Star Trek - Deep Domain

"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.

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.

Star Trek - The Tears of the Singers

"Wait," Maslin said, eyeing her curiously.  "You're not like these vapid socialites.  What are you?"

She found it odd that he asked her what rather than who she was, but she ignored it, and answered, "I'm a Star Fleet officer assigned to U.S.S. Enterprise."

"Impressive, if one happens to be awed by that institution.  But what's a technocrat like you doing at one of my concerts, Madam Star Fleet?"

The Tears of the Singers (1984) (#19 Pocket, #39 Titan) was Melinda Snodgrass' first published novel.  Snodgrass would later become a prolific writer and still writes today under both her own name and pen names.  Snodgrass notably wrote the script for for TNG's The Measure of a Man, which was nominated for the Writer's Guild Award for outstanding writing in a drama series.

The Tears of the Singers is overall a good book.  It's well conceived and hints at the brilliant writer Snodgrass would become, however, it does regularly hiccup and suffer from an occasional heavy handedness which becomes a little wearisome.  Pacing is also a problem throughout this novel, which could be a symptom of Snodgrass' immaturity as a writer and her difficulty in writing the quantity of characters she does.  Her writing also suffers somewhat from a certain 'blandness', and it's unfortunate that she should use a character concept similar to characters in  Diane Duane's The Wounded Sky - when compared to Duane's colourful language, Snodgrass' falls short.

And that all sounds very negative I know, but I needed to get it out of my system first.

Saying all that, I need to stress that The Tears of the Singers isn't a bad book, however unlike The Wounded Sky or The Final Reflection it doesn't shine as bright.  When Snodgrass writes well, it's inspired and she can get the image or the characterisation across quickly and easily... succinctly I guess?  Her characterisations are generally good, although at times a little cliched, and she does paint fine scenes with her words.  Her approach is a little formulaic and almost a 'tick box' Star Trek novel, but that might work in her favour a little bit as it keeps the plot moving though it makes it rather predictable all told.

Ah... the reason perhaps that I'm struggling here is because every time I think of something complimentary, I can think of two or three other things that really let the book down, and that is so frustrating!

The 'Singers' are pretty much these...

The Tears of the Singers is a thinly veiled eco-fable at heart, which is drawing particularly on the practice of seal clubbing - a particularly revolting 'hunt' (if you can even call it that) where men go out on the ice and club seals to death (or not, in some cases), in order to acquire meat and an unbroken pelt, sometimes under the guise of 'conservation'.  The first major protests against the practice can be seen as far back as 1967, and in 1983 the EU (European Union) banned the import of white coat harp seal pup pelts (pelts from pups under two weeks of age).  More recently (2009) the EU has banned the import of all seal products, causing the value of pelts to fall from $100 to between $8 and $15 each.

Why would I go into all that?  Well, aside from standing on my soapbox, it's because the crux of The Tears of the Singers is that hunters have been killing a seal like creature for the tears they shed at the moment of death, which solidify into gems which have become popular throughout the Federation with the wealthy... and you'd have to be wealthy since the small number of gems available fetch extortionate prices.  These creatures were deemed non-intelligent during a survey and thus are fair game to hunters greedy for easy money.  However we find out during the course of the novel that the survey of the planet and the Taygetians was cursory at best and that the creatures are in fact a people, devoted to singing a hymn of salvation for their people, bending time and space to protect their planet.  The hunters disrupt their song by killing the adults which causes their song to become discordant, causing a rift in space time, the rift of course is what causes Star Fleet to send the Enterprise to investigate the anomaly.

This however, is not the whole story.  Since this is a boarder planet between the Federation and Klingon space, the Klingons have also noticed the anomaly and sent two ships to investigate.  It just so happens that the leader of expedition is Kor, the same Kor as involved in the incident with the Organians.  Kor, it turns out, is having trouble with mutineers (even with a loyal captain on the second Klingon ship), who disagree with his more peaceful, co-operative approach.  Kor recognises Klingon shortcomings and realises that working with Kirk and his scientists would be the only way to solve the problem of this dangerous phenomenon.  Eventually however, the Klingons act predictably and mutiny causing trouble for the Enterprise and the Klingon officers.

The romantic sub-plot concerns Uhura and a mercurial musical genius Mozart Maslin.  Although it is nice to see Uhura take a more active, almost 'lead' role for the first time in the Pocket Books series, this narrative thread is also one of the most irritating.  Essentially Mozart Maslin is drafted in to help the Enterprise solve the musical conundrum of the singers, he's not happy with it and is generally bad tempered, and egotistical.  Somehow, Uhura falls in love with this particularly irritating little man, who also conveniently (from a narrative perspective) happens to be quite ill, and this final musical problem will be his requiem.  I suppose love doesn't have to be sensible, but not unlike the abominable JJ movie Uhura, love makes her stupid and disobedient.  Now, I'm no 'feminist' (let's settle for egalitarian, shall we? This is not up for debate), and my reaction will generally be 'suck it up buttercup' as opposed to some sort of militant defence or righteous outrage, but it frustrates me that you can have a template like Uhura and still mess up characterisation!  I mean, I can almost forgive a male author for cocking up a female character, but it's just mystifying how a woman can write Uhura as a main character and make her into a... a.... spineless, gooey, love struck fool of a woman who lashes out at her captain for doing the right thing.  That isn't the Uhura we know!  Well, the lack of professionalism, foolish, prissy little girl character sums up the JJ Uhura, but not the TOS Uhura!

