Star Trek – Memory Prime

Spock walked back to the interface console.  He inserted his hands.  Kirk winced as he saw Spock give a final push to make sure the leads were embedded directly in his nerves.  Then Spock went rigid.

It has taken me so long to read Memory Prime (#42 Pocket, #16 Titan) (1988) that I can barely remember the beginning, and that really saddens me because I was really looking forward to reading a novel by Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens.  Why? Well, because they wrote the ‘Shatnerverse‘ novels and I’ve heard good things about them.  I wanted to enjoy Memory Prime because that means I’d be looking forward to all the other novels they have written… unfortunately Memory Prime was…

… boring …

The cover is horrible and while it contains elements of the plot it’s almost completely unrelated to what actually happens.

There, I said it.  It bored me, I simply didn’t want to pick it up.  When I read a few good books in a row nothing can stop me, Memory Prime brought me to a screeching halt.

A while ago a lady commented that the early novels were the best and that she lost interest as the Star Trek novels lost that little bit of special something, perhaps a bit of heart that the more amateur fan authors nurtured, a little bit of joyous play instead of the little too serious veneer of the professional author.

Memory Prime  is well written, but in my opinion paced poorly.  It took three quarters of the book to actually get going, I was reading a couple of pages every couple of days but I really couldn’t find the motivation to keep reading until I hit the turning point and the ‘action’ started.  The final sequence itself was full of good characterisation and then… perhaps a bit of Tron?  I felt Spock’s ability to ‘dive’ into the computer was a little contrary to the ‘canon’ they had set up in the novel, it felt clumsy and lazy.

I’m getting ahead of myself again.

Memory Prime on Memory Alpha

Unsurprisingly neither Memory Alpha or Memory Beta have a detailed summary I can link to… Perhaps other people also feel that nothing much of anything actually happens?  I’m also not going to write a summary because I can’t remember enough of it.  Which having taken a peak at the goodreads page seems to be a recurring theme.  As a side note, who keeps rating the Star Trek novels so highly on goodreads?  Even the bloody awful ones often end up with a stirling 3 stars, do people just randomly go through series of books and rating them without reading them?  Thinking about it, I really wouldn’t be surprised.

The big problem with Memory Prime is the sheer number of dead ends in the narrative, and although I guess the authors were trying to deliberately obfuscate and try to make it like a ‘real life detective story’, but still many of the digressions just feel like a waste of time.  This also goes for the characters that get developed, I don’t feel particularly invested and I certainly don’t feel the story is any richer for their inclusion.  The narrative seems complex for complexities’ sake… not for the bettering of the narrative.  In some ways this is what Diane Duane does, but done badly, and at least the fleeting characters have some use in progressing the narrative and don’t feel like cheap filler.

Speaking of Diane Duane her lore regarding the Romulans is referenced in Memory Prime.

Another issue with Memory Prime is that much there are far too many characters with ISS (inexplicable stupidity syndrome)… the plot wouldn’t function about it.  Just when you think a character couldn’t overlook another key plot point because it’s so blindly obvious, they defy your expectations and fail… badly.  As you know, I hate HATE, ISS, it’s just simply bad and lazy writing.

Screen cap from review on goodreads by ‘Robin’.  Do they ship them? I think they do.

The main plot involving the computer intelligences was actually pretty endearing, at least when you were reading about their thoughts, it was a fun addition to an otherwise dull novel.  I really liked the different characterisations of the intelligences which was related to what they had been originally or how old they were.  However Spock interfacing with the machines despite not having any of the training / equipment / implants was hard to swallow especially since it had been built up that only the people with the implants could do that and they were proud of that.

Which reminds me.  The whole subplot with Spock being arrested with absolutely no evidence and the (female) commander with a chip on her shoulder just deciding she was going to ignore any protocol and threaten everyone because she was in control now?  Literally half the tedium of the book would be cut out if that character wasn’t so contrived.

I guess what is really, truly annoying about this book is that it’s written ‘well’ but the the content is poor.  You can tell, especially once the action starts that Gar and Judith are good writers but have settled on the most mediocre content.  The fact it’s ‘well written’ is the only reason it’s not getting a 1/5.

2/5 – as exciting as scanning for iridium.

Star Trek – How Much For Just The Planet

Arizhel picked up the Cat robber and shoved him into the closet.  She pressed the lock button, since Charlotte had the key, then shut the door, listening for the click.  She heard the cat stir within.  That was disappointing; she must be out of practice.
She went back towards the door.  Stitches popped like bursts of gunfire.  Instinctively she grabbed at the scraps of black as they fell away.  It seemed to make things worse.
But she did not need the Cat costume any longer.  She could simply change back into her dress…
Which was  locked in the closet, behind the Cat.

How Much For Just The Planet (#36 Pocket, # Titan) by John M Ford is another slightly experimental story in keeping with Ford’s rule not to write the same kind of story twice.   I think HMFJTP is a kind of marmite story, but very much in the style of TOS in that it could have very much been an episode of from the TV series.  Incredibly campy both in writing style and the events in the story itself, it is also very self aware.  Ridiculous things happen in HMFJTP, the whole latter half of the book is orchestrated slap stick comedy ending in a pie fight between all the characters.  The end is also moralising, and highlights one of the problems with the Organian treaty – what if the people of the disputed planet want nothing to do with either the Federation nor the Klingon Empire?

I was in two minds while reading HMFJTP, it was pure TOS through and through, brilliant characterisation, a refreshing approach to story telling, hell, I enjoyed it.  On the other hand the prolonged slapstick comedy sketch didn’t quite work for me and I couldn’t help cringing at this comedy of errors.

Stylistically HMFJTP is really interesting.  When the Federation and Klingon diplomatic delegations beam down to Direidi to attempt to negotiate who would be developing the planet and it’s dilithium resources the reader is made immediately aware that what the crew are experiencing is all staged and an act.  The reader has been told of ‘Plan C’, we know it’s all scripted and throughout the surreal experiences we often get given small ‘behind the scenes’… well… scenes.   The Direidians break into musical-esque song at the merest provocation, much to the bemusement of the Federation and Klingon crews, who are trying to be accepting of this strange people (which of course helps to keep the ruse going).  The songs are written in italicised stanzas, predominantly in rhyming couplets, and are often quite lengthy!  The songs work as a kind of shorthand for setting the scene, much as they would in a piece of musical theatre (they’re also mostly awful!).  We expect for the hi-jinx to begin when the ‘worlds collide’ as it were, however the strange, theatrical occurrences happen from the beginning of the narrative and in the formatting of the text itself.

Something that stands out immediately is that every chapter has a title, for example:

– In Space, No One Can Fry an Egg

– The Dilithium Crystal As Big As The Ritz

– All’s Fair In Love and Dilithium

and there are also ‘interlude’ chapters such as:

– Educational Short Subject: Useful Facts about Dilithium

– Historical Interlude: The Only War We’ve Got

which are written with a theme and are written stylistically differently.  The ‘Educational Short Subject’ is written as if it’s a sponsored children’s infomercial, the ‘Historical Interlude’ is a comically written explanation of the terms of the Organian Treaty and the Federation and the Empire’s respective opinions on it (that interlude tickled me!).

It’s also interesting to note that the strange goings on or perhaps the tone of the novel starts immediately in the narrative too.  From the beginning the whole story has a certain humour to it.  Whether it’s the replicator’s inability to produce orange juice which isn’t blue, Kirk deciding he was brave enough to try the electric blue concoction, or that the events of the story may have been put into motion by a sloppy Vulcan who spilt a minty milk shake over integral parts of her ship’s computer, causing it to become quite insane.  These events continue as Kirk & Co. are brought into the story, the diplomat for the mission is an old flame (whom he’d forgotten) and the sloppy Vulcan is known to Spock (he exhibits a slight tick when he suspects she’s involved); this is even before the diplomatic party arrives at the planet.

I mean… on one hand we have the expected ridiculous and scripted events on Direidi which really are laugh out loud funny (the cherry on the cake was the utterly ridiculous ‘pie fight’, but the multiple cases of misdirection and tongue in cheek film / theatre references) and on the other we have the ‘universe’ acting in much the same way which makes it both less and more absurd.  This is quite in keeping I feel with episodes of TOS which can vary between serious intellectualism to broad comedy, though HMFJTP is far beyond anything featured in the show.

I really did like that Ford continued with his expansion of Klingon society.  I really did like the internal thoughts of the Klingon characters who were by Klingon standards, quite pleasant.  ‘Proke’ was quite the match to Uhura and was definitely a development from Ford’s Klingons.  Proke and Uhura both worked out what was going on on Direidi, and so their adventure was the most strange (and the shortest) as they were preempting the directed events and essentially identifying the tropes and their origin films / series as they came across them.

I think the most fun comes from the variety of different adventures the different groups of the diplomatic party had.  One section was shamelessly drawing from ‘She’ (which made me chuckle), another with the party running over a golf course amid shell fire I know I’ve seen but I can’t recall the film.  Eventually the sets start to fall apart but by that time everyone is ready for a stress reducing pie fight!

Of course, unless you’re a director, you’re not going to escape a situation like this without egg on your face, and in this case the people of Direidi who don’t want any part of politics manage to manipulate the situation in such a way that their preferred proposal for Dilithium mining on their planet has to be accepted by the diplomats of both the Federation and the Empire.

Like I said How Much For Just The Planet is a reader’s marmite, I can’t guarantee you’ll like it, but I can honestly say that it is a well written Star Trek novel with a premise that could only be pulled off in practise by someone with Ford’s ability. 

