Customer Reviews

Star Trek: Enterprise: Shockwave

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

 

 

This is a wonderful story, one of the best of the "Enterprise" series to date. Unfortunately, the novelization was given to someone who is a rather sloppy writer, and the editing failed to catch his numerous atrocities committed on the English language. This isn't Diane Carey, trying to be clever; her assaults on the language are more egregious, but at least have the excuse of being an attempt at creativity. This is simply someone who will write "...before the yelling got so out of hand that they ending the gathering in disgust." or who will use "pouring" rather than "poring" when talking about reading books, or "annunciating" each word (rather than "enunciating") or "Archer watched as the collection of...parts began beginning to take shape..." or "hundred of years ago" rather than "hundreds" or "heading in the opposite direction as Reed" rather than "from Reed" or "as Reed had". This is just scratching the surface; there are errors like this on about every fifth page on average.

If you're someone who doesn't notice stuff like this, and thinks I'm being overly picky to dwell on it, then you'll find much to enjoy in this book; the plot is enjoyable, and the pacing and such are excellent. But if, like me, you cringe when reading something by an allegedly professional writer that would have numerous red marks if it were handed in as a seventh grade project, steer clear of it.

Early in this novel an away team from the Enterprise enters the atmosphere of an alien planet in a shuttlecraft, and from there events seem to spin out of control, as the Enterprise crew is accused of possible negligence in the loss of thousands of lives. Most of this book involves the Enterprise crew trying to find out the details of what happened and vindicate themselves. The Vulcans still largely believe that Terrans should not be exploring interstellar space as they view earth as not ready for the challenges it presents. The plot has it's complications as beings able to travel from the future to the past provide many twists. I can say here that I did enjoy this novel, although it was not one of my favorite Star Trek adventures. This work by Paul Ruditis is the novelization of the final episode for season one and the first episode of season two for Star Trek: Enterprise, overall well worth reading for any Star Trek fan, and others who like science fiction.

Enterprise's first cliff hanger came at the end of Season 1 in the form of 'Shockwave', then was resolved in Season 2's premier of 'Shockwave Part II'. Both episodes are captured in book form by author Paul Ruditis.

Ruditis goes a step further by getting the reader caught up on the major happenings of Season 1. During the narrative of the 2 Shockwave episodes, Ruditis flashes us back to the events of the 'Temporal Cold War' and previous Suliban encounters. Again this is well written and helps you catch up on the key events of Season 1. Its a quick easy read and provides more detail than is possible on television.

If you are just now jumping into 'Enterprise' with Season 2, this novel and the novel of the series premier episode "Broken Bow" will be just about all you need to catch up.

The first season cliffhanger ends on an exciting note as the Enterprise crew is accused of accidentally destroying a civilization they were meant to study and are recalled back to Earth. But it turns out that their mission of exploration was sabotaged by the Suliban faction known as the Cabal. Captain Archer must once again do battle again with his old nemesis...the Suliban warrior Silik. Then he gets trapped in the 31st century with agent Daniels. How will Capt. Archer get back to the 22nd century and save Enterprise and his crew from the evil Suliban? Read the book and find out!

There are two reasons to read the novelization of a filmed work. First, it often includes scenes that were edited from the original for reasons of length. Second, it often presents the internal dialogue of characters. Both reasons add depth and explanation to the film work. This novelization does neither of these things. It presents in almost exact detail the two-part film version. It is filled out with flaskbacks to earlier shows in season 1, presumably by way of explanation for those who would buy the book without having seen the shows. In short, save your money and download the film version off the internet. There is nothing new here.

Very good story about Trip in a way we've never seen on the TV show. Enjoyed reading about him, but didn't like the way the book left everything up in the air.

A wonderful book that tells of the first time time travel was taken place in Star Trek. Jonathan Archer is thrusted into the future to prevent the destruction of mankind and the Federation as well as the prevention of the devestations of the Temperal Cold War. Although the book is like the episodes its based on in Season One, the book is well worth the adventure.