A review by tpietila
How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford

1.0

I have read fairly few media tie-ins, and only about two or three Star Trek novels. I read some praising reviews of this book and dug up a copy. Well, I have read even less fan-fiction about Star Trek, but about all fan fiction I have read have much, much, much higher quality content and writing than this turd. It reads like a very bad Trek parody written by a very bad author who loves sophomoric humor (and has watched even less Star Trek than me). The characters and races behave out of character, and the plot is pretty worthless. The Enterprise, a Klingon vessel and a research ship all find a planet extremely rich in dilithium at about same time. They all land there, and encounter zany characters who tend to burst into song at odd moments. While on the planet all characters have separate “funny” adventures and everything is wrapped up with a stupid explanation within the last five pages. As a caveat, I really am not familiar with Trek tie-in fiction, so this could be a clever parody of such fare, but honestly, a Star Trek novel which ends with a giant pie-fight...[shudders], and honestly, it really isn't so funny as it sounds.