If you know your 1940s, 50s, and 60s cinema and contemporary theatre, you’ll have a good time picking out the references!

4/5 – Here’s looking at you, kid.

Star Trek – Chain of Attack

Dr. Jason Crandall lay fully dressed on his bed, futilely trying to decide which was worse – the terrifying nightmare from which he had just awakened or the bleak reality that had replaced it.

Chain of Attack (#32 Pocket, # Titan) (1987) by Gene Deweese is one of those books which is sincerely a pleasure to read.  Almost clinical in its execution, Deweese’s clarity and excellent characterisation is only let down by a slight feeling of detachment as the author takes a ‘hands off’ approach to his characters emotionality.

As I was reading Chain of Attack, it felt very familiar and, looking back at my blog I notice that I have indeed read another book by Gene Deweese – Renegade which is #55 in the Pocket Book series.  Reading that review (from just over a year ago!) confirmed some of the impressions I got from Deweese’s writing; clinical, masculine, and lacking emotional depth paired with strong characterisation, story concept, and effective use of supporting cast.  I do think that Chain of Attack is a stronger story than Renegade however.

Memory Beta Chain of Attack story summary.

Chain of Attack begins with the Enterprise being hurled into a distant region of space via a spacial anomaly that appears to have been created by an ancient (and presumably extinct) species.  Isolated and with no way back home, the Enterprise explores the space around where the anomaly deposited them.  To their horror all the planets they come across have been decimated by weapons of mass destruction and over a long period of time.  Eventually they come across other space faring craft, however they attack the Enterprise on sight… as well as attacking each other.  Fortunately they are not as technologically advanced and the Enterprise has little trouble with dealing with these encounters, bu the crew are horrified by the alien species’ propensity for suicide.

Both species the Enterprise encounters refuse to communicate to either the Enterprise or each other… lost and along in this strange region of space, Kirk finds himself trying to understand these strange and destructive peoples and eventually, attempting to broker peace.

However, there is dissent in the ranks, and Kirk has to fight on two fronts.

It’s funny how different reviewers see different books.  Often when I feel strongly about something I ask my partner (as regular readers of this blog will know) to see if he agrees with me.  Often we do see things the same way, other times he gives me a different perspective.  I also double check myself on goodreads, sometimes a reviewer there will give me a better perspective… and very often I wonder if we’ve read the same book!  Some reviewers have said that they don’t think Chain of Attack has very good characterisation and that Kirk especially is out of character – I think completely the opposite!  To confirm how I felt, I gave my partner a few pages to read and he agreed, the representation of the characters is right on the money.  We both felt that when reading character interactions especially (but not limited to) between the trinity that they were jumping off the page, that it’s like what could have been acted out in, I think, season two of TOS.  I feel like possibly some commenters haven’t seen the series itself recently and so have a different impression/memory of Kirk et al.  The other criticism is one I have made of other Star Trek novels, but I don’t think applies here and that is that it’s not really a Star Trek story and that the characters are bolted onto a general sci-fi story.  I disagree, I think absolutely that Chain of Attack was conceived as a Star Trek story, it even has a character type seen in the original series and an slightly too convenient resolution for that character!

As well as the excellent characterisation of Kirk, Spock and McCoy (I’ll restrict my gushing, lest it get a little repetitive), Deweese’s original character Doctor Jason Crandall is actually a really enjoyable character to get to know.  I mean, he’s infuriating on one hand, but on the other because Deweese lets us ‘see’ his thoughts and thought processes he’s almost understandable but with that you get a kind of tension… you know he’s going to do something but you’re not sure what the something is going to be.  The funny thing is that when he does act it’s a laughable failure, and that is… almost tragic I guess?  Crandall is just so deluded and his understanding of the situation so wrong he ends up being a really effective tragic character.  Even the fact that Kirk writes his attempts at mutiny off as not being particularly worrisome makes the character effective.  I get the feeling that possibly Crandall got some of his character traits at least partially from people who dislike Star Trek, or criticise Kirk as a leader/captain/character.  Certainly I have seen similar commentaries to Crandall’s in articles about Star Trek or various Facebook posts; He isn’t realistic, he has too much ego, he only wishes to satisfy his own sense of adventure, he throws his crews lives away – that kind of thing.  Crandall echoes this commentary, and if I’m right… that’s a fantastic in joke (with a clever tongue in cheek resolution).

I really liked the two alien species that were encountered, I liked how different they were physically but how similar they were mentally.  I liked their individual characterisations, that they didn’t all react in the same way (not all painted with the same brush) even if they were a little bit frustrating for Kirk to deal with.

Near the end of the book an unexpected third species is discovered, and actually an unexpected resolution for Crandall and the Enterprise crew.  Naturally, the crew of the Enterprise return to their original part of the galaxy (with some relieved passengers) and leave behind them the beginnings of peace for the two species they encountered there.

All in all a really solid novel, clean and concise with a very ‘Star Trek’ ending.  My only complaint is that Deweese is very distant emotionally and that is less enjoyable for me, but that being said I did really enjoy Chain of Attack a great deal, and even if you (like myself) like the more emotional novels, this one is worth a read.

It’s not very fun to write about though…?

4/5 – It’s done, I made it!

Star Trek – TimeTrap

Kirk’s eyes were slowly growing accustomed to the light.  He squeezed them shut, forcing out the tears, and opened them again more slowly.  He had been right: he was surrounded by Klingons.

So Klanth had won.  Kirk realized immediately what must have happened.  Some of the Enterprise Security team had been knocked unconscious in the same way he had been, and the Klingons had been able to overpower the rest and take them prisoner.

There just hasn’t been enough Kirk recently, I thought to myself.  I need more Kirk! This led me to jumping ahead to Time Trap (#40 Pocket, #11 Titan) (1988) by David Dvorkin.  It just happens that this was first released in June 1988 – it was released in the month I was born!

You might remember that David Dvorkin also wrote The Trellisane Confrontation which was released four years previously in 1984.  There are similarities in that ‘the big bads’ are the Klingons, the story is quite small in scope, and although Kirk is treated as a main character (yay!) Dvorkin finds something that he can criticise him for (boo!). 

I actually enjoyed Time Trap quite a bit, even if at alternate times I had this super anxiety and periods of utter annoyance.  Mostly it had to do with Kirk’s characterization, some of which is explained away but I do just think that Dvorkin wants to punish Kirk somehow and it’s not kinky either!!

Anyway Time Trap uses the events of the episode The Tholian Web to explain the strange phenomena that Kirk and his crew encounter.  While on route to a Starbase for some much needed R&R they pick up a distress signal from the boarders of Tholian space.  Naturally the Enterprise investigates the distress signal and finds that it is coming from a Klingon ship which appears to be breaking apart in the center of an unknown spacial disturbance.  The Klingons refuse aid, but Kirk wants to know what they are doing on the boarders of Tholian and Federation space and decides to lead a security team to board the Klingon ship in order to take the commander prisoner.  They beam onto the crippled ship, but almost immediately the ship takes catastrophic damage and the human boarding party and the Klingon crew are incapacitated.  In the meantime, the ship disappears from Enterprise’s sensors and Uhura is suddenly rendered unconscious at her station from an apparent electric shock.  Enterprise itself is attacked by the strange phenomenon, crippling it.  Spock follows orders from Starfleet to leave the area and proceed to the nearest star base for repairs, much to disappointment of the crew who want to look for their captain.  Spock suspects that all isn’t as it seems and proceeds with his own research.

Kirk however finds himself injured and surrounded by Klingons, but these Klingons are different from those he is used to dealing with.  He is told that a temporal phenomenon has resulted in him being thrown one hundred years into the future, where peaceful ‘New Klingons’ are the main faction in the Klingon Empire and have brokered peace with the Federation.  The ‘New Klingons’ are charming and scholarly and Kirk easily becomes friendly with them; this is especially true of a female Klingon who is a historian and who hero worships Kirk – Kalrind.  They quickly become lovers and Kirk finds himself utterly besotted.  However health problems continue to plague Kirk, as he often finds himself often collapsing and weak.

Another scholarly Klingon -Morith- explains to Kirk that he is needed to join these ‘New Klingons’ on a trip back in time in order to ensure that the ‘Great Peace’ come to pass.  On ‘returning to the past‘ it is revealed that everything isn’t as it appears.  An elaborate plot is revealed involving Klingon sleeper agents and an attack on the heart of the Federation – Earth, by Klingons pretending to be part of a peace fleet.  Kirk himself is dying from injuries sustained on boarding the Klingon vessel caught in the disturbance, and the Klingons that were drugged -including Kalrind- are returning to their original selves and it is revealed Spock’s research paid off, as it was a massive cloaking device.  The Klingons are sent packing and McCoy puts Kirk back together again.

One of the things my partner said when I tried to explain Time Trap to him was that it sounded a lot more like a scheme that the Romulans would have come up with as opposed to the Klingons.  I kind of agree that it does seem a little too scheming for the Klingons we know, unless of course you take into account the Klingons from The Final Reflection and Dvorkin directly references parts of The Final Reflection, so I think we can safely say that this book fits in with that continuity and idea of the Klingons.

What I really liked in Time Trap was the ‘time travel’ aspect of it – not that there was any ultimately, it was all a trick, but I did like the thought that had gone into creating a believable scenario for both Kirk and the reader.  I liked how they gradually revealed the time travel scenario, and how because I knew that ultimately the Klingon Empire and the Federation would be at peace (and this is after the start of TNG) I could believe it.  I also managed to rationalise out Kirk’s periods of weakness and illness, putting it down to ‘oh it’s because he’s out of his own time, so that’s why he’ll need to go back to the Enterprise in the end‘, because I know I’ve read something like that before.  When Dvorkin used the time travel theory that they would succeed in going back in time because it had already happened, it was believable.  Kirk believed it too, so.. it all makes sense… right?  But all the while, you’re thinking about a couple of new characters that have been introduced… and Spock’s research, what is Spock’s theory?  Why did Uhura scream and keel over before the Enterprise was attacked by the ‘cloud’ in space?

