Rating: 
Summary: Turmoil in the Romulan Empire? Nah...
Review: This book got me pretty hardcore into Star Trek books. I've already read some of them before it, but I love the way they've integrated Spock and the Romulans. Very good and well written story that never lets up in keeping the reader interested. I found it to be the Romulan Way of the present giving some more up to date information on the workings of the Romulan Empire.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly good.
Review: If you had told me that I would give four stars to a novel about Spock battling the effects of pon farr, I would not have believed you. I would have said, "I've seen that plot done dozens of times, and they've all been badly done wish-fulfillment by female Trek fans." But this story actually works; it manages to retain the essence of the character even while showing him struggling with emotions of unaccustomed strength. Further, it does a fine job of tying in to the Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", showing the battle of the Enterprise C against the Romulan attackers of the Klingon civilian outpost Narendra III. All in all, the plot is tight and plausible, the characterizations consistent both internally and with what we've seen in other Star Trek venues, both page and screen, and the story is one well worth telling. The writing is competent, although it would help if the publisher did a bit better job of proofreading/copyediting. Well worth reading for anyone familiar with the series; I can't speak for those who aren't.
Rating: 
Summary: Mr. & Mrs. Spock? I don't know...
Review: If anyone measures up to being the "pointy-eared Vulcan's" better half, it would be his strong despite her racial identity crisis protegee Saavik. Somebody like her would make the perfect partner for his first attempts at re-unifying the Romulan and Vulcan people. But I've always seen Mr. Spock as the "lone wolf" type, even during Nurse (later Doctor) Chapel's semirequited crush on him (semirequited because he was fond of her--just not in the way she wanted). In this story, though, the couple are hampered by biology, so the real heroes of this story are a moderate Romulan bureaucrat and his like-minded subordinates. After all, if a revolution is ever to succeed, it has to be done by "home folks"--foreign assistance is just that: assistance. We also get to see the Stargazer-era Picard in action, as well as a Romulan's eye view of the attack on the Klingon science outpost that nobody in this story knows orphaned a little tyke named Worf.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating !
Review: A fabulous book, especially for Spock lovers like me ! Very illuminating on the development of Romulan - Federation relatioship after the Obsidian affair,and Vulcan psiology. A book that is fun to read , one you can't put down once you have started reading . There is one problem with it , though, and this is the reason I withold the fifth star, there is one major mistake at the very end of the book, and it sours the good experience of reading it: the last page refers to an unbonded Vulcan female named T'Selis. You who have read about the Obsidian affair know for sure that the "T" before the name of a Vulcan female is an indication of her being bonded. It is possible that a bonded female not to use "T" but not vice versa. However I would recommend the book to any reader who wouldn't be so specific about this mistake, and despite it, I don't regret having read this book , which I find perfect except the above mentioned drawback.
