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Section 31:  Cloak (Star Trek)

Section 31: Cloak (Star Trek)

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Section 31: Cloak
Review: The first of four novels exploring one of the most controversial & hotly debated subjects by the fans. What the Enterprise crew uncovers will shake the Federation to its core, as the mysterious Section 31, the super-secret black ops arm of Starfleet, sets in motion plans that could bring the major powers of the galaxy to their knees unless Kirk & Spock can somehow contain a man-made disaster of cosmic proportions.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not on par with "Rogue" nor "Abyss," but quite good.
Review: The last in the "Section 31" series I read of the four, "Cloak" brings Section 31 to the Star Trek original series era. Now, I feel it only fair to warn that I have truthfully read nearly none of the original era books in the Star Trek line, and don't often pick them up.

The strengths of "Rogue" and "Abyss," however, made me decide to take the plunge and I'm glad I did. "Cloak" is a good novel, has an excellent place in the Star Trek continuum, but fell short in a few ways.

The characters were very well written, and with a depth I must admit I'd not attributed to the original series characters before. The author's choice to place this story in a timeframe near to some major events in the original series television episodes was a good one, especially on the front of Dr. McCoy.

However, "Section 31" barely seems to be involved in the book. Kirk and company find a runaway starship with a dead crew aboard, and try to unravel the mystery of its sabotaged state, but you don't even get a ghost of Section 31 until the near end of the book, and I was left feeling a little bit shortchanged - I'd rather expected to get a little bit more into the origins of Section 31 with this book, but this book delves the shallowest into the organization of all four books in this series.

All of that aside, I did enjoy this book. The inclusion of such things as the Omega Particle was excellent for continuity, and Spock's brush with the Romulan Commander was very well placed. If I could, I'd give this a "3.5" stars, not just 3.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not on par with "Rogue" nor "Abyss," but quite good.
Review: The last in the "Section 31" series I read of the four, "Cloak" brings Section 31 to the Star Trek original series era. Now, I feel it only fair to warn that I have truthfully read nearly none of the original era books in the Star Trek line, and don't often pick them up.

The strengths of "Rogue" and "Abyss," however, made me decide to take the plunge and I'm glad I did. "Cloak" is a good novel, has an excellent place in the Star Trek continuum, but fell short in a few ways.

The characters were very well written, and with a depth I must admit I'd not attributed to the original series characters before. The author's choice to place this story in a timeframe near to some major events in the original series television episodes was a good one, especially on the front of Dr. McCoy.

However, "Section 31" barely seems to be involved in the book. Kirk and company find a runaway starship with a dead crew aboard, and try to unravel the mystery of its sabotaged state, but you don't even get a ghost of Section 31 until the near end of the book, and I was left feeling a little bit shortchanged - I'd rather expected to get a little bit more into the origins of Section 31 with this book, but this book delves the shallowest into the organization of all four books in this series.

All of that aside, I did enjoy this book. The inclusion of such things as the Omega Particle was excellent for continuity, and Spock's brush with the Romulan Commander was very well placed. If I could, I'd give this a "3.5" stars, not just 3.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SD Perry write another awesome book!
Review: This book is the epitome of Trek. Kirk gets a woman, Spock is the unswayable (spelling?) voice of logic. McCoy is battling an uncurable disease. Chekov thinks that absolutely everything is a Russian inwention. Scotty thinks the Enterprise is going to break apart at any given moment. And a half insane scientist tries to do something that just can't be done. but the Enterprise is to the rescue. I know didn't actually give this book alot of review, for those of you out there, but this book is awesome! I couldn't put it down. S. D. Perry definately knows her Star Trek!!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Classic Enterprise vs. Section 31, Sweeet!!!
Review: This is a very short and enjoyable read that captures that nostalgic feel of the old series, where the characters come to life as they unravel the mystery of a secret organization with the "means and the motive" to carry out its agenda. Section 31 plays a background role here, as it works under the cloak of secrecy; major hints are put out as to how it operates in this time period, but nothing precise or revealing is documented.

