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amelianicholebooks's review
4.0
I liked the mystery, I especially enjoyed the Klingons and the unique aliens.
I wasn't fond of how Uhura and the female Klingon Kali were handled.
I wasn't fond of how Uhura and the female Klingon Kali were handled.
octavia_cade's review
3.0
For the most part, I really liked this. I liked the focus on music, I liked that Uhura was given a love interest - and that it was essentially her story. I liked the aliens, who were genuinely interesting, and I thought the problem they were both causing and about to suffer from was compelling. I even liked the Klingons... well, some of them. Kor was done very well indeed. I always like when the Klingons are given more to do than bluster and be violent.
Honestly, I liked so much of this that it was very nearly a four star read. The only thing preventing that was the constant mild irritation at the way some of the women are consistently presented here. Well, "some of the women" - there are really only two of note. Uhura, and Kor's wife Kali. Uhura is mostly presented pretty well, though there's one odd and really tone deaf passage where she's weighing up life as a Starfleet officer, compared to the prospect of leaving Starfleet for her love interest. She thinks, then, of Kirk, and how he's given up the prospect of a family to be a starship captain, and how despite his dalliances the Enterprise is the only woman in his life, and then she wonders would it make her a lesbian, to be a captain and love her ship like that. Which, what the fucking fuck? Then there's Kali, and while I'm grateful not to have Kor as the stereotypical Klingon, there's such a thing as going too far. Kali dusts and weeps constantly and is described as having a "tiger cub expression" and yes, she's good with a disruptor but there's something deeply condescending about it all. Tiger cub expression my arse. There's not a roll-eyes symbol in the world big enough, and it's such a shame, because the rest of the book was so enjoyable.
Honestly, I liked so much of this that it was very nearly a four star read. The only thing preventing that was the constant mild irritation at the way some of the women are consistently presented here. Well, "some of the women" - there are really only two of note. Uhura, and Kor's wife Kali. Uhura is mostly presented pretty well, though there's one odd and really tone deaf passage where she's weighing up life as a Starfleet officer, compared to the prospect of leaving Starfleet for her love interest. She thinks, then, of Kirk, and how he's given up the prospect of a family to be a starship captain, and how despite his dalliances the Enterprise is the only woman in his life, and then she wonders would it make her a lesbian, to be a captain and love her ship like that. Which, what the fucking fuck? Then there's Kali, and while I'm grateful not to have Kor as the stereotypical Klingon, there's such a thing as going too far. Kali dusts and weeps constantly and is described as having a "tiger cub expression" and yes, she's good with a disruptor but there's something deeply condescending about it all. Tiger cub expression my arse. There's not a roll-eyes symbol in the world big enough, and it's such a shame, because the rest of the book was so enjoyable.
joelshults's review
4.0
Quite good. I could see this being a TOS episode. Uhura gets to be the star in this one in an admittedly cheesy love story. But still a lot of fun.
reeshadovahsil's review
3.0
This is a very well-written story, an easy read that goes quickly. But I have some serious problems with the premise and with certain out of character moments within the story, so I can't rate this above 3 stars as a Star Trek novel. I'll explain.
The basic idea, explored from the very beginning, is that members of the Federation are hunting and killing beings because when they die, they cry, the tears become gems, the gems are "very expensive" (???), and human women are asking their boyfriends and husbands to get them these gems which they have to spend large amounts of "money" (???) to obtain.
Um, yikes! There's a lot to unpack here. Why are they using money at all? Why are human women obsessed with gems in our enlightened future? Why would the Federation be allowing their citizens to execute living creatures on other planets for any reason, but especially for gathering up what is essentially their death rattle and selling it off to the highest bidder? It would have made a lot more sense if there was another species doing this that wasn't a Federation member, maybe if they were thinking of joining, but this issue had to be cleared up first. But humans? Federation humans?
The human hunters who are killing these beautiful living beings for their death tears are in a bad way, as if this is the only way they can make a living in their situation, which once again does not fit into the Federation ethos and the fact that poverty has been eliminated. It just doesn't make sense that any Federation citizens would be forced to do something cruel as a job just to "get by."