Rating:
Summary: Susan Shwartz & Josepha Sherman Interview
Review: After their sucessful collaboration on Vulcan's Forge, Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz have a new novel, Vulcan's Heart which is a sweeping tale that impacts the whole Star Trek Universe and one of its most central characters, Spock. I chatted with the authors and invited their editor from Pocket Books, John Ordover, who was a past guest on the radio show, to offer his comments as well. Tony Tellado: The fans have been asking for Spock and Saavik to get together for some time now. Was this story to appease those fans ? What about the emotional side to the story between Spock and Saavik ? Susan Shwartz: Vulcan's Heart wasn't written to appease the fans; in fact, I suspect that some fans had other candidates in line. The Spock/Saavik pairing is a very logical one, however, and we were careful to show that Sarek arranged it. Actually, I suspect he gave a push to what he had observed and to what McCoy would probably have described as "About time they made honest Vulcans of each other." Emotions ? Vulcans have them and since Spock is half human and Saavik half Romulan, they certainly have them. Pon Farr would only bring them out more overtly. Both are aware of their "emotional" sides, and controlling these emotions becomes a major issue in writing this book. Another issue was to show a developing relationship that starts out in mutual respect and friendship and heats up -- very considerably -- without resorting to human tropes and explicit description. Josepha Sherman: Vulcans do, indeed have emotions, just controlled ones. With Spock's human blood and the drive for Pon Farr..enough said. Also, anyone who saw Sarek with Amanda or Tuvok with his wife can't deny that Vulcans do feel love ! John Ordover: Actually, I haven't felt any demand to put Spock and Saavik together - the poll on the Sci-Fi Channel gave us a 35% approval rating on the pairing, and that was higher than we expected, since there are -so- many choices for Spock to marry, and there are so many people who wouldn't be satisfied unless Spock married Kirk, or married them. Tony: There is a lot of references in this book to Trek episodes and characters from two generations. How did you do your research so it would fit into the Star Trek Universe perfectly? SS: John - does - have an extraordinary memory. The Star Trek Encyclopedia and Omnipedia are wonderful; and my VCR is wearing out from re-watching films and episodes . Being a historical fantasist helped me, personally. I worked from a time line of events significant to the major characters and even minor ones (I probably "know", for example, more about Vice Proconsul M'Ret's subsequent history than any sane person needs to ! Then there's the "fear" factor. We knew that Vulcan's Heart was a grand sweep up the center of the Star Trek story and we wanted to avoid making the sort of mistakes that that mean you have to cancel all your e-mail accounts and hide from long-time fans (from the first series). There's a desire to get things right ! And finally I admit it I get compulsive about research Tony: This has a political thriller aspect to it. Do you see the similarity to Ancient Rome and the Romulan Empire? JS: Personally, I saw more a parallel to the Political intrigues of the late Soviet Union, some of which I witnessed firsthand. I don't want to make too close a parallel to ancient Rome and "modern " Romulus, frankly, because the parallels made in the original series always seemed like an easy shortcut! SS : I minored in Latin in College and have spent a great number of time and about six books working with various versions of the Byzantine Empire. To me the Romulans are Pagan versions of the Byzantines -- with ears...but we reserved the right to adapt anything else we could. Jo's mentioned the USSR; Japan is another good example of material we borrowed from. (Hint: Check out the Showa Emperor -- Hirohito) Tony: How did you both collaborate on this story ? , which by the way has a lot of interesting layers to it. JS: I'm glad you enjoyed the intricacy of the layering! We alternated writing chapters, then edited each other's chapters. SS: As Jo said, we exchanged chapters. Before this, we collaborated on an immense plot summary from which we worked. The layers sort of emerged as questions about the plot and the culture emerged. Tony: I think non-Trek fans can appreciate this but I found reading this that when certain things were revealed, I said, I wonder if they will then do this next, so it fits in the Star Trek Universe ? And you do, making the journey to there fun for the reader. JS: We wanted to give the reader a good, exciting, intricate story with plenty of "senzawunda," without getting away from the Star Trek Universe and all it has going for it! SS: There's a certain logic to epic; elements are in stories not just because they fit the narrative but because they are psychologically necessary, in my opinion, to writers and readers alike. If you grow up on Trek, certain linkages are just plain logical --inevitable, in fact. The idea was to tell as big and complex a tale as we could. Glad you liked it! Tony: Praetor Dralath literally has the potential to unravel the Star Trek Universe in this story by his actions. Is he based on any one or other character? SS: Dralath isn't based on anyone in particular. What you want to notice about him and about the other less-honorable Romulans is that they are predators. If I had to cite anything, I'd cite the Melian dialogue from Thucydides: "For the strong do what they will, while the weak suffer what they must." The honorable Romulans are constrained by their honor in the same way that the Vulcans are constrained by their logic. It is also their great strength. Tony: How do you compare this to Vulcan's Forge? JS: Vulcan's Forge is a more"personal" story, centering more closely around Spock himself and his life choices. Vulcan's Heart takes in a much wider picture. SS: We wanted-sweep-and we go it. Also, Vulcan's Forge takes place on the outskirts of consensus Star Trek "reality" while Vulcan's Heart sweeps right up the center.
