Star Trek - Troublesome Minds

"Loneliness is the first thing that God's eye named, not good." - John Milton

Troublesome Minds is a Star Trek novel written by Dave Galanter and first published in 2009 by Pocket Books.  It's one of the newer books and as such unnumbered which is either a licensing issue or a case of trying not to put off newer readers from the novels by presenting them with a large back log.  If the latter is the case, how wrong they are!  As long as people know that the books don't have to be read in order then it isn't really a problem.

The cover is pretty attractive, harking back to the painted covers of older novels, although, unless I am very much mistaken, I think the cover is an edited screen cap or promotional image made to look like a painting.  Either way, it's a pretty thing and ties in with the other modern covers which use the same style.  Annoyingly the cover is easily damaged, even with the best of intentions, if you're going to actually read your copy and not keep it in plastic the edges are going to scuff although the spine is quite resilient to bending.  The collector in me wants to buy a book and keep it sealed, but what's the point of books if nobody is going to read them?  Back to the book, I estimate the word count at about 73,000.

As the cover of the book might suggest, the story is pretty Spock-centric.  The book revolves around a telepathic species (the Isitri) and a particular troublesome mind, a member of the species with telepathic abilities so strong they can dominate a whole planet with their will.  A neighbouring species the Odib know first hand the results of a hostile troublesome mind and their (justified) fear of the Isitri push them to an ultimatum, either dispose of the troublesome mind or risk genocide.

The Enterprise responds to a distress call and saves the life of Berlis, the troublesome mind and his two attendants.  Berlis was left to die by his own people but he claims not to know why, they want him dead but Kirk is left between a rock and a hard place, he can't leave Berlis to die or give him over to those who want to kill him.  Although others on the Enterprise are affected by Berlis' powers, Spock, being a telepath, is particularly susceptible and begins to behave erratically.  While trying to decide the best course of action, Berlis escapes the Enterprise's protective custody and returns to Isitra.  Berlis takes control of all minds on Isitra and the neighbouring colony, provoking the Odib.

Kirk must then find a way remove Berlis and save both the Istri and the Odib before it's too late.

Troublesome Minds - MemoryAlpha

I genuinely enjoyed Troublesome Minds.  I have to admit this time around I chose covers with Spock on them, so it was hardly surprising that I received two new novels which were pretty Spock-centric.  In my last review (Enterprise - The First Adventure) I raised a Vulcan brow at the characterisation of the Enterprise crew, Galanter colours within the lines in his offering and although Spock does go a little crazy and indeed ends up crying near the end, I can forgive it.

One thing that strikes me though, is that many of the TOS novel authors over the years have really overused the 'emotional Spock'.  In particular they like the image/drama of Spock being overwhelmed and crying.  It's not a secret that Spock is emotional despite his best efforts and that Vulcans, despite their protestations do feel something they just override their emotions with logical thought.  However, the crying Spock image loses it's impact when used as much as it is.  Isn't the whole point that the Vulcans are tragic in that they struggle to control their emotions so much they cut themselves off from such a large portion of the experience of living?  Isn't it more heartbreaking to see someone unable to feel, or refusing to feel rather than the image of 'the strong man crying'.  I digress, but I will admit in the case of this novel, the displays of emotion are well handled.

Most of the successful Star Trek stories explore a human emotion or need.  In the case of Troublesome Mind it's loneliness.  Berlis the 'big bad' of the book is a victim of his own incredible telepathic ability, he has influenced others for so long, and they have served him 'willingly' for so long that he is more a spoilt child than anything malevolent.  Berlis' people the Isitri are powerful telepaths who are constantly aware of each other and speak telepathically, a troublesome mind however can Network the minds of an entire planet, erasing the wills of his fellow Isitri.  The Isitri influenced by one such as Berlis lose their time, when they are released from their thrall, it is as if waking from a dream.

Berlis needs to be connected to his people, it's innate to him and through the guidance of a mind like his the Isitri can make huge technological leaps and become incredibly industrious.  In this state the Isitri love and celebrate him, however, like many leaders, loved for their charisma and their public face, the more minds Berlis touches the more paranoid he gets and the once peaceful leader twists into a paranoid despot focusing on production of weapons and war with the Odib.  Berlis gradually looses sympathy of both the Enterprise crew and the reader as the book progresses and we meet another troublesome mind who was sent into exile and who recognises the danger of her abilities and believes that her own happiness must be sacrificed for the good of the many.  She's a recognisable character from throughout history and literature, the individual enlightened by suffering and experience, willing to suffer further for the good of the many.

