Rating: 
Summary: Cox mixes recent history with Star Trek mythos....
Review: Khan.Although Star Trek has pitted its various starships and space station crews against such formidable antagonists as the Klingons, the Romulans, the Borg, and the Xindi, few of them have had such an indelible persona as Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically engineered "superman" who, according to the Original Series episode "Space Seed" and the 1982 feature film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, ruled one-quarter of the Earth during a period called the Eugenics Wars. As Khan says to Chekov in Star Trek II, "On Earth, 200 years ago, I was a prince, with power over millions." Whereas Greg Cox's first novel in a two-book cycle sets up the whole Khan backstory (he's the product of an ambitious attempt by brilliant but twisted scientists to "improve" humanity by tinkering with human DNA) by mixing real Earth history from 1974 to 1989 and Star Trek lore, Volume Two tells the story of Khan Noonien Singh at the very height of his power, his failed attempt to unite his genetically engineered brothers and sisters under his banner, and his ultimate exile aboard the DY-100 sleeper ship he will name, aptly, SS Botany Bay. Although there is a thematically-linked "frame story" set during Capt. Kirk's first five-year mission about the Enterprise investigating a colony of genetically engineered humans that has applied for membership in the Federation, Cox's main storyline focuses on Agent Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln's attempts to stop Khan -- who had briefly worked them in their mission to save Earth from a third world war but then fell out with Seven and followed a darker path -- from blowing up the planet and destroying humanity. To tell this important story in the Star Trek mythos without having the 21st Century reader rolling his or her eyes and going, "Yeah, right. If the Eugenics Wars happened in the '90s, why didn't I hear about it on CNN?" Cox has incorporated the Balkan Wars, the rise of militias in the United States, the "Black Hawk Down" ambush in Mogadishu, and almost every major crisis in the mid-1990s and meshes it with Star Trek "history," which thankfully was not very detailed in the 1967 episode that introduced Khan. As he does so well in Volume One, Cox blends an exciting Star Trek adventure -- full of references to established "facts" and characters from various movies and series episodes -- with real historical events that took place from 1992 to 1996. He slyly makes social commentary about our recent past and allusions to other famous movies and television series, including an homage to Ricardo Montalban's (Khan) most famous TV role. The pace is fast and Cox's style is very engaging. He apparently loves Star Trek and its characters, and it clearly shows in this exciting and entertaining series of novels. I strongly recommend this two-book series to Star Trek fans and even non-fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Assignment Earth: The Eugenics Wars
Review: Lets make this very clear: this is a Star Trek novel. Like most Trek novels, one does have to have some familarity with the characters and concept. So, when talking about this novel, let's keep it within the context it's about. It's Star Trek, and like many others, I have a fondness for Star Trek.
Based upon both the classic television series and the second Star Trek movie, the novel tells the continuing tales of Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln, and the rise of the tyrant Kahn in the late 20th century.
The story flows smoothly, keeping the consistant development of the characters from which have known and are used too. It does whallop you with cameos from every series ('Enterprise' inculded) but that just for excessive continuity. It continues the tale of Kahn, how he took over one quarter of the planet, and lost his empire to his and other own egos. (You don't ahve to be superhuman to have an excessive ego.) Hey, its fun. It is interesting to see that Eugenics Wars were conducted covertly, and although I was not surprised with the way Kahn was portrayed, although at one monemt in the passages, Kahn did seem concerned about humanity, briefly. I was both interested and annoyed with the development of his super brothers and sisters. The Romainan butcher was acceptable, the yankee superman was stretched, but the Amazon women was pushed too far.(Someone's DNA molecule was dropped one too many times while gestating). I think, as the story flowed, we learned a great deal about Kahn and why he did (and the author stayed witin character. See the portaryal of Kahn by the actor in the episode 'Space Seed'. NOT The Wrath of Kahn.) what he did but we also saw what happened to two other characters we liked as well. While Gary Seven and Roberta were not played out a two diemnsional cartoons, I would have liked to have more development with them. They were there as the protagonists against Kahn's antagonist / rebellious protagonist. I was intriguied by the way the story unfolded. I already knew Kahn fled Earth. I liked learning how it happened.
To that, the author doesn't disappoint.