Now, perhaps this wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't a balancing female representative on the Klingon vessels, but there is... Kor's wife.  Unfortunately, she isn't characterised successfully either, in fact, the way she's written actually emphasises the problems with Uhura's characterisation.  The Klingon romantic subplot isn't too much better.  Kali (Kor's new, young, wife) is... essentially a go-between, a bridge between the Klingon parties and the Federation representatives, but she serves more to highlight Kor's abnormality than a character in her own right, though she does have her moments.  I was a little disappointed that Snodgrass decided to make her a 'strong because of love' type character as opposed to 'strong because capable' (which she doesn't seem to be).  She does redeem herself near the end of the book however and saves the Enterprise contingent, which was a relief.

I've already mentioned Uhura's flaws as regards to her role in the romance sub-plot, but how does she react on her own?  Unfortunately, Maslin is by necessity introduced very early and Uhura's character is basically represented and expanded on via her relationship with Maslin.  Instead of being Madam Starfleet and doing her job as an officer, she quickly degenerates into Maslin's tag-along.  She serves a purpose, sure, she is the only one who can get Maslin to listen, and she looks after him because of his ailing health, although by the end she is also redundant in this way.  Maslin does change, he understands and listens to Kirk and the other officers and his health deteriorates beyond the point of no return.   Uhura caught in the throws of love forgets duty, her dreams, her discipline, her ability as an officer in order to take the typically female role of carer, mother, empathic.  I don't think she really even truly contributes to the work of deciphering the language of the seal people, Maslin and Spock do most of the work.  While I don't begrudge a woman being caring, emotional, and/or in love, I really didn't enjoy Uhura's characterisation in this as she just became a little too malleable and didn't seem to retain enough of what I would consider herself in her interactions with other characters.

Maslin, otherwise known as Mozart is an insufferable character who gets some character growth but overall makes you seriously dubious about Uhura's taste in men.  He is an arrogant, selfish, mercurial man who is unfortunately talented enough to get away with it.  He does have some redeeming qualities in that he is a hard worker however, I feel that he isn't so much working hard for the good of others, but for the achievement of working out a puzzle, that's what motivates him.  I think he's a good character but I disliked him because he was just, so irritating.  I both liked and disliked his growth in the end that he would end up accepting that Starfleet wasn't as he perceived it to be after all.

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were pretty standard characterisations.  Kirk was quite passive for much of the novel (much to his chagrin), Spock was ever pragmatic, and McCoy was the emotional 'heart'.  They basically worked in  their standard dynamic where Kirk has to make a decision (this time, regarding Maslin and his health / sacrifice of one for many or few for the many) and Spock and McCoy come in on opposing sides of the argument.

Kirk of course does get his action, and proves that what he expects of Maslin is something he himself would do - and more.  Their final experience focuses on Kirk, so I imagine he is mollified!

There are two sets of antagonists in The Tears of the Singers, firstly the human hunters who are pretty much the kind of people you'd imagine who would club baby seals to death for money and who get dealt with satisfactorily.  Secondly there are the the Klingons, who are pretty well behaved for much of the novel - until Kor's second in command decides to incite mutiny in the two Klingon ships.  Kor's problem is mainly that he has grown to disagree with the Klingon Empire's policies, and... he likes Kirk and grows to like the the humans he meets as representatives of the Federation.  His young wife is also forward thinking and significantly more empathic than the average Klingon.  I mean, sure, they have no problem with executing people, but certainly they are cuddly Klingons.  Ultimately, I liked Kor, he is reasonable and pragmatic and someone I'd definitely have a drink with!

Kind of like how small groups of Romulans can get along with the Enterprise crew too... and their crews mutiny...

Finally...

Although Snodgrass sort to expand the character of Uhura, she ends up falling short and limiting her (Uhura) by her own narrow horizons and by using plot elements that had been used before and better.  Uhura ends up still caught in this web of generic female characterisation, which is disappointing coming from a female author who has deliberately placed her as the supposed centre of her story.  Uhura ends up defined by a male character which is galling, considering in the 60s she was defined by her own parametres, not that of a man and here we see in the 80s a step backwards where her 'leading' role is as a support to a weak but talented man who arguably is actually the main character.

