Steve Mollmann

Last Star Trek: TOS novel in the library system, so an excuse to take a breather - because the Trek fandom is never ending! - but I really enjoyed this story, save for the usual technobabble. Bones takes centre stage once again, struggling with his own demons to save the Enterprise, while the rest of the bridge crew get into various sorts of trouble with 'new worlds and new civilisations', as per. The octopus-like alien race they discover were actually quite cool, and I will have to start show more using the phrase, 'Exclamation of woe!' from now on. And kudos to the authors for 'drawing on' two of my other favourite (McCoy-centric) novels, Dreams of the Raven and Doctor's Orders. show less

This was a mixed bag. I liked both "The Embrace of Cold Architects" and "The Tears of Eridanus," especially the latter—seeing that view of Vulcan was amazing. But "Honor in the Night" I bounced off of really hard. I just didn't have it in me to care about Koloth, Kang, and whatever the heck the other old Klingon is named, who were central in this universe. I guess now I know I like Vulcans better than Klingons, even though I taught my dog Klingon...

After finishing the first of the Star Trek "Myriad Universes" collection, [b:Infinity's Prism|2316918|Infinity's Prism (Star Trek Myriad Universes, #1)|William Leisner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1346688700s/2316918.jpg|2323435] (which I enjoyed immensely), I decided to read another in the series. While also a fun read, it wasn't quite as good, for reasons that I'll explain in my summary of the three novellas contained in this volume.

"The Embrace of the Cold Architects" by David R. show more George III — This story is based on a divergence in two episodes from the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Offspring" and "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" Data's daughter, Lal, survives her cascade failure and Picard dies in the Enterprise-C's encounter with the Borg. While the resulting developments are interesting, George just has too much going on in this to unpack within the space of a novella.

"The Tears of Eridanus" by Steve Mollmann and Michael Schuster — In the 23rd century Earth belongs to an Andorian-dominated "Interstellar Union," and Hikaru Sulu commands the Interstellar Guard's Kumari. When he learns that contact is lost with the observation post on Erdanus (also known as Vulcanis) where his daughter is stationed, Sulu orders his ship there to investigate.

This is the most interesting of the three stories in terms of its premise. It's divergence is a radical one — what if the Vulcans never embraced logic? This plays out on two levels: the consequences for the Vulcans and the shape of an Alpha Quadrant without their (and the Romulans') presence in it. There's a lot to like, but it doesn't gel quite as effectively as it might have.

"Honor in the Night" by Scott Pearson — Based on the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," a engine failure prevents the tribbles from interfering with the Klingons' plan to sabotage the Federation's effort to colonize Sherman's Planet. Yet from that disaster the officious Federation bureaucrat Nilz Baris builds a career that leads to the Federation presidency and peace with the Klingons, yet Baris's death leads to a reporter's investigation that may undo his life's work.

On this surface this seemed the most unpromising of the three. After all, just how good can a novella be that's built around a two-dimensional character from a single episode? Yet this proved my favorite, thanks to it's reimagining of subsequent Klingon-Federation relations (which is different but not too different from what fans of the franchise will remember), its sympathetic take on its central character, and the role played by the Klingons in the story. The great trinity of Klingon commanders from the original series — Koloth, Kor, and Kang — all make extended appearances, and there's a great twist at the end of the story that caps it all off nicely.

Overall this is a story that is well worth a Star Trek fans time. Finishing it left me a little sad, as this was the final collection published and while the concept behind the series is a limited one I felt as though they hadn't quite exhausted some of the possibilities contained within it. I could even see myself reading novels spun out of the worlds the authors created for it, which is proof of the seemingly endless riches contained within the franchise. show less

Because one reviewer says 'true to the appeal of the iconographic original series.'
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And that is accurate. It's a little long, but I love visiting with my favorite characters from the good old days. I loved learning so much about McCoy. I found it fun that some of the more fantastical elements, like being able to run on stimulants w/out sleep for days, and not having the sense to install seatbelts after the inertial dampers have been disabled twice already, are included. I needed those show more moments of absurdity in order to survive the suspense and drama of the main stories.

I really love the First Contact element. These aliens are fascinating. The Universal Translator has a heck of a time making their *verb-less* language intelligible.

I also appreciate the acknowledgements, as they thank the actors for making the characters come alive and help the authors make this book more engaging, and because they list several other titles that I can focus my quest for good STTOS books on.
[b:A Choice of Catastrophes|1891139|A Choice of Catastrophes|Isaac Asimov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386834791l/1891139._SY75_.jpg|3204950] by [a:Isaac Asimov|16667|Isaac Asimov|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1341965730p2/16667.jpg]
[b:Dreams of the Raven|216897|Dreams of the Raven|Carmen Carter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1286505929l/216897._SY75_.jpg|74309]
[b:Doctor's Orders|217541|Doctor's Orders (Star Trek The Original Series #50)|Diane Duane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388409769l/217541._SY75_.jpg|1575981]
[b:Crisis on Centaurus|3176323|Crisis on Centaurus|Brad Ferguson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1337654936l/3176323._SY75_.jpg|3208843]
[b:Constitution|217623|Constitution (Star Trek My Brother's Keeper, #2)|Michael Jan Friedman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348984341l/217623._SY75_.jpg|210696] and [b:Shadows on the Sun|217764|Shadows on the Sun|Michael Jan Friedman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1415741809l/217764._SY75_.jpg|2095137]
[b:McCoy: The Provenance Of Shadows|17255|McCoy The Provenance Of Shadows (Star Trek Crucible, #1)|David R. George III|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1166805390l/17255._SY75_.jpg|18835]
[b:Enterprise: The First Adventure|805773|Enterprise The First Adventure|Vonda N. McIntyre|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387705359l/805773._SY75_.jpg|1995892]
[b:The Better Man|217601|The Better Man|Howard Weinstein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172790842l/217601._SY75_.jpg|210674] show less