Scan barcode
A review by strikingthirteen
The Entropy Effect by Vonda N. McIntyre
4.0
For a tiny little book it sure packs a heck of wallop! It's a little slow to get going but once it hits its stride (by that I mean the events described in the summary come into play) it is ridiculous and very close to being nail biting.
Everything is weird from the word go. Spock and Kirk are weird with each other - I don't know where in the chronology this novel fits but I'm betting early days since both of them aren't quite as Best Friends Forever-y as they end up being yet - but it's not just them. We have Sulu hunting for a transfer (and growing a moustache and longer hair), Scott being incredibly irritable and feeling like he's being shut out. It's all just a mess and everything and everyone just feels weird. If this was a conscious decision it was very well played.
Things get a little bit Benny Hill once the main, wonderfully written and heartwrenching, tragedy takes place. Spock is leaping through time like crazy and meanwhile McCoy (McCoy! Scott meanwhile is extremely confused and hurt and justifiably so) has to command everything and cover Spock ('he's not prostrate with grief, he's sleeping') Holy cats!
It's a whirlwind I tell you. In that whirlwind we get the treats that are Security Chief Mandela Flynn (and her romance with Sulu, but on her own she is awesome and I love her), several non human security team members (all awesome and I love the thought that went into them. Neon especially, brief as she appeared. Not to say Snarl and Jenniver are also not badass because they are). And Captain Hunter of the boarder patrol, once again she's presented as an ex-fling of Kirk's but she also comes from a different background (culture and family and I'm not spoiling her family arrangements for you but she's aboriginal which is cool and there's a lovely bit where she flashes back to defending her right to wear a feather in her hair and it is awesome). There are lot of fierce ladies in this book. Original characters mostly (poor Uhura and Chapel get a bit of the shaft but when we do see them they are lovely).
It's a quick read and, I say again, one whirlwind of a book. I think I may be more relieved than Spock now that it's over.
Everything is weird from the word go. Spock and Kirk are weird with each other - I don't know where in the chronology this novel fits but I'm betting early days since both of them aren't quite as Best Friends Forever-y as they end up being yet - but it's not just them. We have Sulu hunting for a transfer (and growing a moustache and longer hair), Scott being incredibly irritable and feeling like he's being shut out. It's all just a mess and everything and everyone just feels weird. If this was a conscious decision it was very well played.
Things get a little bit Benny Hill once the main, wonderfully written and heartwrenching, tragedy takes place. Spock is leaping through time like crazy and meanwhile McCoy (McCoy! Scott meanwhile is extremely confused and hurt and justifiably so) has to command everything and cover Spock ('he's not prostrate with grief, he's sleeping') Holy cats!
It's a whirlwind I tell you. In that whirlwind we get the treats that are Security Chief Mandela Flynn (and her romance with Sulu, but on her own she is awesome and I love her), several non human security team members (all awesome and I love the thought that went into them. Neon especially, brief as she appeared. Not to say Snarl and Jenniver are also not badass because they are). And Captain Hunter of the boarder patrol, once again she's presented as an ex-fling of Kirk's but she also comes from a different background (culture and family and I'm not spoiling her family arrangements for you but she's aboriginal which is cool and there's a lovely bit where she flashes back to defending her right to wear a feather in her hair and it is awesome). There are lot of fierce ladies in this book. Original characters mostly (poor Uhura and Chapel get a bit of the shaft but when we do see them they are lovely).
It's a quick read and, I say again, one whirlwind of a book. I think I may be more relieved than Spock now that it's over.