One of the most interesting things about the Isitri is that they speak telepathically, and many of the population are deaf.  They have developed a 'manual' language, essentially sign language.  This is mentioned in the author's own notes as one of his goals, himself able to use sign language.  As such, there is a lot of description of the various gestures the Isitri make, which is pretty immersive.  Some actions are noted repeatedly by characters such as Kirk which makes the language seem real. 

The characters are pretty well written, and there weren't any jarring instances which made me Vulcan-brow.  The only part I did have a problem with I have already mentioned, but that can be explained away in the circumstances, so I'll give that one a pass.  In fact, ingeniously the author can explain away any strange or out of character behaviour by the mere presence of Berlis, the effects of which he's pretty subtle about.

Kirk and Spock are the main focus of this novel, their relationship especially strong.  Galanter is pretty hot on body language (especially because of his interest in sign) and so there's a lot of physicality, a lot of physical expressions of the characters' emotions and relationship.  The other members of the crew essentially tick over throughout the story, they are there but the focus is firmly elsewhere.

Kirk has a particularly driven and intelligent characterisation in this novel, even with Spock essentially removed from him for a while, he compensates.  He is diplomatic, he grasps concepts quickly - essentially Galanter recognises that the reader doesn't need to be spoonfed.  Kirk's actions are recognisable as Kirk's from the original series;  the muted expressions and reserved reactions and the sudden bursts of activity and forcefulness on making a decision which is quintessential James T Kirk.

Spock's character is the most erratic in Galanter's story, but this is approached sensitively.  Being a telepath he's more susceptible to Berlis' suggestions (again, this really overused plot device and another reason this offering isn't getting higher than a 4/5) and almost from meeting him is overwhelmed and coerced.  However, he isn't consistently presented as weak, with Kirk's help he regains control of himself and is finally instrumental in restoring Isitri.  He proves that his own mental disciplines are enough to keep Berlis out once aware of the influence however, his susceptibility to emotions, to Kirk's aggressiveness and his relationship with the Captain strongly highlights that his nature is essentially an emotional one.

There are quite a few strong scenes, and I don't want to give too much away, but of particular interest to those who like character interactions would be when Kirk manages to get through to Spock while he's in Berlis' thrall and the banter afterwards between Kirk, Spock and McCoy.  Another touching scene is when they collect Meshu, the exiled troublesome mind and their trump card.  

Enterprise itself has a chance to shine too, as it is positioned between two warring fleets with the intention of disabling as many as it can before too many casualties occur on either side.  This takes place as Spock and Meshu attempt to free the Isitri home world from Berlis.

The resolution of the tale is satisfying, posing an unanswerable final question and wrapping up loose ends.  Really strong characterisation and food for thought at the end.  It's not a 5/5 for me, no matter how I look at it.  I seriously enjoyed it, it was successful and thought provoking.  The inclusion of sign was a great idea and well implemented, but the use of Spock being overwhelmed telepathically (again) and crying (twice) really bothered me.  I'm probably being unfair, since the last book I reviewed also had Spock overwhelmed telepathically and losing himself (and crying!), and that one really got my goat!  At least there weren't and pink and purple monkeys in this one (just pink and orange bird people...).

Either way - highly recommended!  While not being jaw dropping, a really great entry into the series.

4/5

Enterprise - The First Adventure

The beginning is a very good place to start...

I was umming and arring about which of the novels to start with.  Part of me wanted to start with 'Killing Time', as that was the first Star Trek novel I read.  However, that didn't seem like a good place to start, although an older novel it isn't particularly early and it really does invite some extra reading...  

I spotted Enterprise - The first Adventure by Vonda N. McIntyre on ebay and it caught my attention.  Who hasn't wondered how the crew first met?  In the first episodes of the TV series they are already a pretty well oiled team, even if there are a few cogs missing and it takes a few episodes to find its formula.   I'd fantasized myself how they first met, eyes meeting across a crowded room, hearts skipping a beat... Oh, sorry, that was a fanfiction I read.  Back to reality.  In all my different imaginings I didn't consider a story like this.