I didn’t like Kirk’s relationship with Kalrind however.  It made me roll my eyes, really Dvorkin, you’re going to play up to that aspect of Kirk’s personality?  Initially, I thought that Kalrind of an interesting character, as a ‘New Klingon’ she was likeable and the backstory (forward story?) she gave about what it was like in this future was kind of strange but believable.  I liked that she had this aspect of idol worship to her… I didn’t like that the first time Kirk and Kalrind spent any time together at all they kissed and probably a bit more!  I think I was more angry that Kalrind ended up just being the  girlfriend than anything else.  She was interesting as an academic and really sweet, and it would have been fun to have a bit more to their relationship before they end up as an item.  To a certain extent Kirk’s malleability and Kalrind’s personality are all explained away as both of them are drugged – Kalrind has even been ‘reprogrammed’ herself to act the way she does.

I particularly liked McCoy’s characterization, it was just right.  He wasn’t the focus, but he was there in the same capacity as he was in the show and not sidelined by the author.  McCoy had quite a big role to play as regards the exposition of plot and making it clear that Kirk was actually dying from internal injuries and had been cured by medicines from the future.  Anyway, since there has been a Leonard drought recently, I was very happy to see him with an active role in the plot.

Spock was… how many male author’s choose to characterize him, although Dvorkin is a little more sympathetic and makes him slightly more than a talking computer.  In an effort to keep the mystery alive, Dvorkin doesn’t give any insight to Spock’s thoughts which, yes keeps you guessing somewhat however this could also have been achieved with changes to the narrative structure.

Time Trap was a little convoluted at times, which could have been solved with a bit of creative restructuring but on the whole it’s a relatively easy and enjoyable read.  I rather enjoyed being fooled as to the direction the plot was going (because, lets face it I tried to meta the story and for once it didn’t work!) and for that reason alone I’d recommend it!

There are lots of little scenes which are written rather well, and are worth reading the book for in my opinion, although for those who like a bit more introspection in their characters it might seem a little dry.  I’m going to give Time Trap the same score as The Trellisane Confrontation – 3/5 – because although I feel there has been an improvement to Dvorkin’s writing between the novels, I don’t think it is really enough to warrant giving it a higher score.  If you liked his previous book though, you will probably like this one.

3/5 – what a fabulous monobrow… I see Boris is no longer the artist?

Star Trek – Dreadnought!

“Put Piper on.”
Damn, I knew it, I knew it! “Pi-” My throat closed up.
“Star Empire, do you read?”
“P-Piper here.”
“Can you handle that helm?”
“Hell if I know, sir.”
“I can command you from h-“
The ship shuddered and lurched to starboard, pushed by a photon blast on the underside of the primary hull.

So, it was with trepidation that I picked up my final book in this selection of ten Dreadnought! (#29 Pocket, #29 Titan) (1986).   Disappointingly, books in this grouping (#21 to #30) have been majoritively misses (for me anyway) with a couple hits.  I got about half way through Dreadnought! and was ready to write a scathing review.  I wasn’t enjoying reading it, I didn’t like the style, I hated the main character, I despised the puerile dialogue… and then I thought… perhaps I’m reading this the wrong way?

I like well written books, and frankly I’ve been spoiled.  I mean, when you’ve found an author or two who just get everything right for you, you’re spoilt.  There is one particular author (not a Star Trek author) who just takes my breath away every time I read a new book by him, and damn it I want that sensation with more things I read!  Keeping this in mind, I took a step back from my own dislike of Dreadnought! and wondered who it was written for, who would like it, who would read this novel and dream they were lieutenant Piper.

It became so obvious then.  I’d been so unhappy reading it, holding it up against an impossible standard that I hadn’t given it a fair chance.  I hadn’t stepped back and thought that, well, perhaps I’m not really the intended audience, perhaps in its own way it is good, it’s just not what captures my imagination anymore.

Anymore?

Yes, anymore.  When I took a step back I realised that actually, actually I would have loved this book fifteen years ago.  A silly, awkward fourteen or fifteen year old who dreamed about being older, not realising that as an adult she wouldn’t be the same person, that she wouldn’t have that same mentality.  A girl who didn’t realise her glib remarks didn’t really do her any favours and that sarcasm wasn’t very flattering.  A girl who wasn’t interested in the latest boy band, but who idolised star ship captains, and elves, and fairies.  A girl who still secretly played make believe while running around her family’s land, making herself a main character in a myriad of games and make believe stories.  Could she rescue a borg drone from being a drone?  Yep, because she was special.  Find a magic lamp and make three wishes? Of course.  Somehow succeed against the odds, gain her peers respect, earn recognition?  As easy as breathing.

Yes, that little girl would have loved Dreadnought! and lieutenant Piper’s exploits. 

Oh, of course that isn’t going to get it completely off the hook, but once I realised some of this I started to be able to enjoy it (you might have noticed I’m a little bit mulish).

I guess my mind keeps coming back to that explanation of a Mary Sue; why they exist, what they represent, and I just get the feeling that (and I recognise I could be wrong) lieutenant Piper of Proxima may as well be called lieutenant Carey of ‘somewhere in the USA‘.  I very much think even if we discard the term ‘Mary Sue’, Piper is still a self-insert (made more likely by the rumour that Diane Carey modelled for the cover herself) and her adventures probably the outcome of many hours of play.  Carey herself says she was a first generation fan, she would have been what, thirteen or fourteen when Star Trek first aired?  It fits, doesn’t it?

Lieutenant Piper is like… the dream outcome for an awkward, dorky girl in her teens.   She isn’t one of the beauty queens or popular girls, but she’s still pretty enough to have a ‘lover’ right?  And everyone seems to love her, even though she hasn’t learned to love herself yet.  She makes friends easily, but importantly she makes mistakes with her relationships too… so she’s realistic to a teenage girl trying to make her way through the minefield of school and hormones.  Piper gets angry with herself, berates herself, asks herself why she’s being so stupid.  She makes those silly teenage comments that sound so clever to a child (what a come back!), but to an adult it makes you cringe a little bit inside (oh, why did you say that you silly girl!).  

Carey (or Piper, or both) realises that Kirk is off limits, after all no mere woman could come between Kirk and Spock (I caught all those little observations Carey, slash knows slash) so she creates her own Vulcan ‘Sarda’.  Sarda doesn’t look like Spock, his colouring is auburn hair and light eyes but he’s still a Vulcan and… also caught between two worlds.  Although he is fully Vulcan, he has a penchant for weapons design.  Piper drew attention to this, Sarda got ostracised by his fellow Vulcans, cue teenage angst.

This is naturally what will draw them together in the end – and Carey Piper will have a deep and meaningful bond with a Vulcan, just like Captain Kirk whom she idolises.  Now I completely understand her passion for Kirk, completely but good grief girl, stop making eyes at the Captain when you’ve got a Vulcan waiting in the wings (and a forgettable ex, that’s ok though).

Events move incredibly quickly, like a child recounting a story ‘and then this happened, then this, then suddenly – this!’ one minute she’s a cadet in the academy taking the Kobayashi Maru test, then she’s been made lieutenant on the Enterprise, then she’s on board and before she can change her clothes there’s an emergency.  Then she still doesn’t change her clothes (because she’s special don’t you know!) and then she breaks out, steals a shuttle type thing, gets caught by the soon to be bad guy, then escapes, then captains the dreadnought, then we’re all back home in time for an award ceremony and a buffet.  Later she’s going to go sailing with Captain Kirk and they’re both going to talk about what it’s like to be bonded close friends with a Vulcan.

It’s honestly ridiculous, I mean she wears a black jumpsuit instead of her uniform the whole way through.  Her group bunny hop down a corridor as a diversionary tactic.  The amount of contact between her and Sarda is nearing on indecent, and some of the descriptions of things – ‘orgasmic’ oh you naughty girl! – are far past appropriate!

It’s not so much a Star Trek story as a girl’s fantasy.  To be the one at the centre of the narrative (and it can’t be any other way written in the first person), to be accepted by people you admire, to work out and thwart a plot which threatens the galaxy AND manage to show that you listened in your social studies class as you talk about ideas like ‘big government’ and ‘civil liberties’.

That being said Diane Carey has made copious use of the Technical Manual, which gives the specifications for the Dreadnought class ship and the name Star Empire.  She also uses a couple of the flow diagrams which are in the technical manual that describe Starfleet hierarchy.  In addition to this, there are also two technical drawings at the back of the book which show two smaller ships / shuttles – a one man fighter ‘polliwog’ and a two man ‘arco attack sled’.

So… I guess although it’s ridiculous, thoroughly unbelievable silliness, I guess it isn’t totally terrible as long as you accept it for what it is.  Seeing that Carey wrote historical romance novels around this time, it makes sense that the Piper and this whole book should be written in this style.  Historical romances are aimed at women and the main characters are often just stand ins for the audience, and that’s what Piper is.  She’s making new friends and having encounters with men who are (in her world) possible romance options. 

Anyway, Dreadnought! has a lot of heart and despite not liking it, I’m going to give it a 2/5.  As I said, for what it is, it isn’t bad.  It’s not trying to be anything other than it is, which is a  simple teenage / young adult novel set in the Star Trek universe.

