Customer Reviews

Star Trek: The Original Series: Inception (Star Trek (Unnumbered Paperback))

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

 

 

"Star Trek" novels (and media tie-in novels in general) walk a very fine line when it comes to revisiting familiar elements from their original source material. This can especially be true when it comes to giving the details behind the romantic liaisons of various character that took place off screen but are referenced and alluded to on-screen in various episodes or movies.

To most "Trek" readers, Peter David's "Imzadi" is held up as the gold standard for filling in the details of a previous romance--in this case, giving us the history of Riker and Troi before they met again on the bridge of the starship Enterprise.

Then there's the latest entry in the "Trek" fiction line, "Inception" that wants to give us a bit of insight into the romance between Captain James T. Kirk and Carol Marcus as well as that of Spock and Leila Calomi before the original series begin. A novel that concentrated on one or the other might have worked better, but the usually reliable S.D. Perry and new writer Britta Dennison instead bring both romantic pairings together in such a way that strains the willing suspension of disbelief and, as a whole, drags down the story.

It also doesn't help that most fans know how these things will end and the authors don't offer any new insight or character nuances to help keep the story moving along.

Coming off a bad break-up, Leila joins Carol Marcus' scientific team that is looking to use a revolutionary and controversial element to help terraform part of Mars. A group of protesters seeks to stand in the way of the development, leading to a lot of passages that get bogged down in a debate over the merit of scientific progress and how it's achieved with Kirk offering the Starfleet party line and the group's leader opposing him. The story does try to offer a motivation for the leader, but since he's a relative new comer to the "Trek" universe it's hard to really emphasize as much with him as we might or the authors want us to.

Into all this, we discover that Carol and Kirk are in the midst of their romance and that Leila meets Spock and falls hopelessly in love with him.

What could have been a fascinating exploration of two influential women in the lives of two of the most popular characters in the "Trek" canon instead is nothing more than a lot of relationship angst for pages on end. Carol worries about how to tell Kirk her big news and how he'll react while Leila pines for the emotionally unavailable Spock.

In many ways, the concept behind "Inception" is an interesting one, but as I read the novel I kept thinking it might have worked better as a short story. Weight in at just over 300 pages, the novel is fairly lightweight both in page count and in storyline. The story is a fascinating experiment but one that, unfortunately, comes up short.

Given what I remembered from the Second Star Trek film, that book came as a complete surprise. I hadn't realized that what prompted the Doctor and her son to be who they were in the film, to be the same people as described in several others, and why her son maintains some animosity towards Jim Kirk.

It also stuffs a Photon Torpedo in to the premise behind the book that came out some years ago which contained Carol not realizing she was, like that, and saying good bye to Jim, and the man we know now, just getting started on his first mission out there.

I started reading Star Trek novels with James Blish's "Spock Must Die." Or maybe it was a collection released by Pocketbooks of 5 fan stories. So I have a long history with Trek fiction. "Inception" is the worst I have ever read.

The characters -- for whom I bought the book, to learn more about their past -- are hollow, shadows, not worth caring about. If all we knew of James Kirk and Mister Spock were this story, no one would care if there had been no TV series, no movies, and no books. Carol Marcus has more development than Leila Kalomi (who appears no better than pre-pubescent school girl smitten with puppy love). But "more" in this case, doesn't say much.

The story itself is a propaganda piece for curtailing scientific research and development. Greenpeace, excuse me Redpeace (because of the Martian location) take up way too much space, without making us care about any heroes or villains. There is no suspense in the development. Events just happen. Like Wesley Crusher in TNG and Mr. Spock in the third season, events are set in motion which must be stopped by our valiant Vulcan science officer. Other than to get Carol Marcus pregnant, James Kirk serves no purpose in this story. Their relationship -- the teaser for the book -- is hardly dealt with.

Don't buy this book.

Did I say "Inception" is the worst Star Trek novel I have ever read?

Young doctor Carol Marcus is researching an exciting field that could terraform barren planets and end hunger. But this latest project will take her away from her beau in Starfleet, Jim Kirk. The two are in love, but their career comes first for both of them. Meanwhile, botanist Leila Kalomi meets Starfleet officer Spock, while trying to find direction in her life and decides to join Marcus' team. But there are some that do not want the terraforming research to continue. And those with a grudge may be a danger to the project and the scientists themselves.

Star Trek fans are familiar with the events in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, where we are introduced to Carol Marcus and Jim Kirk's son that he never knew, as well as a project known as Genesis. This story takes us back to the relationship between Carol and Jim and what happened between the two, years before Jim becomes captain of the Enterprise. The authors bring new light to events only hinted at in the movie. Here, we are able to see a moving but fated love story. Though I knew the eventual outcome of the lives of several of the characters, it didn't lessen the intensity or feeling.

