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Summary: ST: The Eugenics Wars Volume 1
Review: Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars Volume One, The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox is a novel based on alternate history with a sprinkle of TREK to spice up a storyline. This book is NOT a Pulitzer. It is written to fill in the history of one of Captain James T. Kirk's archtypical fiends Khan Noonien Singh. Along for the story are the characters of Gary Seven and his perky sidekick Roberta Lincoln with the perfect companion Isis the shape-shifting ephemeral cat.If you are looking for action/adventure with a TREK twist... well you'll have to look elsewhere as there are only a scant few areas in this book where you can get engrossed in the story. This is a character driven book with the main focus on its main character Khan and how he got to be. The book starts out with a TREK-typical situation, Kirk et.al. are on their way to a planet called Sycorax. Sycorax has petitioned the Federation for membership. The planet is close to the Klingon/Federation neutral zone and they have been working on genetic augmentation for the last two hundred years and the Klingon's are wanting this knowledge as well. Enter another of Kirk's fiendish vilians, Koloth of "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode. But, this also brings Kirk to remember a past experience with Khan who was a product of Earth's eugenic past. Now, the storyline begins as we find out about the Chrysalis Project where the best and the brightest minds are being recruited for the ultimate result... geneticly superior human beings. Of course, the heros in this book Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln and Isis are trying to find out about this mysterious project and are closing in to stop the project. We find Khan as a precosoius five year old child at this point in time with other children of about equal precocial abilities. As you can see, the author is spinning a tale well tied to other TREK events and storylines. In the afterword section of the book, we see the real events of history mentioned in this book as they really occured. The book takes Khan upto the 1980's as a twenty year old headstrong and rather self endulged full of himself person who is the only one who can save the world. As Kirk is on Sycorax faced with a crisis, the book leaves us wanting for some clarity and resolution of the character's collective problems. As this is not the best of TREK, it is a good fill in and fleshing out of characters from events past in the TREK history. A trip down memory lane with entertaining sidebars resulting in a story that could be believed.
Rating: 
Summary: The story I've been waiting for
Review: This book is based on a part of Earth history that Spock mentions in the Star Trek episode "Space Seed". It is the fascinating tale of how a group of genetically engineered people try to take over the world in the 1990's. This book is Volume I which covers this history through the 1980's.
I have long thought that the Eugenics Wars should be the subject of the next Star Trek movie or perhaps of a TV series. In fact a series about Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln, and their adventures in trying to save us from ourselves but it was never produced.
The result of bringing Gary Seven back in this book is a great spy story as well as great science fiction. I enjoyed seeing how the story superimposed itself on real life history. Actual historical events that are a part of the story are accounted for chapter-by-chapter in the afterword.
On a more personal note, what I like about the book is that the good guys use non-lethal methods of stopping their enemies whenever possible. This suggests that the writer as well as the characters has a high respect for humanity.
The book left me anticipating how the next book will fit this story into the 1990's even though that book may fail to do so convincingly. At a time when mammal cloning is possible and human cloning is being debated in Congress, this story is quite timely.
Rating: 
Summary: Where was the editor?
Review: Padded and overwritten, this book is virtually unreadable. I can't believe someone didn't suggest that Cox seek professional help to overcome his life-threatening adverb addiction. If this novel is 100,000 words, about 10,000 of 'em must be adverbial modifiers. By page ten it's just too damn distracting to ignore. I wasn't expecting Hemingway from a Star Trek novelist, but come on, this is embarrassingly bad stuff. Cox takes forever to get this thing going, probably so he could leave room for the sequel. I haven't read the sequel, nor do I plan to, but I can virtually guarantee that a compentent editor could have combined the two into one novel, possibly even a decent novel at that. 200 pages into this one, here's what's happened so far: Roberta Lincoln and Gary Seven have infiltrated the bad guys' underground lab and Seven has been captured. That's it. And believe me, it's even less exciting than that synopsis. Lack of plot is acceptable if the writing is good and the characters are interesting, but here we get amateur writing and cardboard characters to go along with the fact that absolutely nothing is happening. The intriguing premise drew me to this one. Don't make the same mistake. Avoid it at all costs.
