Review: Captain Trader Helmsman Spy

by Karl Gallagher

Karl Gallagher’s last Fall of the Censor novel, Seize What’s Held Dear, showed us the taking of the planet Corwynt, and holding it against Censorate attack fleets. Now, Karl uses his latest novel to take us deeper into the Censorate empire, and the planets it controls.

The Story

Captain Trader Helmsman Spy takes place almost concurrent with the previous novel, Seize What’s Held Dear. In Seize What’s Held Dear, we saw Niko Landy, Captain of the Azure Tarn, agree to delve into the world of the Censor, to explore the systems, discover planets, chart paths through the stars, and open up lines of communication and possible allies on the ground for when the Fierans come knocking on the Censor’s door.

Obviously from the title of the novel, Karl Gallagher has written a science fiction spy novel. Unlike Seize What’s Held Dear, this isn’t a military science fiction novel, but mostly world and character driven. Going from world to world, interacting with the different systems and people felt on par with Flash Gordon going through the worlds of Mongo… only with much fewer blasters, swords, and fights with space tigers. Only the threat is no less than a Flash Gordon serial. Every step along the way, Niko Landry and his crew are under constant threat from Censorate authorities, and Niko and his crew have to invent their own version of Moscow rules.

But of course, this is one of Karl’s novels, and we have to have at least one death-defying escape through hyperspace, a battle with an unarmed freighter ship versus a fully armed destroyer, and along the way, having all the threats that would come from a submarine novel—only instead of crush depth, the hull ruptures and everyone is either blown out into space or blown up by hyperspace aether.

And the entire time, there is a Censor spy on the ship, ready and waiting to sentence everyone on board to death.

I really feel like David Weber should be taking notes, it’s just that good.

Also, there’s just a hint of smartass.

“It’s not a moon!”

“What?”

“That’s a space station. Look how shiny it is.”

Characters

As I’ve said, two things carry this book, the character and the world-building. Both are done in quick, efficient sketches. The book opens with how our heroes get sucked into / volunteer for this mission … because they know what they’re doing. (And the government made the mistake of trying to commandeer their ship) Something as simple as bartering for fuel was a barrier for professional spies.

I do like how we get multiple layers of character development for multiple characters just with simple personal observations.

Niko Landry looks at a newcomer and concludes.

[He wasn’t Navy.] They weren’t that fond of exercise or as alert to their surroundings. The muscles and swiveling head said Marine.

And if that doesn’t tell you how observant Niko is, you’re not paying attention.

The World

Karl manages to make the economics of a system interesting. One of the ways the Censorate works is to prevent a common monetary system, so negotiations between worlds is strictly barter. Part of Niko’s mission is to find good places and planets to infiltrate with the equivalent of Marine Raiders.

This also covers a little bit of how the Concord (the government of our heroes) operates… poorly, inefficiently, and with WD-40… but by God, does the Censor make them look like the model of efficiency.

Also, it’s nice to see that inter-service rivalries never change.

“Why wasn’t this part of the Navy’s mission brief?”

“The Navy only does favors for Marines when it’s a line item in their budget.”

Karl also does some interesting things with language … especially with words that don’t translate into other languages.

Karl also builds at least four different planetary cultures along the way. One is a planet of slavers, another is built along the lines of an Asian Matriarchy, as well as the planet of “zebra.”

We also get to see the workings of the Censor, which can be nicely interpreted as the bureaucracy of Screwtape.

Politics

The politics are mildly libertarian. If you couldn’t tell by the fact that merchants are doing a better job of spying than the government, you could tell by lines like “Problems are never over. But free people have better problems.”

Who is it for?

For fans of David Weber’s space opera, Timothy Zahn’s sci-fi espionage, or the various and sundry worlds you’d experience in Flash Gordon.

Why read it?

This is a fun Sci-fi espionage thriller.