A review by weechito
The Klingon Gambit by Robert E. Vardeman

3.0

When it comes to Star Trek, I’m not the biggest fan of “mysterious force makes our heroes act weird” stories. The Naked Time (amd it’s Next Generation sequel) are clunky stories that spend way too much time having characters act weird for weirdness sake rather than revealing something intriguing about the characters or their world. So this book, while competently written (even the Klingons seem to be treated as more than just faceless villains), feels more like a writing exercise than an actual story. Our heroes act weird, the reason they do so is arbitrary (and not really explained to my satisfaction), and the plot doesn’t really lead to any real character development. Come to think of it, this sounds an awful lot like your run-of-the-mill, so-so Trek episode. On the bright side, I think this may be the first time in Trek novels that Kirk actually comes across as the skilled leader that he is.