Customer Reviews

The Entropy Effect (Star Trek)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
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This was the first Star Trek book that I read and I was completely amazed. With splits in the space-time continuum, fate rests on Spock's shoulders. There is also some great personal and romantic sub plots that give a deeper meaning to life on the Enterprise. Find this book and buy it!

i have lisen to quite a few star trek tapes and this is the best i have lisen to or read. the next best tape is the the ashes of eden. get entropy effect and you will will not regret it. roger

[Review written Nov 2004]

This is one of the earliest Star Trek novels, and still ranks among the best in the genre. It's a fast no-frills read, weighing in at only around 225 pages, and the story involves murder, intrigue, theoretical physics and a classic time travel & save-the-universe type plot ... a theme that has since been mined nearly to death by a host of imitators over the past 20+ years.

By today's standards, it's a bit short, and I wished the authoress had spent more time exploring some of the interesting new characters she introduces, and not rushed the plot along quite so quickly ... but it's still an enjoyable read.

It's one of the few books in my Star Trek collection that's on my periodic rereading rotation.

The Entropy Effect by Vonda N. McIntyre is a classic TREK adventure with time travel the main theme as it folds back and the time line begins to get corupt and the entire universe is caught in a time warp.

The villian is Dr. Georges Mordreaux and he is being transported to a prison rehabilitaion center by the U.S.S. Enterprise. You'll find action, adventure and some onboard quixotics as Spock goes back in time to search for Captain James T. Kirk.

You'll find that there is a lot of originality and this book will keep your interest. If you can find it, by it you will not be disappointed. This is classic TREK at its best.

This is early TREK too as this is set shortly after Star Trek: The Motion Picture. If by chance you have bought this book and have NOT read it, dig it out and give it a perusal... you'll be glad you did.

The first all-new novel published by Pocket in the Star Trek franchise was written by an accomplished science fiction novelist, with a background in her own fiction, and a winner of a Hugo and a Nebula. One of the dangers of this type of author is a tendency to view the characters independently, rather than to use them as established in series continuity. Every author will play favorites with the characters, writing up the ones they like and assigning secondary roles, or completely ignoring, those they do not like. This is evident in McIntyre's first outing with the Star Trek characters.

The Enterprise is dispatched to observe a singularity, and discover the reason for its appearence. None like it, with no apparent explanation for its existence, has been observed previously. Spock is the closest qualified observer, and so he conducts the measurements, as the Enterprise spends six weeks in close proximity to the dangerous gravity well and radiation output. As Spock is working on the confirming observations, the Enterprise receives a top-priority call to a nearby starbase. The starbase personnel are confused, but they do have one duty that must be carried out: the ferrying of a dangerous prisoner to a maximum-security facility. The prisoner turns out to be a former physics teacher of Spock's, and the Vulcan cannot understand the danger posed. All records of the trial have been sealed and/or expunged.

Soon after the prisoner is taken on board, he breaks onto the bridge and shoots Captain Kirk with a spiderweb bullet, a terrorist device which causes prolonged death with great pain. The crew is horrified. The new security chief, Commander Flynn, is also killed in the assault. Spock finds that the dangerous nature of the prisoner, and his crime, is related to the professor's discovery of a simple method for time travel. This has also caused the singularity to appear, so the method is increasing the entropy of the universe, and will cause its end in less than 100 years. Spock must travel back in time himself to repair the damage to the time continuum, and save his captain and the universe. McIntyre writes well, and the book has a good plot, so the problem here is mostly with characterization.

So many of the regulars are out of character that it is often hard to take the book seriously. The author obviously likes Sulu, and to an extent Spock, while disliking Scotty and Kirk. Scott only gets "grumpy old man" stuff to do, and shows no other side of his character, aside from a measure of loyalty to Kirk. The captain is killed off halfway through the book, and might have remained that way had this book been made only of McIntyre's characters (which would have made a better book). The author also is enamored with her own characters, Commander Flynn and her security crew, and Captain Hunter, an old lover of Kirk's and the captain of a border patrol ship. There is a strongly feminist bent here, despite the small amount of time given to Uhura. The spiderweb bullet is a good invention, a projectile with tendrils that grow and crush the nervous system, reaching to the brain. The problem is, at one point McIntyre writes about visible tendrils that Spock avoids on a near-miss shot. Tendrils small enough to infiltrate the nervous system would likely be invisible to the naked eye. And another thing: when Spock endeavors to go back through time, he tells only McCoy, and ostensibly leaves the Doctor in charge of the ship. At no time was McCoy ever shown to be a command officer, and it would have been procedure (which Spock would have followed) to inform Scotty, who both was the next ranking officer, and thus should have been designated the conn, as well as being able to help to engineer the necessary parts for time travel.

