'I don't like water, Jim.' Kirk blinked and stared at his friend. 'It's not water, Bones, it's ice.'
Let's face it, I'm a sucker for a pretty cover, and when I was sorting through a haul of books from ebay 'Ice Trap' caught my attention. McCoy looking resolutely out from the centre unusually draws your eye more than Kirk does... and why shouldn't he, that dashing southern gentleman. Jen, I say to myself, you've given far too much attention to Spock lately, share the love with the good doctor... and so it begins.
Unusually, there's no biography for the author in my copy (Titan Books edition - UK publisher) like in so many others, so I looked online. I had a bit of a giggle then (and felt a little stupid) - L.A. GRAF and acronym for Lets All Get Rich And Famous, chosen as a pen name to cover a writing team of 2-3 authors, all female.
I'd realised that L A Graf was female, the writing is pretty feminine and now that I know there is more than one writer, I'd hazard a guess that the parallel narratives were split between them, with perhaps one writing the Kirk/McCoy sections and another writing the Uhura/Chekov sections. Perhaps this adds some strength to the writing, because they actually successfully focus on two relationships/groups of people, lavishing as much attention on one as much as the other, which works rather well. This lends a welcome change of pace to the story as the author(s) doesn't rush one section in order to get back to the bits they really want to write.
Ice Trap begins as an investigation into the disappearance of a shuttle carrying civilian research scientists and the subsequent rescue attempt which quite rapidly goes south. The planet Nordstral is, as the book title might suggest, an inhospitable ice planet home to an indigenous people, the Eskimo Kitka, who have a strangely close relationship to their planet. The planet also has a valuable resource, the plankton that live in the icy waters under the ice (Spock would contest the use of that word), and harvested in great quantities, for undoubtedly great profit. Nordstal has a few problems however, cases of madness have occurred amongst the Norstral Pharmaceuticals staff and fierce electro-magnetic storms have become a regular occurrence, rendering much technology useless. Delegates of the Enterprise crew find themselves cut off from their ship and relying only on themselves for survival.
As I mentioned before, there are two narratives in Ice Trap - one centres around Kirk and McCoy on an underwater adventure, while the other follows Chekov & Uhura (and their posse of red shirts) making contact with the Nordstral natives and surviving being hunted across the ice. Spock is relegated to a minor role commanding the Enterprise in Kirk's (and pretty much every commanding officer's) absence. Spock doesn't seem to be a favourite character for the ladies behind Graf, in fact they manage to make him remarkably superficial and incredibly irritating, lazily writing him as a tone-deaf, humourless, pedantic...Vulcan. In this case, he's just a foil for McCoy.
And this is where it gets fun. I think it's fairly obvious there's a 'shipping war' going on between the various novelists, and in this instance we have shots fired from the KirkxMcCoy side. Kirk and McCoy's deep sea adventure is wonderfully dramatic and camp. Much of the narrative comes from McCoy's perspective, namely to allow McCoy's insecurities to be the most pronounced. McCoy doesn't like the water and hates the idea of being in a submarine under the ice, but is talked into it anyway. Kirk picks up on McCoy's unease (it's pretty obvious) and the following scene ensues:
"Kirk surprised his friend by leaning down and placing a firm hand on the bed to either side of McCoy, effectively trapping the doctor where he sat.
'What's eating you?'
'Nothing's----'
'Bones.' He spoke quietly, without annoyance, and drew McCoy's attention like filings to a magnet. Blue eyes met hazel ones of an intensity the doctor had never experienced with any other single human being. 'I need you with me on this one. I need your way of looking at things to help me figure out what's happening on Nordstral. I can't do it by myself.'
Staring into those eyes, McCoy found himself wondering just when he decided he would die for this man."
Ladies and gentlemen, you've entered the slash zone - warning pairing shots fired. This is why Spock is depicted the way he is. I don't think I need to elaborate.
After this touching scene (and there's a lot more physical contact in this narrative), we get a little exposition from McCoy. We learn about an episode from his childhood where he almost drowned in a river at a family gathering, and where another child wasn't so lucky. Tragic. Finally Kirk understands and is sorry-not-sorry for forcing McCoy to come along. McCoy was really the only choice, since Kirk and McCoy are investigating the madness of the researchers, and they all went mad while in this submarine/harvester. Unsurprisingly, there is yet another madman in the submarine, and it happens to be the ship's doctor. There are a fair few confrontations with this man resulting in injury and near drowning for McCoy.
