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gingerreader99's review
4.0
A very strong 4.5 stars. The Kenisians were a most enjoyable adversary to explore in this novel and the late Dave Galanter crafted an exquisite plot around them. The Spock side of the story was thrilling if slow at times, Kirks and the Enterprise was the action packed portion that balanced well with Spock's mental gymnastics on Zhatans ship. The relationship between Kenisians, Vulcans and perhaps even Romulans would be an interesting area to explore in the future.
hemlockreads's review
2.0
I feel like this book suffered a bit since it's the third diplomatic mission gone wrong type of story that I read in a row. On top of that the pacing for the first half of the book is pretty slow, and there are a few other choices that made me raise my eyebrows.
In Crisis of Consciousness, the Enterprise is escorting a Maabas ambassador back to his world from a meeting on a Starbase to arrange a treaty for his people to join the federation when suddenly a people calling themselves the Kenisians show up and demand to get the Maabas homeworld back since it was originally their planet long enough ago that all their settlements are ruined.
After a bit of a fight the Kenisians agree to send an ambassador to to the Enterprise to work out an agreement. Turns out that they are another offshoot of Vulcans with a twist: each Kenisian hosts multiple consciousnesses, the more they have the more status they have. I don't really want to hash through the whole plot this time, because eh it was okay, but basically the Kenisians aren't even interested in their planet, they want an ancient weapon they can use to destroy the society who had conquered them to make them leave their first home in the first place. The story ends up being a race against the clock to stop the Kenisians from taking their weapon, mines based off warp technology with the power to destroy the whole galaxy in a chain reaction, and using it against their former conquerors.
In what I felt was a kind of out of place scene that disrupted the flow of the story, Kirk fights some space pirates and finds out that the Kensisians' conquerors don't even exist anymore. Spock saves the day by forcing himself on pretty much everyone on the Kensisan's ship. Yep. Spock uses a weaponized mine meld to incapacitate the Kenisians' who conquered him and save their captain from the group consciousness that were trying to control her and make her go on this completely unnecessary, dangerous revenge mission in the first place.
Then everything is happy. The Kenisians and Maabas decided to form a treaty and live on the same planet together and the Kenisian captain can once again be happy with her gf.
The very end of the book sees Spock considering kolinahr after what he did to protect the lives of the many. I feel like it was... so weird. Spock gets absolutely up in the Kenisian captain's face for trying to force a meld on Kirk to make him do what she wanted and then he spends a good chapter running around and forcing a meld on everybody and their mom. I know he uses the mind meld as a tool in the show but not to this extent. It's clearly left him somewhat traumatized, and he refuses to let anyone help or know about that. That's in character I guess but it's so sad. I'm not sure that it was intended to be that sad but honestly I found it to have horrific implications and I can't really get past it to enjoy this book.
How is the McCoy though? He's good. He gasps in wonderment at one point when Spock agrees with him which I found completely adorable. He doesn't really have a lot to do though until the Enterprise takes a beating so he has to kick into full gear, and then he's too busy to really be present.
All the characterization was good even if Spock was kind of like worrying. I have to say that Scotty probably stood out to me most this time. I liked him connecting with the archaeologist and being so obviously in love with the ship it hurts.
I feel like this review is even more disjointed than usual because my heart really isn't in it so much with this book. I liked the concepts but I don't know.
In Crisis of Consciousness, the Enterprise is escorting a Maabas ambassador back to his world from a meeting on a Starbase to arrange a treaty for his people to join the federation when suddenly a people calling themselves the Kenisians show up and demand to get the Maabas homeworld back since it was originally their planet long enough ago that all their settlements are ruined.
After a bit of a fight the Kenisians agree to send an ambassador to to the Enterprise to work out an agreement. Turns out that they are another offshoot of Vulcans with a twist: each Kenisian hosts multiple consciousnesses, the more they have the more status they have. I don't really want to hash through the whole plot this time, because eh it was okay, but basically the Kenisians aren't even interested in their planet, they want an ancient weapon they can use to destroy the society who had conquered them to make them leave their first home in the first place. The story ends up being a race against the clock to stop the Kenisians from taking their weapon, mines based off warp technology with the power to destroy the whole galaxy in a chain reaction, and using it against their former conquerors.
