Customer Reviews

Ice Trap (Star Trek, Book 60)

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

 

 

The authors who publish under the pseudonym L.A. Graf have turned out some of the best Original Series professional fiction available. "Ice Trap", unfortunately, is one of their worst collaborations. The characterizations are poor, the setting is highly derivative, and the writing is uneven and choppy.

One of the reasons we read Original Series profic is that we love the characters. What a shame it is, then, that the most important characters in this book are portrayed so badly. I was embarrassed by Uhura's overt sexuality while on duty and annoyed by Chekov's neurotic whining, but Spock: poor Spock comes across as a pathetic bookworm who loves the sound of his own voice and who wouldn't lift a hand to save his own captain.

The poor characterizations make it difficult for the reader to suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy this book. Unfortunately, the setting compounds the difficulty. The writers seem to have written this book as a tribute to Canada; the original characters are mostly Canadian, and the alien world, Nordstral, is astonishingly similar to northern Canada -- or to what a Californian might think Northern Canada was like if they'd never actually been there. It's as if they got everything from an outdated copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's distracting and at times unintentionally hilarious: in one scene, a character swears there are no sailboats in Calgary, which might not have been as funny had I not been on a sailboat in Calgary at the time I read it.

To top it all off, the writing is weak and very uneven. It's as if one writer contributed the A story, the other the B story, and both collaborated on the bridges. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

This is perhaps the weakest of the L.A. Graf collaborations. I don't recommend it.

Wow. This has to be one of the dumbest novels I've ever read. The characters are presented lamely, the story should have been solved days before the Enterprise arrives, and the iceberg....

Throughout most of the story Kirk is a Captain. However, for one chapter he becomes and Admiral. Then he is a Captain again.

Did you know you can use a tent to turn an iceberg into a sailing ship?

The most common reaction to anything by any crew member is to "gasp".

Vulcan's can't go to cold planets or they will die.

Kraken's get goo-goo eyed over communications officers wearing masks.

The story consists of Chekov and Uhura running from bad guys, and Kirk and McCoy trying not to drown.

I cannot even begin to imagine how drunk the authors had to be to envision this as a good story. I also cannot imagine what publisher would have printed this garbage.

The alien race was actually interesting, but could have been fleshed out more. Chekov was the high point: we get into his thoughts as head of security and as a leader. McCoy dukes it out with another doctor, which was entertaining.

But McCoy also turns out to be afraid of water in a childhood flashback, then predictably gets trapped in a cabin filling up with water. That kind of stuff ruins a book for me. Long-lost relatives, "incurable" diseases, and previously-unknown phobias are the refuge of bad writers who can't see the rich characters right in front of them.

Sorry, but I thought that this one was tedious, predictable, and relatively hard to follow. Plus, it just did not impart that "sense of wonder" that characterize the best Star Trek stories. Basically, Chekov, Uhura, and McCoy beam down to a planet which has a strange ecology undergoing an ice age. Just about everything about this planet is unhelpful--the transporter won't work, sensors from the Enterprise don't work, phasers work poorly and some stupid decisions deprive the Landing Party of phasers anyway. Plus, some fairly obvious problems cause most humans to go insane after a brief stay on the planet. All of this is very apparent from the first portion of the novel, and it makes the ending relatively predictable.

This novel was not particularly absorbing, and I was glad when I reached the relatively predictable ending. There are better Star Trek novels out there.

I am a new Star Trek reader, but a seasoned reader of many genres and found this book between very good and excellent. I'm still torn, as I just finished it yesterday.

You get views of McCoy, Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov. Kirk and McCoy are seperated by a different mission than Uhura and Chekov who go off and try and find the missing crewmen. As I'm discovering with L.A. Graf books, there's an affinity to writing about characters who don't get much "screen time" so to speak. The book focuses mainly on Uhura and Chekov's mission and their interaction with the natives whom I found fascinating and three dimensional. The natives are interacting with the crew throughout the book on different levels, not just a "Hey I saw the natives and now they left the story" kind of thing.

Even though McCoy and Kirk have main parts in the book, their story line was more about McCoy and his interactions and discoveries about the mental illness. Kirk played a very small part in the actual story, but I've found this is normal for Graf books.

Uhura and Chekov's mission was probably the better half of the book, though I like Kirk and McCoy a little better. The mission details are in depth and as plausible as possible for this author. It was smooth, even with the changes between the main story lines, and the ending of the Uhura/Chekov was fairly decent.

The wrap up of the whole book was disappointingly unimaginative. It's a pity, but I sort of expected nothing better because the McCoy/Kirk story line was mediocre most of the time and luke warm at best.

It's worth having, especially if you like Chekov, Uhura, or McCoy or are interested in any kind of new species, but not something I'd put on a priority reading list.

If anything, I'm keeping my copy because the cover art is absolutely gorgeous and the best Kirk profile I have seen on a book yet.

This is an excellent addition to the "Star Trek" series of novels; it has plenty of action, plenty of drama, some interesting looks into the characters of Uhura, McCoy, and Chekov, and a good, not TOO horribly unsubtle ecological message at the end. The plot holds together fairly well, and moves very well.

Not necessarily recomended for non-fans, but definitely worthwhile for any fan of the series.

Checkov has been a heroic character in many of Ms. Graf's writings. I find that refreshing, because he is young and the next generation. This novel is good, in the fact that Uhura must keep the group together, because Checkov gets sick, while they search for a missing science team. It is not that great in the fact that the Kirk/McCoy sections were usually tedious to read. Kirk and McCoy were underwater and yet they couldn't be pushed aside for Checkov and co. more interesting plot.

This one really focuses on the 'little people' of star trek. While Kirk and Spock are an intergral part of the plot - the focus lands on Uhura and Chekov in one bad spot and McCoy in another. Good development of character and tension

I enjoyed Ice Trap, and recommend it for fans of the Original Series. Uhura and Chekov share the main storyline, and their adventure on an ice planet is suspenseful and exciting. There is a weaker subplot involving McCoy and Kirk, but still engaging. Especially worthwhile if you want a change of pace from the novels that always feature Kirk and Spock at the forefront.