Customer Reviews

Where Sea Meets Sky (Star Trek Captain's Table Series, 6)

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

 

 

"Where Sea Meets Sky" presents Christopher Pike's first person narrative in the Captain's Table series. If the Jean-Luc Picard story was a pirate tale set in space then this final book in the series is clearly a whaling tale set in space as Pike and his crew deal with the ecological mystery of the titans, a species of creatures nearly the size of the Enterprise that are used by the Aronnians as interstellar dirigibles. Unfortunately for them the creatures have not returned from their annual migration, and Pike is ordered to find out what is going on out there. As Jerry Oltion reveals in his acknowledgments, the idea for the titans came from a Treasurecon III convention panel once upon a time in Billings, Montana, where the group created plausible creatures that might live in space. Oltion had just been waiting for the right opportunity to bring those crazy space whales to light. If you are interested in the creative use of biotechnology, along the lines of what Harry Harrison came up with in his "West of Eden" trilogy, you will find the "science" in this book to be quite interesting. The idea that ecological problems can be solved ecologically is always nice to hear. However, if you are expecting any hint of the nature of the relationship between Pike and his science officer Mr. Spock that compelled the Vulcan to violate General Order 7 and take his former captain back to Talos IV, you are going to be disappointed.

Oltion does the best job of shifting back and forth between Pike's narrative and his conversations with his listeners at the Captain's Table. This is the one book in the series that deals explicitly with the storyteller being aware that he is talking to an audience from other times and places. It is that part of the book more than Pike's actual story that plays off the tragic fate that awaits the former captain of the Enterprise down the road. "Where Sea Meets Sky" scores out as an average book in this series, with the Voyager entry featuring Kathryn Janeway clearly the best book in the series and one of the better Star Trek novels you will ever read. It will not surprise anyone who has been following the series that since the bar called the Captain's Table transcends mere notions of time and space that ultimately we end up with a story cycle, although the truth about the gecko is rather unsatisfying.

I must admit that I personally was not particularly enthralled with the character of Captain Christopher Pike in the TOS episode. This was also the first trek book I'd be reading written by Jerry Oltion. It was with these reservations that I opened this book up to page one. Upon reflection, these trepidations were completely baseless. The author, turned for me, what was an uninteresting character, into an absolute page turner. The idea of the "Titans", space creature's controlled by humanoids, I thought would be less than captivating to say the least. Wrong again. The character interaction's in "The Captain's Table" were extremely well done. I especially liked the reference to the captain of the Titanic being there. Without giving too much of the story away and spoiling it for those who've not read it yet, I'll just read this one. You will not regret it. I hope the author is given the opportunity in the future to bring this character back to life again. Thank you to Jerry Oltion for a great read.

Whales in Space sounds like the premise for another, hokey, syruppy Greenpeace diatribe ala Howard Weinstein. Fortunately, Weinstein is nowhere to be found here. Instead, Jerry Oltien presents us with a tale that is interesting and at times even gripping. The space whales turn out to be vicious predators, eating machines that would make the aliens of Aliens proud. When, early on, one literally takes a bite out of the Enterprise, you know you're in for a good time. The Captain Pike here is not entirely consistent with that seen in The Menagerie, and Peter David did a better job with Pike's crew in The Rift than Oltion manages here. Nevertheless, Oltion does a creditable job, giving us a book more than worth any Trek reader's time.

There are two serious flaws here. First, the ending is abrupt, pat, and weak. Typical Star Trek happy ending. The other is that Oltion is forced to work within the god-awful Captain's Table concept. Fortunately, he makes our job easy by alternating chapters between the bar and Pike's story, making skipping blessfully easy.

The Captain's Table as a whole produced one exceptional book, (Janeway's Fireship), three very good books (Kirk/Sulu, Pike, and Peter David's Calhoun) and two down-right stinkers (Picard and Sisko, sadly). With the possible exception of the Kirk/Sulu tale, the books that succeed do so in spite of the Captain's Table concept, not because of it. The concept was a stupid one and the Trek universe is worse off because of it. Discerning Trek readers should still read the four good books, however; simply skip everything about the bar and enjoy the rare first-person perspectives.

