"It's my life, and I'm willing to take that risk. Instead of arguing with me, you should be going over all your medical data and learning everything you can to make sure you don't kill me."
"Bones." Kirk's tone was solemn. "Is it possible?"
Incredulous, McCoy spun to face the Admiral. "Jim, I've never treated a garden variety, air-breathin' Akkallan, let alone one who's turning into a fish!"
I had high hopes for Howard Weinstein's 1987 novel Deep Domain (#33 Pocket, # Titan), not least because it is the result of Weinstein being involved in a brainstorming session with Leonard Nimoy when ideas for ST:IV were being bandied around. As a consequence of the meeting, Weinstein wrote a story outline based on some notes he had made just in case he might have a chance at submitting one for the movie. It turned out that the basic story had already been decided on and so, Weinstein never had the chance to submit his idea, however instead this story outline evolved into Deep Domain.
Howard Weinstein acknowledges in his forward that there are similarities between ST:IV and Deep Domain because they came from 'the same pot of ideas' but the differences become clear as you read the book.
"Bones." Kirk's tone was solemn. "Is it possible?"
Incredulous, McCoy spun to face the Admiral. "Jim, I've never treated a garden variety, air-breathin' Akkallan, let alone one who's turning into a fish!"
I had high hopes for Howard Weinstein's 1987 novel Deep Domain (#33 Pocket, # Titan), not least because it is the result of Weinstein being involved in a brainstorming session with Leonard Nimoy when ideas for ST:IV were being bandied around. As a consequence of the meeting, Weinstein wrote a story outline based on some notes he had made just in case he might have a chance at submitting one for the movie. It turned out that the basic story had already been decided on and so, Weinstein never had the chance to submit his idea, however instead this story outline evolved into Deep Domain.
He's right there I suppose.
I've been in such a rut with this book. I have been gazing lovingly at my future conquests but because of my own self imposed rules I can't skip this one or start another one until Deep Domain is finished and reviewed. It's taken me oh... over a month to get through it, it's just so incredibly dull. Ok, to give Weinstein his due, the last eighty pages or so is reasonably paced, as the author races to the... end? Where was the climax?
Literally nothing particularly good jumps out at me, aside from that I've finished it and won't have to read it again. Weinstein what happened?! There's... a lot of bad aspects to Deep Domain though, like poor pacing, off key characterization, strange OCs, and a bit too much wink wink nudge nudge foreshadowing.
So... where do I start?
Deep Domain is set between TMP and TWOK, and actually positions the events within as the final mission before Kirk gives up command of the Enterprise for the second time. Weinstein also sets up Chekov's move to the Reliant as one of the last actions of the narrative.
The book is dominated by a contrived political situation on a water planet called Akkalla, which ultimately results in a military coo / martial law being enacted in line with the plans of an ambitious femme fatale. Akkalla is a dubious member of the Federation, since they control their media with propaganda and use forbidden interrogation methods like... well.. torture, mainly to do with half drowning people.
Akkalla is under attack from a neighbouring planet, who having destroyed their own planet's ability to provide their population with food, have turned to illegally plundering Akkalla's oceans.Greenpeace The Cape Alliance use small boats to try to disrupt the Whaling Vessels / Fishing Trawlers Chorymi harvesters, but their actions are considered criminal by their government who initially had a treaty with Chorymi.
A third Akkallan faction is the Collegium which is supposed to be a neutral educational institution but the government for some reason thinks they're dangerous too (despite repeated attempts to distance themselves).
The situation is made more complicated by the inclusion of a Federation research base, the mistreatment and then capture / disappearance of three Federation scientists.
Add into this the possibility of another ancient sentient race potentially being endangered by the Chorymi harvesting, the disappearance and capture of Spock and Chekov, the inclusion of a wide selection of overwrought original characters and you have a confusing mess.
Thank goodness it was never made a film.
It probably would have made an interesting not-Star-Trek sci-fi TV series though.
Really, there's just a bit too much going on, far too much for 275 pages and Deep Domain would have benefited from some significant editing of the plot and cutting out at least three characters to streamline it and -forgive the expression- cut the crap. The story is bloated, it's boring, and I don't care about the colour changing cat girl who likes chocolate milk...! I'd rather have more development in a smaller cast than a large cast with some half-hearted exposition of 'important characters'.
It's a shame because his previous novel The Covenant of the Crown was a really enjoyable book which was a quick read (191 pages) and used a smaller cast of characters with a simpler story line. As happens with many authors across all genres, when they start to get a little more ambitious they over extend themselves a little bit and try to over complicate the story too much; this is definitely the case with Deep Domain.
I was a little surprised by Weinstein's noncommittal approach to emotions and relationships which he veered away from throughout Deep Domain, as previously he has explored emotions more thoroughly (actually making them more of a focus). There were several points in the novel where I wished it had been written by a woman because those sections were just ripe for some emotional exposition and character development... and it just didn't happen. I just felt like at times I wasn't being rewarded for slogging out page after page of not very much happening - all stick with no carrot. This particularly annoying because it is clear that for the most part Weinstein has the main cast down pat, but he skips over any emotional confirmation which I can only put down to word count / page limitations.