In what I felt was a kind of out of place scene that disrupted the flow of the story, Kirk fights some space pirates and finds out that the Kensisians' conquerors don't even exist anymore. Spock saves the day by forcing himself on pretty much everyone on the Kensisan's ship. Yep. Spock uses a weaponized mine meld to incapacitate the Kenisians' who conquered him and save their captain from the group consciousness that were trying to control her and make her go on this completely unnecessary, dangerous revenge mission in the first place.
Then everything is happy. The Kenisians and Maabas decided to form a treaty and live on the same planet together and the Kenisian captain can once again be happy with her gf.
The very end of the book sees Spock considering kolinahr after what he did to protect the lives of the many. I feel like it was... so weird. Spock gets absolutely up in the Kenisian captain's face for trying to force a meld on Kirk to make him do what she wanted and then he spends a good chapter running around and forcing a meld on everybody and their mom. I know he uses the mind meld as a tool in the show but not to this extent. It's clearly left him somewhat traumatized, and he refuses to let anyone help or know about that. That's in character I guess but it's so sad. I'm not sure that it was intended to be that sad but honestly I found it to have horrific implications and I can't really get past it to enjoy this book.
How is the McCoy though? He's good. He gasps in wonderment at one point when Spock agrees with him which I found completely adorable. He doesn't really have a lot to do though until the Enterprise takes a beating so he has to kick into full gear, and then he's too busy to really be present.
All the characterization was good even if Spock was kind of like worrying. I have to say that Scotty probably stood out to me most this time. I liked him connecting with the archaeologist and being so obviously in love with the ship it hurts.
I feel like this review is even more disjointed than usual because my heart really isn't in it so much with this book. I liked the concepts but I don't know.
hemlocket's review
2.0
I feel like this book suffered a bit since it's the third diplomatic mission gone wrong type of story that I read in a row. On top of that the pacing for the first half of the book is pretty slow, and there are a few other choices that made me raise my eyebrows.
In Crisis of Consciousness, the Enterprise is escorting a Maabas ambassador back to his world from a meeting on a Starbase to arrange a treaty for his people to join the federation when suddenly a people calling themselves the Kenisians show up and demand to get the Maabas homeworld back since it was originally their planet long enough ago that all their settlements are ruined.
After a bit of a fight the Kenisians agree to send an ambassador to to the Enterprise to work out an agreement. Turns out that they are another offshoot of Vulcans with a twist: each Kenisian hosts multiple consciousnesses, the more they have the more status they have. I don't really want to hash through the whole plot this time, because eh it was okay, but basically the Kenisians aren't even interested in their planet, they want an ancient weapon they can use to destroy the society who had conquered them to make them leave their first home in the first place. The story ends up being a race against the clock to stop the Kenisians from taking their weapon, mines based off warp technology with the power to destroy the whole galaxy in a chain reaction, and using it against their former conquerors.
In what I felt was a kind of out of place scene that disrupted the flow of the story, Kirk fights some space pirates and finds out that the Kensisians' conquerors don't even exist anymore. Spock saves the day by forcing himself on pretty much everyone on the Kensisan's ship. Yep. Spock uses a weaponized mine meld to incapacitate the Kenisians' who conquered him and save their captain from the group consciousness that were trying to control her and make her go on this completely unnecessary, dangerous revenge mission in the first place.
Then everything is happy. The Kenisians and Maabas decided to form a treaty and live on the same planet together and the Kenisian captain can once again be happy with her gf.
The very end of the book sees Spock considering kolinahr after what he did to protect the lives of the many. I feel like it was... so weird. Spock gets absolutely up in the Kenisian captain's face for trying to force a meld on Kirk to make him do what she wanted and then he spends a good chapter running around and forcing a meld on everybody and their mom. I know he uses the mind meld as a tool in the show but not to this extent. It's clearly left him somewhat traumatized, and he refuses to let anyone help or know about that. That's in character I guess but it's so sad. I'm not sure that it was intended to be that sad but honestly I found it to have horrific implications and I can't really get past it to enjoy this book.
