Customer Reviews

The Great Starship Race (Star Trek, Book 67)

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

 

 

Ms. Carey's command of the art of writing believable action stories, coupled with a working knowledge of naval tradition and terminology, gives all her Trek novels a wonderful texture and authenticity. And The Great Starship Race does not disappoint! This one is not to be missed. My love affair with Ms. Carey's stories began with Battlestations! and Dreadnought. Both are excellent stories as well. Since then I've waited anxiously for each new Diane Carey novel to be released. Though not a newer effort, The Great Starship Race is, in my opinion, one of her best works. A complete story, "Race" seamlessly combines white-knuckle action with dramatic story telling. It packs a double punch. Read it, then re-read it! I know I will.

This is one of Diane Carey's better-written stories; there are few examples of her occasional tendancy to try too hard for "creative" (read: incorrect, sloppy, and/or weird) use of the language, and those that there are are fairly minor. On the other hand, the plot was one of her weaker efforts, and that's usually one of her strong points. Still, on balance, this is a passably interesting Star Trek story, not bad for a slow day with little else to do, but not riveting by any stretch of the imagination.

While I have not finished the book yet, I read a few pages whenever I get a few free moments. The beginning pages are a bit "so what" feel to them, but as you read on, the plot thickens and those nasty Romulans do not disappoint. Get ready for action, treachery and a closer look at the Romulan/Kirk battle thoughts. I love what I read until now.

The author captured the true feel of a nautical adventure set in the Trek universe. The story was gripping and fascinating all at once. This was a great read and I would recommend it to my friends.

I liked it , thought it was a good read and well written,
I thought the story belonged in the classic era though not in the movie era.
but the cover does show the classic ships but the whole continuity thing with some of these novels
always has thrown me.
Great story though.

Star Trek The Original Series: The Great Starship Race written by Diane Carey is a book, not just about a starship race, but a book about saving a whole planet from the treachery of the Romulans as they show up for the festivities.

The call was made throughout the galaxy, as a friendly race of people called the Rey have contacted the Federation for a celebration. The celebration of so many spacefaring and intelligent races, all to be hosted by the Rey, as a starship race is born. The Federation will send the U.S.S. Enterprise their proud flagship of the fleet under the command of James T. Kirk. Everything should be going fine, fine that is, until the Romulans show up, now the poo has hit the fan.

You can always count on the Romulans for treachery, perfidy, deceit, and insidiousness. Well, you will not be disappointed, soon we find out theat the U.S.S. Enterprise is having engine problems, but that's not a the Enterprise is under relentless attack. But that's the least of Kirk's problems, now, Kirk has to prevent the annihilation of an entire world. Brought to you by the Romulans, this deadly game of cat and mouse will soon occupy the entire crew of the Enterprise.

There are twists and turns throughout this book keeping you well entertained till the end.

The whole idea of the Race is fascinating, but the race itself is a jumble of techno-babble worthy of Voyager. The Romulans are well played but the story itself just lacked something. Diane Carey always writes Kirk as a hard headed eccentric, doing whatever the hell he feels like. That's not Kirk. But overall the book did not totally dissapoint. It didn't exactly blow me away either.

Despite a rather lighthearted theme of a Starship Race akin to a 23d Century America's Cup (on a cosmic scale) this is a very interesting story that holds the reader's interest. The plot centers around the Federation's discovery of a new race, the Rey, who, until being contacted by the Federation, believed that they were the only intelligent life in the universe. More to the point, they were very unhappy about this hypothesis, and are thrilled when a Federation starship makes First Contact with them. In celebration of their joining the Federation, the Rey decide to hold a starship race in which the Enterprise will be participating.

Author Carey's characterizations of Kirk, Spock, and our other familiar friends is above-average; she particularly handles Kirk well, and brings out a lighter side in both Kirk and Spock that nevertheless manages to be plausible. Her prose is quite good also, and this contributes to the reader's enjoyment of the book.

The plot has numerous surprises, and I will give up none of them in this review. Suffice to say, I found Carey's speculations about the nature of the Rey to be interesting and plausible, and this too added to the story. The Rey do not come across as humanlike--they are alien indeed.

The involvement of the Romulans was handled well and there was some good characterization and storyline development in this connection.

No Star Trek novel is going to be Great Literature, hence the three stars. But make no mistake, this is good entertainment for Trek fans, and three stars is about the highest rating I will give a Trek novel. (Otherwise, what do you give to truly original great works such as Dune or Old Man's War?)


One of the better Trek TOS novels and most Trek fans will enjoy this one.

When I first heard of this novel coming out, I immediately thought of the movie "The Great Race" with Tony Curtis. I was all set for a fun and amusing "Kessel Run" for Starships.

Unfortunately, as many of the Star Trek novels do, this novel changed into a dark counter-espionage thriller.

This is not what the title infers, nor the Romulan who looks like Christopher Lloyd on the cover, infers. Beware, this not a fun-loving free for all.

"The Great Starship Race" was everything I expected it to be.

Shallow story, based on a bad premise. Even the Romulans, who usually are a saving factor, couldn't help the book that is all about racing with spaceships, with a weak plot in there somewhere.

The characters are two-dimensional, and the story goes nowhere, and when you combine this to the ending, wich is about as bad as it could have been...

Well, it was written well, had many exellent scenes concentrating around the dynamics of the characters of the Romulan Commander and his Subcommander, so it wasn't a total failure, and the Romulans still were refreshing, even if they weren't nearly at their best.

And I have to mention that unlike so many Carey books, we actually get a prominent female quest-star, and although she is shallow and suffers from the characterization flaw many female sci-fi characters share: the HPS (Hidden Penis Syndrome), we still have some gender stabilization.

Ms. Carey revealed in a recent interwiev that she had to rewrite almost the entire book, and maybe that is the cause of the utter childishness and naiveté of "The Great Starship Race".