2/5 – because uniforms aren’t for main characters.

Star Trek – Crisis on Centaurus

Kirk ran it through his mind again.  We’re relatively safe as long as we stay in here, as long as Burke knows where we are and feels in control.  If we leave Burke will think he’s losing control, and we’re dead.  But we’ve got to leave.  Now just how the hell are you going to pull this one off, Jim?

First question: Was this novel sponsored by American Express, Coca-Cola, Hilton, and British Airways?

Second question: Did I watch the same Star Trek as Brad Ferguson (author)?

From the outset Crisis on Centaurus (#28 Pocket, #47 Titan) (1986) by Brad Ferguson delivers a quite warped view of the Star Trek future.  I’m not going to pull any punches; the story was pedestrian, characterisation was poor, and understanding of the Star Trek almost nonexistent.

Crisis on Centaurus isn’t getting a good score, that’s for sure.

There were so many things simply wrong about this book, it’s difficult to know where to start.

Summary of Crisis on Centaurus – Memory Beta (as of time of writing detailed but incomplete).

The Story

The story was simplistic and uninspired and hinged upon beliefs and mentalities confirmed to be eradicated by this time in human history.  We know that the concept of money is a little hazy and that we know that racism within humans is pretty much unheard of, and we also know that Alpha Centauri IV (or in this case Centaurus) is a thriving Federation colony (in fact a founding member of the United Federation of Planets).  Much of the narrative of Crisis on Centaurus hinges on Centaurus being somewhat at odds with the Federation and Federation principles so ultimately Crisis is based on a faulty premise to begin with.

Initial conflicts of interest / principles with the Federation are apparent from the first page.  What really stuck on page one was the ‘American Express‘ cash machine.  The use of real big name brands occurs throughout the book and to me indicates not only a lack of understanding of Star Trek but also a severe lack of imagination.  I might have been able to ignore the rampant capitalism if Ferguson had bothered to invent an equivalent but… for me the inclusion of American Express (which highlighted a monetary system), Hilton, Coca-Cola, and strangely British Air(ways) broke my suspension of disbelief.

Stretching for ideas, Ferguson uses racism to try and make his villains more… villainous.  Humans who are not only xenophobic of other species, they are also white supremacists!  So, did we watch the same Star Trek or did we see two different shows?  Star Trek TOS explicitly says racism doesn’t exist within humans two or three times, humans have grown past that.

Additionally, part of the plot is that the planet’s defence system has gone haywire and is shooting nukes at anything that flies…  Sorry, are we part of the Federation or not?

The story is so badly structured and conceived that in order to have an understanding of the motivations of the plot the main remaining villain gives a long winded hypothetical exposition.  Look, Ferguson, if you’ve got to the point where you’ve got to wrap up a book and the only way you can do this is by having the bad guy (who really wasn’t behind the big explosion anyway) tell you everything from the motivations to the execution of the events because otherwise everyone is going to be none the wiser… you’ve failed.

A subplot is that the Enterprises’ computer system has been damaged and it might have been sabotage!  Except it wasn’t and nobody really thought about it too much and took quite a cavalier attitude to the fact there might be a saboteur on the ship, in that nobody actually investigated anything.  As it turns out a tiny black hole winked in and out of existence while the Enterprise was travelling at warp two and that’s what damaged the computer system.  It’s not really investigated until the end.

Ferguson also seems to forget how the chains of command works on the Enterprise and makes a big thing about Uhura being put in charge of the Enterprise (presumably because she’s black or something and it fits with his white supremacists plot point).

Characterisation

Characterisation was poor all round with Kirk having some terrible dialogue and out of character moments, just take a look at this example of sterling writing:

“You can’t afford to sneer, Barclay,” Kirk said.  “You’re too close to being dead right now.  So shut that hole in your face and stay down on the floor.”

 Um… What even is this dialogue?  Much of the ‘character development’ for Kirk revolves around that he’d much rather kill the criminals behind the atrocity but he’s going to do his duty despite his desire to end their lives himself.  Laughable.

Spock gets off lightly and Ferguson puts in a few emotional lapses so he isn’t a complete robot 100% of the time.  No really terrible dialogue that I can recall but nothing wonderful either.

McCoy is barely in the novel, nor is his daughter Joanna.  You’d think there would be character development here, McCoy being worried about his daughter, some exposition through his daughter.  Well Joanna makes an appearance for about 25 pages, McCoy for reasons unknown doesn’t go down to the planet to help until after she is found alive.  Personally I would have thought that nothing would have stopped McCoy from going down to the planet especially since he wouldn’t be going on the transporters since they are non-functional throughout the novel.

An OC nurse however does go down to the planet’s surface in McCoy’s stead.  Her purpose is to provide some cringe inducing dialogue from Chekov and to create some sort of tragic, abortive love affair with him.

Which reminds me every-single-woman is commented on or leched at by Kirk and/or Chekov.  Every time those lines came up I felt like shrivelling up in embarrassment.

The Villains are non-entities.  The scientist who started the blast was a bland nothing, the bad-guys Kirk was trying to save in order for them to be taken to trial and avoid the Centauran death penalty (what?) were bland, uninteresting and ‘the big bad’ was cliched.  The best villains were the government agents, who weren’t villains at all and just wanted to arrest the terrorists under their own laws.  Kirk didn’t like one of them… probably because the government official was competent and doing his job unlike everyone else in this version of Star Trek.

Basically, don’t read Crisis on Centaurus.  It’s a waste of time.  It’s not even a good story, let alone a good Star Trek story.

1/5 – Product Placement.

Star Trek – Dwellers in the Crucible

Some small part of her mind marvelled at the words that came out of her mouth.  She who had been known for the quality of her silences was transformed by her own rootlessness and her need to save one other.

Kaiidth! She would bargain with the Klingon and she would win, though the winning kill her.  The crucible of the t’hy’la could also immolate. 

Dwellers in the Crucible (#25 Pocket, Giant #2 Titan) (1985) by Margaret Wander Bonanno is very much the spiritual successor of its two cited inspirations The Final Reflection by John M Ford, and My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane.  Not only does Bonanno use the concepts of the Klingon and Rihannsu (Romulan) empires explored in Ford and Duane’s respective novels, but she also minimises the impact of the Enterprise crew and characters, instead telling a story where the cast we know are incidental and two original characters take the fore.

I have to admit, I initially skipped over this one because I thought it wouldn’t be an easy read, especially if it did follow in the footsteps of The Final Reflection and My Enemy, My Ally.  Truth be told, I was right, however the two mentioned instalments turned out to be fantastic, so what was I worried about? 

Margaret Wander Bonanno was already a professionally published author having penned three novels previous to Dwellers in the Crucible.  She is a talented writer and her previous experience in world crafting and character development is clear from the outset of Dwellers and her previous independence leads her to create an adventure within the Star Trek universe, using lore from other successful authors, but outside of the usual tinted lens of the Enterprise and her crew.

However, however, although Dwellers in the Crucible has the pedigree: good material, talented writer, good characters, it doesn’t have the illusive something, that little bit of stardust which would elevate it into something (in my opinion) great.

Have you ever read The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro?  There’s a film of it too starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.  It’s a very clever book; cleverly written, a sad character analysis with a sad, hopeless ending.  It’s a prize winner, a literary masterpiece – it is also one of the most dull, unrewarding, uninspiring books I have ever read.  It’s a lesson in drudgery, of patience and dogged determination, AND frankly if a reader manages to get through it on their own steam they should reward themselves (a slice of cake will do) because you get not a jot from the book.  The film isn’t much better, brilliant but good grief I shall not watch that exercise in dreary fatalism again!

Why have I told you about The Remains of the Day?  Well.. Dwellers in the Crucible elicits the same feelings from me.  I love the fact Bonanno knows how to write, I love that it’s a ‘quality’ book, I like it’s cleverness, it’s structural peculiarities, I like the different focus.  I also think it is rather unrewarding and often painfully dull.  I can’t truthfully call it bad (it simply isn’t), but I also can’t say I enjoyed it (because I didn’t).  I’m glad I read Dwellers but on the other hand I had to force myself to pick it back up; the experience can probably be summed up as all stick and no carrot.

The Story

Dwellers in the Crucible is a story of captivity, friendship and survival of powerless civilians.  It’s not a pleasure to read; it is heavy going and often hard to continue.  It contains torture, sadism, murder and suicide, but also loyalty, self sacrifice, compassion and love.

The Federation has adopted an initiative based on an ancient Vulcan practice – The Warrantors of Peace – an important person or people to the current world leaders are held hostage with a capsule embedded in their hearts which will detonate if removed or if the planet commits an act of war/violence on another.  The concept boils down to the threat mutually assured destruction should one planet commit an act of violence toward another (an agreeable cold war?).

The Romulans and Klingons in their uneasy alliance, formulate a plan to kidnap a number of Warrantors in order to destabilise the peace of the Federation.  Once the Romulans kidnap the Warrantors they are passed into the hands of the Klingons (frankly a terrible idea on the part of the Romulans) who amuse themselves by torturing their civilian charges whom they have under their control for about six months.

Meanwhile the Enterprise is on ‘standby’.  Sulu is dressed up as a Romulan and sent undercover in the Empire (which we barely hear about), Scotty gathers information from the Klingons, and Uhura sets about sowing incorrect information for the Romulan listeners to decipher.  Kirk… well Admiral Kirk is getting rather agitated about the whole thing, while Spock keeps him company?