The war of the sexes is also raging in this book, which one would imagine would be well past by now. That on top of the sexist idea that Federation women are so cruel and material they are begging for gems made of the tears of dying creatures just screams internalized misogyny to me.
Regarding the out of character problem, here's an example: At one point in the story, Spock displays a truly shocking amount of emotion just because he isn't where he wants to be, like a child. He's under no alien influence of any kind and there is no reasonable explanation for his emotions so powerfully breaking the surface of his Vulcan control. It's a very un-Spock way to behave and for no reason whatsoever. He frightens the crewman under his command with this outlandish display. In this moment, I felt as if the writer had never seen an episode of Star Trek, though I of course know that is not true. This isn't the only out of character moment in the book, but it was the most jarring.
However, the aliens who are being hunted for their death tears are quite fascinating and the Klingon characters, especially the only woman, are fully realized and worth getting to know.
Uhura is beautifully handled, given a full, rounded personality, and many important responsibilities, as she's at the centre of the action for almost the entire story. This was refreshing as, up until the publication of this novel in 1984, very few Star Trek novels and stories had given Uhura a starring role unless it was because she was waxing poetical on some man she'd once loved.
There is an odd, somewhat prescient moment in this novel where humpback whale song is discussed. This was two years before The Voyage Home came out. It made me go back and check the publication date, thinking I'd accidentally skipped ahead!
If this hadn't been a Star Trek novel, I wouldn't have had any problem with the premise as a starting point, but this story just doesn't fit in with the tenants of the Federation. If this had simply been a non-Trek story and the crew had not been a Starfleet crew, if the Klingons were some other species, if Starfleet and the Federation were not part of its history, this is a five-star book. But when you're writing inside the Star Trek universe, your basic conceit has to fit inside that universe (unless you're intentionally writing an AU story). It could have easily been fixed, as mentioned before, if it wasn't Federation humans doing the killing. Between that and the several out of character moments, I can't go beyond 3 despite the excellent, in general, writing.
If you're just looking for a good novel to read and you don't care about what Star Trek or the Federation is, I would definitely recommend this book as a fun stand-alone sci-fi story.
The basic idea, explored from the very beginning, is that members of the Federation are hunting and killing beings because when they die, they cry, the tears become gems, the gems are "very expensive" (???), and human women are asking their boyfriends and husbands to get them these gems which they have to spend large amounts of "money" (???) to obtain.
Um, yikes! There's a lot to unpack here. Why are they using money at all? Why are human women obsessed with gems in our enlightened future? Why would the Federation be allowing their citizens to execute living creatures on other planets for any reason, but especially for gathering up what is essentially their death rattle and selling it off to the highest bidder? It would have made a lot more sense if there was another species doing this that wasn't a Federation member, maybe if they were thinking of joining, but this issue had to be cleared up first. But humans? Federation humans?
The human hunters who are killing these beautiful living beings for their death tears are in a bad way, as if this is the only way they can make a living in their situation, which once again does not fit into the Federation ethos and the fact that poverty has been eliminated. It just doesn't make sense that any Federation citizens would be forced to do something cruel as a job just to "get by."
The war of the sexes is also raging in this book, which one would imagine would be well past by now. That on top of the sexist idea that Federation women are so cruel and material they are begging for gems made of the tears of dying creatures just screams internalized misogyny to me.
Regarding the out of character problem, here's an example: At one point in the story, Spock displays a truly shocking amount of emotion just because he isn't where he wants to be, like a child. He's under no alien influence of any kind and there is no reasonable explanation for his emotions so powerfully breaking the surface of his Vulcan control. It's a very un-Spock way to behave and for no reason whatsoever. He frightens the crewman under his command with this outlandish display. In this moment, I felt as if the writer had never seen an episode of Star Trek, though I of course know that is not true. This isn't the only out of character moment in the book, but it was the most jarring.
However, the aliens who are being hunted for their death tears are quite fascinating and the Klingon characters, especially the only woman, are fully realized and worth getting to know.
Uhura is beautifully handled, given a full, rounded personality, and many important responsibilities, as she's at the centre of the action for almost the entire story. This was refreshing as, up until the publication of this novel in 1984, very few Star Trek novels and stories had given Uhura a starring role unless it was because she was waxing poetical on some man she'd once loved.
