I have to admit, I initially skipped over this one because I thought it wouldn't be an easy read, especially if it did follow in the footsteps of The Final Reflection and My Enemy, My Ally. Truth be told, I was right, however the two mentioned instalments turned out to be fantastic, so what was I worried about?
Margaret Wander Bonanno was already a professionally published author having penned three novels previous to
Dwellers in the Crucible. She is a talented writer and her previous experience in world crafting and character development is clear from the outset of
Dwellers and her previous independence leads her to create an adventure within the Star Trek universe, using lore from other successful authors, but outside of the usual tinted lens of the
Enterprise and her crew.
However,
however, although
Dwellers in the Crucible has the pedigree: good material, talented writer, good characters, it doesn't have the illusive
something, that
little bit of stardust which would elevate it into something (in my opinion) great.
Have you ever read
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro? There's a film of it too starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It's a very clever book; cleverly written, a sad character analysis with a sad, hopeless ending. It's a prize winner, a literary masterpiece - it is also one of the most dull, unrewarding, uninspiring books I have ever read. It's a lesson in drudgery, of patience and dogged determination,
AND frankly if a reader manages to get through it on their own steam they should reward themselves (a slice of cake will do) because you get not a jot from the book. The film isn't much better, brilliant but good grief I shall not watch that exercise in dreary fatalism again!
Why have I told you about
The Remains of the Day? Well..
Dwellers in the Crucible elicits the same feelings from me. I love the fact Bonanno knows how to write, I love that it's a 'quality' book, I like it's cleverness, it's structural peculiarities, I like the different focus. I also think it is rather unrewarding and often painfully dull. I can't truthfully call it bad (it simply isn't), but I also can't say I enjoyed it (because I didn't). I'm glad I read
Dwellers but on the other hand I had to force myself to pick it back up; the experience can probably be summed up as
all stick and no carrot.
The Story
Dwellers in the Crucible is a story of captivity, friendship and survival of powerless civilians. It's not a pleasure to read; it is heavy going and often hard to continue. It contains torture, sadism, murder and suicide, but also loyalty, self sacrifice, compassion and love.
The Federation has adopted an initiative based on an ancient Vulcan practice - The Warrantors of Peace - an important person or people to the current world leaders are held hostage with a capsule embedded in their hearts which will detonate if removed or if the planet commits an act of war/violence on another. The concept boils down to the threat mutually assured destruction should one planet commit an act of violence toward another (an agreeable cold war?).
The Romulans and Klingons in their uneasy alliance, formulate a plan to kidnap a number of Warrantors in order to destabilise the peace of the Federation. Once the Romulans kidnap the Warrantors they are passed into the hands of the Klingons (frankly a terrible idea on the part of the Romulans) who amuse themselves by torturing their civilian charges whom they have under their control for about six months.
Meanwhile the Enterprise is on 'standby'. Sulu is dressed up as a Romulan and sent undercover in the Empire (which we barely hear about), Scotty gathers information from the Klingons, and Uhura sets about sowing incorrect information for the Romulan listeners to decipher. Kirk... well Admiral Kirk is getting rather agitated about the whole thing, while Spock keeps him company?
Eventually the remaining Warrantors are saved, and Kirk and Spock see a reflection of themselves in the two women. The Federation finally decides this whole 'Warrantors of Peace' concept was a terrible, terrible idea and is in the process of scrapping the whole program by the end of the book.
The overarching story isn't at all well developed. Some reviewers have had a problem with the 'Warrantors of Peace', however the Federation is capable of doing remarkably stupid things so I can give it a pass... plus the Vulcans suggested it so I can conceivably imagine the Federation diplomats and higher ups agreeing it was a good idea. Other problems include the under developed Sulu mission which could have been a book all by itself, Admiral Nogura's strange decisions about what Kirk should or shouldn't be doing, and the fact that the Enterprise is left idling for six months. I imagine Kirk was climbing the walls! However,
Dwellers in the Crucible is not concerned with 'the big picture', but with the relationships between the Warrantors, and the Warrantors and their captors.
The Crucible(s)
The term
crucible in the title applies to different aspects of the story, but is most strongly summed up in the following quote:
The Vulcan friendship mode is a crucible. There is that in it which can purify, refine, strengthen. There is also that which can immolate, destroy.
Just remove the reference to
'the Vulcan friendship mode' (I really hate the 'mode' terminology since
Vulcan Command Mode) and replace it with 'love'.
Love is the crucible. Poignantly this novel is set between TMP and TWOK, and in TMP
love is the word which is never mentioned except in euphemism. In
Dwellers, love of the same flavour as Kirk and Spock's is explored -
t'hy'la - through the guise of two women, Cleante al-Faisal - a human female, and T'Shael - a Vulcan female.
