BETTY'S BOOK REVIEWS

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MEDIA TIE-IN BOOKS
Star Trek

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Best Destiny by Diane Carey, like Federation (reviewed below), was recommended to me by several different people. Well, it wasn't quite in the same league as Federation. For one thing, the characters (several of whom originally come from Carey's previous Trek novel, Final Frontier) are more bundles of idiosyncrasies than real, three-dimensional people. The young Jim Kirk is a bit better developed, but he's not made very likable, and that grated a bit for me, too. And his transition in the course of the novel from snotty, annoying punk kid to future Captain of the Enterprise is a bit too pat to be wholly credible. And yet... The adventure itself is exciting and managed to hold my interest, attention and enthusiasm more than the average Trek novel. And although my rational mind kept saying that young Kirk's character development was too rapid to be believable, dramatically speaking it was more satisfying than I expected. All in all, a book with definite flaws, but still quite fun to read.  Being just a little bit generous, I'll call it a B+

The Devil's Heart by Carmen Carter. In this Star Trek: TNG novel, Picard comes into possession of a fabled artifact of great power (the "Devil's Heart" of the title) and has to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, while at the same time not giving in to the temptation of its power himself. I found this a very enjoyable read. There were a few nice character touches, and it's obvious the author paid careful attention to continuity with the series. But it's the glimpses into the history of the Heart that really fascinated me; they had a wonderful mythic quality to them. My one real criticism of the book (and it's rather a big one, unfortunately) is that things are wrapped up far too quickly and neatly at the end -- a failing the series itself was all-too-often guilty of. B+

Sarek by A.C. Crispin. Now, this is what a Trek novel should be! I didn't think they wrote 'em like this anymore, but I was glad to be wrong. The novel has two main focuses -- oh, uh, I guess that's "foci," isn't it? Well, anyway, it's got two of them: the death of Spock's mother, Amanda, and a devious, complicated Romulan plot to conquer the Federation. They're very nicely meshed together, too; the book doesn't feel at like like it's about two different things. There's also a lot of insight into the character of Sarek, and his relationships with both Amanda and Spock, and for the most part it's all very believable and very well done. I've been buying fewer and fewer Trek novels lately, but I'm glad I sprang for this one. A

Star Trek: Generations by J.M. Dillard. As novelizations go, the one is reasonably decent. It adds a couple of things to what we saw in the movie in a way that I appreciated. For one thing, Soran's motives are a lot clearer here; I don't think the movie ever gave a truly convincing sense of exactly why he was so obsessed with returning to the nexus. It also adds a couple of nice Kirk scenes (one on Earth before the commissioning of the Enterprise-B, and one in the nexus before Picard shows up) and a somewhat greater examination of Picard's reaction to the deaths in his family. Other than that, it sticks to the script fairly closely. The writing is decent, though not exceptional (which I hardly expected, anyway). My copy (a paperback) bills itself as a "special collector's edition" and also includes about 40 pages on the making of the movie, which is moderately interesting. B

Star Trek: "Where No One Has Gone Before" -- A History in Pictures with text by J.M. Dillard. This is a really nice looking book. The text consists of a brief history of the show, a few reprints of old articles (mostly from TV Guide), and a few comments by the actors, etc. Nothing most Trek fans probably haven't seen before, especially if you happened to read the TV Guide special put out not long before. No matter how nice looking it is, though, it is not worth its original $45 price tag. I don't care if it comes wrapped in plastic with a souvenir bookmark; $45 can buy a lot of plastic and bookmarks. I paid $18 for it as a special deal through the Book of the Month Club (on of the few really decent bargains I've seen from them). For $18, it was certainly worth it. But did they really expect anybody to shell out $45 for this thing? B