I liked how the author delved into the personas of various characters, such as insights about Kirk's love affairs, McCoy's internal struggle with a terminal disease, and Spock's struggle to hold on to order when confronted with passionate feelings for a Romulan commander. We also view the typical Chekov traits on his colorful and naïve views for romance and his profound Russian pride; and we get a view of Uhura's background as she uses her little renowned cryptographic skills when she attempts to decode a disk.

With combination of Kirk's intuition and inquisitive nature to get to the truth and Spock's logical and thorough investigation and reasoning, combined with some luck, they are able to unravel the plot and prevent a catastrophe. In the end a major and extremely important clue is dropped as to how Section 31 came to exist.

Overall this is an enjoyable piece and very well written. I couldn't put the book down. I hope they come out with more books about Section 31, and I also hope to see more works by this author.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good effort
Review: This Section 31 story is pretty routine stuff but the thing about the book that did impress me was author S.D. Perry's firm knowledge of Star Trek continuity. Eagle-eyed fans will notice elements of the book that tie in directly with episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager as well as various episodes of Classic Star Trek. The foreshadowing of McCoy's illness also gives the book a feeling that it is a Classic Star Trek episode placed firmly in the series's third season. I would have enjoyed a little more exploration of Section 31's activities in the 23rd century but all in all the book is a satisfying romp. A good effort that had the potential to be great.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good effort
Review: This Section 31 story is pretty routine stuff but the thing about the book that did impress me was author S.D. Perry's firm knowledge of Star Trek continuity. Eagle-eyed fans will notice elements of the book that tie in directly with episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager as well as various episodes of Classic Star Trek. The foreshadowing of McCoy's illness also gives the book a feeling that it is a Classic Star Trek episode placed firmly in the series's third season. I would have enjoyed a little more exploration of Section 31's activities in the 23rd century but all in all the book is a satisfying romp. A good effort that had the potential to be great.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Interesting, well-written, but ultimately unsatisfying.
Review: This story is well-written, and the characters are handled well. The part of the story dealing with section 31 is handled EXTREMELY well, contrary to the complaints of many of the reviewers here; of COURSE the conflict between Kirk & co. and Section 31 is very shadowy; it's a shadow organization, and any time it gets into direct conflict, it has failed in its mission. And I get the impression it doesn't fail often. That's the beauty of Section 31 as a "villain" for a story; it's SUBTLE, and not easily confronted, much less defeated.

Another thing that the story manages well is to place itself squarely in a specific time frame, namely between the original series episodes, "The Enterprise Incident" and "For The World Is Hollow, And I Have Touched The Sky". This lends a real feeling of authenticity to the story; unfortunately, it also leads to the biggest flaw: if James Kirk was aware of the existence of Section 31 from that point on, and was working covertly to fight them (as is suggested in the epilogue) there should have been some hint of this later in the series. The fact that there wasn't indicates that he was not. Therefore, the very feeling of authenticity that the author works so hard to accomplish defeats itself. It would have been better if Kirk had simply been left uneasily aware that something was wrong, but unable to specify what it was. Then the story would have fit into the continuity perfectly, and it would have been a perfect Section 31 adventure: their immediate plot is foiled, but they remain hidden for future plots.

The book is an enjoyable read, but doesn't QUITE handle the subject matter in an ideal manner.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: True Star Trek
Review: Unlike many of the more recent Star Trek novels, Section 31: Cloak is intriguing, captivating, intelligent and well written. The story focuses on a runaway starship which is rescued by The Enterprise. Slowly, layers of mystery unfold which ingeniously includes past and future episodes as well as all of the main characters. There is also the added bonus of the author's mastery of technobabble, which gave more credance to Spock's character than the average Trek writings. It was truly a joy to read and a welcome relief to some of the material that I've recently purchased.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Read, especially for Kirk fans
Review: Very well done. Really captured the flavor of the original series as well as giving new insight to the character of Capt. Kirk. Plus the mystery of Section 31 is always fun especially for "Conspiracy Theory" minded folks.


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