On a particularly immature and disappointing note is Uhura's consideration of whether she has to become a lesbian to be a captain.  Oh Snodgrass, did you feel a little bit naughty using the term lesbian? :/

Generally my feelings for this book can be summed up with 'but someone else did it better', and that someone else happens to be Diane Duane.  Uhura's sections of The Wounded Sky for example, do more for the characterisation of Uhura than the whole of The Tears of the Singers.

3/5 - disappointing but worth a read (probably).

Star Trek - The Wounded Sky

Breathe, damn you!  Breathe!  Breathe!
It was his worst nightmare come true.  He damned for the thousandth time the idiot courage that let this man throw himself among wild beasts and into blaster crossfire for his crew's sake.

There must be some sort of irony in the fact that, whilst reading a book which at its core espouses the beauty and necessity of entropy, that I spent quite some time trying to save the book itself  from entropy.

I find, with used books it's often a good sign when the book is so well worn that the glue holding the pages together has failed.  Annoying as it is to have to keep picking up and carefully reinserting the pages, it means, often, that the book has been well read and loved - such as it is for my copy of The Wounded Sky (1983) by Diane Duane (#13 Pocket, #19 Titan).

My copy of The Wounded Sky is currently held together with a lot of tape; fifteen pages have been stuck in with care by my hand, and they will probably now hold together long after the two hundred and forty other pages have given in to the fate of badly produced mass market paperbacks.  The wear on the book was not a result of my eager thumbing of the pages, but of its previous owner, whoever he was.

I assume it was a he.

I also assume he is dead.

You see, this and about eighty other Star Trek TOS novels I imported from the states some months ago.  They are mostly Pocket Book first editions, with gold or silver embossed titles, they were collected over a number of years and they all have the same little label on them with the price and the code the shop has given them - the same shop.  Most of them are in good condition, they have been stored on a shelf and at some point a book worm (or whatever a book worm really is) had eaten holes into some of them.  I found a shed 'shell' from one of them, and I was a little worried that I had imported infected books and I would be solely responsible for introducing some terrible book eating insect to the UK ecosystem (I haven't by the way...).  The books were slightly damp, musty and dusty like they'd been in storage for a good while.

In my head canon, the daughters of the dead man were getting rid of his possessions.

I bought over eighty books, eighty of this man's collection that he had dutifully maintained, buying every book as they came out for years and years, for about $24.  It cost me less to buy them in the states and import them with all the charges and shipping fees than it would be to get them from my own country.  It's a little sad isn't it, for someone's collection to be sold by someone else for virtually nothing.  Even sadder that the people selling it had no idea that just one of the books was worth me paying all that.

Out of all those dutifully bought, kept and loved, 'The Wounded Sky' is the most read.

On the first page of The Wounded Sky there are two recommendations from other authors. "AN EXCELLENT STAR TREK NOVEL (...) ALWAYS ENTERTAINING" espouses one enthusiastically.  Another writes "IS A REMARKABLE NOVEL IN ANY CATEGORY AND BEYOND A DOUBT THE BEST STAR TREK NOVEL EVER WRITTEN" not insignificant praise for a 'media tie in', but accurate.

Hum... looks like TOS style uniforms...
The Wounded Sky is set in 2275...
Between  TMP and TWOK.

Lots of people review Star Trek books with a proviso, 'Yes, I give this book 5/5, it's good for a Star Trek book' and I also review on that kind of scale.  This book however could easily stand on its own, it's not simply good for a Star Trek book, it's a good book and I think able to comfortably  be compared with other non tie-in  novels of the time.  Essentially what I'm saying is that The Wounded Sky doesn't rely on being a Star Trek book to succeed, it doesn't need Kirk, Spock or McCoy or The Enterprise, but for a fan of Star Trek it just makes it sweeter and Duane's effortless characterisation of our favourite characters is the cherry on the proverbial cake.

The Wounded Sky is Duane's first published Star Trek novel, she also had another published in 1983 -  the first in her 'Young Wizards' series.  I have read and reviewed another one of Duane's Star Trek novels Doctor's Orders, you can definitely see Duane reworking ideas from The Wounded Sky in her later novel (certain aliens reappear with different names, aliens with a different concept of time etc.)!

I have to confess I thought on looking at the cover (so deceptive, as usual) that the jellyfish thing was going to be the 'enemy'.  I remember thinking well jellyfish are disgusting so obviously they make the best villains, well I'll put this right first of all - the jellyfish on the front isn't a jelly fish at all, but a glass spider with twelve legs!  She also isn't the villain but simply the cutest glass spider you ever did lay your mind's eye on!  More on K't'l'k later (she's so stinking cute).

