Customer Reviews

Star Trek: The Original Series: Troublesome Minds (Star Trek (Unnumbered Paperback))

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am deaf, and I enjoy Star Trek stories, so when I heard that there was a novel being published that featured an alien race with a large deaf population and communicated through telepathy and sign language, I figured I'd check it out and see how big a mess the author would make of deafness and deaf culture.

Hoo boy, was I surprised.

The author absolutely nails the intricate of a gestural language and does a great job of portraying how conceptual such languages tend to be. I loved how the author chose to portray the sign for "different." It's not the same as the ASL version, but since it's an alien language it makes perfect sense.

The story itself was also well done. There's an old saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." The author does a great job of showing exactly how one seemingly correct action -- saving a ship being fired upon -- can have such grave and unintended consequences. There is also a great "no-win" scenario presented in the novel. You can completely understand where both sides are coming from and why they are doing what they did. There are no evil, mustache-twirling people here, just two sides of a conflict with the Enterprise caught in the middle.

I highly recommend this novel.

As a fan of all things Star Trek, and Vulcans, especially Spock in particular, I was eagerly anticipating the release of Troublesome Minds by Dave Galanter. I was not disappointed. Set during the Kirk's initial five year voyage as captain of the Enterprise, the book introduces a new race of telepathic aliens, that present captain and crew with a unique moral dilemma. One member of the race is so powerful that he may unconsciously suborn the rest to serve his every whim. In attempting to find a solution that safeguards everyone, Kirk inadvertently risks not only the life of Spock, but the safety of the entire Federation.

Mr. Galanter manages to create a "villain" who is more victim than victimizer, and a moral dilemma for which there is no easy answer. This to book to my mind is a perfect example of Star Trek at its finest.

I will admit that the ending felt a bit abrupt, but I am hoping that perhaps Mr. Galanter will be permitted to revisit this story, in a future novel as it seems to cry out for a sequel.

After recently watching the new Star Trek movie - TWICE! - I wasn't surprised to find myself wanting to relive some childhood days with some Star Trek The Original Series (TOS) goodness. However, that seems to be in short supply these days. However, I found the new Star Trek TOS novel, TROUBLESOME MINDS, in my local bookstore and picked it up as an impulse buy.

Over the last couple dozen years, I've read several of the tie-ins, but few of them, although often well-written, seemed to catch the characters of Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy as I was convinced they were to be portrayed. The mix never seemed to be really right, and after the movies came out, everyone seemed determined to write prequels or sequels to them film.

I honestly missed the feeling of the original five-year mission episodes, where everything seemed new and the crew was still learning a lot and hadn't seen it all. TROUBLESOME MINDS really hit the spot because not only did the author David Galanter really nail the three main characters, but he also introduced a radical concept regarding telepathic societies that I hadn't considered.

Star Trek, the television show as well as the novels, is always at its best when it seeks to shed some light on the human condition and play fairly with the conceits all the way around through the crew. The decisions people make aren't easy, and they aren't easy in this novel.

Galanter opens the novel up with some great action, employing Kirk in the captain's chair acting to save a doomed ship. As soon as he succeeds in his efforts, he's rewarded by being attacked by the world he's come to meet. As a diplomatic mission to introduce the emerging space race to the Federation, he becomes an immediate failure.

In short order, Kirk and the Enterprise crew learn about the danger the Isitri (the dominate civilization on the planet) seek to avoid. One of the men aboard the doomed ship is Berlis, what they call a "troublesome mind." I loved the concept of one mind being strong enough to take over an entire telepathic world. I hadn't thought about what it would be like to know the secrets of everyone on a planet, or about how easily that kind of society might be able to be subjugated.

(Okay, maybe there was a message in there about advertising and people looking for infallible leaders, for those readers seeking such things, but I chose to look at the plot problems and remain firmly entrenched in the entertainment side of things.)

The author does a wonderful job of pushing the pyramid of major characters (Kirk, Spock, and McCoy) into various confrontations that stem from their personalities and the situations they get into. I loved the dialogue and the emotional arcs that took place within the framework.

In addition to the spot-on characterization, Galanter succeeds in amping up the risk and threat thresholds. The taut, tightly-written scenes are short and direct, and beg the reader to turn the pages quickly, which I did. I figured most of the plot out as I went along, but that just made the read more enjoyable. There are twists and turns aplenty, and enough new thinking thrown at you to keep you guessing.

As it turns out, Galanter has written other Star Trek books, but I hope he gets the chance to write another TOS book. I'm going to look for his others, but I'm going to cross my fingers that he gets to pen another early adventure of the Enterprise's first five-year mission.

If you are looking for the standard action adventure Trek story, look elsewhere. This novel was more of a study of the Spock character. If your favorite is Spock, and I'm sure there are many, this book will be on your must buy list. Like a computer virus, Spock has a mind meld that affects his personality. It would have made a good season four episode, had the series lasted that long. I have to say it was enjoyable on all levels. All the crew are represented in an accurate manner. Galanter has a good grasp of Spock and all his nuances. I was impressed with the fact that while reading it was much like a good two part episode!

