One Small Step [Import] [Unbound]

Susan Wright (Author)

Product Details

• Unbound
• Publisher: Pocket Books (August 2001)
• ISBN-10: 074341859X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743418591
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Susan Wright is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction books on art and popular culture. New York City is her home, where she lives with her husband Kelly Beaton. After graduating from Arizona State University in 1986, Susan moved to Manhattan to get her masters from New York University. Susan is the founder and spokseperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, a national organization committed to protecting freedom of sexual expression among consenting adults.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One small step into a seven part series, April 14, 2002

By 

Alice L. Moore (midlothian, va United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gateways #1: One Small Step (Star Trek) (Mass Market Paperback)

This novel is based on the Original Series episode which had Lee Merriwhether as the guest star. To briefly recap the story: The Enterprise crew discovers a long deserted planetoid/space station. A landing party explores. The group runs into a holographic projection of a beautiful woman that is able to kill with a touch. Capt. Kirk and company find a solution. The computer projection is a relic of a long lost civiliztion. They were the Kaladans.
"One Small Step" picks up where this installment ended. The Enterprise crew members are doing clean up operations. While exploring, the Enterprise is attacked by Klingons. They are almost defeated and destroyed by them. At the last minute they are saved by a small ship, coming out of nowhere, that blows the Klingon vessel to smithereens. The saviors claim to be the descendants of the Kaladans. Kirk is skeptical of this assertion.
What was best about the novel? The author did not depart from the characterizations of the first series. It's very annoying when a writer tries to make Spock fall in love or have Captain Kirk not pay attention to the ladies. This is not done. The plot had the linear progression that is expected of Star Trek novels. The ending had a believable cliffhanger.
What did I like least about the novel? There is a trend in Trek writing to have novels chopped up into as many as six different books. In many cases two novels could be combined as one. Gateways is the latest series to be chopped up into sequels. This is a rip off. The author did depart in one sense from the Original Series. It seemed the Enterprise Crew were viewing the Klingons with Next Generation sensibilities. In the Original Series they probably would have been estatic that someone saved them from being target practice. Instead they are puzzled and a little contrite. They hadn't yet given Kahless a second look. As far as Jim Kirk was concerned, Kahless was another Genghis Khan.
I was able to finish the book within the week. There's nothing I hate worse than reading in a ST novel, the aliens are going to take over the universe, but due to plodding prose and silly tangents, you really don't care. You don't mind getting back to it the next year.
A key reason "One Small Step" doesn't get a lot of stars is that this is not a stand alone novel. You will have to shell out more money for part 2 or hope your public library has it. Overall, this was an OK read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre as the genre goes., December 18, 2001

By 

James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gateways #1: One Small Step (Star Trek) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a tolerably well-written book; contrary to at least one of the other reviewers here, I feel that the author did a fine job of portraying the established characters, and the story fit well as a continuation of the original series episode, "That Which Survives". Also, the new race, the Petraw, seem plausible and moderately interesting, kind of a cross between the Ferrengi and Harry Mudd. (Although I must say, I found the motivations for the "deviant" member of the alien crew a bit opaque, and since the actions of that character have a very major effect on the plot, that's a rather large caveat.) Also, as has been mentioned by other reviewers, this story was somewhat lacking in action; not as much as has been suggested elsewhere, but enough that if you read Star Trek for the fast action and gripping adventure, you're likely to be disappointed.

But the real flaw in this book (and the reason I gave it 3 rather than 4 stars) is that it has no satisfactory ending; it is simply "Book 1" of a series, and cannot stand on its own. The "Section 31" series demonstrated that that is not a neccessary flaw in a series; "Cloak", at least, (the only one of that series that I've yet read) is a complete story in and of itself, in spite of being part of a series. That is the way a series SHOULD be put together; it is dishonest to write a story that has no ending, simply to attempt to bully the reader into buying the next book in the series. If the writing is good, the reader will do so without that gimmick, and if it isn't, the gimmick won't help.

If you like Star Trek, and are willing to put up with having to follow the story line into the next book (and the five after that one, probably) there's no reason not to get this book. If you don't or aren't, there's no reason to do so.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre at Best, July 30, 2001

By 

Jacqueline Bundy (Calabasas, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gateways #1: One Small Step (Star Trek) (Mass Market Paperback)

Set immediately after the TOS episode "That Which Survives" the story starts off with the return of the Enterprise from where the Kalandan technology has flung the Starship and the defeat of the deadly Losira replica. Unfortunately when the landing party attempts to beam back up to the Enterprise they are unable to as the transporter biofilters detect a deadly and highly contagious virus. The same virus that decimated the Kalandan colony that once inhabited the engineered planetoid. Stranded on the planet until a cure is found, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Sulu decide to put the time to good use and explore the base of what was obviously a technologically advanced society.

Meanwhile the huge power surge given off by the planet when its defenses were activated has attracted the attention of both a Klingon Captain spoiling for a fight and a scout ship from a previously unknown alien race, the Petraw. The Petraw are a race that seemingly attain their technology by tricking others out of theirs. They are able to intercept and decode all messages that they intercept and gain the knowledge they need to plan a strategy that allows them to obtain covertly any technology and information they think will be useful to their race. In this case, the detection by the Petraw's ships sensors of the power surge leads then to intercept the messages sent by Kirk to Starfleet command and his report of the advanced and powerful technology they have stumbled upon.

Sufficiently intrigued by the possible opportunities the alien planetoid might hold, the Petraw leader Tasm plans her teams tactics and decides the best way to obtain access to the technology on the planet is to impersonate the decedents of the Kalandans and claim the base and technology herself. To this end the Petraw surgically alter themselves to appear as much like the Kalandans as possible. They successfully synthesis a cure for the virus to offer to the Enterprise crew and time their arrival at the planet to aid the Enterprise which has come under attack from the Klingon ship.

Kirk is skeptical of Tasm's claims but decides to cooperate to a point with the 'Kalandans'. Under orders to learn all he can about the interstellar transporter, this allows the Enterprise crew to continue to investigate the alien technology but also enables the Petraw to realize that within the base lies a Gateway that will bring unimaginable power to whomever learns its secrets. A technology they are as determined to obtain as Kirk is resolved to keep out of anyone else's hands. Working together the two crews are able to reactive the portal which brings matters to a climax. The story ends in a cliffhanger of sorts as the Petraw's plans suddenly go awry.

"One Small Step" was a disappoinment to me. I had two main problems with the book. The first and most important to me were the characterizations of established characters. I did not like the way the author portrayed the TOS crew. This is highly subjective I know, everyone who reads the books envisions the characters their own way. But for me Susan Wright just didn't acurately portray the TOS characters. It was if she didn't really know the characters she was writing. I did however like the Petraw crew. I thought the race was very interesting indeed and those characters pretty well done.

The other major problem I had with the story was that it was downright tedious at times. I got tired of reading about Spock or Scotty or one of the Petraw tracing filaments etc. I was hoping for a little more action. The plot was very slow. Every time the story began to pick up it seemed to suddenly drop off again. Perhaps I've been spoilt by the quality of other recent Star Trek novels but "One Small Step" is a book I would call mediocre at best.