Customer Reviews

Star Trek: the Return

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

When I heard that William Shatner wrote a "Trek" novel that brings legendary Captain Kirk back to life, my first impression was "How corny and desperate is Shatner to do this?" and I was reluctant to even digest the idea. However, being a die-hard trekkie, I admit I was quite curious to the concept. To my delight, Shatner's tale of rebirth and unification of Spock and McCoy with the Next Generation crew was not only un-corny, but very imaginative, as well. This novel combines the action and humor of both generations of "Trek" far superior than "Star Trek - Generations" did. The idea of a Borg / Romulan dissentor alliance was unique, and the way Shatner describes the re-generation tecniques is believable when put into a 24th century context. The new Starfleet equipment (starships, cloak detection devices, etc.) are very exciting, and one must wonder if the Borg are to make a return. (Their homeworld is destroyed and the remaining collective throughout the universe is in dissarray.) Can the Borg ever recover? That question may or may not be answered in the sequel, "Avenger", also written by Shatner, which I will start as soon as I finish this review. This is an excellent novel, a page-turner, and I have a new respect for Shatner the writer, and I may even sample his "Tek" series. This is for old-school trekkies such as myself...the constant references to the original "Trek" t.v. show were a delight, and the Borg / V'Ger connection was brilliant. Great work, Mr. Shatner.

After reading this book I can honestly say that it is one of the most intriguing trek novels written to date. I give Shatner his due, he tells a fun story, if implausible at times. I liked the Borg element and the way Shatner put together some interesting ideas. I guess what really annoyed me is the way Shatner treats characters other than kirk. In a word he butchers them. Kirk defeats worf in combat. Picard a blithering idiot while kirk has the situation well in hand. The next generation crew idiotic compared to him. Kirk is made out to be the greatest thing the galaxy has ever known. In other words superman!! But I suppose the most troubling thing about the 2 Shatner books that I have read so far(I also reviewed avenger tonight) is how the next generation crew are dumped on by Shatner. I have spectre, dark victory, and preserver and I am concerned What will be next? Kirk defeats the entire dominion in a runabout. I don't know, I liked the return because Shatner told a good story but something has to be done about the damage that gets done to characters. Mr. Shatner help me out!!

With this book, William Shatner proves he knows as much about what makes Trek work as anyone and in fact, knows more than most. This book is a thrill a page with wonderful character moments throughout. Shatner also blends the classic characters with the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine characters extreemely well and without any of them suffering from bad characterization (at least not any that is his fault in this novel) or over shadowing characters that might normally get lost when standing next to Kirk or Spock. This is still Shatner's best Star Trek novel, though all of them are well worth the read. This is also the best Star Trek novel I have ever read and it's even better than some of the films!

This book kept me on my feet the whole time to the point where I brought it to school because I could not put it down, and at the risk of being laughed at by all of my peers for reading Star Trek...

To tell you the truth, I find the idea of the Borg-Romulan alliance pretty hard to grasp. Also, If the Borg were that easy to defeat, how come we didn't think of that beforehand?

I miss Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura...also, I hate seeing everyone so old. Shatner should try to write some books dating back to the original series days. It might be interesting to see them all at the acadamy... Also, the sex thing is getting old.

Overall, a great book. Would keep you on the edge of your seat if it were a movie...

Disappointing best describes my feelings upon finishing this "sequel" to "Ashes of Eden." The plot--in which the Next Generation's baddest "baddie," the Borg, team up with the baddest baddie still around from the original series, the Romulans--seems very unplausible given the nature of the Borg as depicted in the series and in film. Kirk also comes across as a very unreal character and many of his actions in the book are so implausible that it drags down the entire novel. I was hoping for a plot in which the Borg resurrected Captain Kirk to use him as a spokesperson for the Borg as they had used Captain Picard in "Next Generation." Instead I got a convoluted plot involving the Romulans that was very dissatisfying.

After reading many Star Trek books throughout the years, it amazes me the number of stories that can supposedly occur between episodes shown on TV and film. This story by William Shatner takes place between ST VII Generations and ST VIII First Contact. It is an engaging, but not particularly exceptional story of what happens after Jean-Luc Picard buries the legendary James Tiberius Kirk in a cairn of rocks on Veridian III. Without spoiling too much (the title gives it away anyway) Kirk is returned to life, and leads another adventure against a Romulan-Borg plot to destroy the Federation. I found some of the characterizations of the main characters, particularly Spock, Kirk, Picard, and Riker to be rather one-dimensional and shallow, but overall the book was a good read and better appreciated if you forgive certain inconsistencies of character and implausible scenarios (like Kirk's confrontation with Worf). Best read if you are killing time (like waiting for a flight) or by the beach/poolside.