Eventually the remaining Warrantors are saved, and Kirk and Spock see a reflection of themselves in the two women.  The Federation finally decides this whole ‘Warrantors of Peace’ concept was a terrible, terrible idea and is in the process of scrapping the whole program by the end of the book.

The overarching story isn’t at all well developed.  Some reviewers have had a problem with the ‘Warrantors of Peace’, however the Federation is capable of doing remarkably stupid things so I can give it a pass… plus the Vulcans suggested it so I can conceivably imagine the Federation diplomats and higher ups agreeing it was a good idea.  Other problems include the under developed Sulu mission which could have been a book all by itself, Admiral Nogura’s strange decisions about what Kirk should or shouldn’t be doing, and the fact that the Enterprise is left idling for six months.  I imagine Kirk was climbing the walls!  However, Dwellers in the Crucible is not concerned with ‘the big picture’, but with the relationships between the Warrantors, and the Warrantors and their captors.

The Crucible(s)

The term crucible in the title applies to different aspects of the story, but is most strongly summed up in the following quote:

The Vulcan friendship mode is a crucible.  There is that in it which can purify, refine, strengthen.  There is also that which can immolate, destroy.

Just remove the reference to ‘the Vulcan friendship mode’ (I really hate the ‘mode’ terminology since Vulcan Command Mode) and replace it with ‘love’.  Love is the crucible.  Poignantly this novel is set between TMP and TWOK, and in TMP love is the word which is never mentioned except in euphemism.  In Dwellers, love of the same flavour as Kirk and Spock’s is explored – t’hy’la – through the guise of two women, Cleante al-Faisal – a human female, and T’Shael – a Vulcan female. 

However, love isn’t the only crucible in Dwellers, although it is the most poetic.  There are several events which act as crucibles, some are in the novel’s ‘present’ others in the characters’ pasts.  The shared pasts of Cleante and T’Shael (which is a significant portion of the book) highlights moments of change which would eventually lead them to the realisation of their status of t’hy’la.  Some of the moments of dramatic, others are moments of understanding for one, or both of them.

I think the most obvious ‘crucible’ is their prison on the abandoned planetoid – certainly a place which can purify, refine, strengthen or immolate and destroy.  The situation as engineered by the Klingons (or specifically Kalor) causes the deaths of the three Deltans.  The Deltans lived for love both physical and mental however in the crucible that love destroyed them.  On the other hand, the pressure felt by Cleante and T’Shael to save the other caused both of them to be forged into something better both as individuals and as a unit.

Cleante & T’Shael

Cleante and T’Shael are Kirk and Spock’s stand ins respectively.

What makes it quite interesting however is that Cleante and T’Shael are civilians and come from very different backgrounds to Kirk and Spock.  I think it would be interesting to speculate what changes there would be to this story if they weren’t civilians or if it was Kirk and Spock in this same situation… No doubt there there is a fanfiction on this subject somewhere.

I can’t talk too much about the characters without giving away too much of their story.  However Cleante is very much an impulsive, young, human woman with altogether too much pride; T’Shael is a reticent, reserved young fully Vulcan woman who is humble and ‘known for the quality of her silences’.  Both women come from less than ideal families, Cleante’s mother never affectionate and work driven while T’Shael’s parents are dead – her uncaring mother died on the Intrepid while her father died of an incurable wasting disease.  However, both women are incredibly lonely and this loneliness brings them together despite their difference.  I think this is also what is brings Kirk and Spock together initially, command is a lonely place.

I think it interesting that although Cleante and T’Shael are the analogues of Kirk and Spock, that they are not copies.  T’Shael is humble however Spock has great pride (as I think most Vulcans do), while Cleante is prideful while Kirk will lower himself for the greater good.  These differences in both relationships evaporate however when they are truly ‘bonded’ and when the other is in danger both pairs gain the capacity for great self sacrifice.

I think perhaps most women will find something of themselves in either or both Cleante and T’Shael, perhaps that’s what made their situation (their captivity and torture) so horrible to read about.  It’s much easier to read about the appalling treatment of a male hero character; it’s not so close to home and you know that the hero character is trained for this and they can handle it.  In Cleante and T’Shael’s situation you don’t have any of that reassurance, you’re wondering when they are going to break.  I think it’s most galling because you can’t even put your trust in Vulcan fortitude, you’re wondering when T’Shael will break too, not just the highly strung human.

Ford’s Klingons and Duane’s Romulans

To me it seems odd to set out to use existing lore by other novel writers and then use so little of it that it almost seems wasteful to have considered it in the first place.  Although there are nods to Ford and Duane’s ideas, the Klingons and the Romulans remain more Bonanno’s creations that the other writers.

Ford’s Klingons were sly gamemasters, and if a Klingon should rise through the ranks from a lowly background you’d expect them to be intelligent – not so apparently.  Krazz is one of the more stupid villains despite his rise to a position of power.  Ford spent much of his novel The Final Reflection giving a different reading of the Klingons, trying to find common ground that perhaps even Kirk could in some way empathise with.  However Krazz and Kalor (Krazz’s second in command) are simply exactly like you expect a Klingon to be – and to be honest, if I were Kirk the actions of Krazz and Kalor would have closed me down to any possible positive feelings towards the Klingon species.  Kalor is the worst of the two, a cruel sadist who engineers the deaths of the three Deltans under the premise of science.  Lets face it, if he was a ‘scientist’ doing experiments on rabbits and enjoying causing them suffering, you wouldn’t want to know him right?  Ok, well now apply that to three Deltans, one of which is a child.  No Bonanno, he can’t have my sympathy now that he’s found he has a soft side now that he’s coerced Cleante into sex in order to save her friend from his sadistic experiments.  Nor am I going to listen to Cleante when she starts sympathising with him as her mind is breaking.  His ‘redemption’ came too late in the game, I think he’s a poor representation of Ford’s Klingons.

Duane’s Romulans / Rihannsu are represented a little better perhaps, but this may be because we don’t see them half as much.  Bonanno seems to have used some key points from Duane’s Romulan development like the term Rihannsu, and the imagery associated with the Praetor / Empire.  Much of what could have been included regarding the Romulans (and perhaps there was more in the first draft) would have been Sulu’s adventure undercover in the Romulan Empire,  but since this is barely touched once introduced (and consequently the results of the investigation is only a confirmation of what they already know – they would have gone to the same place without confirmation anyway), so it isn’t really important in the long run.  I found it interesting that one of the main plot points to Duane’s story My Enemy, My Ally is that the female Romulan/Rihannsu Commander whom Spock tricks in order to get the cloaking device is disgraced and sent into exile,  however in Bonanno’s iteration she still has the favour of the Praetor – surely this is a major change to Rihannsu thought?

All in all, I don’t think Bonanno uses enough Ford and Duane’s ideas to have really warranted her giving them credit at the beginning, although… there is mild influence.  I don’t think the representation of either species is bad though, don’t get me wrong.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty

Odd.  Just Odd.

I don’t know whether it’s because Bonanno is doing her best to keep them out of the limelight, but the established characters are often a little ‘off’.  Out of all of them, I’d say that Scotty and Uhura have the most true to form characterisation.  Uhura certainly feels like she’s presented similarly as in other novels (although some of her dialogue with Spock is a little saccharine), while I could vividly see Scotty on his mission in my minds eye – shame it was so short.

Sulu was… out the way for much of the novel, doing something simultaneously important and unimportant, which ultimately didn’t lead anywhere.  It was kind of annoying really as for once I wanted to know what Sulu was actually doing (my dislike for Takei unfortunately bleeds into my feelings for Sulu) as his mission was the most dynamic of the lot.

Kirk, Spock and McCoy only really get going in the final section of the novel when we’re beaten with the t’hyla stick – but frankly if you hadn’t got that Bonanno has made a parallel couple out of Cleante and T’Shael in order to investigate the depths of the concept of T’hy’la whilst circumventing the radars of certain audiences then perhaps you deserve it.

No need to open her eyes this time.  What little strength she had left she raised one hand.  It was gently embraced by two human hands, and T’Shael’s pain receded in the emanation of love from those hands.

Did she dare smile? If death were to claim her before she could let Cleante know the depth of her gratitude, her yes – call it love – even in the presence of strangers –

For the first time in her life, T’Shael smiled.

“I’m here,” was all Cleante said, and it was all that was needed.

Jim Kirk looked at Spock, who acknowledged the scene in silence before setting the controls (…). 

Sound familiar by any chance?  It’s pretty much a verbatim rendition of Spock and Kirk’s scene in TMP.  This book is also set between TMP and TWOK… Whodathunk.

McCoy knows everything, and even when Kirk is being dense he makes sure to hit him with the t’hy’la hammer:

“(…): whatever happens to her depends in large part on Cleante.  And vice versa.”

Kirk gave him a puzzled look.

“Explain.” 

 “Oh, come on Jim!  You’ve seen it as well as I have, and so has Spock.  These two are forged together for life.  They’re almost a mirror image of you and Spock, both of them falling over each other in self sacrifice.  There’s an old phrase in Latin – amicus usque ad aras. ‘A friend in spite of all differences; a friend to the last extremity.’  There’s even a Vulcan word for it, isn’t there Spock?”

“The word, Doctor is t’hy’la,” Spock murmured, ignoring McCoy’s obtuseness.

There is also a section where McCoy leads Cleante away and sees the same look of devotion in her face as he had seen so many times in Jim Kirk’s.  McCoy’s role here is very much to draw attention to the parallel couples and I guess his character development / exposition is the depth of his understanding of his two closest friends.

