless ego and surprising competence whose command style is technically insubordination all the way down.

PrintlipSupporting

The ship's doctor, a being of alien physiology and entirely alien medical priorities.

Adjutant Lorrin TigheSupporting

The officer who would like to maintain some semblance of military discipline, a project that is perpetually failing.

All characters in Willful Child

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to read the other Willful Child books first?
It helps — the series has recurring characters and running jokes — but each book is relatively accessible. Start with Willful Child (book 1) for the best experience.
Is this related to the Malazan world?
No. The Willful Child series is science fiction set in a Star Trek-parodying future.
Is this good for readers who normally only read Erikson's fantasy?
If you have a high tolerance for broad comedy and Star Trek references, yes. It is tonally unlike anything else in his catalogue — deliberately so.