It's a good story. It just doesn't work, as written, as a Star Trek story.

The Enterprise was summoned by way of an emergency channel to appear and help transfer a very dangerous prisoner named Dr. George Mordreaux to the Penal colony. Once aboard the Enterprise Dr. Mordreaux breaks out of his cell and kills Captain Kirk! Spock sends out a security alert, security almost immediately reports to him that Dr. Mordreaux was never out of the cell, that he has been there the whole time. Spock finally discovered that Dr. Mordreaux who had been trying to learn the secrets of time travel had used this to murder Captain Kirk and now Spock had to use these same secrets to get Kirk back.

I love time travel books! Even though time travel had been done many times in Star Trek this was a very unique story. McIntyre knows the main three characters very well and knows how to write them. The best thing about Star Trek is the characters, the friendships between these heroes. Spock and McCoy who never see eye to eye have to work together to bring back there friend. Kirk (the little of this book that he is in), Spock & McCoy were written first rate.

I recommend the Audio Book and I certainly want to read the book and I think you should too.

Grade: B

This was the first ST book I read, have had it for years, but just recently re-read it. It's a good book, a bit sad, but a good one. It delves a lot into Kirk/Spock/McCoy's relationships. I also like how Sulu gets some special treatment in this story, which unfortunatly, we wont see again for quite a while. definitly check it out

This story reminded me a little of the ST:TNG episode, "Yesterday's Enterprise" -in regards to the ripple effects of time travel and how it is portayed in the story telling.

In my opinion, even though Star Trek usually goes overboard in their time travel stories, this one is written very well and is not to corny. Vonda McIntyre mixes mystery and suspense along with the original Star Trek theme. I found myself not wanting to put the book down -as to see the conclusion of the suspense and mystery. Vonda McIntyre stayed in on the Star Trek theme and focused on character development.

In this story the story focused mainly on Spock and Sulu. There is the usual romance for Kirk. It's not really a romance. He runs into an old flame that gets him thinking about marriage, life, etc. But here Sulu has the more passionate and tender romance and Spock meets up with an old science mentor who is the hero/villian of the story.

This book is a great read and hard to put down! Enjoy!

-rlw

As Spock is preparing to complete some critical experiments, the Enterprise is ordered to transport a rogue scientist to a rehabilitation colony. En route, the prisoner escapes from the brig and fatally shoots Kirk! Now Spock must go back in time to prevent Kirk's death---or die trying.

The audio version of this book is an hour and a half long, and performed by George Takei (Sulu) with Leonard Nimoy as Spock. I must mention that Nimoy's performance is one of the best I have ever heard in the Simon & Schuster Audio Star Trek series. His depiction of Spock's intellectual and emotional struggle with having been a witness to Kirk's murder, figuring out that it never should have happened at all, and finally secretly building the Time Changer, with McCoy's help, are all incredibly believable, even painfully so. I could actually call this one of the spookiest Trek audio novels I've ever heard, since it soon become very difficult to figure out what's real and what's not.

Takei also shines on this tape, using French accents for Dr. Mordreax (the scientist), and Ian Brathwaite, the Aleph Prime district attorney.

My favorite lines: "Captain, you don't understand the problem! We're isolated! Official ships are rare! I haven't got the facilities to detain anyone so ruthless and charismatic.....and...intelligent. If he escapes, he could drop out of sight! He could begin again elsewhere! He's dangerous! Georges Mordreax makes people believe he can fulfill their dreams!"

Hearing Takei-as-Brathwaite say that never ceases to send chills up my spine.

i thank this one takes place after star trek movie on uss 1701-update enterprice! july 17 2216 AD one of my best storys of captain kirk and spock as spock trys go back save captains life after jim t kirk gets killd. by georges mordreaux.and DR mccoy is captain.if you are a trekker fan i say pick this one up!.