The Entropy Effect (1981) (#2 Pocket, #17 Titan) by Vonda N McIntyre is a frankly bizarre first entry to the Pocket Books novel series (discounting Star Trek: The Motion Picture novel release). I have to be honest, I was trying to avoid reading/reviewing this one because of the travesty of Star Trek - The First Adventure, also by McIntyre. Unfortunately, my three (perhaps four - don't ask) copies of The Entropy Effect kept catching my attention; moustached Sulu haunting me, incorrectly uniformed Kirk staring balefully at me, baiting me.
Some people have pronounced this novel one of the best that the Star Trek TOS series has to offer; to those people I pose a question - Are you high?Having read McIntyre's prequel story Star Trek - The First Adventure I feel I was braced for her little, idiosyncrasies. For example, the story takes about 73 pages to actually get started (about 25k in a 78k word novel) because of her love of her 'original characters' which she lavishes precious pages on. I expected her hatred of Scotty, her undying love for Sulu (it was McIntyre who gave him his first name 'Hikaru' which became canon 10 years after the writing of this book), and her penchant for strong females and their groupies. She did surprise me a little bit with her Kirk/Spock slashy moments which are so overt that Kirk's relationship issues with the woman 'Hunter' are rendered null and void, because he has a boyfriend, and he has pointy ears (even if Kirk doesn't realise it yet).
The story itself is relatively simple, but manages to be convoluted because it involves time travel. Stripping it back to it's bare bones leaves you with an unimaginative time loop tale, only involving a single person, Spock, and by the end the novel not even he can clearly remember what has happened, neither is there any real effect to the universe in general. It seems such a waste of time to have an entire story take place and it essentially be relegated to nothingness at the end.
As I mentioned previously, nothing really happens in the first 73 pages in which McIntyre introduces her numerous original characters. If you've read The First Adventure you'll know of Hunter who is referenced by Sulu as a hero of his, and in The Entropy Effect, an ex-lover of Kirk with an uh, interesting polygamous family life. Hunter seems a little shoehorned in, I've no doubt McIntyre believes she's important, but she could be replaced with a generic male captain and we could skip some useless character development. We could also avoid some erosion of Kirk's character, which reduces him to being totally puerile. Luckily he's dead for a significant part of the novel, which means he gets bypass the McIntyre makeover (such a shame he doesn't manage to be dead in The First Adventure too).
And this is something I find really bizarre, who kills the main character for the majority of a novel which is supposed to be starting off a series of (non film) books? Kirk is dead for over half the book. Admittedly, he dies a very satisfying death (if by satisfying you mean, painfully and in Spock's arms), and you know what? Surprisingly this scene is written rather well! It gave me chills to read it, because it was rather brutal and McIntyre had come up with a particularly nasty way to kill someone. In fact, I've read the scene several times, because it is really well written, and I think, this is the scene which sticks in people's minds, which makes them forgive (?) the rest of the book. The scene is too long to quote here, but rest assured there are plenty of slashy moments... and a reference to an original character (Hunter) who is so important that Kirk thinks about her while he's dying. I really, really have a problem with this, 'this' being when original characters take on a more important role than the regular cast. Uhura and Chekov for example are non-entities in this novel, but the three new security officers? Hunter? A new reader could be forgiven for thinking that they were regular characters.
I must also congratulate McIntyre in not making Spock cry hot Vulcan tears when Kirk dies. He's close, but manages to keep it under control unlike in the First Adventure, and this is far, far more satisfying. Spock tries to ease Kirk's pain via a mind meld -
Spock grasped his hand, holding him strongly, deliberately leaving open all the mental and emotional shields he had built during his long association with human beings.
'You will be alright, Jim,' Spock said. He put his right hand to Jim's temple, completing the telepathic, mystical circuit linking him with his friend. Pain, fear, and regret welled out into him. He accepted it willingly, and felt it ease in Jim. 'My strength to yours,' he whispered, too softly for anyone to hear, the words a hypnotic reminder of the techniques he was using. 'My strength to yours, my will to yours.'
However, there is nothing to be done, Kirk realises that he's going to die, and severs the mind meld knowing that 'Spock would follow him down the accelerating spiral until he had fallen too deep to return. He would willingly choose death to save Kirk's life.' which results in -
'The physical resonance of emotional force flung Spock backward. His body thudded against the railing, and he slumped to the floor. He lay still, gathering his strength. (...) Spock pushed himself to his feet, fighting to hide his reactions. (...) Spock felt himself trembling. He clenched his fists. (...) The captain's body was alive; it could be kept alive indefinitely now.
But Spock had felt Jim Kirk die.'
