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Space the final frontier . . . These are the choices of the fifty two book challenge. My continuing mission to seek out new books and new stories to keep myself occupied. To boldly read what a bunch of people have already read before. My own fault really. Some of these have been in my box for ages. Though I have some Star Trek books that have been sitting there for almost a decade at this point. I haven't had luck of the draw yet.
As per usual, I am going to try to get all the major incarnations of Star Trek in here. Since our theme this month is Honor Among Klingons. Lots and lots of Klingons. But first, I'm going to start with the most under represented series in the box. Don't worry- there are no Klingons in this book . . .
- Star Trek Enterprise: What Price Honor? By Dave Stern: (Book of the Month):
First- the bad news. The calendar dates in book are more than a year behind where they should be. The book lists itself as taking place in both the early to mid second season (making it 2152) the calendar consistently lists it as 2151- making it taking place before the launch of the NX-01. As with the last Enterprise book I read, there are spots with the double inversion of Hoshi's name and the mysterious promotion of Elizabeth Cutler. There is one small forgivable typo as well. Now on to the good stuff. First of all- it has a nice use of flashback- a tool that became a hallmark of second through fourth season Enterprise episodes. Here it builds a sense of suspense and is not a simple plot device. (Which you can't say for most episodes that used it.) Not only that- while I did figure out the mystery, it was only a chapter or so before the characters did. While I had seen that kind of ending before, I've found myself feeling for the never seen before Ensign Hart. It almost felt like she'd been a part of the series regular cast. I haven't even gotten to the best part. It takes Malcolm Reed- one of the characters I didn't really connect with until nearly the end of the series- and made him feel like a complete character. It was the type of treatment I wish he had gotten on the show.
A rare side note: Does anyone know if Dave Stern did anything like this with Travis Mayweather? And yes- that is a secret plug for a book I know I'm getting to in a few months. What Price Honor has me waiting for it. Though it may be impossible to make that character interesting. If Stern can make an uninteresting character like Malcolm cool, imagine what might happen if he was given a book about Porthos, Hoshi or Phlox.
And now because I don't care about subseries release order
- Star Trek - Treaty's Law (Day of Honor Book 4) by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch:
Star Trek is usually by definition a somewhat moralistic action adventure sci-fi series. The Enterprise goes across the Klingon Neutral Zone for a humanitarian mission. Kirk, McCoy, Sulu and some red shirts go down to the colony. It is one of the planets given to the Klingons by the Organian Treaty and it is under attack from forces unknown. Kirk and company get stranded. The Enterprise calls the Farragut. Their crew also arrives. Then they spend the entire time organizing the colonists and making nice with the commander the Klingons sent to help out. By the law of coincidence- it just happens to be Kor- Kirk's old nemesis from Errand of Mercy. There is a lot of playful bickering. It spends so much time playing with the idea of telling a Star Trek style story from three perspectives- the obligatory Federation point of view, the view of the head of one of colonists households and Kor's almost mirror of Kirk that Smith and Rusch forgot something. No- they didn't forget the moral lesson. They lay it on real thick about four times in the last two chapters. They forgot the action and adventure. Another problem is the book develops a rhythm. One third of each chapter is told from each point of view. Almost every chapter is eight pages long. (At least in the omnibus edition.) The book is over two hundred pages long. It probably could have been told in an eighth of the space just by cutting down on the number of times the characters walked back and forth to the well or stopped to drink from the canteen. It makes one think they added the stuff with the Farragut and Spock's space battles on the Enterprise for padding- not because it moved the story along. Funny, judging from their essays on Star Trek novels- I thought Smith and Rusch were the team who believed the advantage of Star Trek books over an episode or movie was an unlimited effects budget. Aside from the superfluous ship battles and light armored alien warriors who appear for about ten pages- the most high tech prop they could come up with was a canteen? Seriously? The worst part is- the way the problem is resolved. Kirk offers both sides a rational solution where everybody benefits. Yes- he's done it before but usually it takes a lot of hard work to convince them. I know that's how most situations where diplomacy is used to end armed conflict actually plays out. However that does not make for an exciting story, especially when it falls into the "Kirk says it, so must it be" school of writing.
Furthering the fact that sub-series are going way out of order
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ancient Blood (Day of Honor Book One) by Diane Carey:
The main story is about Worf going undercover on a Federation planet where a Mafia godmother is running for planetary governor. He's trying to uncover her crimes so she will lose the election. It's somewhat of a dangerous prime directive matter even on a Federation world, since the world in question has secession on its mind. Worf becomes involved because her suspected henchmen are all Klingons. There is a second story where Picard is ushering Alexander into his Day of Honor ceremonies (think the Klingon version of Bar Mitzah) because Worf can not be there. Alexander is supposed to take part in a symbolic reenactment of a battle his ancestors took part in, in order to learn that his enemies have honor. True to form Alexander chooses a holodeck program sent by his maternal grandparents involving the American Revolution. Both stories intersect at several points and they have some nice parallels to each other. Here you have a fairly solid Next Generation story. Both stories get about as much space as they need to play out. Worf's adventure could have a used maybe a chapter more so it wouldn't seem quite so rushed near the end.. It seems obvious however that Carey enjoyed the holodeck plot a little more. While the ethical dilemmas Worf faces are more emotionally compelling- Alexander's story seems more energized. The other weakness is that the appearances by Riker, Data and Dr. Crusher, while brief, seem somewhat arbitrary. At least Data has a major part to play in Worf's plan. Poor La Forge and Troi only appear in one scene and don't really have much dialogue at all. All in all, you have a fairly solid Next Generation story. More happens in the first chapter of Ancient Blood than happened in the entirety of Treaty's Law.
