Memory Prime

This was a deeply frustrating book to read. In many respects, Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens's contribution to the Pocket Book series — their first of what proved a long and fruitful involvement with the franchise — has much to recommend it. A sequel of sorts to the third-season episode "The Lights of Zetar," it returns to the concept of a central information archive for the Federation and expands upon it with the introduction of artificial intelligences called Pathfinders. Their addition fills a noticeable gap in the franchise's vision of the future, especially given their increasingly-discussed likelihood within our own lifetimes. Yet this is just one of a number of richly imagined inventions for this book, in which the show more Enterprise transports several distinguished scientists and scholars to Memory Prime for the awarding of the most prestigious prizes in the Federation. Among their number, though, is an assassin whose mission, if successful, could unravel the entire union unless James Kirk and his crew can stop him in time, adding an element of suspense to the story.

Or it would if the authors had been more successful. In this respect this book underscores yet again the inability of contributors to the franchise to construct a decent mystery. As with Jean Lorrah's [b:The Vulcan Academy Murders|634980|The Vulcan Academy Murders|Jean Lorrah|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1298351716s/634980.jpg|209939], it's obvious far too early in the story who the murderer is, depriving the book of any real sense of suspense. While the plot is redeemed somewhat in last chapters with a final twist, this isn't enough to compensate for what is another disappointing attempt to blend together genres in the franchise. Perhaps some other author has solved the problem of writing a good mystery story in an Original Series novel, but at this point I'm wondering if the two just don't mix. show less

Oh dear. I did like this book, quite a lot actually, but… why was it a Star Trek novel? I suppose that's one way to break into publishing, but if the author genuinely couldn't see how this plot could be written with other characters, I'll be quite surprised.

Unquestionably cyberpunk. Contains artificial intelligences (with an intriguingly alien worldview), and cybernetically-enhanced humans. I enjoyed these things, but they are non-canon.

Our TOS stars are well in character here, and it's got some nice Spock action. The cover art is dramatic and irrelevant.

I'm not sure that everything in this book really holds up going forward with regard to the canonical development of AI in the Trek universe, but I didn't mind that so much. I thought it was a pretty great book, very fun. The only real problem I had was the Adepts of T'Pel; they didn't seem to have a real motivation, and I don't believe that "entropy" is the real motivation of anyone, even nihilistic Vulcans, er, Romulans. But that's not entirely this book's fault: it's a trope that the book is simply deploying (see my review of "The Peacekeepers").

One of the earlier books in the star trek original novels, this book sees the crew of the Enterprise tasked with escorting scientists to the latest Nobel-Z-Magnees prize ceremony - a rather dusty job for Star Fleet's premier star ship. Things start getting weird when the commander of the last starbase before the Memory Prime site of the awards ceremony abruptly took command of the Enterprise and jailed Spock. Can the crew of the Enterprise get to the bottom of the seemingly incredible events that were engulfing them?

This is quite a fun book and has stood up quite well though some of the technology may seem a bit laughable now, though the debate about the rights of artificial intelligences that is in the background of the book has show more resonances in current debates about the safety of such entities, though the focus of the debate is slightly different. show less

“Pico review” written for the SF fanzine OtherRealms, June 1989: I hadn't planned to get this one, it didn't sound very promising, and if I had spent money on it I'd be very disappointed, but since it was given to me I read it. The overall quality (plots, characterization, consistency) of the Trek books has improved a great deal over time, just don't use this book as an example of it. We have here yet another episode sequel, this time to "The Lights of Zetar", with yet another over-zealous Starbase commander made to look like an idiot by taking command of the Enterprise away from Kirk. Commodore Wolfe arrives on the Enterprise convinced that Spock is guilty of treason and assorted other crimes, before any of them have even been show more committed, on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence. The real guilty party, and his motives for framing Spock, are all too obvious from the beginning. I think the authors have borrowed the repressive Federation from Blake's Seven – it isn't recognizable as the UFP I'm familiar with, the portrayal of the Andorian characters is quite off base as well. The last quarter of the book picks up a bit, but it was hardly worth getting there.

Memory Prime, the replacement for the destroyed library Memory Alpha, is a top security installation this time, using self-aware computer "programs" that interface directly from "core" with altered humans. It is also the location of an awards ceremony involving all the major scientists of the Federation and the target of a terrorist attack. The only redeeming features of this book are the continuing relationship between Scotty and Mira Romaine, now chief computer technician in command of Memory Prime, and some good lines foreshadowing the Next Generation, like McCoy's reference that he probably won't make Admiral (and be able to requisition a shuttle instead of using the transporter) till he's 140. show less

Memory Prime is the central core of a system-wide network of research computers, and the site of the next Nobel and Z-Magnees prize ceremonies. However, a deadly Romulan assassin is stalking them, and it is up to Kirk and crew to stop him in this reasonably good Star Trek novel. Not great, but a good read.

A favorite of ST:TOS. Very clever working of AI ideas.