The whole scene is really quite touching, and before the tedium of the time travel narratives takes hold, we have a another heart breaking scene in which Spock urges McCoy to turn off the machines keeping Kirk's body alive.
Unfortunately, from this point onwards, the novel's readability takes a serious nose dive. With Star Trek novels (or any other tie-in series I guess), you know everything has to be back to the status quo by the end of the book, so, you know Kirk isn't going to stay dead and Sulu will probably be shaving that ridiculous moustache off soon. However, this makes stories regarding time travel problematic, because, you either write a story revolving around a bootstrap paradox or you write a time loop tale. Bootstrap paradoxes are easier to write because you can put lots of original content in, but theoretically, it has already happened in the existent universe, so nothing is expected to change - it's already been changed into the universe we know. The joy of this type of time travel is that it's not the destination, it's the journey, the question of how the events play out in order to achieve the universe we know. Time loops are more difficult, you need to show that a time loop is happening, map out where characters are at any one time and not make it tedious for the reader to read the same events over and over again. It's pretty tough, especially when the main event (Kirk's death) is described so early, it's hard to really follow up with anything interesting. Additionally, having to bring such events to a close with no effect to the universe makes it even harder to achieve a satisfying resolution. Needless to say McIntyre doesn't quite manage it.
Much of the drama of the time loop come from the aggressive actions of a prosecutor (original character), and McIntyre's weak minded Scotty. The prosecutor has no business subverting the command of a Federation vessel, and Scotty is portrayed as a thin skinned maid who would turn against Spock and McCoy because he wasn't put in command by Spock after Kirk's death. Where is the trust that Scotty has? The resilience that is built up during the series? If you have read The First Adventure, Scotty's portrayal shouldn't be a surprise, McIntyre dislikes the character intensely.
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| Why McIntyre, why? |
After the time travelling / time looping has come to an end. Kirk is restored to life (because those events never happened) and Spock is unconscious in a state of exhaustion. Naturally, Kirk is by Spocks side when he wakes up, and you get this little scene:
'Jim!' Spock sat up so quickly that every muscle and joint and sinew shrieked: he was aware of the sensation but impervious to it, as he should be, but for all the wrong reasons. He grabbed Jim Kirk's arm. It was solid and real. Relief, and, yes, joy, overwhelmed the Vulcan. He slid his hand up Jim's arm; he started to reach up to him, to lay his hand along the side of his face to feel the unsettling energy of Jim's undamaged mind.'
I love this scene, but it also freaks me out. Not because it's a slashy/spirky as you get, but because... well, have you ever had someone run their hand up your arm. Don't try doing it to yourself (it won't be the same sensation), get a friend or partner do it to you, or both so you can compare. I'll wait.
...
Tried it? Ok, how did that make you feel? If your answer is, FREAKED OUT and I FEEL LIKE SPIDERS ARE CRAWLING UP MY ARM, then you feel the same way as me. Having a hand moving like that, up your arm and towards your face is like, so intimate, so unsettling. My partner and I tried it on each other and we gave each other the shivers (not in a good way), it feels weirdly predatory. Kirk doesn't react to Spock's behaviour. Pities sake, Vulcans don't like prolonged touching, or touching generally but this is... I don't know, primitive longing, as I said, predatory, desire? Obviously there is joy and relief there but it just seems very intimate (then again, so is feeling somebody die whilst your minds are joined, or joining minds and sharing pain - QED). I'll let you join the dots.
The novel ends with a trite little Captains log which ties up McIntyre's precious 'OC' story arcs and prevents Sulu from any further consideration regarding leaving the ship and joining Hunter's fighter squadrons (are there even fighter squadrons in canon?). Oh, and Kirk is going to talk to the OC Hunter, and probably hook up, because just when you think you're in the clear (because they haven't met up in this timeline), OCs come back to haunt you, like last night's vindaloo.
I really, really want to give The Entropy Effect a 1/5, but I'm going to settle for 2/5. Why? Well, because there is good writing in it at times, and does have some interesting parts. Also, I think it should be read because of it's position as the first non-film novel in the Pocket books series. I think, if you're into slashy writing, you should read it for Kirk's death scene and Spock's recovery, even if the rest of the book is dire. What I find interesting is that Vonda N McIntyre was one of Roddenberry's 'inner circle' (I think I referenced that before) and she wrote the novel adaptations for the following couple of films. He obviously didn't have a problem with Kirk and Spock's interactions being so very... ahem. Then again, he didn't have a problem with the quality of the writing in this book, he may even have liked it?! Ah well, no accounting for taste.
2/5 - thankfully, no equiraptors.
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