- Star Trek - Deep Space Nine - Armageddon Sky L.A. Graf (Day of Honor Book Two):
The best thing about any L.A. Graf Star Trek book is that unlike most Star Trek, or even unlicensed science fiction books these days, half of the collective pseudonym is an actual scientist. It shows in just how the super tech of the Star Trek universe is used. Assuming you could build everything on the Defiant, all the stuff about comet deflections could work- at least in theory. The story itself involves The Defiant going in to rescue a science vessel that crashed on the planet. In order do that they have to stop some comets from hitting it. Only it turns out the planet is where the Klingons have been dumping their political undesirables. A planet which also happens to be near the Cardassian border. The book is set during the series fourth season so that gives Sisko, not one but two enemies to deal with. Plus- Kira, Dax and Bashir have their own problems with various factions amongst the undesirables on the planet. There are lots of in fighting- one revolving around some indigenous animals and the possibility that they might be sentient. If this seems like a bit too much for a 225 page book- you're absolutely correct. Especially when you add in the brief subplot about finding a top secret Starfleet diplomat amongst the survivors. When Bashir finds him, there are little nods here and there implying - but never confirming one way or the other- that he is Hikaru Sulu. Most of the plots were enjoyable. I would have preferred fewer of them and more a complete look at each of them.
And now into the world of Juvenile Star Trek. I've read Peter David's Worf trilogy and those were really good. Since it was included in the Star Trek: Day of Honor Omnibus, I thought what the Gre'thor.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Honor Bound by Diana G. Gallagher:
Where do I begin? First off- while Alexander's age is incorrectly given as twelve in Diane Carey's Ancient Blood (a story set in or around the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation) this book gives his age correctly as about 12 1/2 in or around the middle of the fifth season of Deep Space Nine. (He was just turning 14 in the middle of season six.) However- Mrs. Gallagher must have seen Star Trek: The Next Generation in a weird order because her recaps of Worf and Alexander's back story is really screwed up. Plus it seemed to whitewash a lot of the violence- and murder- to sanitize it for a book for 8-10 year olds. Though thankfully, not as much as you would expect. The plot is otherwise an all Klingon version of The Karate Kid. Alexander is getting picked on by bullies. Klingon puberty is hitting. He's afraid of lashing out and killing them. Worf comes to visit and tries to teach him the proper Klingon way of dealing with the problem using the Mak'bara. Of course his real solution is very Star Trek. Peace and talking. The problem is- this is Deep Space Nine which tends to go for a little more emotional realism than most Star Trek series. Negotiation and peace between warring 12 year old boys is not possible. I wish Worf's "humans are just as honorable as Klingons thing" were true but it just isn't. Trust me, I was a 12 year old boy once and I tried doing things that way. Beating the bullies at their own game wouldn't result in them ending their prejudices and becoming friends, which is what the book wants you to believe. He's just asking to get the living baktag kicked out of him. I know it's not a nice message but it is a truthful one.
- Star Trek: Voyager - Her Klingon Soul (Day of Honor Book Three) by Michael Jan Friedman:
Michael Jan Friedman is one of the few authors of Star Trek books who are consistently good. This book shows why. While the first six chapters seem slow- introducing lots of little plot details- once it hits chapter seven the story just starts rolling. What is good Star Trek supposed to do? 1) Have at least one action adventure story. Well, B'ellana Torres and Harry Kim get abducted- twice- and forced to work in a mining facility where they are exposed to radioactive material. Over time they team up with some of the other prisoners to plan an escape. 2) They all have some sort of ethical issue to deal with. In this case- Janeway picks up an alien and they find out she has a disease with an easily synthesized cure. The problem is the cure was developed by another group of aliens who gained it by experimenting on the first group. Not wanting to use a cure that came at the cost of her people's blood, their visitor declines treatment. This is where things get really interesting. All those seemingly random plots that were thrown out in the beginning all come together in the finale of the book. The only reason this one didn't grab "Book of the Month" status is one problem. As good as Friedman (generally) is, he couldn't overcome the fact that this was a Voyager book. Still- it was probably the best Star Trek: Voyager book I've ever read and it would have made a fine episode.
Next month: Because you demanded it- Highly Recommended Month III!
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