Customer Reviews

Star Trek : The Rift :57

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

 

 

As is usually the case with Peter David, the writing style is excellent; as usual, he manages to tell an exciting action-based story without losing his sense of humor, which is rare. As an added bonus, this story has its beginning in the time of Captain Pike, just after the events in "The Menagerie"; after a chapter or two, we move forward to a standard original-series story, set at some point after the fourth movie. ("The Voyage Home")

But while the story is exciting, a good read, with action, pacing, and characterization that is all one could ask for, it is, ultimately, a lightweight novel. Which is not necessarily a bad thing; that's going to be true of most stories in any protracted series. They can't ALL be world-beaters; this one is a good light-reading episode with just a hint of the deeper thought-provoking concepts that make some Star Trek stories great. Not enough to be great itself, but just enough to be very good.

Peter David is certainly one of my favorite Star Trek authors. I love his storytelling and the way he captures the characters thru the pages and they always seem to be familar to you. He has hit several Homeruns... Q-squared and Q-in-Law were both hit out of the park. However, The Rift was just a solid single. If you are not a baseball fan I will put it another way. While Q-Squared and Q-in-Law were incredible 5 star books this book was just good which explains the 3 stars.

The positives of the book all center around the story. It is a lot of fun and you won't be bored for one moment. It isn't a save the universe story but then again they can't all be that. This is simply first contact with a new species running into a small problem and trying to work things out. Nothing wrong with that. The story involves the Enterprise under command of Captain Pike and then later Captain Kirk. Lt. Jose Tyler who you might remember from the original series episode "The Cage" takes a very important role in this book, as he along with Spock make two trips thru the Rift. One in the Captain Pike time period and then again with Kirk and company. These two time periods tie in very well and the story is a lot of fun and will keep your interest.

The Negative aspect of the story are the characters. I never thought I would say that about a Peter David novel. The Alien race which is known as the Calligarians a very interesting and written very well. It is relationship with Kirk, Spock and McCoy that I had a problem with. I think it is safe to say that it is the chemistry between those three characters that was and is the strength of the series. However in this novel the chemistry just isn't quiet right. Sure they have there arguments and disagreements and most of it was a lot of fun but in this book it was more about Kirk and McCoy than Spock and McCoy that had most of the disagreements. Kirk is usually the one that likes to almost sit back and enjoy the other two but not in this novel. I could give other examples but read for yourself and see if you agree. The main issue I had with the book all centered around age. You couldn't go more than a couple of pages without one of our original series heroes mainly Kirk talking about how old they all were. Kirk had an issue with his age in Star Trek II but since this book took place between Star Trek V and Star Trek V1 I am not sure why that was a focal point for the author. I can look past it a couple of times but they must have thirty to fourty times were this was mentioned in the novel, it was just a bit much.

If you are looking for a fun novel this book is for you. The characters were just a little off for my taste, but the story is dead on and a lot of fun.

Grade: B

It makes a change to have Captain Pike in a startrek novel. You get to know what he is like as a starship captain. The crossover to captain Kirk is smooth and the aliens are not as hostile as most startrek aliens.

I'm a sucker for anything that deals with time travel and the space time continuum and this is another brilliant book by Peter David. I have noticed that Peter David loves to tackle books that have a lot of psychology to them and pose some very thought provoking questions through out the book. You don't have to be Trekker to read any of the Star Trek books and they don't have to go in order either. Peter David is turning out to be one of my favorite authors when it comes to Star Trek books. Personally, I thought the Calligar were the predecessors to The Borg in a lot of ways.

This was definitely not one of Peter David's best, but I can't help but feel if it had been authored by anyone else - except maybe Michael Jan Friedman, who I also admire - I would have probably enjoyed it more because my expectations would not have been as high. It was humorous in parts and was still better than a lot of the material being churned out today, but still doesn't touch his Q books or even his DC Comics work.

My subject-line basically covers it. :-) I liked this book, as I figured I would since Peter David is an excellent writer. If you want to read a good ST book though, I would definitely recommend Peter David's "Q Squared" -- THAT one knocked my socks off!

This was the first Star Trek book I ever read, afterwords I was hooked. I loved this book, it wasn't filled with useless technical jargon. The Rift, is a big 'hole' you go through to get to get to a highly developed planet. This Rift is like the story of Briggadoom, it will disappear and it only reappears every 30 years. You find a love a commadoore and of the head of the planet. They met the during the first time Christopher Pike went to the planet. There is a good portion of historical background, which is very accurate. Spock is shown in both the past with Pike and the future with Kirk. I would recommend this book to eryone, it's worth any afternoon.

I read this book some time ago and I have forgotten most of the plot and other finer details. (Reading the synopsis made me wonder if those things really happened in this book!) What I remember best are those wonderful humoristic moments which play with the cliches and pillars of the Star Trek universe. I know that Peter David is a gifted writer but this isn't his best book. However, it is wholly readable although - as I have proven! - forgettable entertainment.

One of the recurring themes in Star Trek has been the Enterprise's crew vs. the radicals of the universe. (Note The Apple episode).

The rift is a variation on this storyline, and loses some of the originality seen in other David novels.