Inception is an interesting story of love, loss, ambition, and the impact of scientific advancements. The characters are vivid and their stories poignant. This novel is quite different than others in the various series, but I found it wonderfully written and captivating. The story focuses more on personal interactions and drama than action and adventure, yet I found it very engaging and a quick read.

Somewhat regretfully, I this novel 1 star...

S.D. Perry's novels are some of my favorites (Avatar and Unity are IMO some of the absolute best DS9 novels), and while I found the Terok Nor novels by Perry and Dennison far inferior to Swallow's, they were at least ok..

Inception was.. not

Of course, the notion of a Trek romance novel wasn't that appealing to me in the first place, but I gave it a try anyway. What I found was a paper-thin plot, shallow characterization, and a premise I thought was out of place for TOS.

The notion of corporations, environmental issues etc., felt too "21st century" to me and didn't fit IMO with the feel of the Trek universe (it was just a few years before TOS). Had this premise been presented in the Enterprise era, I might have found it more plausible.

Even with that in mind, the characters felt off to me (except Kirk and Spock, which were secondary at best). I felt as though Perry and Dennison tried to hammer the character's basic motivations too hard, and it all came off stiff and shallow.

The ending of the novel left me with a resounding "what was it all for " feeling... While we know how and where the characters end up, I feel as though there had been an opportunity here to explore these characters beyond the surface - an opportunity I feel had been wasted.

All in all, in my opinion this had been the Twilight of Trek, and certainly the worst Trek novel I read since Engines of Destiny...

I have read many Trek novels and as most Trek lovers know....there's a lot of BAD books out there. However, Inception was not a complete let down. In fact, to the contrary...it's one of the better stories I have read in a long time (granted, the bar is not set very high). It fills in a blank in Trek history that is very believable and interesting. The only beef I have with it is the fact that it delves into the subject rather shallowly and ends quite abruptly, without resolution.
The book was good....it could have been GREAT, had it been done more thoroughly.
A worthwhile read, though.

I'm not sure why this book was written. I could not stop yawning. I kept reading hoping the story would get bettr. It doesn't. One of the worst Star Trek books ever written. The story line was lame and boring. Ok, Boring! That is the word I need. Don't waste your money.

I have read about 2 dozen Star Trek novels, and this is by far the worst of the lot. It is primarily concerned with man/woman relationships, not with a real plot. [Not that relationships are unimportant, but I read science fiction for the imaginative plots; when I want relationships I pick up Jane Austen.] The science fiction elements were almost non-existent, until near the end. It seems like it was written by authors who really don't like science fiction. It could have been condensed to about 100 pages without losing anything important.

This is one of the first Star Trek novels I've read that attempts to treat the culture the original series was made in its proper chronological context. Star Trek TOS was made during the late sixties, an era of women defining themselves in new roles, and men attempting to come to grips (in Kirk's case, literally) with these new professional workplace women. Cultural changes occur in cycles, as Jadzia Dax notes when she is putting on an old style Starfleet uniform ("Trials and Tribble-ations"), "And women wore less".

This novel treats the setting of the sixties that the show was made in as an actual historical era for the 23rd century. I can't emphasize how original this is. If you read a Trek novel written in the eighties, the relations between men and women were written like they were in the eighties. The same for most any Trek novel written for the past three decades. Few of them capture the FEEL of the TV series. It was in the sixties, even though it was in the future. Inception breaks this assumption of anachronistic behavior. This novel treats the 23rd century as if it really was the way it was portrayed on Star Trek TOS. What a concept! No historical revisionism necessary.

The book is largely from the perspective of Leila Kalomi and Doctor Carol Markus. We also get insights on what is going on in Kirk's head when he's dealing with women (a bit less sophomoric than Chris Pine's rendition). And there are 'Redpeace' environmentalists who want to sabotage Marcus' pre-Genesis experiments on Mars. Eventually, Kirk and Spock have to come to the rescue of their brainy ladies, just like on the old TV show. The only reason I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that this novel is not a direct connection to Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. The authors leave themselves just a bit of wiggle room for a sequel, so that may be the closure fans want (if they are connecting the dots), but maybe not such a bad thing after all.

Oh, and I love the 'age degression' of Bibi Besch to her twenties on the book cover. I wish Pocket Books would credit their artists, why keep them anonymous? This novel didn't have any grand pretenses of saving the universe, it was a small personal story of people's lives and how they are trying to connect.

In brief, I really just didn't care for this book. Kirk, Carol and Spock all seem out of character - treading some line between a book set in the rebooted TOS universe or in the regular one. As well, he plot just doesn't inspire much. It's not even engaging as a romance/relationship story as that aspect of the book feels flat. I got about 3/4 of the way through it before I had to set it down out of boredom. It's a shame as S.D. Perry's previous Trek work has been great.