Customer Reviews

The Abode of Life (Star Trek, No 6)

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"The Abode of Life" is one of the oldest of the Star Trek novels (No. 6, as numbered in the classic series). As such, this book may be a bit forgotten...

Overall, I've read a number of the Star Trek novels and this is amongst the better ones. The reason is that while the storytelling may be somewhat "low-key," it contains a plot worthy of the true spirit of the original series (I believe it was also intended to have taken place between two of the classic Trek episodes). True to the series "Abode of Life" is an original story in which the Enterprise encounters a unique alien society with its own unique aspects. As with the original series, this poses interesting sociological issues and questions and potential problems for Kirk and the gang.

The premise is that Captain Kirk & company encounter a planet that, due to a large flaring of its sun, is completely cut off from viewing the stars of the galaxy....as such, without evidence to the contrary the planet believes itself to be completely isolated and the center of life and the universe. In the spirit of the original series, Kirk and crew must come to terms with the aliens and so must the aliens come to terms with the Enterprise's crew (and of course the "Prime Directive" comes into play). It's been a little while since I read this but I remember it as being probably much better than the average "Trek" book (as I said, this was an earler Trek novel and I generally felt that as time went by Trek fiction became less and less inspired and original).

Like other readers, I thought "The Entropy Effect" (Classic Series No. 2) was one of the very best Trek books....but for similar reasons I thought "Abode of Life" was also a very nice nod, and true to, the original series (perhaps "Abode" is slightly less exciting than Entropy Effect...but it's also shorter). I overall recommend it to those who can find a copy!