The Klingon Gambit

One of the more apt criticisms of the Star Trek franchise is about the repetitiveness of their plotting. Though the original premise of a starship exploring the galaxy opened up a variety of possibilities, it wasn't long before the crews were repeatedly encountering godlike aliens, faux-Edens, and dangerous machines that needed to be talked into destroying themselves. From the standpoint of a television show (especially the original series), such repetition is perhaps understandable given the constraints imposed by technology and budgets. This is also what makes the franchise's novels so different; freed from such mundane constraints, practically anything is possible.

This is why Robert Vardeman's novel is so frustrating. The title show more suggests a story involving the Enterprise crew grappling with some fiendish Klingon plot to take over the Alpha Quadrant or perhaps an interstellar battle in which Kirk matches wits with the captain of a Klingon warship. What Vardeman delivers instead is a tepid mystery that for fans of the original series will seem all too familiar, as the author takes elements from two of their episodes and mashes them together after making just a few minor alterations. The Klingons are less of a fearsome threat in the story than they are a secondary plot device, and their "gambit" (to the degree that there even is one) boils down to seeking a MaGuffin and nothing more. The whole thing is a waste of a good title, a neat cover, and the hours of time spent reading it, as fans are best advised taking a hard pass on this one. show less

Yes it's got cliches, and the mystery isn't really all that mysterious, but it's also provocative, with a couple of extra zingers. Consider that it's #3, and we're just getting to know the Klingon mentality, as Kirk teaches it to Chekhov. We're just getting to know what Kirk really thinks of some of the other members of the crew, too - as for example Chekhov, who K. sees as strongly resembling the young K.

And I loved the bit at the very end, in which we learn what the Andorian archaeologist will soon learn. I like how not everything is fully explained, but rather there are some loose ends that will presumably be investigated further by the scientists in the rest of the ST universe. That is to say, Vardeman may not have known how many show more more stories were going to be told/ how big this ST universe would become(*), but he did have the sense to place his story in the context rather than have it be The Story.

(sorry to be unclear - please comment if you think you know what I mean and can say it better, or with any comments in fact)

(*) my copy of the book is an un-numbered Timescape edition, from the formative years of the ST industry show less

Feels like a Star Trek episode that's been stretched too thin, over too many pages. One of those "everyone starts acting mad because of an alien artifact" plots, which also have been done a lot, and featuring a pneumatic junior science officer Spock's lusting after (proving that not only women write intensely cringey Spock sex fantasies).

Although it's less than 200 pages, I had the hardest time forcing myself to finish this book. The basic plot of this story is that, for reasons unknown, the crew of the starship Enterprise are exhibiting extremely erratic behavior. The major characters familiar from the TV show are all acting in ways that are completely out of character (Spock cries! Scotty really wants to work on the engines! Like, more than usual! Bones... doesn't like machines?). It's an interesting concept, but the author doesn't seem to have a firm enough grasp of who these characters are in the first place to freestyle with them the way that he does. Also, this idea has already been done (and done much better): see the first season TOS episode "The Naked show more Time".

Weird characterizations some odd racist/sexist non-sequiturs a slapdash eleventh hour solution to all of the (many) dangling plot threads = too much going on, and none of it good. show less

The Naked Time meets Klingons as the Enterprise explores a mysterious planet that’s having a strange effect on the crew, meanwhile, a deadly Klingon Dreadnaught claims the planet as theirs. The writing isn’t great and the big reveal is a little hokey, but the tension with the Klingons is good and it’s a good read for fans of the Naked Time

This book is #3 in the series of Star Trek novels based on the original series. First published in 1981.

I have only read a few of these, but clearly this is not one of the better Star Trek novels. I was squirming within the first few pages. Since it was a short novel I soldiered on rather than tossing it. The story has some interest, and a feeling that matches some of the TV episodes of the original series. The actual writing of this, and the behavior of familiar crew members is rather uneven and bothersome (no one acts normal as part of the mystery of the story). For me, the ending of the story was unsatisfying. Not recommended.

A decent, but unremarkable story in which both Klingons and Federation are in contention over a far-off planet, when Kirk finds that he and his crew are falling prey to their worst secret apprehensions and prejudices. The cause is later found to be a jewel of immense proportions with unearthly properties, and is neutralized. Hardly an original concept in the Star Trek mythos.