However,
love isn't the only crucible in
Dwellers, although it is the most poetic. There are several events which act as crucibles, some are in the novel's 'present' others in the characters' pasts. The shared pasts of Cleante and T'Shael (which is a significant portion of the book) highlights moments of change which would eventually lead them to the realisation of their status of
t'hy'la. Some of the moments of dramatic, others are moments of understanding for one, or both of them.
I think the most obvious 'crucible' is their prison on the abandoned planetoid - certainly a place which can purify, refine, strengthen or immolate and destroy. The situation as engineered by the Klingons (or specifically Kalor) causes the deaths of the three Deltans. The Deltans lived for love both physical and mental however in the crucible that love destroyed them. On the other hand, the pressure felt by Cleante and T'Shael to save the other caused both of them to be forged into something better both as individuals and as a unit.
Cleante & T'Shael
Cleante and T'Shael are Kirk and Spock's stand ins respectively.
What makes it quite interesting however is that Cleante and T'Shael are civilians and come from very different backgrounds to Kirk and Spock. I think it would be interesting to speculate what changes there would be to this story if they weren't civilians or if it was Kirk and Spock in this same situation... No doubt there there is a fanfiction on this subject somewhere.
I can't talk too much about the characters without giving away too much of their story. However Cleante is very much an impulsive, young, human woman with altogether too much pride; T'Shael is a reticent, reserved young fully Vulcan woman who is humble and 'known for the quality of her silences'. Both women come from less than ideal families, Cleante's mother never affectionate and work driven while T'Shael's parents are dead - her uncaring mother died on the Intrepid while her father died of an incurable wasting disease. However, both women are incredibly lonely and this loneliness brings them together despite their difference. I think this is also what is brings Kirk and Spock together initially, command is a lonely place.
I think it interesting that although Cleante and T'Shael are the analogues of Kirk and Spock, that they are not copies. T'Shael is humble however Spock has great pride (as I think most Vulcans do), while Cleante is prideful while Kirk will lower himself for the greater good. These differences in both relationships evaporate however when they are truly 'bonded' and when the other is in danger both pairs gain the capacity for great self sacrifice.
I think perhaps most women will find something of themselves in either or both Cleante and T'Shael, perhaps that's what made their situation (their captivity and torture) so horrible to read about. It's much easier to read about the appalling treatment of a male hero character; it's not so close to home and you know that the hero character is trained for this and they can handle it. In Cleante and T'Shael's situation you don't have any of that reassurance, you're wondering when they are going to break. I think it's most galling because you can't even put your trust in Vulcan fortitude, you're wondering when T'Shael will break too, not just the highly strung human.
Ford's Klingons and Duane's Romulans
To me it seems odd to set out to use existing lore by other novel writers and then use so little of it that it almost seems wasteful to have considered it in the first place. Although there are nods to Ford and Duane's ideas, the Klingons and the Romulans remain more Bonanno's creations that the other writers.
Ford's Klingons were sly gamemasters, and if a Klingon should rise through the ranks from a lowly background you'd expect them to be intelligent - not so apparently. Krazz is one of the more stupid villains despite his rise to a position of power. Ford spent much of his novel
The Final Reflection giving a different reading of the Klingons, trying to find common ground that perhaps even Kirk could in some way empathise with. However Krazz and Kalor (Krazz's second in command) are simply exactly like you expect a Klingon to be - and to be honest, if I were Kirk the actions of Krazz and Kalor would have closed me down to any possible positive feelings towards the Klingon species. Kalor is the worst of the two, a cruel sadist who engineers the deaths of the three Deltans under the premise of science. Lets face it, if he was a 'scientist' doing experiments on rabbits and enjoying causing them suffering, you wouldn't want to know him right? Ok, well now apply that to three Deltans, one of which is a child. No Bonanno, he can't have my sympathy now that he's found he has a soft side now that he's coerced Cleante into sex in order to save her friend from his sadistic experiments. Nor am I going to listen to Cleante when she starts sympathising with him as her mind is breaking. His 'redemption' came too late in the game, I think he's a poor representation of Ford's Klingons.
Duane's Romulans / Rihannsu are represented a little better perhaps, but this may be because we don't see them half as much. Bonanno seems to have used some key points from Duane's Romulan development like the term
Rihannsu, and the imagery associated with the Praetor / Empire. Much of what could have been included regarding the Romulans (and perhaps there was more in the first draft) would have been Sulu's adventure undercover in the Romulan Empire, but since this is barely touched once introduced (and consequently the results of the investigation is only a confirmation of what they already know - they would have gone to the same place without confirmation anyway), so it isn't really important in the long run. I found it interesting that one of the main plot points to Duane's story
My Enemy, My Ally is that the female Romulan/Rihannsu Commander whom Spock tricks in order to get the cloaking device is disgraced and sent into exile, however in Bonanno's iteration she still has the favour of the Praetor - surely this is a major change to Rihannsu thought?