How is the McCoy though? He's good. He gasps in wonderment at one point when Spock agrees with him which I found completely adorable. He doesn't really have a lot to do though until the Enterprise takes a beating so he has to kick into full gear, and then he's too busy to really be present.
All the characterization was good even if Spock was kind of like worrying. I have to say that Scotty probably stood out to me most this time. I liked him connecting with the archaeologist and being so obviously in love with the ship it hurts.
I feel like this review is even more disjointed than usual because my heart really isn't in it so much with this book. I liked the concepts but I don't know.
In Crisis of Consciousness, the Enterprise is escorting a Maabas ambassador back to his world from a meeting on a Starbase to arrange a treaty for his people to join the federation when suddenly a people calling themselves the Kenisians show up and demand to get the Maabas homeworld back since it was originally their planet long enough ago that all their settlements are ruined.
After a bit of a fight the Kenisians agree to send an ambassador to to the Enterprise to work out an agreement. Turns out that they are another offshoot of Vulcans with a twist: each Kenisian hosts multiple consciousnesses, the more they have the more status they have. I don't really want to hash through the whole plot this time, because eh it was okay, but basically the Kenisians aren't even interested in their planet, they want an ancient weapon they can use to destroy the society who had conquered them to make them leave their first home in the first place. The story ends up being a race against the clock to stop the Kenisians from taking their weapon, mines based off warp technology with the power to destroy the whole galaxy in a chain reaction, and using it against their former conquerors.
In what I felt was a kind of out of place scene that disrupted the flow of the story, Kirk fights some space pirates and finds out that the Kensisians' conquerors don't even exist anymore. Spock saves the day by forcing himself on pretty much everyone on the Kensisan's ship. Yep. Spock uses a weaponized mine meld to incapacitate the Kenisians' who conquered him and save their captain from the group consciousness that were trying to control her and make her go on this completely unnecessary, dangerous revenge mission in the first place.
Then everything is happy. The Kenisians and Maabas decided to form a treaty and live on the same planet together and the Kenisian captain can once again be happy with her gf.
The very end of the book sees Spock considering kolinahr after what he did to protect the lives of the many. I feel like it was... so weird. Spock gets absolutely up in the Kenisian captain's face for trying to force a meld on Kirk to make him do what she wanted and then he spends a good chapter running around and forcing a meld on everybody and their mom. I know he uses the mind meld as a tool in the show but not to this extent. It's clearly left him somewhat traumatized, and he refuses to let anyone help or know about that. That's in character I guess but it's so sad. I'm not sure that it was intended to be that sad but honestly I found it to have horrific implications and I can't really get past it to enjoy this book.
How is the McCoy though? He's good. He gasps in wonderment at one point when Spock agrees with him which I found completely adorable. He doesn't really have a lot to do though until the Enterprise takes a beating so he has to kick into full gear, and then he's too busy to really be present.
All the characterization was good even if Spock was kind of like worrying. I have to say that Scotty probably stood out to me most this time. I liked him connecting with the archaeologist and being so obviously in love with the ship it hurts.
I feel like this review is even more disjointed than usual because my heart really isn't in it so much with this book. I liked the concepts but I don't know.
strikingthirteen's review
2.0
Honestly a little underwhelmed by this one. It started out strong, and I liked (as much as it hurt) the last few pages as an explanation for a later event in Trek canon, but it just sort of lost my interest in the middle. Shame though since it was a cool idea.
esperata's review
4.0
An interesting tale that in part examines early Vulcan culture and the nature of katras and mind melding. It provides an explanation for Spock's incentive to undertake Kolinahr. In a broader sense it looks at retribution and how actions of one race can affect another seemingly distant species.
Overall this is an intriguing read providing food for thought as well as tension and drama in the plight of the Enterprise. My only complaint would be the suddenness of the conclusion.
Overall this is an intriguing read providing food for thought as well as tension and drama in the plight of the Enterprise. My only complaint would be the suddenness of the conclusion.
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