Customer Reviews

The Vulcan Academy Murders (Star Trek, No 20)

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

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Vulcan Academy Murders. I have always found the Vulcan way of life to be fascinating (Sarek & Spock's World are among my favorites), so I thoroughly enjoyed the in-depth portraits of both of them. I felt that all of the characters were well-developed, although I would have liked to have seen more of Amanda. Perhaps it is because I have read so many mysteries over the course of my life, starting with Nancy Drew, progressing through Agatha Christie & Ellery Queen, and on to Ed McBain, Anne Perry, & the Kellermans, that I knew the killer and the motive by page 50! That is the reason for giving the book only four stars. Otherwise, it was "fascinating" (said with one eyebrow raised) and I could not put it down.

The Vulcan Academy Murders is one of my all-time favorite Star Trek novels. Even though the book uses the characters from the TV series, it details them and fleshes them out as well as any fiction book would its original characters. The author makes the world of Vulcan and its culture attractive and believable. The book is very well written, especially the sections concerning telepathy and mind-melds. It's also a pretty good mystery, and never boring for a second. Definitely worth it, and rereadable too. The sequel, The IDIC Epidemic, is just as good, so check it out too!

As a faithful "vulcan" fan, I was initially excited about this novel. But I was disappointed in the story after reading it. The plot had potential and really was the redeemable factor of this book, but it was too predictable. I found the characters generally shallow and there were incongruencies between this story and some other Star Trek novels that have been written.

First things first, what does the cover have to do with what's inside the book? Nothing that I could tell.

On to the meat of the experience. This is a Star Trek who-dunnit? Anyone's who's paying attention can figure out who the guilty party is even with a convenient Red Herring to distract you. Something keeps being thumped into the reader's head time and time again 'murder isn't a Vulcan concept' Ooooh.

I did enjoy the various exploration that Lorrah did of the Vulcan culture, it was very beleivable, and the best part of the book. The murder mystery was sort of surperflous to me, and rather boring. I think Kirk would have been a more careful detective should the need have ever arisen on the show, instead he lets his guard down all the time and pays the price for it.

An enjoyable book, but not the best Star Trek book I have ever read. I think the best part of this was the Spock/Sarek interaction.

I agree with the reviewer who said that the mystery was too easy to solve, and I am NOT the connoisseur of mysteries that he or she admits to being. Part of the problem is the title; by including the word "murder" in the title, we know from the beginning that the death/s are murders, which the characters don't, and are looking to solve the mystery of "whodunit" before the characters know that there is a murder to solve. Had it been titled "The Vulcan Academy Affair", or "Trouble At The Vulcan Academy", or some such similar title, we might have missed the clues that told us who the murderer was. As it is, I was certain of the murderer and the motive before the characters had even begun to suspect that the deaths were not caused by accidental mechanical failure.

That being said, I did think that the book was well-written; the characters were well-developed and consistent with previously established character concepts. The plot moved well, and it was very readable.

In true Star Trek form,the author portrays James Kirk as an excellent starship Captain,but also a man concerned for his crew.Having read this book about 256 times,Inever get tired of reading it over & over

This is a Star Trek whodunnit, set on the planet Vulcan. Without giving anything away, essentially the plot involves a series of what appear to be sophisticated murders and murder attempts at the Vulcan Science Academy. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are on leave on Vulcan when these occur. As a whodunnit, this one is so-so -- I knew within thirty pages who the real perp was.

On the other hand, the author gives us a very interesting speculation as to the nature of Planet Vulcan and its inhabitants, with even a glimpse of Vulcan politics and societal issues. I very much enjoyed this. Further, the author's prognostications about Vulcan ecology, predators, etc. were well-developed, imaginative, and very much held my interest.

I was less impressed with the author's portrayal of the interaction between Spock and Sarek. Most interpretations of this relationship show the two never fully reconciled, with Sarek every bit as stubborn as Spock. (Many fathers and sons can relate to this.) Here, however, reconciliation is almost complete, which I thought robbed the relationship of depth. Well, that is my opinion, but after all, it is the author's story to tell.

Another quibble: the overuse of telepathy as a story device. This is a phenomena of dubious reality, and if it were as well-developed and powerful among Vulcans as the author portrays here, in my opinion their society would be unimaginably different. Telepathy, like time travel, tends to be overused by science fiction writers, and I thought that to be the case here. I found the author's interpretation of Vulcanian telepathic abilities to be overdone, which detracted from the plausibility of the novel. Again, just my opinion.

Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot. It is a quick read, but holds the Star Trek enthusiast's interest throughout. Star Trek lovers will like this one. I did.

The book is very fast paced! A Klingon ship attacks the Enterprise and a member of the ship named Ensign Remmington is almost fatally injured. Spock is getting ready to take leave to Vulcan as his mother is in a similar situation recommends that Remmington comes to get treatment their too. At the Vulcan academy, they are working on rejuvenating the body from many different injures as severe as that of Ensign Remmington. Kirk, Spock & McCoy take leave together on Vulcan. As they transport Ensign Remmington to attempt to save his life. Sarek and Spock have a very positive relationship at this point in their lives due to the events of "Journey to Babel" as Spock saved Sarek's life. As a member of the stasis starts dying, Spock and Sarek figure out that the computer has been tampered with and their is murder on Vulcan.

The strength of this book was the character development. Not only are Kirk, Spock & McCoy written great and recognizable but the characters that are introduced in this book are great. Lorrah does a great job of painting a portrait of all the characters. You actually care about the characters that are introduced not just the familiar Star Trek characters and that is rare. Lorrah also knows the Star Trek universe, especially the Vulcans. There were a whole lot of subtle things that made the book great. The enemies Kirk faced in the desert showed that the author had watched the animated series, plus the customs, information from past original series episodes, and the main three characters, she has done her homework. Lorrah also did a great job of keeping the reader interested. She would give you clues every so often to keep you wondering if your guess is correct.

The big thing that I noticed was the fact this mystery was easy to figure out. Since it was a "who did it" book even though a science fiction book it should have confused me a little longer than it did. I had things figured out by about page 50 or so. Another thing that I noticed was the way Sarek was written. He was a whole lot looser than the Sarek that I know from the Original Series episodes, TNG series, and the movies. He seemed to be a whole lot more vocal with his feelings than I was used too. The plot slowed down every once and a while. There was a lot of mind melding, and explaining the detail the mind melding, sometimes to a fault. The only other thing I noticed was Dr. M'Benga had not been aboard the enterprise yet as he was in the OS episode "A Private Little War" from season 2. However, apparently this book took place about two years after "Amok Time" so to say that two years went by between "Amok Time" and a "Private Little War" is not accurate.

This is not the best mystery that you will ever read. However, it is a great adventure. Lorrah knows her Star Trek characters, how to develope new characters, and alot about Vulcan customs and the planet in
general.

Grade: B

This book would deserve four stars for the beautiful setting and all the insight in the life of the people on Vulcan - I loved Corrigan and Sorel. But only two for the actual plot. The culprit was obvious from the get-go and Kirk fumbled the investigation really badly. Wow, I couldn't believe that he was the captain of the Enterprise, he behaved like a love-struck rookie!

This is one of the best Original series books Ive ever read.