Step Into Chaos: Quest for Tomorrow #3 [Mass Market Paperback]

William Shatner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Quest for Tomorrow | Publication Date: December 8, 1999

After defeating the dreaded Hunnza fleet, Jim Endicott wants a "normal" life. But his wish is not to be, for a new and even more terrible conflict is stirring. Earth's former ally, the Alba Packlord, suspects that humans are about to "Leap"--transcend to another level of existence in a process that will sweep away star systems, laying waste to the universe. To eliminate the human threat, the Packlord has made a secret alliance with the Hunnza--but not if the mysterious immortal known as the Outsider can stop them using Jim as a weapon. First, though, the Outsider has to find his embittered hero. Distraught over the death of his father, Jim has plunged deep into the underground, where danger of another kind lurks in the shape of a girl as bad as she is irresistible. But the Packlord will stop at nothing to succeed, including assassination. Jim's only hope for survival lies in making the Leap himself: taking the step into chaos that will save humankind or turn the universe into a graveyard of burned-out stars.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fast on the retro-rockets of Delta Search and In Alien Hands, Shatner's third, warp-paced entry in his Quest for Tomorrow series finds Jim Endicott under scrutiny by the Hunzza and the Albans, alien races who fear humanity will suddenly make the leap to godhood via Jim's genetic encoding, which was secretly altered at birth. The superintelligence known as Outsider also has an interest in Jim, teleporting him and his friends Char and Harpy to the starship Albagens Pride. No sooner does the transport-hum fade than an Albagensian star fleet sweeps into the solar system; before Jim can assume command of the ship, he is killed by an assassin. Outsider easily defeats the rest of the invading fleet, however. While the aliens distract Earth with overtures of peace, Char and Harpy learn that millennia ago, the Hunzza transplanted Neanderthals to another planet, Gelden, where they eventually evolved into god-like beings. Jim suddenly appears on deck, back from the dead, and agrees to work with Outsider; the pair have detected another superentity, the god that evolved on Gelden. Now Jim must decide whether to force Terra to make the dangerous leap to godhood. Shatner's narrative is breathless and often perplexing, but it's peppered with enough bar brawls, gun fights and space chases to satisfy his fans.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Old-fashioned space opera...Shatner's pacing never flags." -- Publishers Weekly

"The most demanding,the most intelligent, and overall, the best of the series." -- Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager (December 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061057444
• ISBN-13: 978-0061057441
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,540,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pulp...fairly fun pulp, but pulp nonetheless., July 19, 2001

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R. L. MILLER (FT LAUDERDALE FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Step Into Chaos: Quest for Tomorrow #3 (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't get me wrong--I've been keeping up with this series and I intend to keep doing so. But it's Sci Fi Channel Rocketship Avengers fare--the MTV fare of fiction--and meant to be approached as such. I'm reading comparisons to Heinlein in other reviews--well, yeah, but it's the Heinlein of teenage heroes for teenage readers. Shatner's hero Jim is a bit older but is cut from that mold. Shatner tries to bring the feel of these books into adulthood by giving them the noir aspect of his Tek series, but that doesn't make them literature by a country mile. I've been a Shatner fan for decades, but I have to admit that he is narcissistic--and it's that trait that he gives to his heroes: grandiose and "misunderstood". Decent light reading, but don't expect more than that. After all, there are only so many Donaldsons and Herberts.