| Reviewer : |
Bryan Moore |
| Ave Rating : |
3.6000 for 15 reviews |
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| Title : |
Star Trek Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek |
Rating : |
 |
| Writers : |
Geoffrey Mandel |
Year : |
2002 |
| Review : |
INCREDIBLE! While some of it falls out of canon via various errors (as pointed out by Graham in his review), this book has fascinated me for the last 2 and a half years. At least once a week I look at it and just smile as it seems to make the world of Star Trek that much more real. While not flawless (I wish it went into more detail on some planets, etc), it puts everything into a neat little package. I've always found myself fascinated by maps (used to shoot darts at various US and Connecticut maps as a kid), love the google.com satellite map functions, etc,..) and to see something like this charted is just a great little treasure for me. Makes the travels of the various ships seem amazingly significant yet at the same time small, which alone makes this my favorite book Trek has out there! |
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| Title : |
Shockwave |
Rating : |
 |
| Writers : |
Paul Ruditis |
Year : |
2002 |
| Review : |
Just like the episode... good, not great! |
|
| Title : |
All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek |
Rating : |
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| Writers : |
Dave Marinaccio |
Year : |
1994 |
| Review : |
I'll be honest, I don't remember much of this book, as I was 11 when it came out. David Marinaccio is a local guy and cousins with my friend's mother. When the book premiered in 1994 he did a book signing at the newly opened Barnes and Noble in town, and I was of course there (along with a few hundred people and a couple local news stations, suprisingly). I remember more about being an excited 11 year old who got to meet someone who wrote about Trek, than I was about the book. All and all, I remember this to be a sort of analysis how Trek reflected popular culture, history, and the like. We'll go *** on this, just a default score. I will dig this out of my attic soon and check this out again. |
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| Title : |
A Time to Die |
Rating : |
 |
| Writers : |
John Vornholt |
Year : |
2004 |
| Review : |
I love Star Trek, I love the books, I love just about everything about it: So with Michaels harsh review of this book, I had to admit I went into this book trying to prove him wrong. Instead, I gave up after 60 pages and tossed the book out the window of my Toyota Camry some place around Portsmouth, New Hampshire on I-95. Vornholt's writing style was uninteresting, rambling, and entirely NOT consistent with the Trek backstory. TOO MUCH WESLEY, and as Michael said, the characters were not themselves. None of the dialogue was believeable to the characters, especially the cold and rather annoying portrayal of Riker. Moreover, the first few dozen pages of this book were so wrapped up in technobabble, unreasonable plotlines, and goings on that took the well-grounded, feasibly based science-fiction of Trek and turned it into a fantasy world of flying Wesley Crusher and magical visits to far off places. By far the worst Trek book I have ever read. |
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| Title : |
Engines of Destiny |
Rating : |
 |
| Writers : |
Gene DeWeese |
Year : |
2005 |
| Review : |
In brief: Interesting, realistic, and enjoyable plot involving the backstory behind Scotty getting aboard the Jenolen, an unsuccessful rescue of James Kirk, and an alternate-universe meeting between the Enterprise-D, Kirk, and a twisted universe mangled by the Borg, all revolving around Guinan. The book contains a good ammount of techno-babble; enough to make the tech-geek Trek fan happy, but not so much to bog down an interesting storyline. Well recommended. ****/***** |
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| Title : |
I, Q |
Rating : |
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| Writers : |
John De Lancie, Peter David |
Year : |
1999 |
| Review : |
Absolutely delightful. A witty, tongue-in cheek, and mildly throught provoking view on the nature of people and the universe in general, "I,Q" proves to be a wild romp through a constantly changing reality. Well written and intelligent, DeLancie and David were able to capture the subtleties of Q's wit, while including a familiar cast of characters placed in a wholly different setting. Much of the dialogue has a certain crudeness, that, while wholly inoffensive, is somewhat unfamiliar in the Star Trek universe, and more in tune with humans of the 21st century. Q himself proves to be more of an enigma than even seen in the series; a mix of mischeviousness and near malevolence, balanced out by the very intelligent and at times thoughtful nature of even the crudest of his actions. In many ways, he is the epitome of what humanity is. Numerous timese I found myself laughing outloud at the over the top tongue-in-cheek references and sharp jabs at human nature. Moreover, the audio-book version of I,Q is every bit as entertaining, if not more so, narrated by Mr. Q h imself, John DeLancie. In fact, he is so insightful in many cases, that I couldn't help use an audio clip from the story in a Western European History class that I have taught. |
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| Title : |
The Kobayashi Maru |
Rating : |
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| Writers : |
Julia Ecklar |
Year : |
1989 |
| Review : |
Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov recount their performance on the Kobayashi Maru scenario while awaiting rescue in a stranded shuttle. After the stories are recounted, Kirk comes up with a solution to their present "no-win scenario." The Good: Hearing each crew member's story about the Kobayashi Maru provided a great look at early lives of the classic characters. We finally get to see Kirk's solution to the no-win scenario. Scotty's solution to the scenario was brilliant, cementing his status as a miracle worker, even at a young age. The Bad (SPOILER WARNING): I was very disappointed to see that Kirk's solution to the Kobayashi Maru was relatively downplayed to the point of being nearly comic relief. While clever and somewhat Kirk-like, I was hoping for a more dramatic solution to the scenario. Kirk's solution to rescue seemed to be bad science at best. Exactly how does a radio reciever pick up light as well as radio waves. The idea of creating a "portable black hole" seems so unfeasible that the ending was somewhat ruined for me. Overall this was an interesting book. The Simon and Schulster Audio book read by James Doohan is also worth a listen (or a download if you use filesharing). |
