The Waymaker's Foresight

By: Dan Megill

Narrated by: Lyle Blaker

Two smugglers and a fugitive must outrun an empire to unlock ancient secrets before they fall into the wrong hands.

Gavin and Nax are smugglers struggling to find work on a backwater space station, so when Lila, a highborn lady, hires them for a short jaunt to the nearest wormhole, they don't ask many questions. But Lila is fleeing the galaxy's mightiest empire, carrying knowledge of lost technologies that could reshape the stars. Now, this unlikely trio must learn to work together as they race between star systems and unravel forgotten mysteries while staying one step ahead of the imperial fleets and a ruthless prince.

©2025 Daniel F. Megill (P)2025 Daniel F. Megill

Cozy, yet exciting. Fun for space western fans!

This book is just downright FUN. If you’re a fan of “space scoundrel” adventures like Firefly and Cowboy Bebop, you are sure to love this. Here are some of the reasons why I do:

The Characters

Megill has an exceptional way of describing the characters and their quirky mannerisms. They’re all just downright charming. They interact with each other in a fun, playful way – especially the brothers. The story features a wide-ranging cast that includes rough-and-tumble mercenaries, warring space empires, ladies that kick ass, actual SPACE SHARKS, and a villain that you can’t help but love to hate.

Pacing

In this book, stuff happens. The fun starts from the very beginning, and there’s excellent pacing throughout. The story doesn’t bog itself down with heavy exposition. There are no lulls; you’ll be hooked by the end of the second chapter. By the end of Chapter 4, we have a fully assembled, accidental crew fighting for a higher purpose.

The World

The world is easy to imagine because it feels familiar, and this is a positive thing. Not only does it share similarities with other futuristic space western worlds, it feels like a world that’s not too distant from a futuristic version of our own. It’s not a total dark, dismal dystopia. There are corners of this universe that are colorful and fun.

This is in contrast to Megill’s previous work, the Earthburst Trilogy, which took place in such an unusual setting that it required lots of illustration and buildup to understand. Megill does great with both approaches, and both are rewarding in their own way – but Waymaker is without a doubt the more accessible of the two works. In Earthburst, almost everything was foreign. In the Waymaker universe, people eat donuts and burgers and occasionally wear bunny ears.

This has easily been my favorite read of the year, and I’m hyped for Megill’s next release.

tl;dr – Get this book.

Decent-Paced Sci-Fi Story

The setting is a pretty typical Sci-Fi that readers will be able to easily follow. The second half of the book felt a bit like Indiana Jones, in a good way :)
While the prose of the book is a bit simple, it leads to a quicker paced story (which I like). All of the main characters are pretty interesting (I particularly liked the villain).