I only saw one negative review. Everybody else raved about it. Yes, it's well-written, but that's the only reason it even deserves one star. This book is a wonderful example of the size of Shatner's colossal ego.

First, the man directs Star Trek V, easily the worst movie in the series, where every member of the crew is shown to be a bumbling buffoon (the navigator gets lost; immediately after saying "I know this ship like the back of my hand," Scotty turns around and knocks himself out on a pipe; a fifty-year-old Uhura gets to strip for the aliens; Spock sings nursery rhymes around a camp fire; the list goes on). And to top it all off, to save the Universe, Kirk has to wrestle Satan to the ground. No, no ego there...

But that wasn't enough. Now the man has to write a novel where Kirk comes back from the dead (did he roll the rock back three days after...? ...nah...), kill every member of every subsequent series (because he's better than they are, see?), and then destroy the Borg.

Because even a universe-conquering race of robots would have (spoiler alert!) an "off" switch... Of course. Why wouldn't they?

This book doesn't need to be read. It needs to be dissected by Shatner's analyst, so that he can explain to our boy Bill why James Doohan won't talk to him to this day. It's not a novel, it's an exercise in ego. Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens should be ashamed of themselves for collaborating with him on this enormous memorial to himself.

After seeing Star Trek V the Final Frontier I was almost turned off by the thought of seeing ANYTHING Trek ever again...and guess what?? William Shatner wrote the script! It was impossibly, horribly bad...MY vote as the worst of the 'Trek movies'. Okay, leapfrog with me if you will a few years and now we have Shatner attempting to write novels. I have avoided these books like the plague I was certain they were mostly because of how much I detested 'Trek V'...that is until a friend of mine recommended 'The Return' to me. I was happy to pick it up, but when I saw Shatner's name on it, I immediately started to give it back, but my friend insisted that I at least give it a try. I was suffering from 'can't find a decent-book-to-read syndrome' at the time and so gave it a shot. !!WOW!! Was I surprised or WHAT? Shatner has given us one of THE most entertaining Trek stories out there. Totally chock full of action and plot twists and in general all-out fun. Now I'll tell you WHY his Trek books are so good: He is CO-writing them with THE best Trek authors out there, Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens'. Have you picked up 'Federation' yet? It is one of the ALL-TIME best Trek books ever written (along with their amazingly creative 'Prime Directive'). I'm sure the collaboration is what makes Shatner's novels actually good, but whoever is responsible for the WHY, I don't care, this is just one fun adventure to take. If Shatner IS responsible, kudos to him for a great story, if it's his co-authors I don't really care, as long as he continues to produce these great Trek stories. I would also recommend 'The Ashes of Eden' as well. It takes place in the Universe of the 'Trek of Old' with all the other major Trek characters, and is another winner of a story. All in all Shatner's Trek books stand nicely side-by-side with ANY other on the market. Peter David's 'Q Squared' is also one of THE most original stories out there as well.

It is well known that King William of Shatner is desperate to get back into the Star Trek franchise and one of those tight-fitting suits, so when he writes a book mapping out Kirk's return it seems a litte fantasy-riddled. It is. And it is great! The plot comes straight after the movie Generations left it, The Enterprise-D is being scraped-up off of the surface of that stupid planet it crashed into by a small Federation recovery team led by Riker - they are attacked by The Romulan's, Kirk's freshly dug grave is unsettled (damn! Picard spent ages putting that together) and his body stolen. It soon becomes apparent that The Borg are in line with The Romulan's and that Kirk, now brought back to life with Borg implants, is going to lead the invasion forced that conquers Earth. Locutus-T-Kirk (as he likes to be called) goes head-to-head with the Enterprise in a cracking novel that will not end in the vulnerable heart of the Federation, Earth, like you would expect, but instead will end on the deadly homeworld of The Borg! Amazing!

What a great read. I really thought it was a clever idea to resurrect Kirk in the way Shatner did. The story keeps you guessing the entire time and keeps you not wanting to put the book down. At the end of the story, when Kirk throws the switch, I figured that was the end, being that he was killed off anyway at the end of "Generations". Then, a year later when advertisements came out for "Avenger", I knew there had to be some way Kirk survives.

A great read for any fan. You don't even have to have read "Ashes of Eden" to understand this story, but I would still recommend reading it if you want to read all five of his novels. They all tie in sooner or later.