So regarding Kirk and Spock… sure they have only a small part to play in this novel ultimately, but despite this the novel is about them or at least their relationship.  Nobody really cares about a couple of one off characters who disappear into the ether at the end of a novel, not really – what do they change ultimately?  Well nothing at all except perhaps our understanding of the term t’hy’la and the personal transformations which take place in a relationship of that depth.

While thinking about Dwellers and the concept of the ‘crucible’ and forging an unbreakable bond, I thought… when was the point that where at least one of them realised he was bound to the other?  When was Kirk and Spock’s ‘crucible’ moment?  I thought about it for a while, but certainly Spock’s ‘moment’ had to be Amok Time; I think that would be the time he realised he was bound to this human for life (that smile when he realises that Kirk is still alive…).  What about Kirk?  Well… like Cleante I think Kirk innately knew and recognised the other part of his soul, perhaps he didn’t think about it in poetic terms until later, but from Kirk’s reactions and the way he looks at Spock from the beginning (aided by Shatner’s phenomenal acting), I think he knew all along.

So yes ultimately Dwellers in the Crucible is a very good, well thought out character study.  A little bit subversive, a lotta bit clever – I would recommend reading it for the questions it asks and for the thoughts it provokes.  However it is not an enjoyable book, I didn’t take a lot of pleasure in reading it and it was at times a chore to read which is not a feeling I like.  I did feel like I was forcing myself to turn the pages, so this leaves me in a strange position.

I didn’t like the book, but I liked the points it made and the questions it evoked… which is why I’m going to give it 3/5!

Star Trek – Shadow Lord

Mr Spock stared at the back of the prince’s head as if he wished he could impress his words directly upon the prince’s brain.  “As painful as life on the border may be, it is a place where change first begins for a culture; and something new and better can be created.”

Bibil opened a jar and proffered it to the prince with a bow of his head.  “As your father said when he sent you on your journey, we must find a way to combine technology of the Federation with our own higher spiritual values.”

Shadow Lord by Laurence Yep (#22 Pocket, Giant Novel – Titan) (1985) is not the finest example of Star Trek fiction; this is mainly because Yep has no interest in actually writing a Star Trek novel.  The result of this is a sword and sorcery novel with Star Trek characters slotted in to enable it to be sold to Pocket books.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the first draft of this novel had a stoic elf sorcerer and his plucky halfling bodyguard in the place of Spock and Sulu.

And I would totally read that book.

Frustratingly, Shadow Lord is  generally well written and I did enjoy it, but if the criteria for ‘well written’ is ‘accurately portrays Star Trek characters and their universe’ then unfortunately it falls flat.

Well Jen, if you seriously enjoyed it, surely this is a success? Well no, questioning voice in my brain, it isn’t.  If I want to read a sword and sorcery novel, I’ll go out and read a sword and sorcery novel, I won’t pick up a Star Trek book, capiche?  Also I read Star Trek novels because I like Star Trek characters so when they are completely out of character (touchy feely, smiley, comforty, Spock for example) then it kinda stops being a Star Trek novel.  I also like the Star Trek universe and the technology, and the spaceships etc. but that doesn’t really feature either in Shadow Lord.  When both of these rather important aspects Star Trek are missing…then how can this be considered a Star Trek novel?

I’ll make it easy for you.  It can’t be.  But… an author’s gotta do what an author’s gotta do, right?

Shadow Lord  was not Laurence Yep’s first publication.  From a brief look at his history, his earliest published work appears to have been in 1968 – although I would be surprised if there were earlier publications.  Yep is a prolific author with plays, novels, and picture books under his belt, he would write and publish very few science fiction stories ultimately (four – one children’s story and three adult), he would later write predominantly fantasy novels (surprise surprise).

So essentially, great writer, wrong genre.  As testament to to his skill he manages to make a ‘bad’ Star Trek book not just readable, but enjoyable.  I would like to know if he actually watched the series properly or if he was involved in the fan community in any way because his image of the characters seems to be quite superficial a lot of the time and yet when we have say an argument between McCoy and Spock, it seems to be on the money.

The story itself is pretty simplistic and run of the mill and… so not anything close to Star Trek.

The premise is that a reluctant prince from a world which technologically is stuck around the seventeenth century and socially… well I’d say they were medieval, is returning home in order to influence his planet’s modernisation under the guidance of the Federation.  However, when he returns to his home planet he finds that the unguided modernisation his father has begun has caused great suffering and poverty and a coup takes place.  The prince escapes with the help of Sulu, Spock and some loyal retainers and makes his way to his family’s land in order to drum up support.  On the way he sees the horrors of his world and decides that although he’d rather stay on the developed worlds of the Federation he must help his people.  The prince gets support from his people, fights a battle where his people win because they have guns and the ‘bad guys’ army have plate armour and swords.  The prince wins a duel using a technique Sulu showed him at the beginning of the novel, and the prince becomes emperor.  The Enterprise returns to pick up its two officers and leaves some of its other crew to help with the modernisation process.

The story isn’t new, it isn’t anything ground breaking, it certainly isn’t inspiring.   It’s pretty much a stock fantasy story sandwiched between two ‘Enterprise’ sections.  It’s a stretch to involve the Federation at all at this point however, I mean they shouldn’t be messing with the development of ‘undeveloped’ worlds in the first place.  Of course this modernisation is going to cause fear and resentment in the people of the planet, they’re barely able to get their heads around the fact aliens exist and when they do the result is xenophobia.  I think this is reasonable when you’ve got an unfathomably big organisation which is unfathomably more developed trying to influence your medieval planet where the height of diplomacy is sticking someone with a sword!

The characterisation, like I mentioned before, can be both strong and weak.  The original characters are better characterised than the established Star Trek characters.

Sulu

Sulu is probably the most natural choice for this story as a representative of the Enterprise / Federation especially when you’re beaming down to a planet where the people live and die by the sword (because of the revelation that he enjoys fencing in the episode ‘Naked Time’).  Personally, when I saw it was a novel where Sulu was going to shine I almost put it down in disappointment.  I generally dislike the characterisation of Sulu and I don’t particularly like George Takei. However, Yep’s characterisation is so off the mark that it makes Sulu palatable, probably the first time I’ve actually praised a bad characterisation.

The reason I wondered if Laurence Yep was involved in the fan community is because his characterisation of Sulu is incredibly ‘fannish’.  There’s like this mythos around Sulu that he’s this sword fighting fanatic with a massive obsession with outdated militaria.  It’s beyond that he’s an expert, it’s highly romanticised.  Most of the time this is emphasized and as a result his science capability and his interest in exotic flora is forgotten.  Despite this ‘fannish’ interpretation, Yep produces a palatable Sulu and made the book readable for me – thank you OOC Sulu!

Spock

Spock is probably the most out of character of the lot, it’s not that he’s too emotional, it’s that he does things that he simply wouldn’t do.  Comforting someone by grasping their shoulder for example, openly smiling.  His major contribution to the novel is to bridge the gap between the prince and his duty.  Spock is used as a ‘child of two worlds’ and is a parallel to the prince who feels the same way, having essentially grown up in the Federation.  After reading a little about Laurence Yep, I realised that Spock (and the prince as well, really) was probably interesting to him as a vehicle to explore his own feelings as a ‘child of two worlds’.  Spock manages to be removed from the action when he takes a spear to the hip (better than an arrow to the knee I suppose), but the situation seems quite forced.  I’m not sure why he needed to be removed from the action, unless Yep really likes Sulu? It’s not like Spock was overpowered or anything in this story, if anything he was underpowered.

Original Characters

Yep’s original characters are probably the strongest (they’re the ones he actually wanted to write after all).  The prince (Vikram) is initially foppish (although this is mainly an act) but proves that he’s actually worthy of running a planet and reforming it.  The character’s development isn’t much of a surprise as it’s all pretty telegraphed including his budding relationship with Urmi, an initially untrustworthy character who learns to love the prince after travelling with him and helping him get to his family’s land.  It just so happened to be that she was his guardian’s (?) niece.

Vikram’s guardian, Bibil, was a likeable character who had a heroic rat beetle related death and was characterised well.  Actually, most of the minor characters were characterised nicely, even if they are introduced for only a couple of pages which I think is testament to Yep’s ability as a writer.  The one character where I’d say it falls down is the villain of the story ‘Lord Rahu’, he’s a bit of a non entity whose actual motivations aren’t really fully realised.  A proxy for Lord Rahu is used much of the time, so although we sympathise with the proxy (a good man, doing the right thing for the wrong reasons) and get to know him, we don’t really learn about Rahu.  Rahu never really achieves the magnitude he needs to be truly effective.

Finally…

Shadow Lord is an enjoyable story if you’re not really expecting to be reading a Star Trek novel.  It doesn’t really add any understanding to the characters, nor does it offer a particularly inspiring sci-fi / Star Trek scenario.  It’s hard for me to say ‘don’t read it’ because despite its many flaws I found it enjoyable, on the other hand it’s not really a successful Trek novel and I don’t think you’re missing o out on a dose of Trek if you don’t bother with this one.

1/5 – Sorry!

Star Trek – My Enemy, My Ally

“Yes,” she said absently, “it would have been a shame to blow up Enterprise too.  The workmanship appears excellent.”  She flashed a smile at him: Jim became aware he was being teased.  “Captain, I come to you because I see my world in danger – and incidentally yours – and there’s no more help to be found among my friends.  At such a time, with millions and billions of lives riding on what is done, pride dies, and one has recourse to one’s enemies.  Of all my enemies I esteem you highest…”

Well… what can I say that hasn’t been said before? Diane Duane has produced a superb book again, this time in the form of a high stakes adventure involving the Romulan Empire in My Enemy, My Ally (1984) (#18 Pocket, #21 Titan).