The Nitpicker's Guide for Next Generation Trekkers, Volume II by Phil Farrand is the latest in the series of Nitpicker's Guide books, whose mission is to explore and expose even the most trivial of discrepancies, oversights, and just plain goofs that have ever shown up in Trek. This particular book covers Star Trek: Generations and the seventh season of ST:TNG, and goes back over the first six seasons discussing nitpicks sent in by readers after the publication of the first book, which covered them initially. Now, some of the nitpicking done here is very much of the "So, in this shot the stars outside the window are going one way, but in the close-up, they're going the other way" variety, which inevitably provokes two reactions in me: "Who really cares?" and "These people really need something better to do with their time." But, I must admit, I do find the search for plot oversights and even technical gaffes strangely interesting, especially the ones that have me slapping myself in the forehead and exclaiming "Why didn't I catch that?" or, even better, smugly reflecting that I did catch it... What really made this book enjoyable for me, though, was Farrand's sense of humor. He had me laughing out loud in several places. It was quite a lot like hanging out with a good friend in front of your favorite Trek episodes and poking gentle fun at its slip-ups. I enjoyed it. (So, well, I guess my secret's out -- I really am that lame of a Trek fan!) A

All Good Things... by Michael Jan Friedman is the novelization of the final Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. Friedman has written several Trek novels (a large number of which I've read) and I've about decided that the best possible word I could use to sum up his writing ability is "adequate." Which, I suppose, puts him a step above a lot ofother Trek authors... Anyway, this book is no different. It's readable, but nothing special -- which is too bad. Of course, I didn't think all that much of the episode itself, for that matter. Friedman does what he can with it, though, and the result is, well... OK. Although for some reason he tries to write Every Single Important Person ever to appear on the show into the book somewhere, with the result that several sections seem totally irrelevant. Everything else sticks pretty much to the script, with one or two small additions. The climactic scene is fairly well done, though. C+

Caretaker by L.A. Graf is the novelization of the first Voyager episode. I was very surprised to find out that "L.A. Graf" is actually a pseudonym for authors Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone. I'd never heard of Cercone, but Ecklar is a very talented filksinger, and I rather liked the one Trek novel (The Kobayashi Maru) that she's written under her own name. The other two L.A. Graf books I've read, though, have been pretty bad: enough so that if I'd noticed the author of this one beforehand, I'm not sure I would have bought it. And yet... It may be that Ecklar's doing more of the writing, or perhaps they've improved as a unit, or it just may be that they do much better when somebody else provides them with a ready-made plot... But, in any event, there's really nothing wrong with this book at all. It even adds a few nice touches, such as giving even the unfortunate characters who didn't make it through the first half-hour a real bit of depth. B

Warped by K.W. Jeter is the first Deep Space Nine novel to appear in hardcover... and a pretty strange book. The story concerns a political upheaval on Bajor, a rash of brutal murders on the station, and a form of holodeck technology that drives people crazy. Much of the book goes for a tone of psychological (or even nearly supernatural) horror... an attempt that works at least part of the time, but which nevertheless seems strangely out of place in a Star Trek novel. The plot itself is interesting (definitely not your average malfunctioning-holodeck story), and it takes a provocative and questioning look at the nature of reality... but toward the end, certain aspects of it manage to stretch my suspension-of-disbelief right to the breaking point. Jeter does have a fairly good handle on the characters (especially Sisko)... but as this book is set during the first season, it's the first-season version of the characters he's presenting to us: the more serene (and much duller) first-season Dax, the annoying first-season Bashir (though, admittedly, he's nowhere near as annoying here as he was in most of the early episodes), and a Major Kira still somewhat conflicted between her loyalties to Bajor and to Deep Space Nine. It's not the author's fault, of course, but these characters have changed so much since then that it's a little jarring to read about their earlier versions now. Anyway, all-in-all, Jeter is to be commended for trying to make this book a little different (and deeper) than your run-of-the-mill Trek novel, even if it doesn't always work. B-

Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang.  I read very few Star Trek novels these days (especially when compared to my teenage years, when I used to scarf them like potato chips).  But this one focuses on Data, who has always been one of my favorite characters (and who I felt was rather ill-served in the most recent movie), and it got very good word-of-mouth, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  And I'm glad I did, because it was one of the better Trek novels I'd read in a long time.  The characterization of Data is very good, and surprisingly deep; frankly, it seems to me that Lang has a better handle on the character than some of the actual TNG writers.  The plot was pretty enjoyable, too.  It starts out as a sort of mystery story, which was fun.  By about halfway through the book, I'd pretty much figured out what had happened and why, thanks to a combination of my own in-depth knowledge of Trek continuity and a number of subtle clues placed by the author.  At this point, it suddenly occurred to me to think something along the lines of, "Oh, man, I hope they don't drag this plot out for another 150 pages now that I've gotten the answer."  But no sooner had the thought crossed my mind than, bam, I was hit with a massive plot twist and the story took off in an entirely different direction.  Timing just doesn't get any better than that!  If I had any single complaint about the novel, it might be that from about this point on it got very heavy into the exposition and the pace suddenly slowed down a great deal.  I found the things that were being exposited about quite fascinating in their own right, though, so I'm not really inclined to complain much, after all.  Without giving anything away, I'll say that the book did an excellent job of tying in a lot of disparate elements from Star Trek continuity and an even better job of addressing certain issues about the history of artificial intelligence in the Star Trek universe that have always kind of bugged me.  If you're a Trek fan, and particularly if you're a fan of Data or are interested in the whole AI thing, I can definitely recommend this one.  A-

Windows on a Lost World by V.E. Mitchell. Captain Kirk and a few other Enterprise people step through an ancient window-like artifact on an alien world and emerge strangely transformed. The premise is interesting (if a little far-fetched), but the writing seldom rises above mediocre, and the end result is totally forgettable. C-

Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens came to me highly recommended and managed not to disappoint. OK, it's not one of the best books I've ever read, but it is up there with the best Trek novels. Actually, there are three different storylines here, in three different time periods -- though of course they all mange to tie in together in the end. What I especially liked here was that each one had its own, solid plot and stood very well on its own... and yet, switching back and forth between the different times managed not to be at all confusing, due at least partially to the clever use of a few common threads that kept everything feeling related. The characterization was very good, especially Kirk's. I could hear his voice perfectly, always a good indicator of on-target characterization for me. The glimpses of the early days of warp travel were fascinating. The authors obviously paid a lot of attention to established continuity, while at the same time creatively filling in the (large) gaps left where nothing had been established, at least before Star Trek: First Contact came along and contradicted a lot of it. (I have to admit, though, that for a short while during the very beginning of the book, the extensive use of that continuity got a bit distracting. For a chapter or so, I found myself engaged in a little trivia game of Spot the Reference at the expense of paying attention to the story itself.) And, finally, unlike some other Trek novels (see review of The Devil's Heart above), this one ends with a satisfying climax, rather than a disappointing fizzle. A

The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. More than even I wanted to know... including infinite detail on all the minute things that were changed from the first draft to the final script of the pilot episode, and endless samples of Michael Piller's illegible handwriting (notes on the development of the series which I'm sure would be interesting if we could actually read them, but as it is, I couldn't understand why they included them). Frankly, in places, it got a little dull. In other places, though, it was quite interesting. The section on how DS9's visual effects are produced was interesting, and could even have stood to be longer and more detailed. There's lots of pictures, including a 16-page spread of color photos. There's also lots of information on how TV, in general, is produced, including an appendix on what to do if you want to write for DS9 yourself. The writing's a little too... well, I guess I'd call it "overenthusiastic." ("Boy, this show is so great! Everybody here is just so great! They're all so creative! They all work so hard!") But, all-in-all, an OK read for those interested. B-

A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson.  Andrew J. Robinson played Elim Garak, Deep Space 9's Cardassian tailor/ex-spy (and, not incidentally, one of my all-time favorite characters).  Here he's basically given us Garak's life story, as told by Garak himself…  There's a bit of a paradox involved here, though.  This version of Garak's life is quite believable, and fits in very well with Garak's character and with what we know of his background from the TV series.  On the other hand, though, Garak is a notorious and accomplished liar, and probably a compulsive one, at least when it comes to his own history.  (This is, after all, the man who thought the moral to the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" ought to be "never tell the same lie twice.")  So, although we're apparently supposed to believe that this is Garak's accurate, definitive backstory (and although there are, perhaps, reasons why Garak might finally want to tell the truth at this point in his life), it's a little bit hard to know quite how to take it all.  That having been said, the story itself is an interesting one, if perhaps rather longer than it needs to be.  The sections describing his childhood at a sort of Cardassian boarding school/training camp, in particular, were overlong and not terribly interesting to me, but the details of his spy career and rise through the Obsidian Order (the Cardassian intelligence agency) were engrossing, and his post-war ruminations as he helps to rebuild a ruined Cardassia were well done.  It is also much to Robinson's credit that he's done a good job of giving the Cardassian culture a convincingly complete feel.  Cardassia comes across here as a society with its own history, mythology and value system.  Admittedly, some of the more mystical elements of that culture (such as were involved, for instance, in some of the discussion of Cardassian martial arts) didn't work terribly well for me, but that may just be my own intrinsic hard-headed skepticism coming to the fore.  All in all, though, this should be a worthwhile read for Deep Space 9 fans, and practically a must-read if you happen to be a Garak fan. B+