There is an odd, somewhat prescient moment in this novel where humpback whale song is discussed. This was two years before The Voyage Home came out. It made me go back and check the publication date, thinking I'd accidentally skipped ahead!
If this hadn't been a Star Trek novel, I wouldn't have had any problem with the premise as a starting point, but this story just doesn't fit in with the tenants of the Federation. If this had simply been a non-Trek story and the crew had not been a Starfleet crew, if the Klingons were some other species, if Starfleet and the Federation were not part of its history, this is a five-star book. But when you're writing inside the Star Trek universe, your basic conceit has to fit inside that universe (unless you're intentionally writing an AU story). It could have easily been fixed, as mentioned before, if it wasn't Federation humans doing the killing. Between that and the several out of character moments, I can't go beyond 3 despite the excellent, in general, writing.
If you're just looking for a good novel to read and you don't care about what Star Trek or the Federation is, I would definitely recommend this book as a fun stand-alone sci-fi story.
markk's review
3.0
When a freighter disappears into an expanding time/space warp in the Taygeta V system, Starfleet sends the USS Enterprise to investigate. With them is Guy Maslin, a brilliant but temperamental composer seconded to the mission to help the crew understand the song of the native Taygetans, who may hold a clue to the problem of the warp. When they arrive, however, they encounter a force of two Klingon vessels commanded by James Kirk's old adversary Kor, who has been dispatched on a mission similar to that of the Enterprise. Forging an uneasy agreement, the two groups work together to solve the mystery of the Taygetans before the rift consumes the system's sun — and possibly the galaxy itself.
Years before she became a script editor for Star Trek: The Next Generation and the writer of one of that's show's greatest episodes, Melinda Snodgrass entered the Star Trek franchise with this novel. For a first novel it's a well-developed work, with an interesting plot premised around a strong mystery. In it she makes especially good use of Uhura, one of the underutilized characters from the original series who only got a chance to flourish in the later works of the franchise. At Snodgrass's hands she develops into a strong and capable officer who demonstrates her full value as a ship's crew member. Snodgrass also does justice to the Klingons, who until that point had not always been well served by the novels (that John M. Ford's [b:The Final Reflection|216722|The Final Reflection (Star Trek Worlds Apart, #1)|John M. Ford|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388927635l/216722._SY75_.jpg|1742225] was published just four months before Snodgrass's book suggests that hers was among the last Star Trek works not shaped by his influential book). Yet some elements of her story have not aged well; the idea of the Federation authorizing the slaughter of animals for the collectibles they produce doesn't fit well with Roddenberry's vision, while Guy Maslin's behavior seems particularly incongruous in the era of #MeToo. Yet these are relatively minor when set against the strengths of one of the better Star Trek novels from the 1980s Pocket Books era.
Years before she became a script editor for Star Trek: The Next Generation and the writer of one of that's show's greatest episodes, Melinda Snodgrass entered the Star Trek franchise with this novel. For a first novel it's a well-developed work, with an interesting plot premised around a strong mystery. In it she makes especially good use of Uhura, one of the underutilized characters from the original series who only got a chance to flourish in the later works of the franchise. At Snodgrass's hands she develops into a strong and capable officer who demonstrates her full value as a ship's crew member. Snodgrass also does justice to the Klingons, who until that point had not always been well served by the novels (that John M. Ford's [b:The Final Reflection|216722|The Final Reflection (Star Trek Worlds Apart, #1)|John M. Ford|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388927635l/216722._SY75_.jpg|1742225] was published just four months before Snodgrass's book suggests that hers was among the last Star Trek works not shaped by his influential book). Yet some elements of her story have not aged well; the idea of the Federation authorizing the slaughter of animals for the collectibles they produce doesn't fit well with Roddenberry's vision, while Guy Maslin's behavior seems particularly incongruous in the era of #MeToo. Yet these are relatively minor when set against the strengths of one of the better Star Trek novels from the 1980s Pocket Books era.
gannent's review
4.0
Probably the best Star Trek novel I've read to date. Love the way the author characterized Uhura, and I wish we could have gotten an Uhura-centric episode like this in the original show.
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