While Kirk and McCoy are under the ice, natural catastrophes occur which cause damage to the submarine, killing the captain (Kirk takes command of the submarine then) and attracting what is described as a 'kraken'. During their adventure underwater, Kirk and McCoy essentially work out what is causing the problems with the planet, which, if it wasn't obvious enough, is the unsustainable harvesting of the plankton. Needless to say, Kirk and McCoy do manage to resurface and pass on their findings.
As I mentioned before, there are two narratives in Ice Trap - one centres around Kirk and McCoy on an underwater adventure, while the other follows Chekov & Uhura (and their posse of red shirts) making contact with the Nordstral natives and surviving being hunted across the ice. Spock is relegated to a minor role commanding the Enterprise in Kirk's (and pretty much every commanding officer's) absence. Spock doesn't seem to be a favourite character for the ladies behind Graf, in fact they manage to make him remarkably superficial and incredibly irritating, lazily writing him as a tone-deaf, humourless, pedantic...Vulcan. In this case, he's just a foil for McCoy.
And this is where it gets fun. I think it's fairly obvious there's a 'shipping war' going on between the various novelists, and in this instance we have shots fired from the KirkxMcCoy side. Kirk and McCoy's deep sea adventure is wonderfully dramatic and camp. Much of the narrative comes from McCoy's perspective, namely to allow McCoy's insecurities to be the most pronounced. McCoy doesn't like the water and hates the idea of being in a submarine under the ice, but is talked into it anyway. Kirk picks up on McCoy's unease (it's pretty obvious) and the following scene ensues:
"Kirk surprised his friend by leaning down and placing a firm hand on the bed to either side of McCoy, effectively trapping the doctor where he sat.
'What's eating you?'
'Nothing's----'
'Bones.' He spoke quietly, without annoyance, and drew McCoy's attention like filings to a magnet. Blue eyes met hazel ones of an intensity the doctor had never experienced with any other single human being. 'I need you with me on this one. I need your way of looking at things to help me figure out what's happening on Nordstral. I can't do it by myself.'
Staring into those eyes, McCoy found himself wondering just when he decided he would die for this man."
Ladies and gentlemen, you've entered the slash zone - warning pairing shots fired. This is why Spock is depicted the way he is. I don't think I need to elaborate.
After this touching scene (and there's a lot more physical contact in this narrative), we get a little exposition from McCoy. We learn about an episode from his childhood where he almost drowned in a river at a family gathering, and where another child wasn't so lucky. Tragic. Finally Kirk understands and is sorry-not-sorry for forcing McCoy to come along. McCoy was really the only choice, since Kirk and McCoy are investigating the madness of the researchers, and they all went mad while in this submarine/harvester. Unsurprisingly, there is yet another madman in the submarine, and it happens to be the ship's doctor. There are a fair few confrontations with this man resulting in injury and near drowning for McCoy.
While Kirk and McCoy are under the ice, natural catastrophes occur which cause damage to the submarine, killing the captain (Kirk takes command of the submarine then) and attracting what is described as a 'kraken'. During their adventure underwater, Kirk and McCoy essentially work out what is causing the problems with the planet, which, if it wasn't obvious enough, is the unsustainable harvesting of the plankton. Needless to say, Kirk and McCoy do manage to resurface and pass on their findings.
Like a fair few of the Star Trek novels, several key plot points hinge of the characters being struck with sudden and remarkable idiocy... in this rendition of the Enterprise crew, Uhura is the main victim of ISS (Inexplicable Stupidity Syndrome) and may have you muttering curses under your breath as she makes utterly bizarre decisions. Uhura and Chekov's story line only works because Uhura won't listen to Chekov and regularly threatens to pull rank to stop Chekov making the right decision. This narrative involves contacting the native people in order to obtain their cooperation to travel to where the researcher's shuttle went down. This is essential as the particular area the shuttle lost contact / crashed is a sacred area and their Shaman is refusing access for the rescue team.