Isis was expected, I give it that, but I won't tell more as to ruin it for the reader. As a Star Trek novel, it fills the historical 'Trek' well. It is good reading, not cumbersome and overtly detailed, and the author handles the concept while blending in current events very well.
If you've read Book I, finish the tale with Book II. Its a fun, nicely written, action adventure tale with interesting characters. It fits well with the incredible amout of 'prequel' concepts we seem to be going through at this time. It's also interesting as the background or secondary story deals with Captain Kirk's crew in the 23rd century with 23rd cebtury supermen. And that stroy takes place BEFORE The Wrath Of Kahn.
Again, it Star Trek based; the author shows his like for the Star Trek mythos and in no way dishonors it. You can tell the author enjoys Star Trek.
And that's what a Trek novel should be, a fun, action paced adveture. Give it a shot, both Book I and Book II are really enjoyable and trek fans of all ages with appreciate it.
Maybe, we'll finally get more stories about Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln as well...
Rating:
Summary: Audacious and Highly Entertaining
Review: Lightening can indeed strike twice in the same place, as "The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume Two" proves to be every bit as exciting, entertaining and humorous as the first Volume of this saga. The second portion of this engrossing story takes the reader from the beginnings of Khan's consolidation of his power, through the events that lead to his flight from Earth on the DY-100 class sleeper ship SS Botany Bay. From beginning to end, this novel is eminently satisfying.
Rating: 
Summary: The Eugenics Wars Vol. 2
Review: Nothing about this novel makes any sense. None of its events fit at all with the history of this period talked about in "Space Seed." While it's true that records of that time were, by the 23rd century, fragmentary, it was still known that World War III happened. The "supermen" were known to the world, as was the DY-100 space ship. In this novel, where are the supermen who seize power? Where are the men and women Napoleon-like in ability and ambition? (Never mind that in Space Seed the Eugenics Wars were a result of selective breeding, not genetic engineering.) Trying to make invented Trek history fit in with true history was an effort doomed to failure. It doesn't work. It ruins the fantasy. Apart from these flaws, Cox also fills the book (as in volume one) with references to other Trek series. Shannon O'Donnell makes an appearance, as does Rain Robinson. The Kirk-era storyline seems, again as in volume one, tacked on and pointless (and uninteresting). (Even having Gary Seven in it doesn't make any sense, but that's really a complaint for the first book.)
Then there's Cox's writing style. His editor did a sloppy job, but admittedly didn't have a lot to work with. His writing is on the same level as that the average fan fiction writer.
Rating:
Summary: Khan bids to take over world in 1990s...alert CNN!
Review: One of the reasons Star Trek has lived long and prospered has been its memorable characters and storylines, not to mention the way it has developed a sense of continuity. The sense that the various captains, crews, starships, even a space station live in a believable universe not only comes from Gene Roddenberry's original concept of setting his original series at a time when faster-than-light travel might be possible, but from script writers that had the talent and the imagination to create a back story to Starfleet, the starship Enterprise, the Federation, and Earth's "past" -- from the characters' 23rd/24th Century vantage points. By citing such events as the Romulan Wars, first contact with the Klingons, and the Eugenics Wars of the late 20th Century, Star Trek's writers create a subconscious feeling in the viewer's (or reader's) mind that yes, that universe has a history that is believable and adds much to the dramatic story's emotional impact. Because Star Trek's writers chose to set the original series in a believable future scenario rather than creating a "galaxy far, far away" a la George Lucas, they wrote several episodes that dealt with what in the mid-1960s was still the future. Two of them, including "Assignment: Earth," involved time travel by Capt. Kirk and the USS Enterprise to the Sixties, while "Space Seed," by Carey Wilbur and Gene L. Coon, established the history of the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s. Obviously, the writers of the episode had no idea that Star Trek would become such a long-lived franchise or that a feature film would be based on "Space Seed," yet Khan Noonien Singh -- one of Ricardo Montalban's most memorable roles -- and the events of his era loom large in the Trek scenario. So how does a writer of contemporary Trek -- whether it is on film or the printed page/e-book -- reconcile what was the 1960s "future" with our very real and stormy past in a believable way? In my review of Volume One of Star Trek -- The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh I mentioned that author Greg Cox (Assignment: Eternity) chose to focus his two-volume