Rating: 
Summary: Farcical Melodrama
Review: I never thought there would be a Trek book soooo bad that when given a choice between reading it and staring at a blank wall, I'd choose the wall every time.What is so terrible about this one? "Farcical melodrama" truly sums it up. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy meet a Starfleet secret agent. Kirk, Spock, and the agent fall madly, deeply, passionately in love - in less than five minutes. And, my friends, this is a love without boundaries, destined for each from years back. The agent was fated for Kirk, but Spock needs a lover to survive pon farr, but Spock is conflicted because she's Kirk's woman, but Kirk is willing to sacrifice her for Spock, and oh my God it just goes on and on like that, enough to nauseate even those with the strongest stomachs. And keep in mind that this one takes place shortly after V-ger; so the reader is stuck with a mental image of Bad Hair Kirk playing the seducer. Yuck and double yuck. As if that wasn't enough, we are forced to deal with the same hyperbolic descriptions of Kirk and Spock we got in the authors' Phoenix series. Spock is the Supreme Vulcan Male, you see, and while Kirk is Supreme Human Male, he must still be tenderly protected by Spock from the Big Bad Universe. This melodrama was, somehow, tolerable in the Phoenix novels. After less than a hundred pages of this one, though, my eyeballs hurt so much from all the rolling that I had to take an Advil. You'll notice I haven't even tried to talk about the primary plot involving pathetic "one-minders." Avoid this one at all costs. If you want a Trek love Triangle, stick to Peter David's Imzadi II.
Rating:
Summary: Farcical Melodrama
Review: I never thought there would be a Trek book soooo bad that when given a choice between reading it and staring at a blank wall, I'd choose the wall every time. What is so terrible about this one? "Farcical melodrama" truly sums it up. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy meet a Starfleet secret agent. Kirk, Spock, and the agent fall madly, deeply, passionately in love - in less than five minutes. And, my friends, this is a love without boundaries, destined for each from years back. The agent was fated for Kirk, but Spock needs a lover to survive pon farr, but Spock is conflicted because she's Kirk's woman, but Kirk is willing to sacrifice her for Spock, and oh my God it just goes on and on like that, enough to nauseate even those with the strongest stomachs. And keep in mind that this one takes place shortly after V-ger; so the reader is stuck with a mental image of Bad Hair Kirk playing the seducer. Yuck and double yuck. As if that wasn't enough, we are forced to deal with the same hyperbolic descriptions of Kirk and Spock we got in the authors' Phoenix series. Spock is the Supreme Vulcan Male, you see, and while Kirk is Supreme Human Male, he must still be tenderly protected by Spock from the Big Bad Universe. This melodrama was, somehow, tolerable in the Phoenix novels. After less than a hundred pages of this one, though, my eyeballs hurt so much from all the rolling that I had to take an Advil. You'll notice I haven't even tried to talk about the primary plot involving pathetic "one-minders." Avoid this one at all costs. If you want a Trek love Triangle, stick to Peter David's Imzadi II.
Rating: 
Summary: Star Trek with a edge!
Review: I really enjoyed this book which is very similiar in style to the authors earlier Star Trek work (for Bantam book). The character interplay between Kirk and Spock is fascinating reading (and reminds me of some of the better fan fiction written during the 1970s). The plot, which revolves around a new mind state of being, truly makes one wonder (something that the better epsiodes of the classic series did). I really think that this book belongs in the collection of any Star Trek Kirk/Spock fan.
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst Star Trek novels
Review: I used to read Star Trek novels regularly, and this one stands out in my mind as the worst one I read. Sometimes I would have to read a novel for a while before I understood the plot -- but I never got this one at all. I got half-way through "Triangle" and still had not even the slightest clue what was going on -- it seemed to be mostly a lot of talk about people having various visions and hallucinations and whatnot. I finally gave up and tossed the book aside, not having even the remotest clue of what it was all about.
Rating:
Summary: Another weird offering by these two writers
Review: In my reviews of Classic Star Trek novels, it must be understood that I adhere to the original canon
as invisioned by Gene Roddenberry, and not the "Star Trek" universe accepted by Rick Berman and company. I generally rate a classic novel thus: Adherence to Canon -- does this novel adhere to the vision of the original Star Trek? 1 star -- Marshak and Culbreath have written several Classic Trek novels, each more bizarre than the first. NOT very Roddenberryesque. Believability (within the confines of 23rd century Star Trek viability) -- is this novel well-plotted and well
written? Can I picture this novel or imagine myself in it? 1 star -- absolutely not! Coherence and Consistency -- does this novel internally consistent? Is it consistent with other Star Trek
novels by the same author? Is it consistent with what is known of the CLASSIC Star Trek universe? 1 star -- Nope. It's not even consistent with other novels written by the same authors. Mitigating Factors -- pluses or minuses which dramatically affect the enjoyment of this book Can't think of any! While I'll be the first to admit that Star Trek novels generally couldn't be considered "high literature" more than a few have been entertaining enough for a day by the pool or an airplane ride. This one is just plain bad!
