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Summary: Star Trek Perserver
Review: I loved it and I can't for Shatner's next Trek book.
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Summary: Shatner did it again!
Review: It doesn't happen often that a famous actor becomes a writer. Far from everybody who tries makes it over to the other shore. The majority drowns somewhere on its way. One of those few who made it is the actor William Shatner who was playing one of the most famous captains in history of humankind, James T. Kirk of Starship Enterprise. After his alter ego's death in the motion picture "Generations", Shatner simply rivived Kirk and created a bestselling novel series around the captain of the Enterprise. His first Kirk novel wasn't a hit, but "The Return", his second, is one of my favorite Trek novels so far. His first trilogy ended with an equally good story "Avenger". "Spectre" was the beginning of Shatner's second spactacular trilogy in which Kirk must face a threat from the mirror universe. "Preserver" is the last chapter in this trilogy.The beginning of the book is quite dramatic: Teilani, Kirk's wife, is dying, and only Tiberius, the protagonist's evil counterpart from the mirror universe, can save her. In return for Tiberius' support, Kirk is ready to provide his worst enemy with data that would help him become almost invincible. After a few space-battles and fist-fights, Tiberius' plans are ruined by an almighty species called Preservers. Kirk, torn between a second family tragedy (something went wrong with his and Teilani's child) and his duty for the Federation, joins forces with Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E (although the TNG crew doesn't behave the way it did during its TV and movie times, I was quite satisfied with its presence in the book; for once Picard & Co. weren't completely helpless and didn't depend on Kirk and his former crewmates as they did in other books by this author) to discover the reasons for the presence of the aliens and their role in the development of the Federation. And, last but not least, they must prevent the end of the universe, which a group of scientists has predicted. I don't want to spoil the rest of the story, but I assure that it will be plenty of dramatic developments you'll be shocked of. Unfortunately we don't see enough of the Preservers who made the impossible possible during the history of the Federation (Kirk got his command of the original Enterprise through the influence of those mysterious aliens). Apart from the missing Preservers, the story has minor logical flaws, which is ironical because Shatner obviously respects the Vulcans and tries to stay as logical as possible. For once, I was fully satisfied with characterizations which rise above the usual level of Star Trek novels. One of the best aspects of this book is the profound irony which Shatner uses to describe settings. He takes the universe of Star Trek seriously, but he notices its flaws as well and is courageos enough to criticize them in a funny way. Another advantage of "Preserver" is the atmosphere typical for Sci-Fi, which we don't get in most Trek novels. There are many stages to make the plot larger in scale and a lot of action you can get tired of from time to time. And this novel gives us some ideas to think about, a surprisingly rare phenomenon in Star Trek books. Anyway, "Preserver" is a very good novel with a nice plot, interesting characters, humour, a portion of Vulcan logic and much more. There are some weak points, all rights, but they are only minor and don't really disturb while you are reading. And you should do it if you are a true Sci-Fi fan! PS: If you haven't read the previous 2 books of the mirror universe trilogy, I would recommend to do it because otherwise you will have problems understanding the beginning of "Preserver".
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Summary: Did anyone get the license of that Preserver?
Review: The first 95% of the book is fantastic. Shatner can really tell a great story and this book provides a great deal of depth to Kirk's character. Like others I feel that if you have not read the first two installments in the series you may find the final installment difficult to follow. Also there are a lot of references to stories and characters from TOS and TNG (my favorite being Tryla Scott) that non-Trek fans may find confusing. Fans of Star Trek are in for a real treat because as I said earlier, Shartner is a great story teller. I hedge only because I found the end of the book to be very disappointing. The role of the Preservers is murky---the change is Tiberus is a bit hard to believe. But as a whole, Preserver is probably Shatner best work! So the ending may be weak but this book does do a pretty good job of wrapping up all the loose ends from the first two books. I look forward to the next installment---the adventure continues.....