I always love insight into Pike's Enterprise and was excited to see this book. It in fact gave many of the tidbits that it promised. The story itself was promising in that it built excitement. (It also had some nice discussion on the true nature of the bar). However, it seems like the author pooped out at the end and/or lost interest in the story. There was such great potential for an ending to the story that was never lived up to. We literally got an "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. Sending Pike upstairs with a Klingon woman was a low class move as well. I gave it three stars because until the end it was a great story.

The overall value of this book is much less than the sum of its parts.
It is a frame story, in which we get a story told by Captain Pike in the first person, at a tavern called "The Captain's Table".

The story told by Pike is marvellous; fast-paced, complex, with excellent characterizations and insightful looks into the first pilot characters. That internal story, I would rate five stars without hesitation.

The story in which that frame is put is also entertaining: Pike telling his story to, and interacting with, Captain Nemo of "20,000 Leagues Beneath The Sea" fame (although he doesn't realize it until very nearly the end of the book) and a female Klingon from far enough up the timeline to know how he meets his end, was enjoyable, and worth four stars in its own right.

The concept of The Captain's Table, a semi-mystical, alternate-dimensional tavern where all captains of all races and times are welcome, and only captains are welcome, and can enjoy the society of their peers without problems of communication or enmity, is an interesting enough concept; "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" meets the galactic federation. If the idea were standing alone, I would rate it four stars.

But the idea does not stand alone; it chooses to be wedded to the "Star Trek" universe, to make it more marketable. And unfortunately, it simply doesn't work in the Star Trek universe. As even my then eight-year-old could see, when told about the idea, and that captains from the long past sailing ship days are there along with starship captains, "Doesn't that violate the prime directive?"

I would love to see the "Captain's Table" concept continued, but with NEW characters and a NEW background universe. Leave Star Trek out of it; some concepts just don't mix. (You might have some really fine, five-star orange juice, and some excellent four-star chocolate milk, but would you really want to mix them?)

If you aren't enough of a Star Trek fan to insist on continuity with the background world, but enjoy the stories simply as stories, you'll find much to like in this book. But if you're even a little bit of a Star Trek purist, you'll have trouble swallowing the basic premise here.

Star Trek fans will love this book. it is not necessary to have read all of the series first, altough i did; they can be read out of turn, and make good very good light reads.

Dont read this guys review who gave it a bad review. This book was excellent!!!! I started it at the airport in L.A. and finished it during landing in Atlanta. The best of the round table books so far, and I have read three. Very creative!!!

The author must have been inspired by Star Trek IV. In this one Pike meets Whales...in space! Without giving away the premise, it's a good novel to end the series with. We get more insight on the character of Captain Pike. His style of command was closer to Picard's than Kirk. Pike was the first one to use the phrase "engage". Only it didn't catch on because actor, Jeffrey Hunter was only in the first pilot.

I hope to see more of Captain Pike with the new novel coming out next month from Pocket Books. I believe it's entitled "Burning Dreams" by Margaret Wander Bonnano.

The chronicles of Pike's 10 year mission have a lot of unanswered questions. A good example would be what happened to his original crew with "number one" and all the others. We never saw them again.

It was nice to have story about the predecessor of Kirk, and it was somewhat good. However, I think that Jerry Oltion could've done a lot better with it.

This book was soo stupid and soo boring that I was not able to even finish it. It was horrible!!! What was up with the space whales and killer whale eggs? Was that not ridiculous? Whoever gave this book five stars must have read something else. Jerry Oltion--find another job!! You completely ruined the whole Captain's Table theme! Don't buy this book if you havent and dont read it if you have because it will put you to sleep. For those suffering insomia--a book I highly recommend.