I think it would do this novel a disservice to write a 'summary' as I do for others.  In fact I'm not sure that with only one reading of the novel behind me I can do an adequate one.  The Wounded Sky is complex and Duane draws in many narrative threads which she weaves in at various points in the novel.  Despite having so many different threads Duane has managed to create a very cohesive story, and it merits another read from myself to try and get my head around why it's so bloody brilliant.  Me reading it out loud even made my partner want to read it!  He liked Duane's easy turn of phrase and strong characterisation, but he particularly liked Duane's scientific knowledge as he reads quite hard sci-fi and he commented that she must have been keeping up with contemporary scientific papers.

It is easier to talk about themes rather than story, so I'm going to talk a little about them.

God, Religious Experience and the Soul

I was probably most surprised at this theme turning up.  K't'lk introduces talk of the soul when talking about the beliefs and rituals of her people but the entire last section of the book questions the idea of what God is, what heaven would be like and the shape and the transformation of the self / soul into it's best form.

The crew are exposed to beings of such power that they are essentially described as proto-gods, and in fact, they will be gods in their own universe creating and experiencing as they will it or until they stop playing the game. The playing the game theme crops up throughout the novel especially through an original character the 'recreation officer'.  I'm not sure whether it has more significance generally, but within the novel itself it is pretty important and well built upon.

It is implied that the crew all experience a religious experience on approaching the proto-gods.  It's heavily implied that a place without entropy is tantamount to heaven (and the transformation of the Enterprise crew supports that).  However, the crew perhaps recognise that their experience isn't 'heaven' and they don't belong there, they have a sense of purpose and they give that purpose to the proto-gods.  These supremely powerful beings did not create this universe, but have the power to create and play in theirs - however, this still requires the input and interruption of the crew to bring about.  Perhaps God of this universe (or at least the Star Trek one) is still working on creating, and through His vessels having a hand in creating another?

The Best Self


This theme is woven throughout The Wounded Sky and for those of us who enjoy character exposition and development the last section of the book will reap the biggest rewards.  Even if you're put off by the the harder science sections, stay with the book to the end, it will be worth it!

'The Best Self' idea is tightly linked to the 'God / Religious Experience' theme.  For someone with a Christian background the imagery is very familiar and the transformation the crew go through with their selves being transformed into a reflection of the greatest good, devoid of 'entropy'.  This section is from Kirk's perspective (though the idea of perspective is skewed here anyway), and through his eyes he sees his friends and crew utterly changed into their best selves.  Naturally, Kirk never truly perceives or realises the change in himself and in fact, we only get one comment from McCoy that indicates Kirk's own physical transformation.  Duane pin's down McCoy's compassion and healing, searing in its strength and passion.  She nails Spock's dual nature, the power of his mind and potential to be great.  Kirk feels awed that someone such as Spock, with so much ability and brilliance should choose to serve under him -

This great mind has been standing behind me and quietly obeying my orders all these years?  Why??  He could be so much more - But in this place, the answer was plain to read.  Loyalty was frequently unreasonable and illogical - and Spock had long since decided that this one aspect of his life could do without logic.

"Spock,"  Jim said - and ran out of words.  He was deeply moved, and didn't know how to express it - until he abruptly felt Spock feeling the emotion with him, and knew there was nothing more that needed saying on the subject.  "I'm fine, Spock," he said then, and glanced over at McCoy.  Bones was gazing at Spock in a curious, almost grudging calm.

Seriously, how powerful is that?

Much of our exposition of Kirk is done through the other character's reaction to him and his reaction to their transformed selves.  Kirk describes his role for much of the telepathic experience as 'passive', he is moved by the fact these 400 souls follow him while feeling unworthy himself.  In his own estimate, he sees himself as a conduit that can focus the abilities of his crew, this is demonstrated through his 'weaponising' of Chekov and Scotty's emotions and beliefs.  While the crew is being transformed or being followed by strange manifestations of themselves and their desires, Kirk comments -

 Hidden natures are getting loose, Jim thought.  What we conceal doesn't stay that way, here.

So, what is McCoy's observation -

 "- That armour getting heavy?"  Bones said, sounding a bit tentative now.  Jim shook his head, thinking What armour, what's he seeing? ... 

That is literally all we get as to Kirk's transformation - how frustrating!  Kirk's character is left open to debate, but it certainly isn't just a conduit as he believes it to be.  Certainly, we know from other characters and our own knowledge that he inspires fierce loyalty and trust, and that he himself is self sacrificing (as demonstrated earlier in the novel during an event which renders him without a pulse for some time).

Of course, we don't just learn about the transformation of the 'main' cast.  Several other crew members have extreme transformations... one which sticks out is the crew member who transforms into a six legged Andorian alicorn...

The best self theme isn't just limited to this one section however.  During various experiences using the inversion drive we see the crew acting in ways which hints at their best selves.  Uhura, Chekov, Sulu and some new characters introduced in this book (original characters done right!) all get their chance to shine and have their own exposition.   The way Duane uses this theme to bind the book together keeps you turning pages, thirsty for more character exposition!

