Best Destiny (Hardcover)

by Diane Carey (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
As James T. Kirk prepares for retirement, he is drawn back to Faramond, the icy, distant planet that had been the destination of his first spaceflight, by a puzzling mystery and the disappearance of the USS Excelsior. 125,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

From the Publisher
As James T. Kirk prepares to retire from a long and illustrious Starfleet career, events in a distant part of the Federation draw him back to a part of the galaxy he had last visited as a young man, a mysterious world called Faramond whose name takes Kirk on a journey back to his youth.

At sixteen, Kirk is troubled, estranged from his father, and has a bleak future. However, a trip into space with Kirk's father George and Starfleet legend Captain Robert April changes James Kirk's life forever, when a simple voyage becomes a deadly trap. Soon Kirk and his father find themselves fighting for their lives against a vicious and powerful enemy.

Before the voyage ends, father and son will face life and death together, and James T. Kirk will get a glimpse of the future and his own best destiny. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 398 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1st edition (November 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671795872
• ISBN-13: 978-0671795870
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,302,661 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good Star Trek novel, June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Best Destiny (Star Trek) (Paperback)

Best Destiny is a very good Star Trek novel. Apart from a continuity error (Forty-five years earlier USS Enterprise 1701-A) should read (USS Enterprise 1701). Best Destiny was an excellently crafted novel and sequel to Diane Carey's "Final Frontier". Not to be confused with the sub-standard fifth Star Trek Movie.

This novel begs a movie (starring David Caruso and Jeremy Irons perhaps ) as Commander George Samuel Kirk and Captain Robert April. The Red headed, hot tempered Star-fleet Security officer and his laid back avuncular English captain's second secret mission together on the original USS Enterprise.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Portrait of the Captain as a Young Man, July 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Best Destiny (Star Trek) (Paperback)

One of the "prequels" to the Star Trek universe created by Gene Roddenberry, Diane Carey's BEST DESTINY introduces the reader to the Enterprise at her birth. Commanded by Robert April, the Enterprise is on her "test-run". April's security officer, George Kirk, brings along his troubled son, Jimmy, for the ride.

STAR TREK fans will enjoy experiencing the first voyage of this famous ship, at this time still a carefully-guarded military secret without identifying insignia. The "mission" to Faramond is intended to be a short run to test the engines, but when the Kirks take a shuttlecraft to study a cosmic phenomenon, a run-in with space pirates begins young Jim Kirk's first adventure in space.

Also of interest is the look into Kirk's past. The story is told in flashback, as a late-career Kirk reflects on his wild adolescence and the single event that changed his life and set his destiny in the stars. For those less technically-inclined, basic STAR TREK physics (such as inertial dampers) are explained from the viewpoint of young Jimmy (read: lay terminology!)

A definite recommendation for Trekkers, Trekkies, and those who just wish they were!

Heather Foutz

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chronicle of the events that turned the rebellious Jimmy Kirk into Captain James T. Kirk, June 16, 2007

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Like so many of the greatest commanders in history, James T. Kirk was a rebellious teenager, driving his Star Fleet father George Kirk to the brink of frustrated parental defeat. In his first attempt to show his son what Star Fleet was all about, Jimmy Kirk experienced the brutality of Kodos' own brand of survival techniques. When Jimmy leads his gang in an attempt to run away on an ocean ship, George tries one last time to alter his son's life course.
Although the mission is designed to be a "milk-run", it turns out to be much more than that. George Kirk, Captain Robert April, Jimmy Kirk and several other Star Fleet members are observing a unique star formation in a small craft when a pirate ship attacks them. They put up a good fight but when they think that they are about to be destroyed, they put Jimmy in a makeshift survival pod and try to send him out of danger. However, Jimmy has other ideas and proceeds to attack the pirate ship and disable them long enough for his father and shipmates to join in the fight. They manage to defeat their opponents, one of which is a boy genius who has somehow managed to develop a new and revolutionary shield technology.
There is a later story intertwined with this one. Years later Kirk is an admiral and the time frame is right after "The Undiscovered Country." The Enterprise is about to be decommissioned when it is forced to answer a distress call from one of the newest models of starships. When they arrive, Kirk finds himself confronting an old nemesis with delusions of godhood.
This book is an excellent glimpse into the troubled teen years of the strong-willed Jimmy Kirk and the circumstances that turned a potential sociopath into one of the finest commanders Star Fleet ever produced.