Rating:
Summary: I loved every page.
Review: The interactions in "Triangle" are marvelous. As another reviewer said an amazing amount of character depth was created over a very short span. I guess people who insist that Spock be a totem pole will not care for the story, but I like seeing him unfold a little. It made him fresher and newer for me. Ok the story does not race along quite as fast as other Star Trek novels. Some readers might not like that, but I didn't mind at all.
Rating:
Summary: Not a very good book!
Review: This book is very much out of the ST universe. Not very well written and plotted. Not a good read!
Rating:
Summary: A great ST novel the STphiles will whine about
Review: This is a simply wonderful story, but STphiles might cry that the authors allowed character growth. Isn't that horrid? Actually having a character exceed the cardboard limitations set upon them by the original series? Spock's human side gets a workout in this one, and for those who can get past STphile's obsession with his stoicism it's done marvelously well. Such depth in such a short novel is surprising, especially in a series not known for character development, but that's good. Very good. "Love" is handled the way it is in reality. Instinctively. The author's intelligently did not set it to some inane analytical standard. For those with blinders on, here's a reminder; Spock is still half human. If I have a problem with Spock's emotions it's this; too many of the ST novels have shown Spock in such an emotional state. In each of them his actions are explained away as the lone exception to his normal behavior. Unfortunately, it's happened so often that it's more a standard than an exception. Mr. Spock acting very unSpockish is no longer shock, for me. It borders on trite. Of course, "Triangle" was the first of the novels to hit on this, though it also happened in the series, and in the movies he has openly embraced his human heritage.
Rating: 
Summary: A Star Trek Triangle
Review: Triangle by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath (Star Trek #9, 1983) This marks the second Pocket-published Star Trek novel by the team of Marshak and Culbreath, their fourth fiction outing on the series overall. This book, like their others, is more psychological novel than science fiction. It is also, as far as I can determine, their last published work. The story proceeds from an idea thrown out by Gene Roddenberry (or perhaps Alan Dean Foster, whispered to have ghosted the book) in the novelization of the first movie, about a group of "New Humans," a humanistic group that is opposed to Starfleet purposes and seeks a higher plane of existence. In the book, Decker is a member of this group, and this is his motivation for joining with V'Ger, as opposed to love for Ilia. Marshak and Culbreath take that further, and posit the New Humans as a group mind, and also invent another group mind that opposes them, while both oppose Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise. They also invent a new position of Federation Free Agent, something like the Federation's James Bond, 007 agents commissioned to act individually for the good of all. Despite this wide swath of new and potentially interesting plotlines, little is done with them. A good writer could have taken any of these setups and turned in an interesting story, but the authors are caught up in their usual alpha-male gobbledygook with Spock in the role of Superman and Kirk cast as the Lois Lane captain-in-distress. This time, Federation Free Agent Sola Thane falls in love with both of them, made more complex as Spock enters the Vulcan mating cycle of pon far, rendering him conveniently interested and available. This is one "triangle" as mentioned in the title. The other is the two unimind groups, fighting to take over Kirk, the greatest galactic symbol of "singletons," the individual minds. While the ideas are thick here, the book is packed mostly with long dialogues between characters reminiscent of bad comic books. In fact, much of Marshak and Culbreath's writing has the feel of a poorly-written comic book, with only a nice cover painting to provide good artwork. The idea of a powerful group mind is a good one, but the "group" minds here are actually dominated by powerful individuals, and not much here is actually "group" at all. Simply one mind dominating others, and somehow all apparently magically drawing superhuman strength from the group. A Federation secret (sorry, "free") agent is an interesting plotline, but nothing is done with it except to bring a woman into the story who outranks Kirk, and therefore one he cannot order around against her will. So, Kirk is placed in danger, the crew is prey for the two group minds, McCoy cannot detect the group mind influence, and Sola Thane must choose between Kirk and Spock, and whoever she does not choose will likely die. It is suspenseful, and there is a certain sense of foreboding here, but ultimately the lack of good writing skills causes this book to fail. Kirk and Spock are out of character, and the other regulars do not seem to suffer the same fate only because relatively little attention is paid to them. If you have read from the other three Marshak and Culbreath novels, and liked them, this book is very similar. But there is a reason this book is their last published work. Better writers were soon to be found to carry on the Star Trek series.
Rating:
Summary: Wish Marshak and Culbreath were writing Trek again...
Review: Triangle is one of the better Trek novels that was published back in 1983. While not the most exciting; it has a lot of suspense in this paticular story. I'd reccomend it to anyone who is a Kirk, Spock and McCoy fan of the orginal series. The characters speak as they would in the show. The dialogue is very much like the movies and TV. Especially McCoy telling Kirk and Spock to put the diplomats in the brig. I find myself reading the old Kirk, Spock and McCoy novels of the eighties. They are much better written than the new ones on the stands.
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