Chekov is understandably wary and this upsets Uhura, who has researched the Kitkats and found them to be friendly. Uhura, wishing to immerse herself in the culture stays in their ice tunnel home (with the female red shirt), while Chekov and the other two red shirts stay on the surface - he doesn't trust the shaman.
Tragedy strikes the next morning as the ice moves due to a reversal of the planet's magnetic poles which results the female red shirt meeting her end. Uhura issues the order for her to stay put while she herself runs off after a Kitka child she has befriended. Uhura is responsible for red shirt death number one.
Chekov, Uhura and the two remaining redshirts (plus one loaded grav sled) are chased across the ice by the Shaman's evil Kitka, another red shirt meets his untimely end, the remaining red shirt is injured, and Chekov is poisoned and rendered unconscious. Somehow, the remaining rescue party end up exactly where the shuttle crashed, by sailing and iceberg back to land... this is also the location a friendly Kitka had journeyed to, where a Kraken is about to appear and where Kirk & McCoy will appear in the submarine.
So many contrivances!
Needless to say, the book resolves positively, with the Enterprise aiding replenishment of the plankton (and the pharmaceutical company swearing they will work on sustainable harvesting), the final read shirt surviving, and Uhura realising that Chekov was right all along.
I really enjoyed this entry into the novel series actually! Saying that however, doesn't mean I forgive it for a great number of sinful contrivances, ISS, and some truly terrible descriptions ('and drew McCoy's attention like filings to a magnet.' - just because you can use a simile, doesn't mean you should). I likes the two parallel narratives, even if Uhura bugged the heck out of me, and the pacing was pretty good!
A jolly good jaunt - 3/5.
Chekov is understandably wary and this upsets Uhura, who has researched the Kitka
Tragedy strikes the next morning as the ice moves due to a reversal of the planet's magnetic poles which results the female red shirt meeting her end. Uhura issues the order for her to stay put while she herself runs off after a Kitka child she has befriended. Uhura is responsible for red shirt death number one.
Chekov, Uhura and the two remaining redshirts (plus one loaded grav sled) are chased across the ice by the Shaman's evil Kitka, another red shirt meets his untimely end, the remaining red shirt is injured, and Chekov is poisoned and rendered unconscious. Somehow, the remaining rescue party end up exactly where the shuttle crashed, by sailing and iceberg back to land... this is also the location a friendly Kitka had journeyed to, where a Kraken is about to appear and where Kirk & McCoy will appear in the submarine.
So many contrivances!
Needless to say, the book resolves positively, with the Enterprise aiding replenishment of the plankton (and the pharmaceutical company swearing they will work on sustainable harvesting), the final read shirt surviving, and Uhura realising that Chekov was right all along.
I really enjoyed this entry into the novel series actually! Saying that however, doesn't mean I forgive it for a great number of sinful contrivances, ISS, and some truly terrible descriptions ('and drew McCoy's attention like filings to a magnet.' - just because you can use a simile, doesn't mean you should). I likes the two parallel narratives, even if Uhura bugged the heck out of me, and the pacing was pretty good!
A jolly good jaunt - 3/5.
I hadn't checked out the author's name but as you say, I should realized it is female. For example the scene where Kirk is not knowing he is already talking to the captain of the ship. Would a man have written it like that? Would the captain even have been female then? Probably not.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved the Kirk/Bones scenes in TOS and this is why I also loved this book. I hadn't even noticed Spock being sidelined. Apparently I am more in the Kirk/McCoy campt than I thought ;)
I also love whumping and Bones gets whumped in this a lot. First with the memory of his childhood story, then in reality. Poor guy.
Maybe I should check out the others as well.
Hello dieastra, nice to hear from you!
DeleteYou're right! That initial scene with Kirk and the Captain, is another good example of female authors putting a different spin on things. I think, it's pretty 50/50 on whether the captain would have been female with a male author BUT I do think that a male author would be more squeamish about killing her, and perhaps Kirk would have ultimately saved her. I think when a woman writes characters such as Kirk, she's more interested in relationships and drama than projecting herself onto the character.
Oh... the Kirk/McCoy scenes are always brilliant, they have this beautiful rapport, that kind of similar sense of humour. I've always loved those little scenes where they take time to have these little arguments.