63/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A trio of Federation spies must escape the Klingon empire after being uncovered, and Kirk and company are brought in to assist. An enjoyable fifth-year TOS adventure.
TOS
The Higher Frontier by Christopher L. Bennett
57/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set between TMP and TWoK, this adventure primarily ties together three threads: The Medusans as introduced in TOS, the Aenar as introduced in ENT, and the New Humans as introduced in Roddenberry’s novelization of TMP. Those three threads are woven together with elements, references, and in-jokes from throughout the Star Trek screen and literary universes, as Bennett so often does in his books. It’s also interesting when reading these more recently written books that are able to find ways to drop in references to the newer shows. All in all, another good adventure with some really neat approaches to tying together previously unrelated parts of Trek history in unexpected ways.
Lost to Eternity by Greg Cox
52/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Almost four stars…but not quite. There are three connected storylines (it’s not a spoiler if it’s in the back cover blurb, right?): A modern-day (2024) true crime podcaster investigating the mysterious disappearance of one Gillian Taylor in 1986, Kirk and company in the third year of their original voyage rescuing an abducted scientist, and Kirk and company escorting envoys to a conference shortly before the events of The Undiscovered Country. Of the three storylines, I found the latter two to be fairly standard Trek adventure, and would occasionally get confused as to which point in time I was in for a moment when I switched chapters. However, the first storyline, as the podcaster tracks down various minor characters from The Voyage Home to try to figure out what happened to Gillian is great. I really enjoyed the glimpse into what happened on Earth after the events of the movie, and it was a lot of fun to build on many of the gags from the film. That storyline is by far the strongest, and the middle story is the weakest, with yet another “landing party beams down to a pre-industrial society and — surprise! — makes a complete hash of the Prime Directive” situation.
Still, even the weaker parts are entertaining, and Cox ties in lots of little nods to a lot of Trek true canon and beta (book) canon.
(This reaches my goal of 52 books read this year, nice and early! We’ll see how many I end up with in a few more months.)
The Antares Maelstrom by Greg Cox
49/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
No big morals or messages here; just a good “fifth season” adventure playing on old western gold rush tropes.
The Captain’s Oath by Christopher L. Bennett
45/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set over the course of a few years, just before and after Kirk takes command of the Enterprise. An interesting take on Kirk, not quite the captain he will become, still somewhat finding his footing. Plus some good pointed commentary on refugees and the assumptions that get made when they arrive in a new place.
Elusive Salvation by Dayton Ward
40/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A fun standalone-but-sequel-of-sorts to Ward’s earlier From History’s Shadow, with time travel, Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln, and lots of fun nods to Trek timeline shenanigans, both canon and literary, including Greg Cox’s Rise and Fall of Khan Noonian Singh books. Kirk just can’t keep away from the 20th century….
The Latter Fire by James Swallow
38/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
While following up on a relatively newly encountered alien race, the Enterprise finds itself dealing with a much larger issue than expected. A somewhat predictable primary antagonist, but balanced with a very interesting major threat to all parties.
The Face of the Unknown by Christopher L. Bennett
27/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A “year four” adventure that serves to both bridge the gap between TOS and TAS (and explain some of the changes to the ship and crew between the shows) and to take a much deeper dive into the First Federation as first introduced in The Corbomite Maneuver. Along the way, we get to learn more about Balok’s threatening puppet, Spock gets some introspective assistance, and Kirk…well, Kirk does his thing with impassioned speeches and eyeing alien women. The exploration of the First Federation is obviously the core theme, and it’s done well, extrapolating well from what little we learn in the TOS episode. One of the better TOS novels.
Star Trek II Short Stories by William Rotsler
25/2024 – ⭐️⭐️
Six mediocre short stories set between the first and second films, each focusing on a different primary character. Nothing astounding here. The upside-down shot of the Enterprise on the cover is amusing, though.
📚 Star Trek II Biographies by William Rotsler
23/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Something of a historical curiosity now, these “biographies” of the principal characters have since been nearly or entirely overwritten by later films or more official pseudo-canon works. Still, it’s a fun artifact of this point in Trek’s real-world history, and as the first published material giving Uhura’s first name of “Nyota”.
