Customer Reviews

Gemworld Book One of Two (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 58)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book. The description of Gemworld is so vivid and colourful and I could almost imagine being there. John Vornholt is one of the better Star Trek authors and creates a realistic portrait of each character and how he or she would act, making the story believable.

Another good thing about this book is Barclay, who I have always enjoyed watching and reading about. To me, he has always been a destinctive and well portrayed character, and despite only appearing a few times, he has always been a very memorable part of the show. His relationship with the Elaysian Melora Pazlar was done brilliantly, not over done, yet still playing an important part in the story. Vornholt manages all the relationships between the characters well, not just Pazlar and Barclay. This is a great book if you like to read about the characters interacting.

The story is also good, with an original concept. Although another of those 'Save a planet' books, this one stands alone as a little different. The descriptions of the planet are beautiful, and the inhabitants are wonderfully varied and different. The Elaysian's and the other species are well portrayed and the diffent way they react to humans and the threat to their planet keep the book interesting. The book was a little slow to start with, but once I got into it I couldn't put it down, and the mystery of who was destroying Gemworld kept me reading, and also made my go out and buy the second book.

The plot is good, even if it is a little complicated, and you may find yourself getting a little confused halfway through. I was very impressed with the descriptiveness and imagination put into this book and would recommend it, and also its sequel, Gemworld book 2, which continues the story.

Overall, I think this is a great book, and while it's not my favourite Star Trek book, it's still one of the better ones.

Engineer Reg Barclay has always reminded me of the character Theodore Honey in Nevil Shute's "No Highway" (Honey was played by Jimmy Stewart in the movie). He's always been tentative and socially inept, but he wouldn't be an engineer on a major starship if he wasn't competent there. So, as with Honey in the Shute novel, once Barclay has to face a situation where he's good at what's invoved, he's going to score a victory. The story involves a crystalline world protected by a force shield. The engineering involving the "shell" has over the centuries evolved into a religion, but the shell is in danger due to a stellar anomaly a bit like a black hole, and all the dogma surrounding the religion/ techology isn't helping matters one bit. So Barclay ends up on the away team, accompanied by a female crewmember who's from that world. Here's a hint--after Barclay's long-standing unrequited crush on Counselor Troi, he becomes a big hit with this lady. After all, he's the hero, and the hero gets the girl. The story continues in the other book in this pair, "Gemworld Book 2". If you're going to get this one, you have to get the other--it takes both to tell the story.

Reg Barclay has long been one of ST:TNG's favorite characters. In Gemworld he comes into his own. He falls in love and becomes the hero as he tries to save Gemworld from total disaster. Data is, as usual, most helpful, but Reg, Melora, and Deanna Troi seem to do the most. Deanna or Reg should have been on the cover! This takes place after ST:Insurrection, so Deanna & Riker are Imzadi again. The second book concludes the adventure.

Gemworld was an excellent series of 2 books by John Vornholt. Vornholt has a definite grasp of how the characters form Star Trek TNG would behave, making the story seem feasible. I enjoyed reading about the unusual world that Gemworld is (almost zero gravity, so the inhabitants float whenever in their planet's atmosphere). Naturally, this would cause the people from Gemworld to have very little muscle to fight gravity with, so when put in Earth normal gravity, they collapse. This fact was utilized greatly throughout the novel. Another thing that is enjoyable is Barclay. For anyone who watched Star Trek TNG on tv, Barclay is a familiar character. He was always inept socially, so his forming a relationship with Melora Pazlar, a Gemworld native, is very surprising. Definitely read this book and the second in the series if you are at all familiar with the Star Trek characters, or are simply looking for a good story.

The story was great with the crew of ST:TNG coming to the rescue of a planet that is a member of the Federation. But what even caught my attention more than that was the description of the planet and it's inhabitants. These fairytale like inhabitants and the planet itself really allows you to stretch your imagination into a realm that you would never want to leave.

I enjoyed reading both books of this two book series. In fact, once I started I couldn't put them down. In this 2 part series, the crew of the enterprise become involved in a desparate attempt to save a federation planet. Countless setbacks and an unexpected enemy leave you turning the pages to see what will happen next. Well worth your time!

GEMWORLD is an exceptional effort from John Vornholt. I consider him a solid, workmanlike writer whose books are always reasonably interesting and well-told; but he's never before shown the great creativity evident here. Conceptually, his books have generally stayed within the same limits as the TV episodes: Earthlike planets, humanoid aliens, shipboard mystery or action stories, and in recent years a steady focus on the Maquis. But in GEMWORLD, suddenly a wealth of terrific SF ideas have come pouring out of him. The title planet is the most exotic and alien world ever imagined in Trek, whether print or film. The five non-humanoid races inhabiting it are all intriguingly alien and quite distinct, mentally as well as physically. This two-parter is one of the very few Trek novels ever to fulfill the potential of prose to depict worlds and creatures impossible to render on film. The characters are well-handled too. Like all franchise novels, it doesn't mess with the status quo much, but it gets around that by focussing heavily on the "guest star" characters of Barclay and Melora, who are both given considerable development. Vornholt depicts the regulars well too, making us feel we've gained insights into them even though nothing really changes in their lives and relationships. And it's a nice surprise to see who gets to save the day at the end of part two. Vornholt's grasp of physics does leave a bit to be desired. He doesn't make much distinction between low gravity and no gravity, and his explanations of the planet's mass changes are somewhat iffy. He has characters saying they can sense the increase in the planet's gravity (part of the disaster threatening it), but still has them floating indefinitely in midair. My principal gripe, though, is with the packaging. What's the point of publishing one story in two parts released simultaneously? Why not just publish one 480-page novel instead of two 240-pagers? This is just Pocket's way of gouging the readers, forcing us to pay two books' worth instead of one. It's just another sleazy marketing gimmick, like the "Starfleet: Year One" serial novel published in the backs, requiring you to buy their books regularly for twelve months to get the complete story (tip: it's not worth it).

This book is Star Trek at its very best. It takes you beyond the two dimensions of television and movies by letting your imagination take you into the characters minds and their surroundings. You travel with them on this mission and are drawn in instantly to the mystery and non stop twists and turns. Once I completed this first part I immediately had to find book two to see the outcome.

Star Trek: Gemworld Book 1 is one of the best Star Trek novels I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The descriptions of Gemworld are so precise, I felt as if I could see it myself. I loved how the characters of Melora Pazlar and Reg Barclay got developed, and how parts of the Enterprise-E never seen before were described. Well done!

In my opinion John Vornholt captured each of the characters very well. It was nice to see Reg Barclay play a major role in this two part book series. As I was reading I could just imagine being there directly in the story playing a part in helping the crew of the Enterprise-E try to save the Gemworld planet. It was also intersting for me to visualize the Alpusta, the Frills and the other inhabitants of Gemworld besides the Elaysians. It was in my opinion a book that I could not put down, to me it moved at a nice pace. I would recommend this book to any Star Trek and any fan of Reg Barclay or Melora.