I am very well aware of the wide and sliding scale of quality to be found in non-canon Star Trek fanfiction novels, and sometimes you get this horrible feeling that an editor was asleep on the job or was inexperienced or, I don't know, someone wrote STET next to all manuscript edits.  Unfortunately, Enterprise - The First Adventure is one of those novels.  Perhaps my hopes were just too high, my excitement to learn about Kirk's first Enterprise mission pushing my expectations past rational.  Perhaps I was looking forward to reading offerings from a seasoned Star Trek or indeed, sci-fi author.  Perhaps I'm being a little harsh.  Let me explain.

Vonda N. McIntyre at the time of writing Enterprise - The First Adventure already had three to four Star Trek books under her belt:

• The Entropy Effect (1981)
• Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

I am not against campy, silly stories, don't get me wrong; I appreciate them and some I am completely in love with.  If you love TOS, you've got to love campiness, you've got to love those silly, tongue in cheek moments, those fantastical storylines that push your suspension of disbelief to the absolute limit.  TOS is serious at times too, especially when it throws an ethical curve ball at you.  This novel has both campy moments and more serious ones, however, it has more nonsensical moments than either and more than a few instances of cringeworthy characterisation.  Despite this, I can't say I didn't enjoy it, it has it's charm and it's peaks are often worth the slog.  I confess, I didn't read this one particularly quickly.  I kept stopping in the middle of it's many troughs, mistake.

Enough nattering, what's the story anyway?

In brief: After some impressive heroics (and terrible injuries and psychological trauma), Kirk is elevated to the rank of captain, making him the youngest captain in Starfleet history.  He takes Pike's place as Captain of the Enterprise, everyone is unhappy with his appointment, nobody respects him.  Kirk is happy until he's told by Admiral Nogura (yup, that one) that his first mission will be essentially transporting a company of performers to the different Starbases.  Kirk is dangerously close to insubordination and doesn't seem able to control his youthful impetuousness.  He relents (eventually) after being talked down by his brother.  

Nervous youthful Kirk has trouble connecting with his crew, with his cargo, with the 'equiraptor'...

Okok I can buy this, then what happens?

There is a pretty underutilised subplot regarding a female Klingon rebel stealing a prototype 'Bird of Prey' and then... they come across a huge world ship, populated by singing telepathic bird people, who fly but are friendly, and are Kirk's first 'first contact'.

Reasonable?

Somewhat, how do you feel about Spock mind melding with one of them, his consciousness being overwhelmed and then him believing that he is a bird-uh-Vulcan.

But... 

He also gets captured by the superfluous Klingon woman, starts crying and is comforted by a pink and purple monkey.

The Klingon Empire is obviously upset at the superfluous Klingon woman and track her down.  Obviously she comes in contact with the world ship, which happens to be drifting into Klingon space, the Klingon empire showup, the world ship has the capacity to blow everyone up despite having no weapons, Kirk prevents this happening, Kirk is honoured by the Klingons, everyone watches the circus perform, the Klingons love badly translated Shakespeare but obviously don't know anything about magicians and think it's witchcraft (sigh).  Much laughing, Kirk is accepted by the crew as being badass.  The superfluous Klingon escapes.  More laughing, introduction of iconic line to finish.

If you want a more detailed summary, take a look at this: Memory Beta Summary

I know what you're going to think, my outline there is pretty run of the mill, it's not terrible, but it's not that inspiring either.  You know, I can forgive a mediocre storyline, what about the characters?

Character Regression

You know, I concede that it was going to be a tough job to regress characters people have seen develop through a series, perhaps giving them a backstory they didn't have previously or tweaking them a little to make them younger or a little more inexperienced.  In some McIntyre handles it well (Sulu, Uhura, McCoy), in others poorly (Kirk, Spock), and in some cases with cringeworthy results (Rand).

I want you to understand, I want to love this book.  I want it to be pride of place on my book shelf.  I paid more money than I'd usually pay for a good condition book because the story of the first mission should be a staple.