All in all, I don't think Bonanno uses enough Ford and Duane's ideas to have really warranted her giving them credit at the beginning, although... there is mild influence. I don't think the representation of either species is bad though, don't get me wrong.
Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty
Odd. Just Odd.
I don't know whether it's because Bonanno is doing her best to keep them out of the limelight, but the established characters are often a little 'off'. Out of all of them, I'd say that Scotty and Uhura have the most true to form characterisation. Uhura certainly feels like she's presented similarly as in other novels (although some of her dialogue with Spock is a little saccharine), while I could vividly see Scotty on his mission in my minds eye -
shame it was so short.
Sulu was... out the way for much of the novel, doing something simultaneously important and unimportant, which ultimately didn't lead anywhere. It was kind of annoying really as for once I wanted to know what Sulu was actually doing (my dislike for Takei unfortunately bleeds into my feelings for Sulu) as his mission was the most dynamic of the lot.
Kirk, Spock and McCoy only really
get going in the final section of the novel when we're beaten with the t'hyla stick - but frankly if you hadn't got that Bonanno has made a parallel couple out of Cleante and T'Shael in order to investigate the depths of the concept of T'hy'la whilst circumventing the radars of certain audiences then perhaps you deserve it.
No need to open her eyes this time. What little strength she had left she raised one hand. It was gently embraced by two human hands, and T'Shael's pain receded in the emanation of love from those hands.
Did she dare smile? If death were to claim her before she could let Cleante know the depth of her gratitude, her yes - call it love - even in the presence of strangers -
For the first time in her life, T'Shael smiled.
"I'm here," was all Cleante said, and it was all that was needed.
Jim Kirk looked at Spock, who acknowledged the scene in silence before setting the controls (...).
Sound familiar by any chance? It's pretty much a verbatim rendition of Spock and Kirk's scene in TMP. This book is also set between TMP and TWOK...
Whodathunk.
McCoy knows everything, and even when Kirk is being dense he makes sure to hit him with the t'hy'la hammer:
"(...): whatever happens to her depends in large part on Cleante. And vice versa."
Kirk gave him a puzzled look.
"Explain."
"Oh, come on Jim! You've seen it as well as I have, and so has Spock. These two are forged together for life. They're almost a mirror image of you and Spock, both of them falling over each other in self sacrifice. There's an old phrase in Latin - amicus usque ad aras. 'A friend in spite of all differences; a friend to the last extremity.' There's even a Vulcan word for it, isn't there Spock?"
"The word, Doctor is t'hy'la," Spock murmured, ignoring McCoy's obtuseness.
There is also a section where McCoy leads Cleante away and sees the same look of devotion in her face as he had seen so many times in Jim Kirk's. McCoy's role here is very much to draw attention to the parallel couples and I guess his character development / exposition is the depth of his understanding of his two closest friends.
So regarding Kirk and Spock... sure they have only a small part to play in this novel ultimately, but despite this
the novel is about them or at least their relationship. Nobody really cares about a couple of one off characters who disappear into the ether at the end of a novel, not really - what do they change ultimately? Well nothing at all except perhaps our understanding of the term
t'hy'la and the personal transformations which take place in a relationship of that depth.
While thinking about
Dwellers and the concept of the 'crucible' and forging an unbreakable bond, I thought... when was the point that where at least one of them realised he was bound to the other? When was Kirk and Spock's 'crucible' moment? I thought about it for a while, but certainly Spock's 'moment' had to be
Amok Time; I think that would be the time he realised he was bound to this human for life (
that smile when he realises that Kirk is still alive...). What about Kirk? Well... like Cleante I think Kirk innately knew and recognised the other part of his soul, perhaps he didn't think about it in poetic terms until later, but from Kirk's reactions and the way he looks at Spock from the beginning (aided by Shatner's phenomenal acting), I think he knew all along.
So yes ultimately
Dwellers in the Crucible is a very good, well thought out character study. A little bit subversive, a lotta bit clever - I would recommend reading it for the questions it asks and for the thoughts it provokes.
However it is not an enjoyable book, I didn't take a lot of pleasure in reading it and it was at times a chore to read
which is not a feeling I like. I did feel like I was forcing myself to turn the pages, so this leaves me in a strange position.
I didn't like the book, but I liked the points it made and the questions it evoked... which is why I'm going to give it 3/5!
Two novels use the theme of 'destiny', Killing Time using it to the extent that even in an alternate time line the universe tries to reassert a 'best destiny' for its main players. Interestingly, one could apply this theory to the new films (AU) where the universe is thrown a curveball by the incursion by the Romulans and still manages to put Kirk in the captain's chair. And I'm not the only one to have noticed the similarity, Van Hise has had something to say on the subject too.
