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burruss's review
2.0
A poor effort from a great author. Basic concept is good and at times you can feel like you're reading a never-filmed original series episode. But the tone shifts multiple times through the novel (from jovial to serious), some of the narrative meanders as if someone needed a page count filled, and too much time is spent with new characters that the reader won't care about. A fun, quick read and I'm glad I experienced it but definitely not one that ever needs re-reading.
murphyc1's review
3.0
Read in 2009. Apparently I thought the novel was ok, but not as good as some of the earlier Trek novels I had read.
david_agranoff's review
4.0
Above average classic Trek tie-in novel written pre-movies by the man who invented Tribbles. Gerrold is also a a genius SF author in general. Feels like an episode.
joelshults's review
4.0
Hands down, by far, above and beyond the best of the Star Trek Bantam Novels (Star Trek Adventures). There is still one more to go in this series (Death's Angels), but I'd say this one is going to be pretty tough to beat.
It was written by David Gerrold, though, so I guess that says a lot.
It was written by David Gerrold, though, so I guess that says a lot.
reeshadovahsil's review
3.0
3.5 stars if I had the option. A fun and engaging story with decent characterization and some detailed (now non-canon) insight into Starfleet's—and Earth's—past.
Unfortunately, it tends to get bogged down with awkwardly presented "information dumps" that read like encyclopedia entries. There is an especially egregious scene of "tell rather than show" consisting of a librarian character (who is painfully clearly the author's avatar) going on a chapter-long historical diatribe that we're meant to believe occurs as a presentation to senior staff. I understand the need for exposition but yikes.
There was also a sudden and terribly convenient accidental death that reads like the author couldn't write himself out of a corner and took the easy way out. That was a bit disappointing, and it was hard to believe that no one so much as commented on the tragedy.
There was a painful lack of consistency in the speech patterns of the new characters, both as a people and individually, that increased in occurrence as the book wore on, with the new speech patterns being nearly forgotten by the final chapters. If you're going to decide a people (or a single person) speak a certain way, then you've got to commit, or the whole thing feels disingenuous and pointless.
I thought it was especially fun to often have the focus on one of the background characters of the show, who we've met but know little about, to break up the constant focus on well-known senior staff. "Kirk gets the girl" is even more predictable and boring than "the hero gets the girl," so it was nice to at least have "the girl" latch on to someone else for a change.
Speaking of "the girl," I would have liked to understand more about how this woman, who appears to be quite young indeed, managed to have a dozen careers before the one she's in now. She appears to have been this, that, and the other thing, all professions that require a certain level of training and study, yet she seems to be no more than 20, and there's no explanation for this. I kept waiting for it to come along, but nope! I'm not sure if this is a plot point that ended up getting dropped but not fully erased, or the author forgot where he was going, or we're really just supposed to believe that this young woman managed to hold so many disparate jobs in the last few years, while apparently being equally efficient at all of them.
Despite the flaws, it's still a fun read, an enjoyable interpretation of a well-worn SF plot, and one of the better early Star Trek novels. I'm glad I read it, though it is perhaps not worth a second go.
Unfortunately, it tends to get bogged down with awkwardly presented "information dumps" that read like encyclopedia entries. There is an especially egregious scene of "tell rather than show" consisting of a librarian character (who is painfully clearly the author's avatar) going on a chapter-long historical diatribe that we're meant to believe occurs as a presentation to senior staff. I understand the need for exposition but yikes.
There was also a sudden and terribly convenient accidental death that reads like the author couldn't write himself out of a corner and took the easy way out. That was a bit disappointing, and it was hard to believe that no one so much as commented on the tragedy.
There was a painful lack of consistency in the speech patterns of the new characters, both as a people and individually, that increased in occurrence as the book wore on, with the new speech patterns being nearly forgotten by the final chapters. If you're going to decide a people (or a single person) speak a certain way, then you've got to commit, or the whole thing feels disingenuous and pointless.
I thought it was especially fun to often have the focus on one of the background characters of the show, who we've met but know little about, to break up the constant focus on well-known senior staff. "Kirk gets the girl" is even more predictable and boring than "the hero gets the girl," so it was nice to at least have "the girl" latch on to someone else for a change.
Speaking of "the girl," I would have liked to understand more about how this woman, who appears to be quite young indeed, managed to have a dozen careers before the one she's in now. She appears to have been this, that, and the other thing, all professions that require a certain level of training and study, yet she seems to be no more than 20, and there's no explanation for this. I kept waiting for it to come along, but nope! I'm not sure if this is a plot point that ended up getting dropped but not fully erased, or the author forgot where he was going, or we're really just supposed to believe that this young woman managed to hold so many disparate jobs in the last few years, while apparently being equally efficient at all of them.
Despite the flaws, it's still a fun read, an enjoyable interpretation of a well-worn SF plot, and one of the better early Star Trek novels. I'm glad I read it, though it is perhaps not worth a second go.
wbelanger's review
5.0
I gave this 5 stars because I read this as a teenager, and upon rereading it, it still holds up. It reads like a solid Star Trek OS episode with lots of worldbuilding with nods to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine.
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