Janice Rand being given a tragic slave back story (complete with younger siblings to feed and care for) and being characterised as a capable yet completely broken woman girl (16!), who thinks Kirk is a tyrant made me, frankly angry and incredulous in turn.  Uhura being the only one who could possibly save her and making Kirk totally unable to read her distress just... hurt.  The trite end to her self realisation that she has worth is that she'll testify against her oppressors and she'll grow her hair and make it 'fancy'.  You can kind of ignore her in the latter part of the book, as she is pushed to the sidelines in favour of the bird-people plot.

James T Kirk is, unfortunately, not a character that can be sidelined.  Kirk's characterisation is sloppy and tropey and irritating.  He may be younger, but you don't give an immature brat control of a starship.  How do you get to his rank and not learn that throwing tantrums at admirals and women doesn't get you anywhere?  How do you not learn how to use a computer system?  How can he be so stupid as to not understand a situation the reader has grasped two chapters ago, or the concept that another species may not have the same understanding of rank and keep asking the same question and making the same mistakes.  Kirk pretty much pines for most of the novel.  If it's not for the woman who refused to marry him, it's for his friend who saved his life and is in 'regen', if not him, it's for 'Lindy' the girl who runs the circus, and when she  rejects him, he has to go and rescue Spock, the bird-Vulcan.  Kirk is constantly undermined by his crew, which could be an interesting plot device, but it's done so hamfistedly you wonder if these people are really professional Starfleet officers.  There are two fun moments where Kirk saves Spock via riding the equiraptor to a mountainous peak and saving him as he falls, the other where he stops the stolen Bird of Prey from being crashed into the world ship by crashing his shuttle against it.  The second occasion was rather spoiled by a period of vulnerability in which Uhura saw the pain in his eyes, and realised she had judged Kirk wrong.  Most annoying part of Kirk's characterisation?  A refusal to get his knee checked out which, on several occasions ends up with him lying on the floor clutching his knee in pain.

Onwards!

Spock is another interestingly handled character, not terrible but not great either.  Finding an equilibrium when characterising Spock seems to be hard to find for many authors.  How do you characterise a young Spock?  Where do you even start?  Do you make him stubbornly logical?  Do you make him more emotional?  McIntyre does both, and it turns into a bit of a hot mess.  Spock is blatantly emotional, even other characters notice his regular slips.  Spock is also hopeless at reading any social queues whatsoever.  Like Kirk, he is utterly dense.  I know Spock has his moments, but he is half human and he did grow up with his human mother.  I can't accept that he is quite so tone deaf to the situations at hand.  His careless actions regarding the bird people also seem a bit out of sorts, though, although somewhat embarrassing to read, I guess his mind being confused and his acting irrationally and not himself isn't without prior examples.  All I can say is that there was constantly something 'off', always a kind of 'uncanny valley' effect.  Spock wants to stay with Pike, he doesn't like Kirk, within this first mission he decides to file for transfer all the while throwing out 'Spock lines'.

Sulu possibly feels the most natural of the characters, mainly because he falls into line behind Kirk pretty quickly.  Initially he doesn't even want to be posted onto the Enterprise, but somehow his request to be aboard another ship is revoked.  He's angry (?) at this, though he does realise he is fresh out of the academy and is realistic about his 'rights'.  Kirk and Sulu end up having a fencing match, Kirk works hard (he is injured however), but Sulu beats him.  Henceforth they are bros and Sulu (unlike the others) think Kirk is a good guy.

Uhura has some interesting characterisation.  She is essentially the most annoying version of herself, I don't think I've ever felt such a keen antipathy for her, except when she sings in the TV Series.  Perhaps that is the problem, after dealing with slave Rand's problems, making Kirk feel bad and distributing dirty looks, she spends much of her time trying to learn the bird people's song language.  Which means she's singing and humming at every opportunity and one point causing Kirk to have a little outburst because this singing is driving him crazy.  It was driving me crazy reading about it and I'm just imagining it!

McCoy has the best characterisation of the lot and frequently made me smile.  He often had the upper hand with Spock and I'll be damned if his initial appearance in the story wasn't heavily influenced by his first appearance on Enterprise in the motion picture.  McCoy appears to be the author's favourite character.  She hasn't regressed the character at all, and McCoy didn't have to learn to like Kirk as he knew him before Enterprise - what a relief.