Sex and Relationships

Initially I thought that this theme was surprising to find slotted in to a section in this book, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense in context especially taking into account the Christian imagery and tone in some sections of the book.

There's a very special scene slotted in around the middle of the book which is all kinds of awkward,
sweet and serious. The glass spider K't'lk and Kirk sit together in Kirk's cabin talking, K't'lk makes reference to Kirk's ah, let's say sexual encounters in this cabin.  This being commented by anyone, let alone by a twelve legged glass spider would make anyone choke on their drink, Kirk is not an exception to the rule.  K't'lk then tells Kirk about how her species reproduces, how their courtships are long and the pairs build up each other and their lives together (her last courtship was one hundred years) until it meets it's crescendo and they copulate.  The downside to this is that the female eats the male in true spider fashion, adding his DNA and 'soul' to hers.  When she creates the egg, that is the new vessel for both his and her spirits, a mixture of both.

This is of course in contrast to Kirk's passions that K't'lk refers to, but more akin to the relationship that Spock and Kirk have.  You don't need sex to be lovers is essentially the message, and K't'l'k's regret of consummating the relationship is palatable, after all it ended hers irrevocably.  The same could be said for Kirk's conquests, sex or some sort of physical interaction is the  goal after which the relationship ends.  Of course in Kirk's case, the breaking of the relationship is not necessarily as a result of sex or physical interaction of some description, circumstances dictate Kirk's commitments.  However in K't'lk's case the although reproduction is the end goal, they also have the goal of building each other up, very little of that happens in Kirk's relationships.

Weight of responsibility

Kirk and K't'lk are both burdened with great responsibility.  Kirk for his ship and crew's lives and K't'l'k responsibility for her part in the creation of the universe / reality breaking inversion drive.  I think that although she has more affinity for Scotty and his engineering prowess she is most like Kirk.  Kirk must make decisions for his crew, he feels the weight of command and often feels overwhelmed.  K't'lk also feels the weight of responsibility, however she is sure of herself and of what her course of action must be.  Admittedly, she has 800+ years of life and 3 rebirths (at least) to enable her to act with the self assurance she does.

This is a theme that is visited frequently in the original series and in the novels, in fact it is fundamental to the development of Kirk's character and is core to the original films too.

The Importance of Command

This is a bit of a funny one (funny strange not funny haha), and seems a little bit specific for a 'theme' but a large section of the book is dedicated to command, and not just Kirk's but other characters too.  During the last section of the book, the entire crew of the Enterprise is involved but in order to keep them together and moving onward, the section heads mingle among their charges, which gives the rest of the crew the strength to continue.

Of course, this ties in with the theme of the best self, especially when talking about Kirk whose raison d'etre is to command.  Kirk doesn't just hold together a section, but the whole ship.  However, as explained previously, Kirk doesn't see his talent and ability for what it is, modestly only as a conduit or a gun to shoot the bullet.

Best Scene?

Picking out a best scene is actually pretty hard since there are just so many excellent bits to The Wounded Sky.  I'll settle for two.

Would you look at that - I can use this picture again.

Probably the most memorable scene (for me at least) was where you rejoin the action from McCoy's point of view after Kirk has selflessly thrown himself in front of Spock to save him.  Excellent characterisation of McCoy just makes the scene, it's also essential.  I've discussed how we get very little in the way of revelation from Kirk himself, about himself, so we have to rely on other narrators to give us a little insight.  McCoy of course gives us insight into Kirk's character here.  There's obviously a good amount of insight into McCoy too.  The extension of the scene involves Uhura's memories (which involves her being totally badass) and Kirk coming to in his command chair injured, and realising that the unreal shared visions that the crew had been sharing are in fact as real as their every day reality.  I have to admit, I love that the drama is mixed in with plenty of humour.

The second scene I can't go too much into, but it's near the end of the book when all the crew is being transformed into their 'best selves', the imagery is pretty intense and I loved Duane's creativity mixed in with more traditional imagery.  The character exposition was really varied and just... excellent.  You might have noticed I'm a character-centric person.... You'll know the scene when you get to it.

If you've stayed with me this long - congratulations!  This novel certainly warrants more than I've written about here... Perhaps I'll come back to it later...

You're probably wondering why I told you that story at the beginning, well... Entropy is central to this novel, without entropy our universe would have ceased to exist, ceased to be and ourselves, the crew of the Enterprise and the universe as they knew it would be driven mad and suffer without it, we perceive time after all, that's how we organise our world, how we define our lives.  How can we possibly comprehend all time happening simultaneously - we can't, after all, the book itself progresses the story as if time is passing.  Things happen sequentially, in page after page while the universe around Kirk and his crew begins to slow down and speed up all at once.  Happily, Duane gives the crew a kind of protection from this although it  obviously isn't total protection from all effects of the anti-entropic space.