Weinstein's OCs in Deep Domain are a little too numerous, but I found the little cat-girl ensign a particularly strange addition. If I didn't know the author's name I would have expected a female author to have produced her, she's that kind of cringe inducing OC that really didn't need to be included in the story in the first place (and certainly not have as many pages wasted on her) and a faceless crew member would have done just as well. If I was editing, she would have been the first to go! There's also a trio of OCs (the leader of the Akallan government, the woman who is controlling him and her army toy boy) which could have done with being merged into one character for the sake of brevity, as their story line does nothing to really enhance the novel thematically, and again wastes precious pages for no real gain.
There are some really good and clever ideas in Deep Domain they just never get fully realized, which is a real disappointment. I did like the idea of the Akkallans returning to the sea for the last half of their lives, I like the positive message / warning which echoes Star Trek:IV but there just isn't enough development - all plot points are just spread far too thin.
2/5 - I commit this book to the deep.
Literally nothing particularly good jumps out at me, aside from that I've finished it and won't have to read it again. Weinstein what happened?! There's... a lot of bad aspects to Deep Domain though, like poor pacing, off key characterization, strange OCs, and a bit too much wink wink nudge nudge foreshadowing.
So... where do I start?
Deep Domain is set between TMP and TWOK, and actually positions the events within as the final mission before Kirk gives up command of the Enterprise for the second time. Weinstein also sets up Chekov's move to the Reliant as one of the last actions of the narrative.
The book is dominated by a contrived political situation on a water planet called Akkalla, which ultimately results in a military coo / martial law being enacted in line with the plans of an ambitious femme fatale. Akkalla is a dubious member of the Federation, since they control their media with propaganda and use forbidden interrogation methods like... well.. torture, mainly to do with half drowning people.
Akkalla is under attack from a neighbouring planet, who having destroyed their own planet's ability to provide their population with food, have turned to illegally plundering Akkalla's oceans.
A third Akkallan faction is the Collegium which is supposed to be a neutral educational institution but the government for some reason thinks they're dangerous too (despite repeated attempts to distance themselves).
The situation is made more complicated by the inclusion of a Federation research base, the mistreatment and then capture / disappearance of three Federation scientists.
Add into this the possibility of another ancient sentient race potentially being endangered by the Chorymi harvesting, the disappearance and capture of Spock and Chekov, the inclusion of a wide selection of overwrought original characters and you have a confusing mess.
Thank goodness it was never made a film.
It probably would have made an interesting not-Star-Trek sci-fi TV series though.
Really, there's just a bit too much going on, far too much for 275 pages and Deep Domain would have benefited from some significant editing of the plot and cutting out at least three characters to streamline it and -forgive the expression- cut the crap. The story is bloated, it's boring, and I don't care about the colour changing cat girl who likes chocolate milk...! I'd rather have more development in a smaller cast than a large cast with some half-hearted exposition of 'important characters'.
It's a shame because his previous novel The Covenant of the Crown was a really enjoyable book which was a quick read (191 pages) and used a smaller cast of characters with a simpler story line. As happens with many authors across all genres, when they start to get a little more ambitious they over extend themselves a little bit and try to over complicate the story too much; this is definitely the case with Deep Domain.
I was a little surprised by Weinstein's noncommittal approach to emotions and relationships which he veered away from throughout Deep Domain, as previously he has explored emotions more thoroughly (actually making them more of a focus). There were several points in the novel where I wished it had been written by a woman because those sections were just ripe for some emotional exposition and character development... and it just didn't happen. I just felt like at times I wasn't being rewarded for slogging out page after page of not very much happening - all stick with no carrot. This particularly annoying because it is clear that for the most part Weinstein has the main cast down pat, but he skips over any emotional confirmation which I can only put down to word count / page limitations.
Weinstein's OCs in Deep Domain are a little too numerous, but I found the little cat-girl ensign a particularly strange addition. If I didn't know the author's name I would have expected a female author to have produced her, she's that kind of cringe inducing OC that really didn't need to be included in the story in the first place (and certainly not have as many pages wasted on her) and a faceless crew member would have done just as well. If I was editing, she would have been the first to go! There's also a trio of OCs (the leader of the Akallan government, the woman who is controlling him and her army toy boy) which could have done with being merged into one character for the sake of brevity, as their story line does nothing to really enhance the novel thematically, and again wastes precious pages for no real gain.
There are some really good and clever ideas in Deep Domain they just never get fully realized, which is a real disappointment. I did like the idea of the Akkallans returning to the sea for the last half of their lives, I like the positive message / warning which echoes Star Trek:IV but there just isn't enough development - all plot points are just spread far too thin.
2/5 - I commit this book to the deep.