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Summary: Hard to put down
Review: The book starts with James T. Kirk in a sickbay by the side of his wife, Teilani, who is a combination of Klingon and Romulan, a very formidable woman to say the least. Teilani lay dying while Admiral Leonard H. McCoy try desperately to save her life. Unfortunately, the unique composition of Teilani's biology and the poison used made saving her impossible. Kirk's only hope, find the fiend who did this and get the anecdote. He travels to the mirror universe and confronts the monster he knows all too well....himself, Emperor Tiberius. Tiberius did not use a conventional poison on Teilani, he used his own children which are composites of his own DNA and that of other races, with minor physiological changes which gave them the ability to poison a person with a simple touch. Why did Tiberius do this? He wanted something from Kirk; something that would give him absolute power of both universes...the location of the Fesarius-class Starships of the First Federation. Kirk had no choice but to agree to Tiberius' terms. Teilani is saved but the stress she underwent was so great that she gave birth to their pre-mature.....child? The mixture of human, Klingon and Romulan has created something out of a nightmare. While McCoy tries to find out why this has happened, Kirk must find a way to stop Tiberius from conquering 2 universes. With the help of the crew of the Starship Enterprise 1701-E, Spock and Intendant Spock of the mirror universe (who is on Spock's Vulcan getting treatment for Bandii Syndrome), Kirk just may stop himself. But what is this? There is another Enterprise E with a cloaking device which makes the cloaking device of the Romulans look like the camouflage army troops used on ancient Earth. Commanded by Intendant Picard with the mirror Janeway by his side, they must find the site of the Fesarius-class Starships and stop Picard from foiling the Emperors plan. Before everything is done, Kirk will find out that he was not suppose to command the Enterprise as soon as he did and that he, or Tiberius, may one day be responsible for the destruction of the universe. You will find out why the mirror universe differs so much from ours, what happened to mirror Chekov after he was released from the agony booth, and the mirror Carol Marcus, and to Balok of the First Federation. The key will lie with a small band of psycho-historians, a group devoted to the prediction of future history by examining the future efforts of individuals. It will be the calculations of these psycho-historians which will answer the questions haunting Kirk and Picard; who has been manipulating the Federation from the beginning? What does all this have to do with the planet Halkan? Why did the Ferengi build an orbiting station around Halkan? And why is there an obelisk of the Preservers at the shipyard of the First Federation? The book was written by William Shatner (thank goodness he has better writing skills than directorial) and I had a hard time putting it down. But I have one problem with it; how did Kirk wind up here when he died after leaving the nexus? The book mentions the nexus but only that Kirk did not want to dwell on it. I would surmise that Kirk is actually the shadow of the Kirk that was killed (just as Guinan had a shadow of her in the nexus), or the Kirk that was killed was the shadow of the actual Kirk. In either event, someone had to retrieve the other Kirk from the nexus, or the other Kirk must have wanted to leave for some reason. I decided to not dwell on that bit of mystery and simply enjoy the book, which I surely did.
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Summary: this book rocks
Review: i think james t kirk fights to save the universe im a big hard core trek fan i like shanters work
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: A very enjoyable read. Almost everything works out the way you would want it to, but there is nothing wrong with that. In this series, the first book was good, the second was fair, but Preserver wraps everything up in the perfect package. One of those books you're sorry to finish.
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Summary: The Preserver or Stak Tech
Review: I've been reading Stark Trek book for many years, and seen the evolution of the original idea. From the first episode, which by the way I thought that Captain Chris Pike was a better character than Kirk, to the now Preserver. This book is not for the weak ones. It is technical, and requires total recall of Star Trek history. In areas, it gets bogged down on details, and the transition between scenes are at best jerky. Shanter as a writer tries to be Kirk, and it does not work. Having said that, I think it's a great book, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and its ending.
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Summary: not so great
Review: First off, I admit that I'm disappointed in Star Trek in general. Voyager is awful, and Insurrection was nothing special. All of that may have affected my enjoyment of the book. As far as specific complaints-1) It seems to me that the quality of the Reeves-Stevens's writing has faltered recently. The prose is just dull. Secondary characters speak only to advance the plot, lacking any personality. Compare the new Dr. M'Benga or Captain Macdonald to the bridge crew of the Monitor in Star Trek: The Return, and see which seem more alive and appealing. 2) The tragic events of Shatner's personal life of late are reflected in the story. I sympathize greatly with William Shatner, but I do not think it was necessary to mirror his life in Kirk's. 3)If you accept the theories about the Preservers in this book, then all of the the accomplishments of the heroes we care about seem lessened. Having said all that, I still think that the best place place to find good Trek stories today is in the novels. This particular series probably should have ended after after two books, though.
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Summary: The ending saved it
Review: This book was enjoyable, yes, but too talky. It had a lot of build up for nothing. All the psycho-historian stuff could have been left off and the story would still have been the same. They said over and over "One will be the Destroyer and one will be the Preserver" and then neither Kirk nor Tiberius really had anything to do with ending the Preserver threat. So all that talk was for zilch. What was the point of those kids? That was not explored at all either, just that they tried to kill Kirk's wife, but then in the end that didn't end up mattering either. A trilogy? I guess so, it's more like two sagas crammed into one. the author had good ideas (alternate earths) but then said the whole point of them was just for distractions? Oh well... The ending was very exciting, and if you can just ignore the all the build up to it, you get an action packed story. I'd read it only to keep up with the series. Spectre and Ashes are still the best. The others have been good too, so read this one to keep up with the series...
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Summary: Well thought out fascinating adventure ...
Review: Congradulations to the Star Trek team and William Shatner for putting together a really fun and interesting Star Trek adventure. In the past I have been highly critical of the Star Trek books coming out because they have been very dark adventures. They were not much fun and there was a lot of unnecessary violence. Simon and Schuster listened to the feedback and the results are in. THIS IS A GREAT STORY that leaves you continuously guessing. Where is the story going to go next? Unnecessary violence is gone, positive story line, great heros and lots of adventure. It doesn't get any better! I highly recommend the audio novel. William Shatner does a fantastic job of narration and the audio team does a great job bringing it to life. Excellant work all around! I'm really looking forward to William Shatner's next Star Trek novel.
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