Uhura's Song

Star Trek novelisations: resistance is futile. I was under the misapprehension that Uhura's Song is one of the best Original Series spin-offs, but I must have downloaded the wrong copy. Janet Kagan might have been a perfectly accomplished author, but her lack of (a) understanding and (b) interest in the show is painfully obvious. She does have one or two flashes of comprehension, which I think say more about quality of the series than her research, but mostly the plot is one loooooong fantasy ramble through Planet Cat People, with Kirk, Spock, Chekov and - oh yes! - Uhura along for the rights. I mean 'ride'.

And oh my word, never I have encountered a Mary Sue like Evan Wilson, the stand-in doctor (I thought that was what M'Benga was show more for)/Manic Pixie Dream Girl who takes over the whole damn book, and might just probably maybe perhaps be based on the author herself. Evan can do everything - she's tough, unconventional, defiant, brave, and of course, everybody loves her (including Spock). Not even being a short arse can hold her back. And because the main Star Trek characters are so completely out of whack - Kirk walks around shouting 'People!' like some demented tour guide, and both Scotty and Chekov are reduced to exaggerated dialects - then the annoying author insert is even harder to ignore. Oh, and for all the hype, poor Uhura is shoved to the sidelines in her own novel, too.

The plot is insane, about two different species of cat people, one of whom has contracted some form of childhood illness that is killing them off, along with the human medics - including Bones and Christine Chapel - who have beamed down to treat the mysterious illness. I love cats, I really do, but the middle block of this story nearly turned me over to the dog side.

I really have no clue what other reviewers find to like in this dross. Star Trek novelisations are hardly classic fiction, but the Prime Directive of published fan fiction should always be an author who knows and loves the fandom. I'm sure Janet Kagan did her best - and I liked Uhura commenting on Spock's friendship with Kirk, and the suggestion, slightly out of character from Spock himself, that he and the Captain share a mental bond - but there just weren't enough familiar traits or interactions from the crew to maintain my interest. show less

Now this is the kind of Star Trek story I'm looking for (and SF in general as well) - a first contact adventure that focuses on learning about and from the other culture, not on what to blow up next. From 1985, this is one of the original Pocket Trek novels that I hadn't gotten at the time, but I'd been looking to pick up for years. It's a medical mystery, where McCoy is stuck on a quarantined planet and the Enterprise, acting on information Lt. Uhura has learned from the society's ancient songs, must find the planet that they had originally come from in hope of finding a cure there. They find the world, based on constellations described in old children's songs, and introduce themselves to the felinoid beings there. Uhura's knowledge of show more the old songs in their original language again serving as a cultural bridge while the universal translator handles the basic speaking. Working within and around the taboos of the culture, they learn how to ask their questions and the doctor on the team, called Evan Wilson, works with a native doctor while Uhura exchanges songs with the local bard to learn history going back the thousands of years since the colonist group left, taking all knowledge of space flight technology with them. Solutions to several mysteries hinge on the songs and on the importance of perfect pitch to the Sivaoans . One aspect of the writing did annoy me though - writing out the accents in dialog, especially for Scotty and Chekov. Still, this book easily goes in the top few of my Trek favorites. No space battles, just conflict against the elements and against the rigid prejudices of an old society. show less

I'll admit upfront this is a nostalgic favorite. I think it's also very good.

Early in her career, Lt. Uhura met a young diplomat from the world of Eeiauo. The two women bonded over music, singing, and the songs of their respective peoples and cultures. The graceful, catlike Sunfall of Ennian even shares songs with Uhura, and the Old Tongue they are sung in, that are not to shared except with other bards,

Years later, Uhura is now communications officer on the USS Enterprise, which is on a mission of mercy to Eeiauo, where a terrible plague has broken out. The infected individuals become weak, their fur (or hair, as they make the unhappy discovery it also affects humans), become stiff and achy, fall into comas, and die. One of those show more dying is Uhura's old friend, Sunfall.

McCoy and others are on the surface working directly with Eeiauoan medical personnel. Chapel is among the humans who have fallen ill.