Rating:
Summary: A great read for any true Star Trek fan
Review: Leave your preconceptions about all Romulans behind when you read this book and you'll have a great time. A wonderful blend of ties to memorable events and characters in The Original Series, the movies from The Original Series and from The Next Generation. It picks up sometime after Kirk's 'death' on the Enterprise-B and before the commissioning of the Enterprise-D and leads you to the beginnings of Ambassador Spock's efforts at reunification of Vulcans and Romulans. Like any Star Trek situation, the heroes achieve the impossible and good triumphs over evil against incredible odds.
Rating: 
Summary: Vulcan's Heart- Ugh!
Review: I had recently gotten somewhat behind in my Trek reading, and as such had never quite gotten around to reading VH. Recently, I finally checked it out from my local library, and prepared to dig in to a quality novel. Sherman and Schwartz had already scored a hit with VF, and I expected nothing less. VH began promisingly enough, though the betrothal of Saavik and Spock seemed a bit contrived for my tastes. But, hey, I can live with contrived plots. Without them, we never would have met Seven of Nine. VH wasn't particularly engrossing, but that is a flaw in many ST books. As the book wore on, (And I emphasize wore) it entered a downward spiral from which it never recovered. I was only able to complete it out of sheer willpower, suppressing my disgust. The worst aspect was Saavik. Not since Robin Curtis took over the role has Saavik been dealt such a grave misjustice. Her motivations were cartoonish, her reactions laughable, and her dialogue stilted. "My health levels are quite satisfactory" comes to mind as one of the worst lines. Star Trek has never done alien societies particularly well, but these Romulanbs are among the lamest aliens Star Trek has ever conceived. (Not counting Voyager, of course) Their pseudo-Roman senate, their machinations, and the intrigue was just horrible, totally depressing. The attempt at a maltese falcon yielded a pigeon. The representations of the main characters (particularly Uhura) were fawning and amateurish. Finally, Picard was off character and seemed out of place in the pages of this half-rate novel. VF was excellent, but this book, well failed to reach its zenith or the standard for Trek novels. Don't waste your time with this stinker.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: This is as bad if not worse than their first book. I was hoping for something better but was sorely disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A STAND OUT BOOK.
Review: VULCAN'S HEART is a worthy successor to VULCAN'S FORGE and a fabulous addition to the Star Trek line of books. Josepha and Susan have crafted an elegant, intricately plotted story with something for everyone: action, romance, intrigue, suspense, even a little humor thrown in for good measure. As for the reviewer who found the book "too violent" for his young son, I submit that the young lad is probably not the intended audience for this book. I might suggest showing him to the "young readers" section of his local bookstore instead. That's what it's there for. If he's too old for those and is ready for a "big reader" book, then it's probably time to teach him about the things he's liable to encounter within the pages of such a tome. So Jo/Susan...when's the next one coming out?
Rating:
Summary: Audio quality and violence is up ...
Review: After a scathing review on the Pathways audio novel I would like to commend the audio engineers for their outstanding work on this Star Trek audio novel. The space battles are fantastic! But it is also all the other small nuances which add to the realism of this book. I really enjoyed the extra detail. That's the good news. The bad news is that this Star Trek audio novel continues on the trend towards more and more violence, and I don't like it. It has gotten so bad that I would prefer not to support the Star Trek series anymore. Star Trek is about adventure, solving problems, doing good, pushing the envelope of danger. The graphic scenes of suicide and cutting open ones neck leaves me cold. I would love to have shared this novel with my young son, but those elements of the story line are horrific. My message to the current writing team is simply this, clean up your act and reduce the graphic violence or find yourself out of business. These are not the elements I want in a story and I want them removed! The story line is great but is ruined by the violence.
| 
