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reeshadovahsil's review
4.0
3.5 stars if I had the option. The first half of this book is pretty dry and slow-going, but it isn't offensive or bad per se. It picks up midway and becomes respectably rich storytelling, with several different plot threads all going at once.
It certainly has its flaws, with lots of casual sexism (always somehow sadder when it comes from a writer who is a woman), one-dimensional villains, and odd errors. For instance, I was thrown out of the story pretty hard at one point when a Romulan was described as "red-faced" with embarrassment. Quite a feat for a being whose blood is green!
But our crew is in character for the most part—which sounds like the bare minimum, but in these earlier Star Trek books, it's truly a huge plus—and the maleffected computer is amusing at times. Speaking of the altered computer, I did enjoy that the author took a little something silly from an episode and let it weave throughout another story.
Overall, it was a decent read.
It certainly has its flaws, with lots of casual sexism (always somehow sadder when it comes from a writer who is a woman), one-dimensional villains, and odd errors. For instance, I was thrown out of the story pretty hard at one point when a Romulan was described as "red-faced" with embarrassment. Quite a feat for a being whose blood is green!
But our crew is in character for the most part—which sounds like the bare minimum, but in these earlier Star Trek books, it's truly a huge plus—and the maleffected computer is amusing at times. Speaking of the altered computer, I did enjoy that the author took a little something silly from an episode and let it weave throughout another story.
Overall, it was a decent read.
wai's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A solid Star Trek: The Original Series book. It's fun and has a nice little twist that has some build up to it, which is nice. But it does start off a bit slow and then seem to wrap up very fast and easily, so I wish the pace had been more consistent. Also the cover art was a bit confusing to me, as it's modeled after TMP era, yet the book seems to actually be set some time during the original 5 year mission (TOS) time frame.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Terminal illness
markk's review
2.0
Ever since I first watched it in reruns, I felt that the Romulans were the orphan stepchildren of the original Star Trek. Appearing in just two episodes, supposedly they were shunted aside in favor of the Klingons for the simple reason that the makeup for the latter was cheaper. Nevertheless, their first appearance (the superb "Balance of Terror") hinted at a long involvement with the Federation that went unexplored, which made them a promising source of material for authors when the original novels started rolling out in earnest in the 1980s.
Though M. S. Murdoch's novel wasn't the first in the Pocket Books series to include Romulans (a few were included in Sonni Cooper's [b:Black Fire|216674|Black Fire|Sonni Cooper|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1266498271s/216674.jpg|209775], published six months previously), it was the first in which the Romulans served as the main antagonists. When the novel begins theirs is an empire in crisis, ravaged by a plague that is decimating the population. Faced with their destruction, the Romulans embark on an audacious plan designed to obtain the cure from he nearest available source — a planet on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone.
As the first book to utilize the Romulans as the main antagonists, Murdoch has a good deal of latitude, and it testifies to her restraint that she doesn't overdo it. Her Romulans are true to their depiction in the original series, and point to the rich possibilities that would be developed profitably by subsequent authors and in subsequent series. Yet this is offset by her incorporation of a subplot in which the Enterprise's computer falling in love with Jim Kirk, creating chaos aboard the ship as a result. While such a contrivance is necessary for the plot, the silliness of the concept Murdoch uses (which originated in a story she wrote for a fanzine in the previous decade) detracts from the gravity of the situation facing both the Romulans and the Federation, and might have been better saved for a novel lighter in tone
Though M. S. Murdoch's novel wasn't the first in the Pocket Books series to include Romulans (a few were included in Sonni Cooper's [b:Black Fire|216674|Black Fire|Sonni Cooper|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1266498271s/216674.jpg|209775], published six months previously), it was the first in which the Romulans served as the main antagonists. When the novel begins theirs is an empire in crisis, ravaged by a plague that is decimating the population. Faced with their destruction, the Romulans embark on an audacious plan designed to obtain the cure from he nearest available source — a planet on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone.
As the first book to utilize the Romulans as the main antagonists, Murdoch has a good deal of latitude, and it testifies to her restraint that she doesn't overdo it. Her Romulans are true to their depiction in the original series, and point to the rich possibilities that would be developed profitably by subsequent authors and in subsequent series. Yet this is offset by her incorporation of a subplot in which the Enterprise's computer falling in love with Jim Kirk, creating chaos aboard the ship as a result. While such a contrivance is necessary for the plot, the silliness of the concept Murdoch uses (which originated in a story she wrote for a fanzine in the previous decade) detracts from the gravity of the situation facing both the Romulans and the Federation, and might have been better saved for a novel lighter in tone
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