I’ve used one of the new covers this time.  It’s not so different and it shows the artwork off nicely 🙂

My Enemy, My Ally is quite frankly a phenomenal read and it is of little surprise that Duane should spawn a mini series from this book.  The Rihannsu Saga is a five book series written between 1984 and 2006 and has left fans demanding that it should be made canon.

I’ve previously reviewed The Wounded Sky and Doctors Orders by Diane Duane, if you’re interested, go check them out!

When I talked about The Wounded Sky I waxed lyrical about the necessity of entropy and how the book was literally falling apart while I was reading it.  Well, the condition of this first edition copy of My Enemy, My Ally is only slightly better.  It’s obviously well read, its spine utterly broken and the pages threatening to fall out… though it hasn’t disgraced itself quite yet.

Now, a confession.  When I first tried to read My Enemy, My Ally  a couple of months ago, I wasn’t in the mood for it.  I ended up selecting a much shorter, snappier novel that suited my mood better.  I’m really glad I didn’t try to push through it when I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, because I wouldn’t have enjoyed it half as much!  My Enemy, My Ally isn’t a light read, there’s a lot of backstory to set up, new characters, a political situation and indeed, much of Duane’s version the Romulan culture.  What is nice is that in the forward Duane pays homage to D C Fontana, and says that she has tried to use much of Fontana’s vision of the Romulans and Vulcans, as Fontana was heavily involved in their creation.

My Enemy, My Ally documents an unusual alliance between the crew of the Romulan vessel Bloodwing and the crews of the Federation’s Enterprise, Intrepid (II), Constellation, and Inaieu as they try to prevent the permanent (and detrimental) alteration of the Romulan species and then the rescue of over four hundred of Intrepid’s Vulcan crew – just in case the stakes weren’t great enough.

At the centre of all this is an original character -Ael- who is a distinguished Romulan Commander who also happens to be the aunt of the Romulan commander Spock and Kirk had a hand in disgracing in The Enterprise Incident, an event which comes back to haunt both Ael’s loyal Romulans and the crew of the Enterprise late in the novel.

In My Enemy, My Ally, Duane has fixed I think many of the complaints people had of The Wounded Sky, namely the pages of techno babble that some have found confusing or boring (personally I like it, but hey) and instead keeps it to a more palatable level.  In its place she adds in swathes of Romulan (or Rihannsu) language which reminds me strongly of Tolkein’s high elven (which is a mix of Finnish and Welsh language), and extensive exposition of their society, culture and beliefs.  I think the language is a bit of a mixed bag, as it both adds and takes away from the narrative a little bit.  For example, we often are privy to conversations solely in Romulan, but why would it be there without translation when we are observing through Ael’s eyes and her thoughts we are able to understand.  On the other hand the language difference is effective when dealing with new concepts which are not easily translated.  At some points a word which represents a broad concept is explained and then it is used frequently in the text in its original form.

Duane’s development of the Romulans is in depth but interestingly not too removed from Ford’s ideas about the Klingons in The Final Reflection.  Duane’s Romulans are also scheming and aggressive although not so overtly savage as they wear a veneer of civilisation.  The Romulan savagery comes from their complex, tiered society and their political games.  Whereas Ford’s Klingons affirmed that with determination, guile and luck that even a nameless orphan could rise through the ranks and make a great commander, in Duane’s society there is clear demarcation of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’; the Romulans have a rigid class system.

Another crossover between Ford’s Klingons and Duane’s Romulans is that they both have a fixation on ‘names’ and ‘houses’.  However, Ford’s Klingons seem to be able to create their own lineages (albeit with some restrictions) whereas Duane’s Romulans appear to to lose all status if their names are removed from them and don’t appear to be able to create a new name to try and rise again.

Duane’s Ael is also used to introduce an element of spirituality to the Romulans, although her beliefs seem a little out dated as they are not referred to by any other Romulan we encounter without prompting from Ael herself.  The Romulans seem to have the belief in opposing and complementary elements; basically something like Taoism.  Ael uses this belief system to understand those around her, and attributes various elements to characters like, for example, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to explain what their roles are and why they work as a team.  Ael’s reflections actually give some really nice exposition on the characters we know and love, but also has a narrative function in that it’s these observations which allows Ael to accept the differences and similarities between the Romulans and the Federation crew.

And really, like Krenn in The Final Reflection her ability to break from the mental mold of her people and find kinship with people from the Federation is also what eventually isolates her from her people and even face betrayal from members of her own family.

However it is because she is so loyal to her people that she doesn’t wish them to change themselves to make themselves more like the Vulcans, she sees that this would not only destroy their culture but also cause them to destroy themselves because of the way their culture and society has developed.  In saving them, Ael faces permanent isolation from the people she loves so much with only her much depleted loyal crew as company and support.  It’s testament to her ability as a commander that so many of her crew do stay loyal to her despite the fact they will be pariahs.

It’s really hard to pick out a part of My Enemy, My Ally that could be considered ‘best’, but I certainly enjoyed reading about the developing relationships between the Enterprise crew and Ael’s Romulan crew.  I really enjoyed the recurrence of  characters first seen in The Wounded Sky, like Harb, and the Sulemid crew members.  Duane also includes a Horta in her mixed crew!  I really do like how she includes so many different species on the Enterprise crew and elsewhere in her novels!  Of course, one of the most moving aspects of this is the message that with exposure, even the most xenophobic people can become friends and allies of ‘the other’.  This is exactly what happens to the Romulans when they mix with the diverse crew of the Enterprise.

The relationship between Kirk and Ael builds up slowly between the two captains and by the end of the book, they trust each other completely.  It begins with a grudging respect of a talented commander, and progresses slowly to an unshakable trust based on a true assessment of each others character.  Knowing Kirk well, we understand the trust he has to place in Ael in order to put his crew and ship in danger, Ael’s thought process is, by necessity more exposed by the narrative.  She gradually makes her assessments, she sees that Kirk is of the element of fire (like herself) and that his crew (especially Spock and McCoy) balance him out.  A funny little observation is that Ael sees the three of them moving as one, as if one entity – essentially, all the elements together.  I suppose I should point out that the relationship between Ael and Kirk is platonic, Ael herself is Romulan and has a grown up son (who is her second in command), and does show her age somewhat, though Kirk is left to speculating how old she truly is.

My Enemy, My Ally is set between Star Trek TMP and TWOK (about 2275) which I think is a really interesting time to set a novel,  as you have all that character development from TMP especially between Kirk and Spock but also because he is a seasoned commander and the Enterprise is pretty much an icon of the Federation.  One confusing thing however (and perhaps I’m missing a trick) is that uniform wise we appear to be in the TOS era, while Kirk seems to be going by the title of captain despite being an admiral at this point?

Ah while I think about it, there was another funny inconsistency (?) I noticed, well my partner did (despite the fact I play World of Warships and it should have been apparent), was that Duane calls the Inaieu a ‘destroyer’…  Destroyers are little ships, I think what she really meant was ‘dreadnought!’.  Oops!

Anyway, I guess I’m nitpicking, because I’ve gotta make a point – those few thing are literally all I’ve got to complain about!  Everything is just so tight!

Something I seriously can’t complain about is Duane’s ability to write interesting hand to hand fight and space battle scenes! Kirk of course has to get stuck in with an incredibly large assault group and manages to get injured – thankfully he gets off light this time!  Bless him, that little cinnamon roll!  Duane just makes the fight scenes flow, she can write tension but she knows when to break the tension with humour too.  She also throws the eye of the reader around a little, she doesn’t just concentrate on one perspective of the fight but updates us on how other crew members are doing.  I particularly like her updates on her OC crew members, who supply some variation to the fights!

Duane’s space battle scenes which of course I can’t talk too much about without giving away the story, were just fantastic as usual.  It got very tense close to the end when Kirk is not in the captain’s chair, I tell you!  However, it was rather gratifying to note that Kirk ‘called it’ at the end!

I’ll leave you now with one exchange that made me spit out my tea when I read it!

“All right,” he said.  “I consider myself warned.  But if you two are going to play ‘mother hen,’ don’t either of you be surprised if you find me holding your hand.”

“Fine by me,” McCoy said.  “But watch it with Spock.  People start the damndest rumors about this ship’s crew, even without provocation….”

“Doctor, how does one hold hands with a mother hen?” Spock asked innocently. 

“Gentlemen!!”

Ael kept her laughter to herself.

 Well, someone certainly has read the Roddenberry Footnote!

5/5  – Just read it, it’s a no brainer.

Star Trek – The Final Reflection

“There is always,” Manager Akten said, “the Komerex zha.“
“I do not acknowledge the existence of the Perpetual Game,” Margon said without turning.  “Society is society, war is war.  If they are games at all, surely they are not all the same game.  I deny it.”
“That is a favoured tactic,” Akten said.
“Green Lancer to Level Nine.”

If I wasn’t systematically working through all these Star Trek novels and gave myself an option of whether to give myself a pass on ones I didn’t like the sound of (based on the blurbs), The Final Reflection (#16 Pocket, # Titan) (1984) by John M Ford would have been one of them.  If I had indeed done this and not just forced myself to read something that sounded ultimately uninteresting to me I would have seriously missed out on a top notch Star Trek novel from the Pocket Books series.