series not on the captain and crew of the NCC-1701 (although they have a relevant "frame" storyline that acts as a launching pad for the "historical's" main narrative) but on the efforts of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln to save Earth from a major world war as the now-adult children of the Chrysalis Project fight among themselves for world supremacy. Obviously, the outcome (Khan attempts to conquer world, fails, and is exiled with 90 or so of his genetically superior brothers and sisters aboard the advanced DY-100 sleeper ship SS Botany Bay, to be found 300 years later by Kirk's Enterprise in the Mutara Sector) is never in doubt. No, the fun in reading Cox's novels is in seeing how he manages to blend Star Trek's established history with our own recent past. After a 23rd Century prologue that continues Kirk's now imperiled investigation of the Paragon Colony on the planet Sycorax (the Klingons have sabotaged the colony and Kirk must find a way to save the genetically engineered humans' skins, as well as those of his own landing party), Cox returns to the 20th Century, this time during the critical early 1990s, at a time when the post-Cold War era is marked by wars in the Balkans and elsewhere, the rise of the "militia" movement in the United States, and all the other events that made the Nineties "a strange, violent time," as Spock says in the original 1967 episode. Cox manages to convincingly portray the unconnected headlines (Revolutionary turmoil stirs in Peru; Ethnic hatred plunges Yugoslavia into civil war!) as part of the Star Trek universe's Eugenics Wars. Volume Two is just as exciting and funny as the first installment of the series, with more action and inside jokes and references to the culture of the time period, other Trek histories (even Jonathan Archer gets a mention in this one), and even a knowing little homage to Ricardo Montalban's best known TV role ("Welcome, Miss Lincoln, to Chrysalis Island!").
Rating: 
Summary: Another Star Trek Rewrite
Review: Part I of this series was quite entertaining, but this one isn't what I hoped for. It's another example of rewriting the Star Trek universe in a vain attempt to fit reality. It doesn't suprise me, because this novel fits perfectly into the philosophy of the new Trek series.
I gave it two stars because it did fit reality in a somewhat clever fashion, but as someone else already stated, it didn't happen this way.
Rating:
Summary: Another Star Trek Rewrite
Review: Part I of this series was quite entertaining, but this one isn't what I hoped for. It's another example of rewriting the Star Trek universe in a vain attempt to fit reality. It doesn't suprise me, because this novel fits perfectly into the philosophy of the new Trek series.
I gave it two stars because it did fit reality in a somewhat clever fashion, but as someone else already stated, it didn't happen this way.
Rating:
Summary: The Wrath of Cox!
Review: There's a couple of grammatical errors in the book which should have been fixed but overall this was an enjoyable book. Even though the timing may be off and the science of it may not be 100% as one reader mentioned it is still just a story. He portrays Khan perfectly and even makes the story seem realistic in many ways. Too bad that he didn't get Ricardo Montalbahn (Khan from Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan for those who don't know)to do the audio version of this story. There's a charactor from Star Trek IV in this story which surprised me along with Area 51, and the ozone layer twist. I have always been fascinated with the charactor of Khan and curious as to how he got aboard Botany Bay. Thanks Greg for letting us know. Also what would happen if Khan actually beat Kirk in Star Trek 2? Why not right a story about that?
Rating:
Summary: Good, but room for improvement.
Review: This book continued where volume one left off, in that the average Trek fan can learn more about some of the more popular guest stars on Star Trek. I was a little disappointed in that it seemed to speed by Khan's development a bit too fast, but that didn't detract too much. The left-wing preaching also bothered me some, but I was able to ignore it for the most part and concentrate on the Star Trek stuff. There were also some fun moments in that some Trek guest stars, in addition to Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln and Khan, make cameo appearances in this volume. I recommend it if you are a Trek fan.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent continuation
Review: This novel takes up where volume one left off. Roberta Lincoln has taken over from Gary Seven for the most part in dealing with Khan's attempt to dominate the world and gather together other genetically enhanced humans. Author Greg Cox has woven together incidents from the 90's into the clandestine eugenics war. A nice touch is the inclusion of characters introduced in TOS and other trek series. There are some minor flaws with some science facts the ozone hole and with when the internet was available but most people will not be aware of those and they dont distract from the story in the least. I recommend this book to all fans of Star Trek.
|
