Customer Reviews

Star Trek Giant 3: Final Frontier Pb (Star Trek Giant Novel)

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

 

 

Diane Carey's "Final Frontier" has to be a must read for any fan of the original series. It tells the first story of the Enterprise before it acquired it's legendary name. Under the captaincy of Robert April; George Kirk (Jim's father) embarks on the test run of the infamous ship. The adversary in this one is the Romulans. We get a glimpse of their uncompromising world of political treachery within their own ranks. This one is everything the new prequel series should be. Alive with interesting characters that act like real humans; unlike some of the Starfleet members we've seen on TV in the show Voyager. If there is any book that needs a reprinting it's this one.

This book was very well written. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down till I read the whole thing. It was interesting to go back and forth from the past and future. I liked 'Final Frontier' alot.

This book tells the reader where STARTREK begins, with the construction of a new class of starship, Captain Robert April(some may remember him from the STARTREK cartoon) drafts his old friend Cmdr. George Kirk. After sabatoge by Romulan spies poising as crewmembers and accident sends the starship through space into the Romulan Empire. Only due to the fact of Romulan paranoia and the famous "Kirk" luck does the starship escape. This novels also tells us why the Romulans develope cloaking technology when James T. Kirk encounters Roumulans in the future. This novel will hold you to the end leaving you wishing for more. P.S. If anyone knows of a copy I would love to get one of my own, I had to borrow a friends. Enjoy it if you can find it.

In "The City on the Edge of Forever", onee of the best-loved original Star Trek episodes, Spock and Capt. Kirk have to prevent a drug-crazed Dr. McCoy from saving a woman from being struck by a car in 1930's Earth---a woman Kirk ends up falling in love with. This novel begins by picking up where that episode leaves off.

Kirk, now seriously debating whether or not he should resign his Starfleet commission, takes shore leave on Earth where he manages to take comfort in letters from his father, Commander George Samuel Kirk Sr.

But these letters are more than just conversations between father and son. They contain clues to the mystery of one of Starfleet's most highly classified first contact missions that went horribly wrong...and at the same time made the Enterprise truly worthy of her name, twenty-five years before Kirk would assume command.

I gave this book four stars because it isn't the easiest Star Trek read in the world, since you have to wade through a lot of "background" or "historical" information to get to some of its most important points, but it is very well written; I enjoy it mostly for the great amount lot of insight given to the character of Jim's father, and what the Enterprise might have been like as an unmarked, unregistered, completely brand new Starfleet prototype. I have only one negative: George Kirk's befriending of the Romulan Field Primus t'Cael adds good drama, but it doesn't quite gel with the idea that eventually the Romulans and the Federation would go to war, which would lead to the creation of the Neutral Zone (see classic episode "Balance of Terror"), but it's still a good book.

This book is the prequel to the Star Trek saga, the career of James Tiberius Kirk, Star Fleet, the United Federation of Planets as it existed in the original series, the battles with the Romulans and the magnificent starship known as the Enterprise. James Kirk is on shore leave in Iowa and questioning whether he should go back into space. He is reading some letters written to him by his father George Kirk, who was a military man in space. Those letters express regret for not spending enough time with Jimmy and his brother and it appears that George may be about to give up the life of the space adventurer.

The story then moves to the adventures of George Kirk. A ship has become disabled and given the distance and the ion storms in the area, there seems to be no hope of rescue. However, the Federation has been working on a new class of ships, the mighty starship, and the prototype is ready for action. Kirk and his friend Drake are kidnapped and taken aboard the new and unnamed ship. The current captain is Robert April, a good man but probably not an effective prototype for a star ship captain.

The new ship moves out and immediately fails. Kirk is suspicious and suspects sabotage. Suddenly the warp drive malfunctions and they find themselves in the middle of Romulan space very close to the Romulan home world. There is a Romulan ship nearby but it is rife with political infighting. A dictatorship led by the Praetor has taken control and the Romulans are about to launch an invasion of Federation space. This is after the Romulan-human wars mentioned in the episode "Balance of Terror" so it appears that a new interstellar war is about to break out.

The task of the star ship is to somehow extricate itself from the dilemma and prevent the new war. Fortunately, Kirk is able to "capture" the Romulan commander, a man with beliefs similar to those of the Mark Lenard character in "Balance of Terror." While he will do his duty to the Empire, he has no desire for war. Within those bounds, he helps the crew of the star ship defeat the Romulan forces and trick them into believing that the Federation has cloaking technology and is ready to crush the Romulan forces ready to invade Federation space. The trick is very similar to that used by James Kirk in the episode, "The Deadly Years."

This is an excellent story, Carey provides believable prequels to many plot devices that we encounter in later episodes. Unfortunately, we never do learn why James Kirk was given the middle name "Tiberius."

Mrs/Ms. Carey has done it again,produced yet another great novel involving the Star Trek universe.The story itself is outstanding,along with the detail given to it,it is one of the greatest I have read.There was only one let-down and one problem in the story.The let-down was that I didn't get to know what "Tiberius" meant,and the problem was when George Kirk thought of the name Enterprise for the new starship,I thought that was kind of going overboard with it.But still,it showed how two rival forces can come together and fight against the corruption of a race(in this particular case,the Romulans).This is a must read!

Final Frontier is one of the better Star Trek novels that I've read. It's a shame that it wasn't consulted more closely when the newer Star Trek television series were written, as it closes a few loopholes in the Star Trek chronology (and probably opens a few others). Nevertheless, this is worthwhile reading. My only complaint is that some of the major events near the end of the book perhaps don't get the detailed descriptions that they deserve, which is a little disappointing, since if they had been fleshed out more, this title would have truly been deserving of a movie production.

When James T. Kirk entered Star Fleet he was following in his father's footsteps. George Kirk had served on a space station in the early days of the Federation, an assignment that put a strain on his marriage and caused him to be away from his sons most of the time. He kept in contact with them through letters, letters that his youngest son kept. When Jim Kirk was re-evaluating his life and the price of a career in Star Fleet he returned to his family home in Iowa and re-read those letters to decide if the price was too high.

FINAL FRONTIER switches between two story lines, James Kirk's visit to Iowa occurs shortly after the events of 'The City on the Edge of Forever', Kirk is depressed at the loss of Edith Keeler. He is seeking the advice of his father through the letters George had written the boys 25 years ealier. The second story line is about George's life at the time he wrote those letters while on a classified mission abroad the ship that would become Enterprise.

For avid fans of the series this is a treasure trove of background information about the Kirk family and the beginnings of Star Fleet. For more casual fans though it is not as interesting since there is very little real action for the more familiar characters of (James) Kirk, McCoy and Spock. Carey does handle the characters well, and is respectful of the 'canon' laid down by the original TV shows.

Commander George Samuel Kirk becomes involved in the lauching of a new spaceship the "Enterprise".

In this prequel to the original Star Trek series, the epic story of the first mission of the Enterprise is told in a giant sized Star Trek novel.

A Star Trek novel from the fringes of the Star Trek universe.

Awful audio adaptation of what was probably a better book. A good idea concerning the life of Captain Kirk's father is abridged so much that the plot breaks down. It winds up being just a straight line story with very few plot twists worth mentioning. James Doohan's voice talents are wasted on an exceedingly short presentation.