Star Trek: Best Destiny [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

James Doohan (Adapter), Diane Carey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1992

As James T. Kirk prepares to retire from a long and illustrious Starfleet career, events in a distant part of the Federation draw him back to a part of the galaxy he had last visited as a young man, a mysterious world called Faramond whose name takes Kirk on a journey back to his youth.

At sixteen, Kirk is troubled, estranged from his father, and has a bleak future. However, a trip into space with Kirk's father George and Starfleet legend Captain Robert April changes James Kirk's life forever, when a simple voyage becomes a deadly trap. Soon Kirk and his father find themselves fighting for their lives against a vicious and powerful enemy.

Before the voyage ends, father and son will face life and death together, and James T. Kirk will get a glimpse of the future and his own "best destiny.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

As James T. Kirk prepares to retire from a long and illustrious Starfleet career, events in a distant part of the Federation draw him back to a part of the galaxy he had last visited as a young man, a mysterious world called Faramond whose name takes Kirk on a journey back to his youth.

At sixteen, Kirk is troubled, estranged from his father, and has a bleak future. However, a trip into space with Kirk's father George and Starfleet legend Captain Robert April changes James Kirk's life forever, when a simple voyage becomes a deadly trap. Soon Kirk and his father find themselves fighting for their lives against a vicious and powerful enemy.

Before the voyage ends, father and son will face life and death together, and James T. Kirk will get a glimpse of the future and his own best destiny.

About the Author

Diane Carey is the author of the bestselling INVASION!:FIRST STRIKE and numerous other Star Trek novels including episode tie-ins from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, amongst them THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR, TRIALS AND TRIBBLEATIONS and WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND (all DS9), both DS9 volumes of the bestselling DOMINION WAR quartet, EQUINOX and ENDGAME (both Voyager).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audioworks; Adaption edition (November 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671791036
• ISBN-13: 978-0671791032
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,686,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Books on Cassette > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good Star Trek novel, June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Best Destiny (Star Trek) (Paperback)

Best Destiny is a very good Star Trek novel. Apart from a continuity error (Forty-five years earlier USS Enterprise 1701-A) should read (USS Enterprise 1701). Best Destiny was an excellently crafted novel and sequel to Diane Carey's "Final Frontier". Not to be confused with the sub-standard fifth Star Trek Movie.

This novel begs a movie (starring David Caruso and Jeremy Irons perhaps ) as Commander George Samuel Kirk and Captain Robert April. The Red headed, hot tempered Star-fleet Security officer and his laid back avuncular English captain's second secret mission together on the original USS Enterprise.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The First Journey of Kirk From Rebel to Hero, May 12, 2009

By 

tvtv3 "tvtv3" (Sorento, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Star Trek - Best Destiny (Hardcover)

STAR TREK: BEST DESTINY is a book that both a prequel and a sequel. The book actually begins not long after the events of STAR TREK: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. Capt. Kirk and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise have been ordered to return to Earth for the decommissioning of the ship. Along the way, the Enterprise receives a distress call from near the barren planet of Faramond. The message reminds Kirk of his first real voyage in space after having returned and lived on Earth for several years. The book then rewinds to that earlier time nearly forty-five years before. The events from that period are connected to what is happening at Faramond in the present.

Jimmy Kirk is a troublesome teenager. He's extremely intelligent and bright, but has a deep resentment towards his father for leaving all the time to travel in space. After being taken into custody aboard a sea vessel while running away from home, George Kirk is convince by his wife to take Jimmy with him into space. At first George is opposed to the idea, but comes to see the wisdom in his wife's suggestion. Under George's guardianship with the approval of his commander, Capt. Robert April, George brings Jimmy into space and aboard the starship Enterprise. The ship hasn't even been commissioned yet and has only traveled out on one test run. Capt. April is convinced that the voyage on what is to be the Federation's command ship is just what Jimmy needs to turn his life around. George and Capt. April take Jimmy with them aboard a shuttle to examine a peculiar astronomical phenomena. This short jaunt isn't meant to be a very long journey and the small craft is supposed to meet back with the Enterprise at Faramond several hours later. While examining the strange star, the shuttle is attacked by rogue space pirates and left semi-disabled. With the Enterprise unable to return for hours it's up to George, Capt. April, Jimmy, and the other members of the crew to figure out a way to distract the pirates and buy themselves some time.

I must confess that until rather recently, I was never a huge fan of the original Star Trek. I was always more of a Star Wars guy. However, I did become interested in the Star Trek universe when I started watching some episodes of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION while in high school and my interest in the Star Trek universe has grown ever since then. Overall, I found STAR TREK: BEST DESTINY to be a very enjoyable novel. A reader only needs a basic understanding of the characters of Star Trek to enjoy the book. The book was originally released shortly after STAR TREK: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, so if a person has seen that movie it would probably suffice. Unlike some other Star Trek novels I have skimmed before, BEST DESTINY does an excellent job of explaining what little technobabble there is (since this is Jim Kirk's first adventure in space, everything has to be explained to him). At the same time, even though all a person needs is a basic understanding of the characters, there are all kinds of information in the book that major fans of the Star Trek universe will find particularly interesting. Overall, an entertaining Star Trek novel that would stand as a good story even if it wasn't set in the Star Trek universe.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Portrait of the Captain as a Young Man, July 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Best Destiny (Star Trek) (Paperback)

One of the "prequels" to the Star Trek universe created by Gene Roddenberry, Diane Carey's BEST DESTINY introduces the reader to the Enterprise at her birth. Commanded by Robert April, the Enterprise is on her "test-run". April's security officer, George Kirk, brings along his troubled son, Jimmy, for the ride.

STAR TREK fans will enjoy experiencing the first voyage of this famous ship, at this time still a carefully-guarded military secret without identifying insignia. The "mission" to Faramond is intended to be a short run to test the engines, but when the Kirks take a shuttlecraft to study a cosmic phenomenon, a run-in with space pirates begins young Jim Kirk's first adventure in space.

Also of interest is the look into Kirk's past. The story is told in flashback, as a late-career Kirk reflects on his wild adolescence and the single event that changed his life and set his destiny in the stars. For those less technically-inclined, basic STAR TREK physics (such as inertial dampers) are explained from the viewpoint of young Jimmy (read: lay terminology!)

A definite recommendation for Trekkers, Trekkies, and those who just wish they were!

Heather Foutz