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A review by twilliamson
Mission to Horatius by Sparky Moore, Mack Reynolds
1.0
Mack Reynolds' Mission to Horatius may be the first Star Trek original fiction, but aside from that hallowed ground, it offers very little to a modern reader. First published in 1968 for young audiences, the book takes the crew of the Enterprise to the Horatius system, where they search three separate planets in hopes of uncovering the source of a mysterious subspace distress call. The book wants to tackle a number of different ideas and dangers, including primitivism, religious extremism, Nazism, and even the dangers of deep space on a crew's psyche, but it somehow manages to do none of them well.
The problem of the book is its inability to focus on any one particular issue with any kind of real philosophical weight. The book opens and closes on a problem of "space cafard," which Bones says is a dangerous degenerative mental disease that will cause the crew to rip themselves apart. It speeds along to three separate planets, each presenting a problematic view of the human past, but the closing thoughts on the novel don't do much of anything for either characters or for the audience. The book is rife with cliché, barely ever scratching even the surface of the ways in which the book could present real philosophical questions with an actual weight.
The fact that the book never tries to do more than a surface-level read of the problems each society might present in conflict with the Federation is not its only sin, either. In its characterization of the people of Neolithia, for example, the book relies on an extraordinarily hurtful depiction drawing from stereotyped Native American culture. It presents otherwise weak criticisms of Nazism without doing much to present the terrors of actual Nazism, as well as an even more bland criticism of the Catholic Church. Neither of these two criticisms are remotely as offensive, but it's still disappointing to see the book refuse to grapple with the weight of these two systems of governance, either.
There's also the way in which the book simply ignores its own social or political repercussions for the actions of the crew. For example, the crew frequently encounter conflicting notions with regards to General Order Number One (later known as the Prime Directive), constantly fretting that they can't interfere with the societies they inhabit, yet on two occasions assist in a total overthrow of the system of governance on these colonies. These could be interesting story beats, but they're never treated with any seriousness, and the story as a result never sees the conflict come to fruition as anything more than a talking point for the plot.
Many apologists for the book will likely look to its age and suggest that its young audience, coupled with the social attitudes of the time, answer for the book's inconsistencies and its problems. But Star Trek as a program showed that progressive science fiction could be meaningful and entertaining, and the fact that this book, even if aimed at a young audience, fails to engage in meaningful dialogue about any of its problems is very frustrating.
I don't believe Star Trek fiction to be nearly so disposable or as uneven as tie-in fiction from other franchises (say, Star Wars), but this book doesn't offer much for modern readers. With such a wealth of other Star Trek fiction out there, maybe this one is better left behind.
The problem of the book is its inability to focus on any one particular issue with any kind of real philosophical weight. The book opens and closes on a problem of "space cafard," which Bones says is a dangerous degenerative mental disease that will cause the crew to rip themselves apart. It speeds along to three separate planets, each presenting a problematic view of the human past, but the closing thoughts on the novel don't do much of anything for either characters or for the audience. The book is rife with cliché, barely ever scratching even the surface of the ways in which the book could present real philosophical questions with an actual weight.
The fact that the book never tries to do more than a surface-level read of the problems each society might present in conflict with the Federation is not its only sin, either. In its characterization of the people of Neolithia, for example, the book relies on an extraordinarily hurtful depiction drawing from stereotyped Native American culture. It presents otherwise weak criticisms of Nazism without doing much to present the terrors of actual Nazism, as well as an even more bland criticism of the Catholic Church. Neither of these two criticisms are remotely as offensive, but it's still disappointing to see the book refuse to grapple with the weight of these two systems of governance, either.
There's also the way in which the book simply ignores its own social or political repercussions for the actions of the crew. For example, the crew frequently encounter conflicting notions with regards to General Order Number One (later known as the Prime Directive), constantly fretting that they can't interfere with the societies they inhabit, yet on two occasions assist in a total overthrow of the system of governance on these colonies. These could be interesting story beats, but they're never treated with any seriousness, and the story as a result never sees the conflict come to fruition as anything more than a talking point for the plot.
Many apologists for the book will likely look to its age and suggest that its young audience, coupled with the social attitudes of the time, answer for the book's inconsistencies and its problems. But Star Trek as a program showed that progressive science fiction could be meaningful and entertaining, and the fact that this book, even if aimed at a young audience, fails to engage in meaningful dialogue about any of its problems is very frustrating.
I don't believe Star Trek fiction to be nearly so disposable or as uneven as tie-in fiction from other franchises (say, Star Wars), but this book doesn't offer much for modern readers. With such a wealth of other Star Trek fiction out there, maybe this one is better left behind.