When I first opened this book, I was thrown for a bit of a loop. It’s published by Dark Horse, so I assumed it would be a graphic novel. It’s not. It’s a regular text novel of nearly 300 pages. Since these require a much bigger investment of time than comics do, I probably wouldn’t have volunteered to review it had I known up front. That said… I’m glad I did. This was a rollicking space adventure that I honestly didn’t want to put down.

The early days of interstellar space travel were populated by star pilots: rugged space adventurers, brave and a bit foolhardy, who would regularly save planets as part of their daily routine. Now, with the invention of quantum teleportation, those star pilots have been relegated to tour guides, regaling vacationing families with tales of the old days for an hourly fee.

Our hero is one such pilot, down on his luck, with a ship that’s largely falling apart. Then, a series of mishaps lead him to take a job with a high-paying, but definitely shady, client, and assume the identity of the galaxy’s most famous—and notorious—star pilot.

This book is part send-up of, and part tribute to, space westerns and similar sci-fi/adventure stories. There are times when it’s reminiscent of Star Wars or the best books by Robert Heinlein, and times when it has more the flavor of comic strip Brewster Rockit: Space Guy.

The story employs some familiar plot devices, but does it with love, and still makes you want to keep reading every step of the way. It’s very well written by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw and usually pretty funny, as well.

If you like cool, fun, sci-fi adventure comedies, then Will Save the Galaxy for Food is something you’ll definitely want to check out. And, honestly, who doesn’t like a cool, fun, sci-fi adventure comedy?