Customer Reviews

STAR TREK PROBE (Star Trek: The Original Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This story is a continuation of ST:IV (yes, that 'save the whales' ST movie) It deals with Romulans in the way ST:VI dealt with Klingons, in that a peace treaty is being entertained. Altho ST:Nemesus was a story of peace with Romulan Empire, this novel was written before Nemesis.

Novel starts off interestingly, but soon becomes droll. No ship battles, it focuses on a change in the Romulan govt and the struggles of a few Romulan chars, plus 1 human. It is a peek of life behind the 'Iron curtain' of Romulus. An archeological team of Humans/Romulans finds an old civilization on one of the planets in the Romulan Empire. There is internal conflict of serving in Romulan Empire, a Centurion character twist was surprising.

Pros: I like the Alien vessel and we get to visit it's homeworld, learn a little of it's background. Nice job there.

Cons: Story just -drags- out, it does have a conclusion but I wasn't compelled to pour thru the book like I've done with exciting novels, in otherwords, I finished it for the sake of finishing reading it...

This book is a good, solid read consistent with the look and feel of Star Trek, but devout followers of Margaret Wander Bonanno may be interested to know that this book was vastly changed from her original vision, and the changes published without her oversight or permission. Bonanno has a tradition of dragging her characters through absolute torture and mental gymnastics, and this published book did not make me cry. Her original novel, once I tracked it down, did wring out tears.

(For those wishing to read her original novel, she has it up on her website.)

This was the very first Trek novel I'd read and what a wonderful one to choose. Probe is the follow up on Star Trek IV The Voyage Home. The author spins an absolutely great tale as to where the Probe went after it left earth. Unfortunately it went into Romulan space and of course the Enterprise is sent to follow up on it. This is a great book for Star Trek fans and those who do not necessarily keep up with trek. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to find out what happened after the Probe left earth. The author has been absent from the Trek universe for quite some time. As I understand it, she has one coming out early next year though. Thank you to author for a great read.

The first 3rd of the book is just busy work as the Romulans and Federation prepare to meet for a peace conference. It isn't very interesting, for example, to read about Uhura going to ask a archeologist to join the mission.

The main body of the story is interesting but manages to side-step the issue of what the probe's true intent was. An "intent" is given but we never learn why the creators of this probe are so interested in it's study.

A minor annoyance to me was how many times Spock says "Doctor" in the story. He says "yes doctor" about 3,000 times I think.

The relationships between Kirk and Hiran are interesting and it would have been better if more of the story had centered on that and what Hiran's true feelings and goals were. I found him an interesting character and would have liked to have him delved into more.

Ex Machina is a much better post-movie Trek novel. This one is ok, with valid characterization and a satisfactory story but it lacks something in the end.

This is an interesting book that doesn't totally live up to it's potential. I liked it, but had a problem with how the probe was handeled, but then had to be a bit of a difficult task to put personallity and purpose into a non sentient probe. Not a bad book, but could have been a lot better

In the fourth Star Trek film, the earth was menaced by a powerful, apparently benevolent yet unwittingly destructive probe. We never find out that much about the probe, except for its interest in whales as the dominant life forms of earth. In this sequel, the probe makes another appearance, this time upsetting relations between the peace loving federation and the Romulan empire. The crew of the Enterprise is sent to investigate, roughly cooperating with the never trustworthy Romulans. In the course of the story, the crew learns much about the probe and its interest in sentient and aquatic life forms.

From a weak premise (built on another story), Margaret Wander Bonanno (I love that name) spins a fun story. The charahcters are good (including the Romulans who could just as easily be dismissed as sly villains) and the prose are crisp. But most of all is the probe which the author cleverly conceals in mystery even as she reveals it. A good read for non-Trekkers as well.

"Star Trek Probe" is a compelling novel that explains the truth behind the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Earth in Star Trek IV. As the Enterprise-A and her crew are en route to the Neutral Zone to host a peace conference, they receive a message from Starfleet informing them that the probe has entered Romulan space and is out of range of their sensors. The Enterprise is instructed to relay this message to the Romulan govenment, advising them not to interfere with it, for it is extremely powerful. The Romulans insist that the probe is simply a hoax, and pay no attention to the warning at all. Only after an archeological team discovers something that seems quite fam- iliar, do the Romulans begin to listen, sending the Enterprise on a wild goose chase with the probe itself, to find some answers. For a Trekkie like myself, this is a great book. Unfortunately, it doesn't have as much adventure and thrills as the movies have, and well, the characters are missing some traits that make them who they are in the movies. However, I was so anxious to find out where that probe came from, it didn't matter to me. All in all, most anybody would like this book. Trekkie or not, I recommend it to you.

I liked this book and thought that, there should have been follow up stories about the
romulan. (another seperate novel)
solid read

Not the greatest book I have ever read but I found it highly entertaining. It was nice to read about the Probe's point of view. Gotta love those Romulans! I will read any Star Trek novel with Rumulans... can anyone suggest me any good ones?

A great piece of literature, and a book I would suggest to anyone interested in Star Trek, especially TOS (The Original Series) fans. The only part that I didn't care for so much was the way the Oceanic Space Whales just "disappeared" I know that sometimes people/species and things just vanish.. but it would have been good to know more about what happened to them.