Spock is found half dead by Aaron Stemple, who realises almost immediately that he isn’t human, not least because of the masses of green blood exiting Spock’s body. Being a ridiculously reasonable man, he decides that this ‘intellectual Satan’ is enough human to save, and takes him back to his secluded cabin and nurses Spock back health. Spock doesn’t remember himself, although he is aware he is not human. He has no memory of his past, or what he is doing here, save glimpses when he gets reminded of something, however trying to remember causes him great pain, just a memory of pain. Aaron gives Spock a new name Ishmael and presents him to the other residents of the town as his Nephew. This is fitting because Aaron Stemple is played by Mark Lenard, Mark Lenard plays Spock’s father, Sarek. This is a really important (meta) plot point…
I tried to think why Hambly would use the name Ishmael, I don’t think it’s a common Jewish name because it’s more commonly associated with Islam. Ishmael means in Hebrew approximately ‘God hears’, hears what, who is ‘god’ here? I can’t even work out if Aaron Stemple is supposed to be Jewish or not? I assumed he was while reading because Mark Lenard and Leonard Nimoy are both Jewish. I don’t seem to be able to find much information on ‘Here Come the Brides’ either, infuriating. At this rate I’ll be buying the series and blogging about that too so that I can get the answers to my questions! Perhaps I’m just thinking too much about this… on the other hand, Hambly doesn’t seem like a writer just to use any name. I just don’t know.
Anyway back to the task at hand. Spock lives for four months without his memory, he interacts with many of the recurring characters from ‘Here Come the Brides’ essentially giving them an end to their stories since the TV show was cancelled after two seasons, and giving Spock almost a ‘beginning’ of his. He ‘logically’ advises people to get together, helps to develop a gambling system and by his mere presence ensures his own future, in fact that his own birth will come to pass. Ah, the joys of a bootstrap paradox, all this had to happen because it had already happened. The Klingons, in their desire to prevent the Federation from existing, from humans ever being able to develop themselves, actually cause the humans to reject Khasid influence. The human who prevents it? Aaron Stemple.
I don’t want to spoil too much of what goes on in Seattle, because it is just so well written and so much fun to read, I’ll leave that to you, but Spock edges gradually to embracing his humanity, his human characteristics to the point of showing genuine affection for Biddy Cloom, who as it turns out, is his maternal ancestor.
Hambly strings you along a little bit throughout the novel, especially where relationships are concerned. Spock is always on the edge of emotion, but not quite. Kirk is on the edge of a break down, but keeps himself busy, because there is a past to save, his grief can come later. Which we do see in the series itself, for example when his brother and sister-in-law die. I was expecting Spock to remember Kirk somehow, I was possibly influenced by ‘Killing Time’ in this respect! He doesn’t get reminded of a likeness, but he can’t think through the fog of pain to grasp the memory. However, all my desires for Kirk and Spock interaction were sated by the following passage:
At the table a man slumped, his head bowed on his folded arms, his breathing slow with sleep. From the dark mane of uncut hair and the plaid wool shirt McCoy assumed it to be Stemple, and started to turn towards the door to the other room. Kirk paused, recognizing something, even in sleep, in the attitude of the sloping shoulders.
He came back, softly, to the sleeper’s side. “Mr Spock,” he whispered. “Spock.”
Spock raised his head. His dark eyes were clouded with a fatigue extreme even for a Vulcan; they regarded Kirk for a moment with a kind of blank incomprehension, then closed again, and for a instant Spock’s crushing grip locked around Kirk’s hands.
That was my major character / relationship development reward for reading this book, you do get a few more moments after this, but I just felt like this was so well done, I squealed with delight! I just love reunions!
The ‘baddie’ Klingons are somewhat… absent throughout most of the novel. You know they are there, you don’t know quite when they are going to turn up and they aren’t really developed as characters, the Klingons are essentially just goons. Which is fine, usually I’d want a bit more development but it does work in this novel, and I don’t really feel the need to nitpick at all.
There are SO MANY cameos in this novel, there are at least four Doctor Who cameos (the fourth doctor is in a bar on the Starbase), Star Wars references (Han Solo is also in the bar), and characters from Bonanza and Man with No Name make their appearance in Seattle, as well as others. This is all reported, I only picked up on like one cameo in total, because I am an abject failure… I’m British and I don’t actually like Doctor Who in the slightest…
This novel just works really well! It was successful from a Star Trek perspective, and it’s managed to sell me another TV series I didn’t even know existed. Additionally, it manages to shamelessly borrow a whole cast of characters, and not tip you off if you haven’t seen the shows. I love it, I’m totally in love with this novel, why are you still reading this? Go read Ishmael. Go on!
5/5 – Here Comes my Bride.
PS: I feel slightly less bad about not knowing about ‘Here Come the Brides’, I asked an American friend and he hadn’t heard of it either. I feel vindicated.
I am really enjoying your reviews though most are later books which I have not read, so your work introduces me to potential material. I am glad Ishmael crossed your radar, I definitely want to read it again. There was some controversy about this novel for some slash elements. I am not sure which edition it was, I will have to check mine, or it will probably be in the wiki fandom site.I'm amazed how quickly you're reading !
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I'm glad you're enjoying them! Ah.. the reason I'm selecting later books is because they are currently the easiest to get to! The earlier novels actually have a shelf to sit on, and they are doubled up… so rather than take them all out I'm grabbing interesting ones from the pile!Ishmael was just so unbelievably good, and Kirk and Spock reuniting, that whole scene just made me so very, very happy. It was so perfect, and the way she writes, I can see it all really clearly in my mind, even though I'm not very well versed in that history!Ho? There was some controversy about this one? That's… surprising, because my little slash antennae didn't pick anything up… There were some moments I thought were adorably fluffy but…XD; I'm aiming to read 1 – 2 a week I guess? At the moment I'm quite busy so I'm on about 1 a week. At least part of the reason I'm blogging about them is so that a) I slow down b) I remember them all individually…Hehe, I said my goal was to read every last one, at the rate I read, it's doable 😛 I've never been one for impossible challenges!
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Here Comes the Brides aired on ABC TV network for a few years in the late 60s. I believe it may have been slightly popular (I remember owning lunchbox with one of the actors from the series on it), but it was no classic, though you can find episodes on DVD. Repeats of the show also aired on cable in the mid-80s around the time that this book was published. Another Star Trek connection is that the actor who played Jason, Robert Brown, also played the Lazaruses in the TOS episode, \”The Alternative Factor.\”
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Hello Kris! Thanks for commenting!When I looked for DVD copies previously I didn't find any, perhaps I'll be luckier this time!That's interesting to know that it was aired again in the 80s, as such it probably prompted Hambly to write this novel 🙂 Thanks for the information! Additionally, thank you for that additional fact about Robert Brown too!Thanks for stopping by!
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