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Summary: An AMAZING tale about the origins of Khan Noonien Singh
Review: This story was such a surprise on so many different levels, I hardly know where to begin to review it...let me start by saying if you are looking for the typical Trek novel, you will most defintely NOT find it here. This transcends what I have come to expect from even an above-average Trek story, and has me looking forward to Volume 2 very much. The story starts off much like a Trek novel featuring Kirk & Crew off to solve another problem...The planet Sycorax is petitioning to join the Federation. Normally this is a good thing, but this particular society has toyed with genetic manipulation for almost 2 centuries...something strictly forbidden under Federation Law, a law based upon sad experience from the horrible Eugenics Wars during the latter part of the 20th century. While genetic research has definite merit, the obvious possible abuse of this power is too much of a threat to allow such technology to proceed. In order for Kirk to make the best decision possible, he goes in search of Earth's own history of genetic abuse, and how it produced the monster known as Khan, someone Kirk unfortunately knows all too well. The story suddenly travels backwards in time, and this is where the REAL treat of this story begins. The character of Gary Seven, introduced in the episode, 'Assignment Earth' along with his sidekick, Roberta Lincoln and the alien cat, Isis are the central point of this story, and NOT Kirk and Company. The year is 1974 and Gary, himself a genetically enhanced Human placed on earth to help stop the premature demise of our flawed human species uncovers a possible plot to use genetic research to create a super-race of humans. Before too long, he and Roberta are knee-deep in the middle of the Chrysalis Project, using the brightest minds on the planet to manipulate DNA in such a way to manufacture better, quicker, stronger and smarter humans. But they show up a bit too late to stop this genetic manipulation from starting. They quickly discover that the Chrysalis Project has created several hundred examples of Super Humans, chief among them is young Noon, who we all know grows up to become one of the chief pains in Kirks backside. There is a LOT more to this story than just the origins of Khan, and the further exploits of Gary Seven, MUCH more. Greg Cox has managed to incorporate Trek lore in the obvious as well as not-so-obvious places...riddled throughout the novel are hints of future characters we will all come to know well, as well as other fictional people from TV in the 70's & 80's...I'd love to spill the beans, but it would spoil the fun of discovering them for yourself. Some have compared this story to a complex episode of the X-Files, and I would have to agree. Using every kind of conspiracy theory advanced in the past century from the alien crash landing at Roswell to Immortals and even pop culture from the past 3 decades, this novel is one to be savored slowly and enjoyed for the creative force it truly is. Worth reading more than once? I would say YES. I am currently working on volume 2, and if the reviews of that story are any indication, lightning has struck twice and I have much to look forward TO. If you are looking for the typical novel that features well-known and established Trek characters as the focal-point of this story, you are going to be sadly disappointed. Kirk, Spock & McCoy are in less than 30 pages of this book, but the rest is a fantastic trip down memory lane which includes several laugh-out-loud moments and plenty of spots that made me go, 'Oh, now THAT'S a creative way to explain this...'. While I won't guarantee that everyone will love this story, I CAN say that I enjoyed it VERY much. I would put it in the league of the Top 5 best Trek novels I have ever read. Like I said, good enough to read twice...but not until after I wrap up the 2nd book. Kudos to Mr. Cox for a great story well told. I look forward to more Trek stories from you in the future.
Rating:
Summary: A missed opportunity
Review: My first inclination was to give this book only 2 stars, but I had to give it the extra point because I'm not the target audience. This book was clearly written for young teens, and that audience should delight in this book. Cox' writing flows, even when the storyline lags. One can almost forgive his misuse/abuse of a thesaurus. One element that makes this book disappointing for adult readers is the superficial use of historical events. There is no sense of political and social undercurrents; you just feel as if the author had a checklist of events that were marked off as the book was written. I can't help but wonder if the research was limited to a few queries on his favorite web search engine. On the other hand, it's just this simplicity that will keep a young teen's eyes from glazing over. When they grow up, they can graduate to real historical fiction authors like Turtledove. Another other irritant -- to me, at least -- was the completely random and irrelevant stream of improbable encounters with characters who appeared in various episodes. Again, this had the appearance of a checklist that Cox went through. None of these encouters moved the story along or served to explain anything. They were just distractions, and not very imaginative ones at that. While the shallowness of the history makes me believe that the book targets a young audience, the barrage of inane cameos had me looking at the back of the book to make sure that the book wasn't WRITTEN by a kid. When I think of character development, I just want to cry. That Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln are two dimensional cutouts doesn't bother me all that much. In fact, I would have gladly done without either. But Khan is such an interesting character to be so reduced to a flat and textureless cliché! *sigh* To summarize, if this book is purchased for a reader around the ages of 10-14, I think it will be a hit. Older readers who haven't developed a taste for serious science/historical fiction could also enjoy it. I really don't recommend it for adults or anyone who reads for intellectual stimulation as opposed to filling in the time during long commutes. The sad thing is that I'm sure that Cox could be a fairly good author if he just gave up his checklists and concentrated on original content. If he can make this readable, imagine what he could do with a plot and real characters!