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| Title : |
Star Trek: First Contact |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
J.M. Dillard |
Year : |
1996 |
| Review : |
Basically a direct adaptation of the movie, which of course was great. Easy read, sort of unnecessary, as it added so little. Good enough. |
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| Title : |
Titan Book 1 : Taking Wing |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin |
Year : |
2005 |
| Review : |
Captain William Riker's new command, the USS Titan, has been ordered to chart much of the previously unexplored Orion arm of the galaxy. However, when a political crisis occurrs in the weakened Romulan Star Empire, Titan is diverted to Romulus with a humanitarian task force. Things nearly go tragically awry for the new and ethnically diverse crew of the Federation's new Luna-class vessel. One of the most enjoyable Trek books I have ever read, "Taking Wing" introduces a whole new ship with a mostly new crew to the Trek universe, offering hope for continuing life to the long and hallowed Star Trek saga. The use of Christine Vale, Alyssa Ogawa, and of course Riker and Troi as members of the crew gives the book a connection that gives the reader the feeling of familiarity that so many Star Trek fans have come to appreciate: there is no doubt that this book keeps alive the feeling of watching a family grow and develop. Ambassador Spock, Commander Tuvok, as well as lesser returning characters such as Commander Donatra add to this familiarity. The rest of the crew is introduced as a very heterogeneous bunch, that learns to adapt to each others differences and work together. This can be intense for the reader, attempting to remember the names of an entirely new crew, as well as getting over the natural assumption that these are crewmembers who look like us (when infact, many are not even humanoid). Overall, this factor only backs up the ideas of IDIC that have driven Star Trek over the years, and provide that hope of a brotherhood of man (or in this case alieans), and the task of remembering which crewmember belongs to which species must fit in very well with the experience of the crew that Mangels and Martin convey so well. The charm of this book is that it keeps the world of Star Trek alive: a world strange, yet strangely familiar, that continues to expland and develop in the minds of its fans. There is little I can say to denounce this book in any way, as it adapts entirely well to the Star Trek world without raising any eyebrows about plot consistency, character development, or being bogged down by picayune technical details. If anything, I wish this book the same as I wish any reader of this review: Peace and long life. |
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| Title : |
TV Guide 35th-Anniversary Tribute (to) Star Trek |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
Steve Sonsky (Executive Editor) |
Year : |
2002 |
| Review : |
Fun enough magazine, weak on content, but overall just a nice little collectors piece. A nice reflection on Trek, Trek on TV, and some of the characters, actors, writers, and crew. Cool to read, but nothing to freak over! |
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| Title : |
To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
Greg Cox |
Year : |
2005 |
| Review : |
Just to average this out to 4... which is what I initially meant to give it... I read the dots wrong... **** out of ***** |
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| Title : |
To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
Greg Cox |
Year : |
2005 |
| Review : |
An interesting look into just what happened on Ceti Alpha V, and a follow up to the two Eugenics Wars books, "To Reign in Hell" traced a post-ST:TWOK visit to the now barren planet by Kirk and the crew. They find a series of tunnels near the cargo containers that allowed Khan and his followers to survive. Kirk and his companions are stunned to find a group of genetically engineered survivors of Khan's exile who had broken off from the leadership of Khan. The book jumps timelinese between Khan's initial exile up to just before the fateful visit of the USS Reliant and Kirk's reflections upon visiting the doomed planet. "To Reign in Hell" is to Star Trek II as "Probe" is to ST:IV, however it achieves a much more interesting result, giving both a back-story as well as an after-reflection of the events that transpired in the movie. Well written and accurate to canon (at least, as far as I can remember), I'd recommend this for any fan who was interested in this era Trek and the back story of Khan. Peace and Long Life... |
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| Title : |
Q-Squared |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
Peter David |
Year : |
1994 |
| Review : |
Q versus Trelane in a battle of the omniscient through alternate realities. It's a fun little romp, and like most books that center on Q, has plenty of tongue-in-cheek moments. Peter David has done wonderful things with the Q character, and this is no different. |
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| Title : |
Star Trek TNG : Q & A |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
Keith R. A. DeCandido |
Year : |
2007 |
| Review : |
A frantic hop through alternate realties, some of the framing is reminiscent of the 1994 classic "Q Squared" though with tie ins to "All Good Things..." and Q's mission for Picard and all of humanity. It's fun and pretty light hearted, with some interesting action spliced in. Quick and painless read. |
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| Title : |
Forged in Fire (Star Trek: Excelsior) |
Rating : |
|
| Writers : |
Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin |
Year : |
2008 |
| Review : |
Here we get the back story of how Sulu's career merged with that of our three favorite TOS warriors and their blood oath to extract revenge on The Albino. It is quite gripping and provides excellent background information on a number of characters significant to the Trek universe. |
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