Spock and Krenn play a game of chess while Sarek looks on? (Sarek isn’t there in the book)

Saying that, I wouldn’t say that it has converted me to novels with this kind of focus, it is still not really to my taste, however saying that I can’t deny that it is well written, well plotted, well paced.  Characterisation is very strong, the narrative is consistent and well framed.  The suggestions about Klingon society believable and well thought out (unlike the later novel Pawns and Symbols).  It’s almost a shame that this is a Star Trek novel because I think it could almost be better not constrained by Star Trek.  Much of the novel is I suppose speculative in a way and set well outside most fans knowledge of Star Trek bar the framing narrative it could be its own standalone story.  I expect that the framing narrative was bolted on in order for it to be published by Pocket Books as a TOS novel since although the narrative works it isn’t the strongest.  Although I generally like framing narratives and the like (this is pretty much the earliest example of it in a TOS novel) I do feel it is the worst aspect of The Final Reflection.

The late John M Ford seems to have been an interesting character to say the least (he died in 2006).  The Final Reflection was his fourth published novel and was released hot on the heels of his 1984 World Fantasy Award winning novel The Dragon Waiting.  Ford would go onto write another Star Trek novel ‘How Much For Just The Planet‘ and also write a Klingon orientated RP scenario for the FASA RPG series.  Ford was known for his aversion for doing things that had been done before, which would explain his framing narrative (not seen until now in the Pocket Book series) and his introduction of ‘Klingonaase‘.

The framing narrative is an effective if perhaps a little ham fisted way of getting rid of the TOS cast for the duration of the actual ‘story’ that Ford wants to tell.  In essence, you start The Final Reflection, the Pocket Books version you are holding in your hands, read the prologue, and then start the book that Kirk is reading in his cabin; title page, contents, prologue and all.  I think it was a nice touch to have the contents page there and the ‘note from the author’, as well as quotes from the characters who reportedly took part in the events of the novel within the novel.

As a consequence of the novel within a novel format, we end up with three dates to take into account.  The Final Reflection of our world was released in May 1984, the events of the framing narrative take place in the 2270s (I’d say between TMP and TWOK), and the events of the novel within the novel take place over about 15-20 years… ish… in the 2230s.  It’s interesting to note that TSFS came out in June 1984.

The acknowledgement by Ford at the front of the book asserts that Ford had been developing this story for about 15 years… and it shows in two ways.  Firstly, it is an excellently constructed story which frankly, only comes about from serious time and work.  Secondly it is also regularly confusing as some characters / sections seem to have been added in to account for the change in looks between the TOS Klingons and the Klingons from TMP onwards.  As far as I understood while reading the main character is of the ‘new’ style Klingons (pointy teeth and forehead ridges), although sometimes it seems he isn’t (especially as he seems to be a ‘fusion’ – hybrid to you and me).  There is a notable character who seems to be a ‘TOS era’ Klingon who is definitely a ‘fusion’.  However, I could be misunderstanding, it would however possibly fit in with various fan theories at the time (one being that the Klingons seen in TOS were a group used for diplomatic purposes etc.).  Of course we now have an explanation for the change in appearance thanks to Enterprise, but at this time there was no such explanation.

The bulk of the novel follows the life of Krenn and his fortunes, starting as a talented youngster and ending as an established commander and one could say, diplomat.  There are through necessity frequent time jumps, some of which can be a little confusing.  Krenn is generally a likable character for a Klingon, I mean, he’s still a murderous bastard but he is intelligent and charming in his own way.  The friendships he builds up and his relationships especially with Dr Talgore are endearing.  Although I think the sweetest moment of the whole novel is that he ends up romancing his childhood sweetheart… well as sweetheartish as Klingons get anyway.

Of course, this low key but super cute (do I need to add for a Klingon again?) beats the Kang relationship in Pawns and Symbols hands down.  It’s quite obvious that The Final Reflection heavily influenced Pawns and Symbols, as there are quite a few cultural parallels between the Klingons and the narrative is similar in that the ‘main cast’ are excluded from much of the action.

There are a good few scenes/characters that stick out to me.

– The death of Krenn’s adoptive father and his household.
– Sarek & Amanda – then the chess game between Krenn and Spock
– Scene with McCoy’s grandfather.

Honestly, the assassination of the ‘Thought Admiral’, his consort (who happens to be an Orion), and his servants is possibly the most gut wrenching event.  Testament to Ford’s writing ability, I actually felt appalled and saddened by the deaths of these characters he barely told me about.  The death of the ‘winged’ alien was particularly nasty.  Krenn thought so too, although all he was doing was watching a video of the assassinations taking place.  I thought it particularly moving that he realises ‘love’ between his father and the Orion consort, although he doesn’t understand it until much later.

The chess game depicted on the cover is a very minor cameo of a young Spock, and Sarek never sees it, Amanda does.  Some nice observations here.

McCoy’s ‘cameo’ is by reference.  Some people have derided the choice of actually referencing him instead of making it more ambiguous, but I actually like the way it’s done and I don’t actually think it detracts at all.  I had to laugh though since Kirk was no where near born at this point, but I think McCoy has been aged a little?  I could be wrong.  I think Spock is just a child (much younger than the picture, so I think it makes sense… I haven’t done the maths).

Life as a Game – Klingons and the Perpetual Game.

At the forefront of The Final Reflection is the idea that everything that occurs is part of a universal and never ending game.  Some people subscribe to it, some people reject it, some are players and others are pawns.  Ford suggests that Klingon society revolves around this belief and that Klingons see their actions, their lives and interactions with others as a game – this to a certain level accounts for the Klingon distrust of each other, and their devious nature.

Excluding the framing narrative and the book ‘bumf’, the opening of Krenn’s story is a game in which he is a pawn – a lancer – in a bloody deadly game where the ‘players’ move pieces (children in this case) around a board.  When they meet an opponent they have to fight until one is incapacitated defending a ‘goal’.  The one who reaches the top wins the match.  Characters are introduced and just as quickly exit the story; their games are elsewhere for the time being.  Eventually some characters will come back as pawns or players in their own right.  Ford does very well in creating the illusion that the universe is bigger than just Krenn, characters weave in an out of the narrative playing their own games, Krenn is just one player amongst billions.  Krenn doesn’t know all the characters (nor does the ‘novelist’ persona) but there is just enough information about them to make you want to know more, which, for the most part you are never given.

Krenn (or perhaps more accurately the novelist) plays games in a broad sense with the reader.  One of the lessons Krenn learns young is not to say anything you do not wish to be heard, basically ‘keep your own council’, because of the constant surveillance of the Empire.  The reader is also kept in the dark at several points, which sometimes makes Krenn’s actions inscrutable.  At times the reader does not realise that Krenn knows something, which can make him hard to follow.  This actually fits into the framing narrative, because the novelist also doesn’t know everything, he’s recreating events that sometimes, not even he understands.  Not even the author understands the rules of the game.

Different games are mentioned and/or explained.  They are predominantly board games which resemble to a differing extent, chess.  A few are referred to throughout the novel as events unfold and they are reflected in the moves and goals of the games themselves.  Like the first game we see, the game of life is lethal and Krenn relearns this lesson early as he witnesses the fall of his adoptive father, his father’s consort, and his household, because his father is outmanoeuvred in his play.  It takes some time for Krenn to realise the extent of his father’s love for Rogaine (his Orion consort), even when watching his father reaching toward her as he died.  Krenn realises his own feelings later, and no doubt acts with his father’s actions in mind.

Krenn’s final ‘play’, which prevents galaxy wide war isn’t just an altruistic action.  Although it prevents war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire which is obviously a good thing from our perspective, it also prevents the Federation from fully allying through fear and pooling all their resources against the Klingons.  Krenn’s stance?  It is left up to the reader, but from my perspective Dr. Talgore was successful in his influence of Krenn and although his actions benefited the empire in the long run, I think Krenn, with his exposure to the other races and his strategic mind had decided peace would be a better option if not joining with the Federation.

For his part, Krenn influences those around him by changing the way he is perceived in order to get the upper hand in an exchange of words and wits.  He has many masks, which are assets to him in his game.

So, what is the final reflection? Humans and Klingons reflect each other, or at least the Klingons reflect an aspect of humanity which is pretty much how they were developed (although sparingly) and then developed through the future series and films.  In The Final Reflection, we see instances of humans playing the same games as the Klingons, corrupt games of power, misdirection, and devious strategies – even inciting a war is not too great a price to pay in these games.  However, the reflection is like looking into an infinity mirror.  Even whilst we point out the flaws of the Klingons, Ford points to their humanity, to Krenn, and his trusted friends – the ‘other’ isn’t so different after all.

Essentially Ford is drawing attention to the way we perceive and treat our enemies.  Klingons, Conservatives, Socialists, Liberals, Muslims, Jews, Christians, pro-life, pro-choice,  people gain from demonising the other, they benefit from dehumanising and preventing conversation.  Even in the final section, the closing of the framing narrative Kirk reports that Star Fleet are announcing that The Final Reflection is all fiction, even though its effect appears to be positive.  The Final Reflection, a novel within a novel tries elicit understanding beyond the Organian Peace Treaty, which does not facilitate understanding at all (it’s essentially mutually assured destruction – a cold war). 

The Final Reflection contains some of the best that Star Trek has to offer.  Star Trek is always at its best when being used as a vehicle for asking (and answering) the big questions of our time.  Ford shows us a story told without the main cast can be done and done well, however I still think some of the charm is lost without their presence.  Even though the development of the series took the Klingons in a different direction to Ford’s vision, this is still a great read and well worth your time.  Call it an AU or put The Final Reflection as a work of liberal Federation propaganda, either way I seriously recommend it.

5/5 – Let the games begin!

“Be a storyteller, an embellisher, a liar; they’ll call you that and worse anyway.  It hardly matters.  The Tao which can be perceived is not the true Tao.” 

– Dr. Emmanuel Tagore, to the author.