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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, 'real' space tactics combat, November 1, 1999
By A Customer
I liked it. I liked Dr. McCoy's characterisation and his crustiness, but what I REALLY liked was how the ship acted like a ship. They discussed department head meetings and worried about things like how dehydration effects bridge crew performance during space combat. The crew of the ship did a lot of real crew things, not just sit at the com console and looko busy. Chekov was proud as heck to be the briefing officer at a staff meeting. McCoy thought about writing paper on various subjects. Spock acted as a department head and directed his staff apropriately. This is the stuff about trek novels that I REALLY like, not going up against omnipotent space beings (although this novel has that too) or making dramatic speeches. Ms. Duane always puts a lot of research into her books, be them the Spiderman trilogy she did or anything else. It was a delight to see the crew discuss and go over first contact procedures and act truly as a vessel of exploration. My biggest delight was in the obligitory space fight against the Orion pirates. The space battle wasn't just 'fire torpedoes' and stuff like that. They worried about orbits and parabolas and perahelions. There was real thought put into tactics and strategy here. Also, this book marks the second instance where trek ever used the third dimension (Star Trek II was the other). As they were involved in a fight, Kirk ordered to Sulu to go full impulse along the z axis (straight up). And finally, the way Ms. Duane dealt with the Universal Translator was just great. it really made you believe in the technology of the ship and her crew, and was not just a simple plot device like in the shows.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. McCoy's Finest Moment - 2 Raised Eyebrows!, September 17, 2000
Several years ago I spent the summer checking out Star Trek paperback novels. There were two that I went out and purchased so I could have my own copy and "Doctor's Orders" was one of them. While orbiting yet another strange planet, Captain Kirk beams down to handle diplomatic negotiations and places Dr. McCoy in charge of the Enterprise. It seems Bones has been wearing himself down in Sick Bay and he wants to give the good Doctor a rest. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished. No sooner does McCoy take the center seat then Kirk disappears and the Klingons show up looking to pick a fight. The situation is a bit contrived since I find it hard to believe that Starfleet regulations do not allow Spock to assume command, but who cares? The scenes where McCoy talks to the Klingons or goes toe to toe with Spock are well worth it. Duane's humor in these conversations is entirely grounded in the characters, which was always the strength of Star Trek. This is not a big epic like many of the Star Trek novels tend to be, but there are only so many times the gang can save the universe (I believe the number is 56). This is a delightful tale and well worth the reading.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not perfect, but a good fun, mostly light read. Check it out, January 3, 2005
This is an older Star Trek novel (I'm writing this in Jan 2005, about 15 years after it came out). But it's still a good one. It has a scenario that seems somewhat implausible, but is one of those things Trek fans kind of always wanted to see. In short, McCoy is forced to be captain of the Enterprise after Kirk goes "Oh yeah, well, if you think you can do it, go do it", but then disappears, forcing McCoy to be the Captain. Why Spock couldn't take over is mostly ignored, but still.. :)
Had some great McCoy lines, some intersting interaction with the Klingons, basically a good fun read. As one of the other reviews here said, it's not the most grandiose story - it's not a "Save the universe" type of thing, but is a good situational fun read.
I'm also biased somewhat, as I appear in the book. Some years ago I talked to Diane Duane online, and struck up a friendship. She had asked me about being in one of her books - this was it. I'm in there as one of Dr. McCoy's medial assistants. "Lt. Joe Siegler". I later get eaten by a tree. When Diane Duane asked me what I wanted my character to do, I said "die".
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