Customer Reviews

Star Trek: The Original Series: Vulcan's Soul #1: Exodus (Star Trek Vulcan's Soul) (v. 1)

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

 

 

Kicking off a trilogy of novels, Vulcan's Soul: Exodus documents a new conflict in the post-Dominion War years between the Romulans and a mysterious species called the Watraii. At the same time, it delves into the past to tell about an exodus of Vulcans from the war-torn planet during the time of Surak.

On the whole, the novel was a pleasant diversion, but acted more as a teaser for the next two books telling two separate stories instead of really standing on its own. Right off the top, something felt odd. I couldn't really put my finger on it. It might have been expectations, but then again I can't say that I really had any. All I had known beforehand was that it involved some new race attacking the Romulans, so I was got increasingly confused by the amount of time was spent in Vulcan's past.

It got to the point that it started to overshadow the present day story and of the two, I preferred the more modern story. I started to figure that this Exodus either became the Watraii or the Romulans, although if it were the latter, it wasn't at all as I had imagined or thought had been established about how they left. Something tells me this was some previously unknown and earlier migration of Vulcans into space.

The most developed character ends up being Karatek, the Vulcan scientist in the past who takes in Surak as a guest and ends up getting way more than he bargained for. He hardens up during his ordeal going through the Forge and will only be tested with his new mission. No one else really gets as much attention, although Spock and Saavik are at the center of the 24th century storyline. Other characters from Sherman/Schwartz novels also appear and we get some nice updates about what they're doing. The use of Chekov is dubious. Of the original crew, he was certainly the youngest, but I also wish they'd just let the whole TOS bunch fade away instead of dragging them out and dusting them off for one more adventure. The needless jokes referencing "nuclear wessels" were just groan-inducing.

There are however several little details that do work well, especially the opening setting of a hidden meeting place deep in the Neutral Zone where the super-powers can get together. That is a place that I really hope gets used again in a future novel. The amassing of Saavik's fleet and its confrontation with the Watraii was decent. More about the other Federation starships would be nice. It did seem that several Starfleet vessels were willing to go against orders at the drop of a hat. Rebellion against orders is pretty run-of-the-mill anymore, so maybe it's just as well that they didn't go too indepth about it anyway.

Other things don't work so well. The plot relies on a couple of contrivances that just didn't feel necessary, such as a memorial service being interrupted by a broadcast of a Watraii attack that never really established who sent it or how. I was also a bit bewildered at how Saavik's fleet just happened upon the Watraii fleet in the middle of nowhere. I think a few more scenes, especially in the 24th century storyline, could have avoided those contrivances and only added more weight to the novel.

The book ends on a cliffhanger that didn't ring true. I really couldn't believe that Spock would proclaim someone dead on so little evidence. I really don't get much of a sense of how the Vulcan's Soul trilogy will all play out with Exodus. I hear that this trilogy will also get into the origins of the Remans, but at this point I'm not seeing it (or why it didn't play more into all the Romulan stories post-Nemesis). This is a light and entertaining first entry. Here's hoping the next installment gives us more depth.

So here's a review from someone who enjoys Star Trek (and its fanfiction) in occasional dives into an engaging set of characters and challenges rather than in a deep and thorough knowledge of the Star Trek universe.

1. I had no idea to expect the book, allegedly about Spock, to be set so far forward in the Star Trek timeline. The apparent absence of Kirk, and the only transitory mentions of a few minor, and now distant characters (Uhura, Picard, McCoy) did not quite satisfy. One of my favorite parts of the Star Trek universe is the wonderful interactions and family feelings of the assorted Enterprise crews. Don't enter this book expecting that.

2. I expected a book about a Romulan war needing some sort of urgent, covert assistance. The book begins with a half hour meeting in which nothing happens as Spock gets called away unexpectedly. There is much musing on deep philosophy and race interactions. This is followed by a prolonged flashback into ancient Vulcan history, at which point we realize that one of the primary characters (and plots) is going to be the memory of a Vulcan long since deceased.

3. Over an hour into the book I was still unclear what the plot was, who the main character was, what the problem was, or why I should care. Vulcan personalities make for wonderfully intriguing alien viewpoints and interactions, but only when they're not allowed to keep to themselves. Vulcans interacting primarily with Vulcans are boring. The Vulcans of the past (a more emotional lot) are interesting, and may make the book worth reading, but were certainly not what I entered the book expecting to read about.

In sum: This book may be most enjoyable for people who enter wanting to read an author's musing about Vulcan's past, interstellar culture, ambassadorship, etc, and for people who do not expect a story more in the common spirit of the Star Trek tv show.