Star Trek on the Brain: Alien Minds, Human Minds by Robert Sekuler & Randolph Blake.  There have been a number of books published in recent years which use Star Trek as a springboard from which to discuss various fields of science: The Physics of Star Trek, The Biology of Star Trek, etc.  This one uses it in a discussion of our understanding of the human brain and mind, specifically such topics as emotion, memory, the senses, and the origin of our impulses to sex and violence.  The writing, while occasionally a little choppy, is very clear and should be quite readable for those with no prior knowledge of the subject (or, for that matter, an extensive knowledge of Star Trek).  The book doesn't cover every subject in great depth, and perhaps even oversimplifies a tad there and there, but that's naturally to be expected in a book of this level and length.  The only real (albeit minor) criticism I have of it is that, although the writers are careful to state at the outset that of course they know Star Trek is only fiction, it often reads as if they were taking their Star Trek examples as supporting the scientific theories, rather than as simply providing fictional illustrations of them.  They also seem unwilling to entertain the notion that Trek ever gets anything wrong...  I think I understand the impulse behind this: the writers are simply enjoying playing the fannish game of pretending that Trek portrays a real future and trying to reconcile it with real science.  But in doing this, I think they may well have missed out on some good opportunities to illustrate the ways in which real-world brain science differs from the science-fictional version.  But, still, they do a pretty good job with the Trekkish examples they do use.  This may not be the best book to read if what you want is an in-depth, carefully balanced layman's guide to the subject -- I'd strongly recommend Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works for that, and don't let the fact that it's a pretty thick book scare you off! -- but for the Trek fan who's interested in a basic, easy-to-read overview of what science and Star Trek have to say about the workings of the human mind, this is a reasonably fun and informative book.  B

Vulcan's Forge by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz is a Star Trek novel set sometime after the movie Generations in which Spock -- now captaining a science vessel whose crew includes our old friends McCoy and Uhura -- is called to the aid of a Federation outpost commanded by a very old friend of his on a primitive desert planet.  I have a couple of small quibbles with the book: the bad guy isn't terribly three-dimensional or convincing, and there may be one or two holes in the plot (I still don't quite understand how the low-tech inhabitants of the planet Obsidian managed to contact the Federation in the first place, for instance).  But there are a lot more things about the book that I really liked.  It's well-written for a Trek novel.  The plot, despite my quibbles, was fairly engaging.  And, above all, it did a very nice job of filling in some of the gaps in what we know of Spock's life and examining why he made some of the life-choices he did.  I also like the fact that the authors did something with the oft-neglected character of Uhura.  She has some nice scenes with Spock (I've always felt that those two had a very good relationship, even if we never got to see much of it), and she even gets to command the ship!  Anyway, overall, I'd say that this is one of the better Trek novels I've read in some time.  A-

Deep Space and Sacred Time: Star Trek in the American Mythos by Jon Wagner and Jan Lundeen looks at Star Trek in all its incarnations: its place in American culture; its reflection of changing American mindsets and values; the way it deal with issues of race, gender, religion; and a whole lot of other stuff.  I found this deeply fascinating and very thought-provoking.  The authors come up with a number of insights that ring very true to me.  They also do a very good job of keeping things nicely balanced: they manage to avoid the trap of stretching or distorting their representations of either Trek or American culture in order to prove any pet theories or political points, and they make a point of presenting others' interpretations of certain things even when they don't agree with them.  This isn't exactly light reading, but it is very cogently written and, of you approach it with your brain turned on, not at all difficult to follow and understand.  A

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