Spectre (Star Trek) (Mass Market Paperback)

This novel takes the reader back to one of the ten greatest episodes in the entire Star Trek television history, "Mirror, Mirror". The author weaves a story of what occurred after Kirk's appearance there influences the Mirror Universe Spock. Fast forward that event through more than 100 years of history, and bring the Mirror Universe characters into our universe for action and revenge, and you'll get the gist of the story.

Sounds like your basic Star Trek episode, but it really comes across as more than that. This novel is the best Star Trek novel I have read and I have read quite a few. Just when you think you've seen the last character that can be squeezed in that allows the book to retain continuity, and BANG, here is another surprise that fits right in. Or is it a Mirror Universe duplicate of that character? Read the book and find out for yourself.

I rate this book at a very enjoyable 4.70 out of 5.00 stars, rounded up to 5.00. If this is your kind of book, you won't want to put it down. I'd tell you more but that would ruin the surprises. Perfect for several hours of get your mind off life and serious stuff reading. It is also a good jumping on point to check out Shatner's Kirk based stories. No one understands Kirk better than Shatner. The author proves what a terrific fan he is of the Star Trek history too.

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Well, I am a Star Trek fan and after reading Shatner's Get A Life book I do find myself with a bit of affection for the potbellied former Captain of the Enterprise. Unfortunately while this book has good pacing and has a bevy of interesting characters, I often didn't feel like I was seeing Kirk portrayed properly. It feels like Shatner is exploring his own feelings about age and love more and more with the Kirk character. There are endless scenes in the book where we find Kirk mooning over his love for Teilani, the exotic Klingon, Romulan hybrid that Kirk fell in love with in past books. In fact much of what motivates Kirk in the book is his endless love for this woman. That's all fine and dandy, but really, that isn't the Kirk that we have known up till now. In the The Return and Avenger, Kirk wasn't this dreamy eyed, (granted in one of those he was the brainwashed pawn) this book takes this to a whole new level. That said and done it was probably the main thing that irked me about the book, that and the ending.

The beginning of the novel finds Kirk trying to settle down with Teilani, but she convinces him that he needs to go out and explore some more and find out whether he really wants to settle down with her or not. Of course, Kirk agrees to this and goes off to a few Starfleet functions to shoot the breeze with his old comrades in arms. While he is attending said functions he is kidnapped by mysterious forces. Cut to the Enterprise-E where Picard seems to have found the Voyager, the ship thought lost in the Delta Quadrant, or is it?

The story gets a bit twisted and convoluted from there. It brings back the Mirror Universe plot-line which was first explored in the original Star Trek television show. Later the idea was further explored on episodes of Deep Space Nine and in other books including Dark Mirror by Diane Duane. While the ideas are a rehash, the plot is engaging and fast moving. Picard and his crew seem thrown in and aren't used very effectively, but then again what would you expect when Shatner writes a Star Trek novel? Of course Kirk gets top billing. There are quite a few characters that make a return in this novel including Spock, Scotty and Mccoy. Talk about the geriatric patrol. Amazingly, through luck, good breeding or just plain stubbornness they have all been able to survive into the time of the Next Generation. While the plot moves along there are a lot of melodramatic moments from Kirk either reminiscing about how good it is to be back with his crew or about his love for Teilani.

The book is fast paced with a lot of action, it did keep me turning the pages, but the Kirk melodrama and some cookie cutter characters (read Next Generation) thrown into the mix bring the book down a few notches. Also just an FYI the ending is a "to be continued" one. So if you were thinking about picking this up in paperback, you might want to wait until the sequel Dark Victory is out so you can get the whole story.

3 out of 5 Bias: +1 if you are a rabid Star Trek fan. -1 if you hate Kirk or Shatner.

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