Thumbs down. Don't buy this one. What I want to know is "Where are the editors on this? Weren't they doing their jobs?" This collective work doesn't hold a candle to that of A.C. Crispin or Diane Duane. Besides being dull and boring, here's why I didn't care for this:

* Whoever wrote the "Memory" chapters about the Vulcan sundering and the founding of the Romulan Star Empire has a terrible writing style. The sentence structure was complex and cumbersome and littered with too many adverbs. What the author was trying to say in instances was hard to fathom even after re-reading passages several times.
* The plot for the "present day" part was thin and predictable. The storyline was not helped by all the cameo appearances of various Star Trek characters; they were an annoyance. The details concerning "present day" characters on Romulus has me scratching my head; what is the relevance? Is there another sequel coming?
* After re-reading the first chapter of "Exodus" after completing the entire 3 volume work, I still can't understand the intent or the necessity of this chapter. In addition, there were characters introduced here (this chapter) in detail who played no role in the rest of the novels. What a waste of my time to try and decode!
* The scene selection and the detail in which they were presented in the "Memory" chapters is questionable. There was material presented, although somewhat interesting, that added little value to the story line. The reason for Karatek's (and his family's) exile to Remus was more tell than show. Why wasn't this developed more fully?
* Some of the books used regular dates; the middle book used star dates. Confusing.
* I think those who follow Star Trek understand that this is basically fantasy. However, there is still a certain amount of fundamental physics that you need to get right. When you have an explosion in deep space (i.e., vacuum), you can't have a shock wave because a traditional shock wave can only be propagated with continuous media like an atmosphere or an ocean. But, you can have ejecta!

There are more faults that I could find with this work. Do yourself a favor and read something by Timothy Zahn or Tom Clancy.

I'm never disappointed with these ladies work. I really enjoyed the sections with Surak and his struggle while in the ever so near death Vulcan planet and the story of those few that would travel into the stars to try to start new... and then become their Romulan brothers (cousins) as I've come to "logically conclude".

Before the Romulans became who they are they were Vulcans living on a war torn and diseased Vulcan. This book takes you through the background of why these people left Vulcan, the various factions who left together, and an important instrument to be used by the Exile's leader to record the history. This book is great and the whole series is really good. You'll not be disappointed at all.

Unfortunately, while the actual writing itself is reasonably well-done, the pacing is a bit off and the plot is a bit disjointed. The attempts to blend the two halves of the story, the flashbacks to Surak's time and the "current" Star Trek story, fail pretty thoroughly. There is very little feel of connection between the two. Further, the authors make use of the very common but no less unacceptable device of writing a story in multiple installments none of which constitute an even marginally complete story in themselves, so the book ends on a cliffhanger. (Two cliffhangers, actually, one for each half of the story.) This was, perhaps, acceptable in 1950s movie serials, but is no way to write a novel.

This was easily one of my favorite books. It jumped back & forth between the "past" (in the days of Surak, the father of Vulcan enlightenment).. telling the story of how the Romulans broke away from the Vulcans.. very interesting, if not a little confusing.. and the "present," where a race called the Waatari claim that the Romulans are murderers that kicked them out of planets that supposedly belonged to the Waatari (Romulus & Remus).. and plan on romulan genocide because of it. The federation is torn, because of an uneasy truce with the Romulans and not knowing exactly what happened when the Romulans found their now-homeworlds... the Romulans' history is sketchy and filled with myths, so that not even most Romulans know what happened in their early history. This first book tells the tale of one Vulcan man's journey.. meeting and befriending Surak and eventually being forced off-planet because of the civil wars. At the end of the book he ends up leading this "wagon-train" ship to the stars, full of Vulcan refugees, never to return home again. The "present-day" story involves a few of the original star trek cast: Ambassador Spock, Captain Saavik (Spock's wife now), Admiral Uhura, and Admiral Chekov. These lead a fleet of non-sanctioned Federation ships, a few Klingon, as well as some Vulcan ships all to the Neutral Zone to meet up with the Waatari (as well as the Romulans) to try to find out the truth, in hopefully the most peaceful way.

It's a great read on it's own. My major nitpick is that the book is not consistant with the established history of the Star Trek Universe. Sarek is alive in the book while in Star Trek: The Next Generation he died in 2368 in the episode Unification of Bendii syndrome.

If you ar elooking for a great read, buy the book. If you are a stickler for internal consistancy with the series, you will be unhappy.

This book is a good beginning to this trilogy and gives us a glimpse of the time of Surak just before and during the Sundering.

However, in the 24th century subplot...certain technical details got ignored. Such as...how did they beam Spock on board the Watraii ship without punching through its shields? Suddenly shields don't exist anymore? Or Starfleet transporters can now beam through shields? I would have expected some minimal explanation of them finding a breach in the shields of the Watraii or somehow turning it off for a microsecond.

As if above mistake wasn't enough...they repeat it. Right after above a Watraii beams into the Alliance to retrieve the device Spock stole. Once again no mention of punching through or finding a breach in the Alliance's shields to allow the Watraii to beam through.

It's really lazy of them to just ignore the established fact in Trek lore that YOU CANNOT BEAM THROUGH SHIELDS...unless there were certain things done to breach it, punch through it, or somehow get it turned off for a quick bit to sneak in a transporter beam.