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A review by hemlocket
Vulcan's Glory by D.C. Fontana
3.0
Vulcan's Glory is a prequel sort of novel that takes place on Pike's Enterprise. There's a lot of enjoyable action but also so many plot threads happening the result seems kind of unevenly paced. I found the first half of the book with all the set up to be kind of slow and then everything happened in the last twentyish pages or so.
I liked the worldbuilding bits where Spock was on Vulcan in the beginning and then when Number One and the Chief Engineer were playing some antigravity ball game. The interactions between the senior officers was nice. Pike and Number One's UST was understated and it was nice to see Number One being mature about things and not letting her feelings get in the way. Very relatable to be like "I like this person so now they must never know."
I liked Scotty's still adventure to a point but I felt like it made the story drag a little. In a short book with two away party missions AND a murder mystery it felt a little shoehorned in to have a comedic little misadventure as well. I feel like if this plotline had been given its own room to shine it could have been an interesting study into the engineering department and Scotty's feelings of responsibility to the ship and embracing the higher standards his new boss wants him to embrace.
Another thing I felt wasn't really developed was Spock and T'Pris's relationship. (Was that her name even? Now I can't even remember.) This wasn't the worse romance in a Star Trek novel I've ever read but not good either. I find it hard to believe they fell so deeply in love in like less than a week that Spock was forever changed and openly emoting everywhere without really trying to hide it. This woman's only personality trait is she was nice to Spock unlike T'Pring who hides her lover off in the trees and plots to steal Spock's money.
The last thing I didn't like too much was there was too much exposition towards the end. We didn't really get a chance to see the emerald mystery be solved or get any of the clues to try to solve the mystery on our own. We just got the hint that somebody was a secret Vulcan with no foreshadowing and a villanous monologue to reveal all the motivations. I fund it hard to believe Vulcans would cast out a woman who had been raped. They prize logic. They would know it's not her fault. I needed more justification for this beyond a shock value reveal.
Despite the negatives this was a fun romp despite taking place in a McCoyless era and thus receiving a 0 on the most important scale of how much I liked the good doctor in a Star Trek novel. (Tried to tempt me with friendly CMO Boyce though so kudos for that.) I think it just suffered from too much going on. I would have liked to see Pike's solo midlife crisis mission trying to negotiate trade and save the young lovers who didn't need to be saved split into its own book, perhaps with young Scotty's new in engineering adventures as the B-side adventure subplot to provide contrast and some lightheartedness to Pike coming out of his lonely angst. I feel like more attention should have been placed on the mission to recover the Vulcan's Glory emerald. Then the author could have explored tensions between Vulcan clans, tensions between logic and honor and emotion, tensions between Vulcans and non-Vulcans, the inherent tension Spock feels being half human but from a high ranking house! It didn't really feel like the emerald was a mysterious artefact at all, just some knickknack they picked up without much trouble and then stowed away that only the pushy geologist showed any interest in it.
Maybe this all would have worked together better visually as an episode, but as a book it was too short and mixed up to develop any of the interesting ideas it presented enough. I realize this is a Star Trek novel and not High Literature, but hey, that doesn't mean something can't be taken from good to great.
I liked the worldbuilding bits where Spock was on Vulcan in the beginning and then when Number One and the Chief Engineer were playing some antigravity ball game. The interactions between the senior officers was nice. Pike and Number One's UST was understated and it was nice to see Number One being mature about things and not letting her feelings get in the way. Very relatable to be like "I like this person so now they must never know."
I liked Scotty's still adventure to a point but I felt like it made the story drag a little. In a short book with two away party missions AND a murder mystery it felt a little shoehorned in to have a comedic little misadventure as well. I feel like if this plotline had been given its own room to shine it could have been an interesting study into the engineering department and Scotty's feelings of responsibility to the ship and embracing the higher standards his new boss wants him to embrace.
Another thing I felt wasn't really developed was Spock and T'Pris's relationship. (Was that her name even? Now I can't even remember.) This wasn't the worse romance in a Star Trek novel I've ever read but not good either. I find it hard to believe they fell so deeply in love in like less than a week that Spock was forever changed and openly emoting everywhere without really trying to hide it. This woman's only personality trait is she was nice to Spock unlike T'Pring who hides her lover off in the trees and plots to steal Spock's money.
The last thing I didn't like too much was there was too much exposition towards the end. We didn't really get a chance to see the emerald mystery be solved or get any of the clues to try to solve the mystery on our own. We just got the hint that somebody was a secret Vulcan with no foreshadowing and a villanous monologue to reveal all the motivations. I fund it hard to believe Vulcans would cast out a woman who had been raped. They prize logic. They would know it's not her fault. I needed more justification for this beyond a shock value reveal.
Despite the negatives this was a fun romp despite taking place in a McCoyless era and thus receiving a 0 on the most important scale of how much I liked the good doctor in a Star Trek novel. (Tried to tempt me with friendly CMO Boyce though so kudos for that.) I think it just suffered from too much going on. I would have liked to see Pike's solo midlife crisis mission trying to negotiate trade and save the young lovers who didn't need to be saved split into its own book, perhaps with young Scotty's new in engineering adventures as the B-side adventure subplot to provide contrast and some lightheartedness to Pike coming out of his lonely angst. I feel like more attention should have been placed on the mission to recover the Vulcan's Glory emerald. Then the author could have explored tensions between Vulcan clans, tensions between logic and honor and emotion, tensions between Vulcans and non-Vulcans, the inherent tension Spock feels being half human but from a high ranking house! It didn't really feel like the emerald was a mysterious artefact at all, just some knickknack they picked up without much trouble and then stowed away that only the pushy geologist showed any interest in it.
Maybe this all would have worked together better visually as an episode, but as a book it was too short and mixed up to develop any of the interesting ideas it presented enough. I realize this is a Star Trek novel and not High Literature, but hey, that doesn't mean something can't be taken from good to great.