Thing is, somebody died thousands of miles away in a country I've never been to.  Entropy took it's course, old age or illness, time passed and his books were sold and in a sequence of events, his books got to me.  Those books with their worm holes and falling out pages tell a story far different from the story between their pages.  McCoy asks if they could spare the new gods knowledge of illness and death, and K't'lk responds:

"One thing.  When you write your equations - do you have to give Them death?"

The brilliance was dimmed.  So was that in K't'lk's eyes - their blue belonged, for the moment, more to twilight than to noon.  "L'nrd," she said in somber notes, "you said it yourself.  Time is what They need.  They can't have that without entropy too.  And death will inevitably come along with that - rundowns, breakdowns -"

Entropy is part of time and through time we experience the world, because a man died in America, a girl in the UK can read the books he collected and read, time and entropy made an impossible connection happen.

And that's one hell of a story.

5/5 - Always be yourself, unless you can be Kirk... Then be Kirk.

p.s. I am super late with this post!  I had various things crop up, I went away, was ill, became a greater number, lots of things. I was hoping to get this in at the end of May but obviously that didn't happen!  Back to regular programming now!

Star Trek - The Prometheus Design

He awoke strapped down, metal biting into his wrists, ankles.  Dispassionate alien probed him at him.  He was face down.  For a long moment he could see nothing.  Then he managed to turn his head and saw Spock, strapped on another table beside him, conscious of everything being done to or prepared for either of them.

Kinky.  I've totally read this in a gay erotic novel.  That was lacking in story too.

In my time honoured tradition of reading books out of sequence, I turned to The Prometheus Design (#5 Pocket, #35 Titan) (1982) by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath to avoid reading the second part of the 50th Anniversary Trilogy (I'm struggling to be interested after the first volume...).

Last month I read and reviewed Triangle by Marshak and Culbreath, it failed to impress from a literary perspective, although it is interesting from the perspective of being incredibly slashy and written by those women who are arguably considered the mothers of all slash.  It was incredibly dramatic, it often crossed the line in regards to homosexual subtext, and definitely crossed my line as far as hurt/comfort and Kirk abuse goes.  I did expect much of the same from The Prometheus Design but I was pleasantly surprised, which makes me wonder what on earth they were the playing at with Triangle?

Before I go into The Prometheus Design proper, I have a few musings I hope you'll humour me with.  Firstly, from most of the accounts I can readily find on Sondra Marshak she was a clever woman, and very driven in her... I don't know, obsession with certain aspects of Star Trek.  Most noticeably her interest in developing Vulcan lore (I'm going to assume the Vulcan supremacy obsession is primarily Marshak's contribution) and of course the Kirk/Spock relationship.  I can certainly see her cleverness in her work, there are good ideas certainly but they are not fully formed and often quite confused.  Something I have found in both Triangle and The Prometheus Design is an inability to really focus and refine ideas or, in fact explain them fully.  Of course, I'm not going to discount Culbreath's involvement, I don't know how they worked, and she is also demonstrably an intelligent woman but I can't shake the feeling that it's Marshak's touch that makes their combined work recognisable.  I would like to read something solely from Culbreath just to test my feelings here.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, although I've found much in the way of reports of Marshak's brilliance, I don't really see it - at least not in the two novels I have read.  The Prometheus Design is significantly better than Triangle but it is still very flawed.  The ideas and themes are muddled, as if half understood sometimes simple aspects of the story deliberately obfuscated to project a false intellectualism.  Certainly, I believe Marshak and Culbreath to have embraced a pseudo intellectualism, and in Marshak's case it appears to have been what impressed people within the early fandom.   I would be different if I believed that what was written they themselves understood the implications of what they were asserting, but I really don't believe it to be the case.

Another aspect to Marshak and Culbreath's work is that they heavily reference their novels.  For example they cite many episodes in The Prometheus Design that back up their assertions, however they also cite a number of previously written books / fictions including their own two previous novels published under a different publisher.  This does strike me as a little odd, especially as what they are building on somewhat stretches characterisation of Kirk and especially Spock to extremes.  This might be well and good for a one off novel, but to extend that into an extended continuity?  I have problems with that.  In later novels, there are often references to earlier authors, but only references to good ideas or events that were possible NOT the development of super sadist Spock and masochist Kirk. 

So onto the review proper, yes? 

The book might be rubbish,
but don't they look dashing!

Initially, The Prometheus Design is fairly incomprehensible.  It has a prologue which introduces us to an alien perspective, but the scenes that they are commenting on come later in the book, so the prologue means very little to the first time reader (and why you'd want to read it again unless you were reviewing it is a mystery to me) and there are still sections which remain obscure even then!  The aliens are scientists, obviously conducting some kind of test and Kirk, McCoy, Spock and an unknown Vulcan are the test subjects.  There is talk of a double blind test which will make sense, eventually... although in my opinion it adds nothing to the story at all.