Scotty makes a faux pas from the beginning.  He doesn't like this young upstart and he says as much within Kirk's hearing.  They bash heads, he all but refuses to do the work assigned to him.  He second guesses Kirk constantly.  It somewhat feels like McIntyre is drawing on the antipathy felt between the two actors and totally ignoring naval Starfleet hierachy.

Notable Sub Characters

Koronin is the superfluous Klingon out for revenge against Starfleet, and who owns the pink and purple monkey.  She abuses the money, dressing him up like a Starfleet officer and calling it... Starfleet.  She steals a prototype ship from the Empire and spends much of her time watching and doing nothing in particular.  Her second in command captures Spock, she doesn't really do anything with him except get fooled by him.  She doesn't appear to think much is wrong with a Vulcan crying and thinking he's a bird person either.  Koronin didn't really need to be in the book, if she wasn't it would have cut down the length somewhat.  Which would be welcome.

'Stephen' - Ah yes.  Stephen is a juggling, emotion seeking, Vulcan juggler.  Also a relative of Spock's ( I think he appears elsewhere?  I might be mistaken?).  Stephen simultaneously feels emotion and doesn't feel emotion.  It makes me think that Vulcans just can't identify emotion even when they feel it.  An analogue would be, people experiencing love but looking for the fairytale 'love at first sight' and not believing what they have is real love.  If this is deliberate, that's possibly the best part in the book.  If it isn't, well... perhaps I'm just scraping the barrel.

Lindy is manager of the circus Vaudeville Company.  Capable, a love interest for Kirk, but she falls in love with Stephen instead.  Young(er) Kirk obviously hasn't got the same skills that (slightly) older Kirk does.  Kirk tells Lindy (someone he really didn't like to start) about his trauma at Ghioghe, the loss of his ship the Lydia Sutherland, near death of his first officer and his own serious injury.  This helps her understand him, although he does wonder why he told her (so do I).  She loves her equiraptor and the Company.  She also has daddy issues and is a magician (just like he was).  Appears to be in the story so Kirk can ride a flying horse to save Spock near the end.

The Vaudeville Company on the whole are not the worst additions to the story.  One of the ridiculous but redeeming events is them performing at the end of the book for The bird people, Enterprise crew, and the Klingon fleet.  The Klingons enjoyed the badly translated Shakespeare.

The technologically advanced, singing bird people who live on a World Ship.  As far as first contacts go, it could have been worse?  At least they were peaceful although, for all their advanced technology (so advanced it's innate), they still can't produce a translator that works, instead they mindmeld with Spock and send him insane while they get to learn 'standard'.  They don't have names so they end up being called 'Scarlet', 'Green' and other descriptive names.  At least they're easy to remember.  I almost feel sorry for them, because Kirk appears to have taken leave of his senses and can't retain information or grasp simple concepts such as, they don't have a hierarchy.  On the other hand, I'll forgive him for not believing that the universe moves around the worldship or that they can't move it themselves.  Firstly, because the first is a little crazy and second, because they prove they can move it (or at least cause it to move) at the end of the book.

 Enterprise - The First Adventure is quite long compared to other novels from the same period.  McIntyre's first Star Trek novel The Entropy Effect stands at about 224 pages while this one stands at an uncomfortable 371.  It's uncomfortable to read and sometimes it feels like a bit of a slog.  I had to force myself to come back and read more to get through the rough patches.  What is particularly annoying is that McIntyre is a good writer.  Her vocabulary is good, she reads well but the content of this story and perhaps the poor editing lets her down.  She did have another film novel released in the same year, so perhaps this suffered as a result.

When I started this review I really wanted it to be positive... you know first review on a high, but the more I wrote about it, the more I felt that I really didn't like it, despite really wanting to.  Although I don't particularly like it, I'd still recommend people read it, if only because it's the first outing of the Enterprise crew and Kirk's actions at Ghioghe are referenced else where.  It does deliver some good moments like the antagonism between McCoy and Spock, and when the book is on a high it's up there with the best romps.

Another reviewer has charmingly described it as 'Ringling Brothers join the original Star Trek crew and discover bird creatures all the while a crazed Klingon woman wants to destroy the crew'.

I can't really disagree!

2/5