Troublesome Minds is classic Star Trek at its best. Dave Galanter has an excellent grasp of the characters as he nails each one to perfection. The story is nicely paced. This story takes place during the last year of the 5 year mission. Enterprise and crew become involved with a conflict between two planets after rescuing a individual from sure death. This individual Berlis has a mind so powerful he can control the entire population of his planet which makes his planet a danger to the other planet. As war plans are prepared by both planets Enterprise attempts to prevent all out war. What I enjoyed was the use of sign language by the people of Berlis planet. Spock uses his telepathic ability with the help of female named Meshu to stop Berlis from controling his planet. During the process and during the entire story Spocks relationship with Berlis and Meshu cause him to question his "emotions" and how they affect him and what he should do about them. If you are a fan of Star Trek and of the original series you will enjoy this book.

This is a light read, but deliciously in-character. It's heavily centric on "The Trinity" of Spock/Kirk/Bones and, like the television series, features kitschy aliens, bright colors, and lots of action. As another reviewer has noted, the "villain" of the book is not exactly malevolent and the issues they face have no morally or ethically clear choices, which gives the story plenty of complexity despite it being an easy and quick read. Other key players in the conflict the crew of the Enterprise finds themselves bound up in have strong, appealing personalities and are wonderfully described. The primary alien race involved -- the Isitri -- are presented vividly and are all appealing and intriguing characters, particularly in their manner of communication. There is an especially fascinating and I might even say touching relationship that develops between Spock and a female Isitri whose role in the story I will not give away here (but no, I'm not talking about a love story). ;)

In short, if you're looking for a satisfying Trek book that is focused on the Trinity with emphasis on Vulcans AND takes minimal effort to get into, you want this book.

When the Enterprise rescues a ship from near destruction, they bring on board the mysterious Belis. Part of an alien race, Belis has the ability to project his thoughts and will upon people--and that includes Spock.

By saving Belis, Kirk and company may have inadvertently started a war between two neighboring planets. Belis was sentenced to death as part of a peace agreement between the two people. But when Belis is returned, he begins to take over the will of the people slowly as the other side escalates toward full-scale war.

Added to the dilemma is that Spock may or may not be under the influence of Belis.

The dilemma of what to do about Belis and how the Prime Directive applies to the situation makes for the kind of moral quandary novel that "Star Trek" does so well. The ethical considerations for Kirk of whether or not the greater good needs to be served over the rights of an individual is a fascinating dilemma.

That said, a solution to the problem comes out of left field a bit, thus negating some of the ethical dilemma and giving our heroes an easy way out.

Stopping an unknown vessel from destroying an unarmed one, the Enterprise unknowingly puts itself in the middle of an interstellar conflict. The Enterprise has saved a man named Berlis from death by the hands of his own people. Berlis is from a telepathic race. And according to the Isitri, Berlis can control people with a thought. To make matters worse, a nearby race is ready to commit genocide against the Isitri, if they discover a "troublesome mind" like Berlis is allowed to live.

Captain James T. Kirk must choose the lesser of two evils - killing a man who claims to be innocent, or letting him live and condemning an entire planet. Kirk doesn't have much time to come up with a plan when Berlis escapes and leaves behind a confused Spock. The build of suspense paired with such a moral dilemma, makes for a wonderful installment of Star Trek. True to form, the crew of the Enterprise becomes absorbed in global conflict and face it with skill and creativity.

Galanter has come up with a new and exciting challenge for the original crew. And I was more than impressed. The characters are relatable. The predicament is thought provoking. And overall, the story was completely enjoyable. Original series fans, don't miss this latest Star Trek release.

First off, let me say that I quite enjoy most of the current Trek lit and enjoy the cross-continuity and character growth that's being allowed. Having said that, I have to admit that this book was a breath of fresh air. It's an original series novel and it stars all the characters from that series (you'd think that would go without saying but these days if you buy a Voyager, DS9 or Next Gen novel, you're likely to find half of the tv cast is no longer around and there are a host of new characters in their positions). It was nice to see Kirk, Spock, Bones, etc. right where they should be, acting and behaving as they did when I became a fan of their show. Anyway, this novel has a very good premise (telepathic society is sometimes undermined by those who are too powerful and have too much influence over the collective, i.e. 'troublesome minds') and really focuses on the Kirk/Spock relationship. The ending was a bit of moral quandry and after all the build-up felt oddly rushed but I still really enjoyed the book and would recommend it for those looking for an old "done in one" Trek experience.

I am not what you would call a 'trekkie', if that is the correct spelling of the word, in that I read mostly non-fiction and use both STAR TREK and STAR WARS books for a change of pace read. So though I have shelves full of STAR TREK books both hard and soft cover back to 1993, I do not consider myself knowledgeable or an 'expert'.

Yet I find this new book not only unusual but one of the better ones that I have read. The combination of sign language and telepathy adds an interesting element to the usual alien-Federation relationships. The predicament that Enterprise and her crew enters as they save a being's life and then must broker to avoid a war for that humanitarian act, places them between that ole rock and a hard place. Early on in the book it's difficult to see a workable solution that will satisfy all the parties involved in the approaching conflict.

And with Mr. Spock coming under influence or control of another's mind and biding is an unusual twist to the stoic, buttoned down Mr. Spock. It shocks even Spock, isn't that a shocker. Not to mention all others aboard Enterprise.

I feel that most long time readers of STAR TREK novels will find this a refreshing and interesting read. At least I did and can recommend it to others.

Semper Fi.