The Prometheus Design removes Kirk as the captain of the Enterprise and places Spock as captain.  Kirk is allowed to stay on as first officer, all this under the order of  a Vulcan who was a pioneer of space exploration, but has been missing for some ten years.  Why is Kirk removed?  Well, this Vulcan believes that he and his bridge crew may be compromised after they were all captured and experimented on by terrifying creatures, but, surprise surprise, Vulcans may be immune to the experiments/suggestions so Spock needs to be in charge.

A portion of the novel is the dedicated to Spock being, quite frankly, a monster.  A MONSTER.  A pointy eared cruel terror who appears to team up with the other Vulcan to undermine and degrade Kirk, not just from the perspective of his removal from command, but also in terms of his personality and species.  We know Spock isn't a commander, he's a genius, yes, but he is not fit for prolonged periods of command especially not when it comes to working with a human crew.  Marshak and Culbreath emphasise that this Spock is not the Spock from the series, he has been changed by gol (this book is set between the first and second films) and Kirk and Spock did not reignite their rapport in quite the same way yet. They have psychic connection however, which is stressed has weakened Kirk's own mental defenses- this point they use in their next book 'Triangle'.  I mean, despite him being as evil as he looks (...apparently, Marshak and Culbreath just love to remind everyone that somehow Vulcans look like the devil himself - he even has horns this time!) he still comes running when Kirk is in trouble (Kirk of course does the same for him).

One thing I couldn't quite decide is whether he was actually in on the other Vulcan's plan or affected by the experiments of the aliens?  I don't really know what would be worse.  The other Vulcan 'Savaj' (which I read as 'Savage') is pretty much a self confessed xenophobe, why Spock would consider Savaj logical from this skewed view I simply don't know.  Savaj's distrust of humanity negatively impacts the crew... oh right.  I almost forgot.

VULCAN COMMAND MODE.

VULCAN COMMAND MODE.

One more time!

VULCAN COMMAND MODE.

It doesn't get any better with repetition, does it (or different fonts).  It is where a Vulcan goes into a... state of mind which requires absolute obedience (there is a Japanese yaoi sex/dating game by that name by the way - translated into English, it's really terrible, just an FYI).  I really can't believe that Vulcans would have such a doctrine, how would it be logical to not question a commander in anyway?  To stop thinking and just obey?  This is used to explain Spock's strange behaviour... I found it made him like a puppet on Savaj's strings.

Okok... so I  know I'm bitching here, and picking at bits and pieces, but honestly my confused review only reflects the convoluted mess that is The Prometheus Design.  In short it's about breaking patterns of behaviour.  The super icky aliens you're initially introduced to as the 'experimenters' are redundant, as far as I can tell they and the double blind test serve no purpose what so ever aside from confuse matters.  They have no part in 'breaking the pattern' they're just... cruel and being directed to do these horrible things by greater powers.  The greater powers can see into the future and realise that their civilisation is heading to destruction, so they are experimenting on civilisations in our galaxy by a) speeding up cultural progression b) causing trauma and pain to certain individuals because... Marshak and Culbreath wanted to cause trauma to Spock and Kirk?  I don't know, I've got nothing.  It's nonsensical.  Anyway, it becomes clear as mud that they want proof that people can break patterns and make a new future.

Naturally our intrepid trio Spock, Kirk and Savaj... oh wait.  McCoy is there too for some reason, but isn't really used...  Our intrepid foursome find the awesome fortress of the... oh wait I totally read this in Triangle...  Um... OK!  They get caught and the fire woman 'Flame' (I kid you not) screws Kirk...  even though he's just a lab animal to her.

Right so... it's in this section we get exposition of this advanced species.  We get some anti-vivisection rhetoric, and Kirk volunteers to be their eternal lab animal if they could just leave the galaxy alone thank you very much.  Spock is annoyed and COMMANDS HIM not to sacrifice himself.  What follows is two different occasions of Kirk 'breaking his pattern of command' and thus showing the super beings that doom can be averted and the future they see isn't the only possible future.  Hooray, thank God that is over.

As a side note, the xenophobic Vulcan 'Savaj' decides that actually, Kirk is a bro and he's totally cool with humans now.

Right am I done yet?  It's taken me a week to summon the desire to write this terrible review (this isn't even a review to be honest) of a terrible book.

Frankly, it's a convoluted mess.  There are some good ideas there, buried in the mire of total horse poo.  I think I said earlier it was better than Triangle.

I lied.

I've changed my mind.

It's getting a 1/5.

I mean, I won't say don't under any circumstances read it, it is interesting to me from a perspective of seeing a fandom develop and the prevalence actually of the slash fandom / authors, but keep your expectations low and don't try to understand it - it isn't worth the headache.

I am going to say there are some good... paragraphs.  As well as some hilarious imagery like naked Kirk running over the top of the shoulders of confused aliens, freely swinging in the...

1/5 - VULCAN COMMAND MODE.

I'm sorry, past a point I couldn't take writing this review seriously anymore.

