Reviews

Kobayashi Maru by Michael A. Martin, Andy Mangels

jonfucius's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

vingilot's review

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5.0

The very title of this book is enough to give any trekkie chills, and cause any starfleet command track graduate to break out in sweat, and the book lives up to the title!

War is brewing, the question is who is causing it. Archer and his crew have good reason to believe the Romulans are engaging in a disinformation campaign again, high-jacking ships to hide their guilt. However hard evidence is tough to find, and the Klingons seem a more likely culprit. All the while Trip is working deep in Romulan space to find out the truth of the matter. As things heat up, Archer comes across a neutronic fuel carrier which will go down in history as a true cautionary tale. The stakes could not be higher as Archer faces the true No Win Scenario.

A truly gripping telling of the origin of this infamous sim, and it really tells you why this has become the no win scenario. It also explains away some of the inconsistencies found in the canon surrounding the Kobayashi Maru.

A great read, which holds up to the promise of the title.

irenevh's review

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3.0

3 stars

Finally continuing on in the star trek story that re-wrote the death of Trip Tucker, I must admit I am more disappointed by this book than the last one.

Where the first book in this particular story was a victim of wrong expectations, this book just fell short to me in other ways.
Although I like the characters and the world this story takes place in, this book felt padded with unnecessary stuff. Starting with a rather annoying habit of the writers to add about as many unnecessary descriptive words to most sentences and repeating some stuff three times within the span of this same book I was already feeling that 475 page count was way higher than it needed to be.
To then add scenes for characters I couldn't care less about made me want to put the book aside and not pick it up again.

Which is a shame, because the story premise is interesting and the characters are good and likable. And the world of Star Trek has so much to tell.
But overall, this story was once again a let down and it isn't even finished. Yet, I can't bring myself to keep reading these books seeing as a they just don't make me excited to read them.

If you are reading this as a die-hard star trek fan, you'll probably get more out of this than I did. But as a casual star trek fan, this just didn't do it for me.

htruelock's review

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fast-paced

4.0

jecamp86's review against another edition

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3.5

I’ll start by saying the authors did a good job of capturing the voices of the cast of the show. It felt like an episode of the show and I think that’s important with tie in fiction. I struggled with a couple of things. One: the authors try to make political and societal points in their books that come off as jarring and take you out of the story. Second: Trip’s covert storyline is kind of ridiculous and he continues to just barely escape through good luck or happenstance and it’s not believable. Plus his reaction to being saved is childish and is an eye roll under the pretense of him not being in control of his actions when it’s clear he never is when he’s on his own. 

shiv91's review

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3.0

3.5 stars really. For me, there were too many POVs. Felt at times, that the story didn't flow very well. But enjoyed the story.

maddox22's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

angelspirit7's review

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adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is a great book for Star Trek fans. 
It's fast paced and kept me wanting to read juts one more chapter. 
While it does not revolve entirely around the Kobayashi Maru (as in, the test), it does give you a further understanding as to why this is the situation used to test star fleet captains. 

the_bitextual's review

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5.0

For a book that's largely set up? Man that was fun.

graff_fuller's review

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4.0

I really loved this book. Unfortunately, it was the last book on my list. I kept reading other books, but would pick this up and put it down with a few pages to a chapter read.

I enjoyed the story, the complicated beginning of the Romulan War buildup. Tellecapture System and poor Commander Tucker behind enemy lines as a Romulan engineer...trying to stop the Romulans from getting the first Warp Seven capable Star Drive.

Nothing seems to go right for the New Coalition of planets. Secrets, lies and mistakes.

Vulcans apparently know how to lie VERY well. T'Pol and Reed try to rescue Tucker, but he refuses to give up is failing mission.

Also, distrust on the bridge of the Enterprise.

And now, they have just declaired War.