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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not too bad, but definitely could be better., May 6, 2002
This novel, the first "Enterprise" spinoff to be out in paperback, (second overall only to the novelization of the pilot episode, "Broken Bow") was a reasonably pleasant quick read, and about two thirds of it was a perfectly acceptable if unexceptional plot. The characters were handled well, especially given that they haven't really been established all that clearly on the show itself yet, and the dialogue was handled well. The biggest problem with the book was the roughly one-third of it that was devoted to the role-playing game four of the characters (five, if you count Hoshi, who was going to be involved but wound up too busy with her duties to play) played during their leisure time. I realize what the intention was here; it was to establish characters by showing us what they do for fun, and how they interact. In other words, it served the same purpose (allegedly) as the chess games between Kirk and Spock on the original series, or the holodeck stories in Next Generation. And to a limited extent, it accomplished what it was meant to accomplish; it did give us something of a look into the personality of Travis Mayweather, as well as a few more minor characters. But like the holodeck bits on Next Generation, and unlike the glimpses we got of chess games between Kirk and Spock, it was given far too major an emphasis; the purpose to this sort of thing is to give us some insight into the characters' personality WITHOUT taking up a major portion of the book. I didn't think that anything could be worse than watching characters in a television show play characters in a holodeck game, but I was wrong; reading about characters playing a role-playing game with dice was definitely worse, and it wasn't helped by the (admittedly very plausible) fact that, as novice gamers playing under a novice gamemaster, their game was poorly run and poorly played. I sincerely hope that that plot device is NOT repeated in future books.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Was This REALLY Worth A First Outing?, January 19, 2002
One of the significant criteria which John Ordover, over at the Pocket Books (Trek Books publisher), states for writers considering penning a Trek novel is that "you should write something that couldn't be done on the small screen." In other words, what would be the purpose in writing a book that could, in fact, be just another episode? He wants the writer to take the reader somewhere else, into worlds unexplored and parts unknown ... so how did BY THE BOOK meet those standards? Giving a gracious nod to RPG so prevalent throughout the web, the authors devise a scenario surrounding Captain Archer and the crew of the Enterprise's first contact with not one but two species and it goes horribly wrong until they fashion a device which allows Archer to communicate telepathically with the more intelligent of the two species and then ... nothing happens. While the book sports a wonderful conversation between Archer and his Vulcan Subcommander T'Pol on the nature of 'first contact' situations, the tale invests little in characterization, plot, and surprise. There is little awe in the experience of meeting new civilizations for the first time; rather, there is an exhaustive examination of their architecture and how it relates to the way the think ... while it's interesting, it encompasses too much of the book. Lastly, this installment FEELS as though it was a script submitted but rejected by Paramount b/c it didn't meet Ordover's criteria: it shows us nothing new.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
By the Book - Buy the Book?, January 25, 2002
I like the new Enterprise TV series, but so far, the books have not measured up to my version of Star Trek quality. The book gets 3 stars from me just because I like the cover and am glad that there is a book on Enterprise to read regardless of its literary value. "By the Book" is, in a large part, a tale about a Role Playing Game (RPG) that I found extremely boring. If you are into RPGs, you will love this book; if you are not, you will not find the book exciting. Thoughts to share: 1. The Role Playing Game seemed to be the focus of the book rather than the Enterprise adventure. The authors tried to pull the two together, but failed, in my opinion. 2. The story did not provide enough "conflict" to make my trip into outer space worth my $7. There was an encounter with an alien that went bad. But, because the affected crewman was not a senior officer, the disaster did not create enough reader concern. Had the man been one of the Main Seven (Bridge crew plus Dr. Phlox and Trip), the story may have had a different impact. Overall--this story just wasn't that great. Its like a flat pop. You can drink it, but you won't really savor it. 3. The authors are trying to get into the Captain Archer's head but they are really making him look sappy instead of like a man who possesses real leadership quality. Star Trek fans are used to James T. Kirk and JeanLuke Picard standards. The Archer that is being developed by the recent authors make it seem like it wasn't just the ship that left earth's dock too soon--it seems like the captain left earth's dock too soon, as well. I hope for better Enterprise books in the future. Do you want to buy this book? How can I say "No" to the second book of the series? So, sure, if you want an Enterprise story for the sake of reading about the Enterprise. But if you want a really good Star Trek book, this one should go near the bottom of your wish list.
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