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Summary: "The Man From T.R.E.K."?
Review: I mean, is this a prequel Trek novel or a copycat "Man From U.N.C.L.E." adventure? I can almost hear Robert Lansing's clipped Sergeant Friday wannabe tones in Gary Seven's dialogue. The period cliches seem forced: Patty Hearst, "Crocodile Rock", the "primitive" 747. The depiction of Roberta Lincoln further along in her training as a recruit "agent" (even though Gary should have also trained her to use that bimbo soprano voice to make people underestimate her). The massive underground high-tech lab with labyrinthyine hallways tailor-made for Solo and Illya to chase the bad guys down (or be chased down by the bad guys)--why don't they appear here? Okay okay--I realize there had to be a 20th century environment in which to set Khan's childhood, but did Cox have to drag in heroes from one of Trek Mark One's clunkier "aw-come-on" episodes?
Rating:
Summary: Boarderline believeable
Review: A blend of historic fact, Star Trek history, and imagination create an engrossing and fairly believable storyline. Popular mysteries and noteworthy events of the 70's carry the timeline progression throughout the book as Khan develops through the innocence of youth to the crusader of young adulthood. The door is left wide open for the second installment of this saga.
Rating:
Summary: An Absorbing Adventure...
Review: Khan is one of my all-time favorite Star Trek characters because he represents the height of the scientific thought and ambition that humans are capable of performing...regardless of whether we should be performing it or not!! "The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonian Singh" captures you from the beginning with the return of Gary Seven and his sidekick Roberta Lincoln using their advanced knowledge and training to uncover a human genetic engineering experiment that threatens to produce "super-children" whom Seven knows will have superior ambition if allowed to remain with their creators. I could actually see Khan growing in his ambition to reunite his genetically engineered brothers and sisters as well as in his frequent encounters with Seven and Roberta over the years. I would have liked to see more of Khan's childhood explained in more detail, but I could not put this book down and I cannot wait until volume II comes out in April, 2002.
Rating:
Summary: Average, should have been better
Review: Leaving out the typos that should be all the proof one needs that spell and grammer check are no replacement for a human proofreader I was unhappy with the seeming complete incompetence of the Gary Seven character.
This is a man who was sent to earth by an advanced alien species to save us from ourselves and yet in this book he doesn't complete one mission without messing up. His desire not to hurt anyone passes compassion and reaches the utterly ridiculous.
It's almost painful to watch as the author has the poor guy stumble around and make the same mistakes over and over. He's supposed to be so intelligent and advanced yet he gets bested over and over and over again by big thugs and guys with guns. The really sad events take place when Gary Seven having blown another mission has to be rescued by Khan. Khan then proceeds to demonstrate a simple little principle that Geo W. Bush understands but apparently Gary Seven doesn't; that powerful evil must be met and destroyed by even greater determination and force not just principles alone.
In the end it's small wonder then that Khan gets disgusted with Gary Seven and decides to go into business for himself. I did enjoy reading the book only because of the original story but I winced every time I felt the author shoving his pacifist views at me.
....also what's up with this utter distrust of technology and scientific achievement? With this Gary Seven running around the planet stopping every important scientific experiment he can learn about...how could we ever develop a warp drive or a transporter?
Rating:
Summary: A Great Start to the Series
Review: I absolutely loved this book!!! So much so that I dare say it is one of my favorite Trek novels. It incorporates so much and even includes consequences of past Trek "time-travelling back to Earth's past" episodes and movies. While Kirk and McCoy deal with our favorite Klingon baddie (Koloth from "The Trouble with Tribbles"), Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln attempt to limit the damage which everyone's favorite villain will cause. Along the way, the reader is treated to delightful flashbacks of 70s and 80s culture (both popular and historical). A plethora of 70s culture including Jaws, Bill Cosby, The Way We Were, and so many more are referenced. Roberta runs into a certain future Marine biologist while working undercover. Mr. Seven also has fun scenes including his line : "My name is Kirk, James Kirk." However, this time the bad guy is holding the Walther PPK. Roberta's final mission of the book has her acting as translator for Gorbachev while a certain ex-female tennis pro turned government agent with the last name Sommers acts as President Reagan's interpretor at a peace summit. With all of the other 70s era references, I found it somewhat funny that "Star Wars" was not even alluded to. All-in-all this was one fun ride and I eagerly await the continuation in Volume Two. As was prefaced in the Afterward, I can't wait to see what is done to the 90s. Maybe one day someone will pick up the ball started by Gene Roddenberry and turn the Gary Seven character into a television series as the TOS episode Assignment: Earth was meant to be.
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