Spock works out that the Eeiauoans can't be native to their current world. Uhura has reached the same conclusion from reexamining the songs Sunfall taught her. Together they set to work figuring out where their homeworld is. The Eeiauoans can't, or rather won't, help them, because they left their homeworld for what the consider deeply shameful reasons. They don't even want it being said that there was a homeworld.

McCoy and others on the planet look for a successful treatment or cure. Kirk and the Enterprise, with Spock and Uhura still working the information they have to locate the homeworld, head off to find it.
We get alternating sections following McCoy and his colleagues, and, when they find the planet, Kirk, Uhura, Spock, Chekov, the interim Medical Director Evan Wilson, and Sulu beam down to the planet to make contact. What follows is a wonderful tale of worldbuilding, a very interesting alien culture, and the unraveling of a very knotty problem.

The natives on the Eeiauoans' homeworld, the Savaoans, are also deeply ashamed of the events that led to the exile of the Eeiauoans. They are not going to talk, even to save lives, until the landing party figures out the reason they won't talk. It's complex and fascinating and frustrating.

The ending is quite satisfying, and then there's a sort of epilogue, that you may like or loathe.

I bought this book. show less

Really liked this one! I feel like I'm having a good run of Trek novels right now. I really liked that this introduced another feliniform race (besides Snarl's race) and that it spent a huge amount of time on their culture. It feels authentic in a way that most of the representations of alien cultures to this point haven't in the novels. I'm not such a huge fan of how we keep having to introduce Harry Mudd esque trickster characters. Evan Wilson was just fine, and I really appreciated that she wasn't posed in competition with Uhura or anyone else, but I didn't feel like she added that much to the story ; it would have been more exciting, in my opinion, if her character had been melded with Uhura's, and Uhura got to be the daring show more adventurer for once! show less

Indeed, this might be one of my favorite ST novels. ?áI think it could even appeal to readers who have less affection for TOS than I do, readers who are only vaguely into the franchise. ?áI really liked the story about the bards and the idea that songs have value and copyright is really really strict (despite, obviously, being on the honor system). ?áI liked Chekov's hut-building and cooking bits, too. ?áEvan Wilson's story was annoying and confusing, though. ?áI mean, it's good that Kirk learned so thoroughly that petite women are not children or playthings, but to have this doctor be also a match for Sulu in sword-play and for Spock in computers is just silly. ?áAnd then, well, I didn't get the ending of her story at show more all. ?áOh, and I liked the plague and the cure found for it, and how the cure was found.

And I liked that, Evan Wilson's story aside, other detailed ideas were carefully explored:

The lack of sleep was making [McCoy] bleary-eyed and he almost asked the computers for hard copy rather than continue to read from the screen."

"'The kind of undivided attention a Vulcan gives as a matter simple politeness is often misread as... sexual interest by a human.'
'Fascinating.'"" show less

When a plague affecting the planet of Eeiauo does the unthinkable and crosses the species barrier to affect the human component of the Federation, all the stops are pulled out to find a cure. It's Lieutenant Uhura who finds a clue to a possible cure hidden in a forbidden song. Will Kirk and the others be able to decode the clues and find the lost home world of the Eeiauoans. But even with Spock's help in identifying the almost fabled Sivaou, the crew of Enterprise find the inhabitants even more stubborn than their cousins on Eeiauo - deep shame being a block to a race that has perfect racial memory!

Like most of these early Star Trek books, 'Uhurah's Song' treats the crew of the Enterprise (especially Kirk) as more considerate than I show more get a feel for from the TV series but they are really cool all the same. show less

This is a Star Trek pro work that is the favorite of many a fan in that it finally allowed Uhura to shine and to actually be an expert in language and other forms of communication (including using her talent for music) not a telephone operator. Perhaps even more important, this has the "feel" of the series at its best, with the Federation officers trying to understand a culture on its own terms. And you know something's good when years later you can remember scenes, even lines, from a book. I loved one of the original characters, Tail-Kinker, and the sentient felines of the novel. A treat.