Diane Duane

In Spock's World, Diane Duane follows the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise as they travel to Vulcan to give testimony in a public referendum on Vulcan withdrawal from the United Federation of Planets. Duane takes advantage of the setting to explore Vulcan's history and culture, building on what screenwriter Theodore Sturgeon depicted in the episode Amok Time from the original series. Duane begins Vulcan's history with planetary formation, though the solar flare that catastrophically altered its show more climate from lush jungle to blasted desert, into the wars that plagued the Vulcan people, and Surak's teachings that saved them from themselves. While many parts of Duane's story would later be retconned, such as the details of human first contact with the Vulcans as depicted eight years later in Star Trek: First Contact, the overall novel captures the tone and characterization of The Original Series despite its setting shortly after The Motion Picture in 2275. Other inconsistencies include Duane referencing her other series about the Romulans, who she calls the Rihannsu, in this book as well as referring to the Klingon homeworld as Klinzhai and giving Dr. Leonard McCoy's middle initial as "E." instead of "H." The reader can overlook much of this as it was only with The Next Generation that the producers of Star Trek began to codify the canon. Even avid Trekkers will find plenty to enjoy in this story, both in its history of Vulcan and Duane's portrayal of the political intrigue occurring on modern Vulcan. show less

Having now found my Star Trek books I am enjoying picking out the old favourites. 'The Wounded Sky' is definitely one of the best. Diane Duane is obviously a fan, knows the Trek world well and has an imagination worthy of the best SF writers. K't'lk, a spider like being, is a lovely creation. The descriptions of the other worlds, the astronomy and creative physics are outstanding. There's a meaty story and a lot to think about.

Only in SF, with a good writer, could you get ideas to make the show more reader ponder on religion, creation, gods and proto-gods, and the meaning of life, all wrapped up in an exciting story. K't'lk has invented the mathematics to make an intergalatic inversion drive to take the Federation beyond the galaxy. Enterprise is the spaceship chosen to first test the drive, but there are problems. First the Klingons have a go at seizing the ship, then the drive itself is causing problems. and what a problem. Not just threatening to blow up the ship, but much more serious and thought provoking, threatening the universe.

Diane Duane knows her characters too and there is some great dialogue, particularly between Bones and Spock, K't'lk and Scotty, and Captain Kirk gets to think some fascinating thoughts. His crew have nice cameo roles and they reflect the multi-cultural ideals of Star Trek well. It's a good read.

Duane writes well and gives the reader a lot of pleasure and much to think over. For fans this is a must read. For those who like SF to reflect the human condition and have things to think about then this is the novel to try. For readers who like a great story, fascinating characters, and ideas this novel is worth a read. Above all the book is fun! And that is something hard to find in many novels these days.
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I'd been putting off reading this, even though I am an avid fan of Diane Duane's Young Wizards universe, and a sucker for fantasy novels set in New York. I have never been a fan of having talking animals as characters. So I let that put me off.

And boy, was I wrong. This was lovely. The cats worked as fully realized animal characters, with well crafted personalities. Point of view stays mainly in Rhiow's head- she's a house cat and a wizard. As a cat lover myself, I found her meditations on show more human bonds versus independence very interesting. Rhiow and her wizardly associates, both cats and people, worked well for me as personalities. (And as a fan of the Young Wizards books, I was delighted to see cameos from familiar humans.)

I may put off reading the second book, as a treat for later, but I'll look forward to it.
I'm very, very picky about fantasy, and this one worked beautifully. show less

Finally got through this. It's an excellent book on war in space, and conflicting loyalties, and new tech, and what Duane's Rihannsu are going to do and be...but it's not a very good Star Trek book. Kirk does a lot of musing, but he doesn't sound like Kirk to me - just a bit off. I'm not sure any of the other ST canon characters get a viewpoint scene - can't remember seeing anything through Spock's eyes, or McCoy's. Ael also does a lot of musing, and it works OK for her - she's a Duane show more character, and it matches. So does Arrhae, though a lot of her scenes are dealing with twisty plotting and hidden motivations, which don't interest me much. There are some very good, interesting new characters introduced, some rather extreme space battles, quite a lot about how to conduct a war against a planet that you don't want to destroy. And a desperation move that threatens Sol and Earth, dealt with at the last second with some of that new tech - Scotty gets to show off his talents (but still, only seen through others' eyes). It's a great space opera; I kind of wish it wasn't Star Trek at all. Not bad, but not wonderful. I'll continue to reread My Enemy, My Ally, and maybe I'll reread the rest of the series sometime. show less