Forgive me?!

Star Trek - The Entropy Effect

'The bridge was in chaos around them.  Blood splattered deck and bulkheads and glistened on the illuminated data screens.'

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.

Why McIntyre, why?

The villain(?) of the tale is really an unsuspecting scientist who sent his friends into the past, per their wishes.  This unfortunately causes 'the entropy effect' which would destroy the universe within one hundred years if the original time travel takes place.  The meat of the story would be Spock's time travelling escapades, if the story was well written.  Unfortunately, McIntyre would rather write about the trials and tribulations of her original characters instead.  Oh, also Sulu and his moustache.

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.

Star Trek - Devil's Bargain

'The problem is twofold,' Spock Replied.

Devil's Bargain is written by Tony Daniel a veteran sci-fi author who has already penned another Star Trek novel Savage Trade (2015).  Devil's Bargain is a relatively recent release (2013) and is almost entirely sensible.  It's so sensible in fact, that I put it down and read another novel before picking it back up again, forgetting half the story in the process.  It just didn't do anything for me.

As you might have guessed from looking at the cover (and previous posts), this novel was a recent purchase and selected on the grounds that it has Spock on the cover... I actually don't like the cover much, I don't really understand why Spock is red and the background is industrial and grey... it doesn't really fit with the the actual content of the novel.

The premise of Devil's Bargain is a simple (and well worn) one, Enterprise is sent to a frontier colony in the Omega sector - Vesbius (people really should stop foreshadowing their own disasters) - to evacuate the planet before an unstoppable meteor decimates the planet, causing an extinction level event.  However, the colonists refuse to leave the planet, preferring to take their chances with the meteor, claiming that their lives depend upon staying.  In the face of their refusal to leave the planet (a veritable Eden) the Enterprise crew must find a way to save the colonists.  In an inspired moment, Spock suggests they enlist the help of the Horta in order to have them tunnel and break the meteor into smaller pieces.  It's easy peasy, grab the Horta, get back to the planet, get the Horta to munch through the meteor, simple!  And that's pretty much how the 'action' of the narrative plays out.

Genetic engineering is generally considered a bad thing in the Federation, and is especially contentious to Kirk;  the genetic engineering on Vesbius is not particularly different.  Although the original purpose of the genetic engineering is a sincere desire to remain on Vesbius and it's Eden like habitat, it soon twists certain individuals into supremacists, ala Khan.  The vast majority of Vesbians are peaceful people, but there are elements in their council who want to subvert the peaceful populace... zzzz... *yawn*.  Basically, terrorists, xenophobia, irony that Spock comes up with the idea to save them...

The terrorists simply wanted to leave the planet.  I don't really see how this was a problem since they would die anyway within a couple of weeks and it's unlikely they could reverse engineer themselves in the time they had remaining... Surely, surely they could have just been allowed to leave and then the problem would solve itself?  It doesn't make a lot of sense either, since they want to leave and they are also horrendously xenophobic.  I can't even reconcile this plot point to the rest of the narrative, but I guess Daniel wanted to bring some sort of sentient villainy into the genetic engineering story line.  Oh! And someone had to blow up the Vesbian emergency shelters and highlight that they were badly made and wouldn't survive the extinction level event.

The teenage Horta were quite irritating, but then, I can't think of a teenager who isn't, so perhaps the characterisation gets a pass.  This narrative thread involves Spock making a bargain with the Horta, that if some of their number come and help Vesbius then he will stay with them and be their 'All Mother', because the original mummy Horta is dying and the teenage Horta are afraid.  They are pretty much characterised as whiny children, and do the equivalent of throwing poo at each other, causing arguments.  After many misadventures they do pull through however and help save Vesbius.

Also, they create a new clan and one of them wants to join Starfleet.  Kirk thinks that this one Horta could one day Captain a Federation starship...  Yes... Sure, whatever you say Kirk.


Kirk falls in love with an important daughter of Vesbius, and walks right off the cliff we call characterisation and into the sea of parody.  They fall in love, have sex, and Kirk becomes pretty obsessed.  The absolute worst part of this is that we get these long internal monologues from both parties of how this has to be temporary, but their love is beautiful, but perhaps Kirk can leave Enterprise and forget the stars to be with her, but no, alas he can't survive on Vesbius because of the genetic engineering...  I can't even put a humorous spin on this.  I'm sorry.

I have to disagree with Spock, the problem isn't two fold.  There are many, many more problems with this instalment than two.  The worn out narrative and it's uninspiring characters, the bad characterisation which makes the crew seem like parodies of themselves are problems.  Daniel tries to pull in too many threads, too many story lines from the series and failing to do any of them really well.  The humour is missing and Daniel just takes it all so seriously that it becomes boring.

I'm sorry, but I just can't recommend Devil's Bargain - 1/5.

((I didn't like writing this review either... It's just... not very inspirational))