Rating: 
Summary: The Far End of the Spectrum
Review: After more than thirty years, two separate publishers of the tie-in books, numerous editors, and hundreds of writers, there is no one Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock. The strength of this book is that its vision is so self-consciously different from the "standard" view of the characters. If you don't like physical comedy, this book is not for you. If "The Trouble with Tribbles" isn't on your top five episode list, this book is definitely not for you. But if you can suspend disbelief (whatever that might mean when we're talking about imaginary characters who use matter transporters & FTL but still apparently use computers that take up entire rooms), you'll have fun.
Rating:
Summary: Trek meets the 3 Stooges?
Review: This book has occasionally been called the sequel to "The Final Reflection". Actually, it is no such thing. But it is the book which *could have been* the sequel, had Paramount granted John M. Ford free rein to write another about the Klingon culture he had so meticulously developed in his first Trek novel. Instead, Paramount had begun to exercise tighter control over pro-novelists' creativity, and this book was Ford's response to such stiflement. And by Kahless' Hand, did he have fun with it! "How Much For Just the Planet" is not just a spoof of Star Trek, but a spoof of Paramount itself: "...Scott's eye was caught by an unusual constellation: a ring of stars haloing a distant peak. 'Look at that, now. Doesn't it awe you a little? To think there might be a higher power than us, arranging matters?'..." (To fully appreciate that passage, envision the Paramount icon.) So we get Kirk and the Klingons in a riotous quasi-musical Busby Berkely-type comedy production culminating in the intergalactic pie-fight. Trek purists tend to hate this novel as much as Paramount and Pocket do, but Ford's fans laugh along with him. Vengeance is a dish best served cold, and this one tastes sweet as a pink n'gaan milkshake!
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind belly-laugh!
Review: This book was sadly out-of-print for many years, but was brought back just recently. That's good, because quite honestly Star Trek books tend to follow a specific formula: crew arrives on planet, encounters problem, fixes problem, lives happily ever after. This book takes a weirder outlook... it's more what people would write for fanfiction than an actual novel, which is a darn shame!Dilithium is valuable--you find that out within a short amount of time. And when amazing deposits of it are found on the relatively-advanced planet Direidi (Dee-RYE-dee) both a Klingon cruiser and the USS Enterprise are sent there to stake a claim. But the inhabitants of the planet are apparently going to have some fun with our heroes... Frankly the summary sounds a bit dry, but this book is anything but. Combine a neurotic Vulcan, a crazy computer, an inflatable starship, a princess in love, peppermint Vulcan milkshakes, Kirk fending off a Klingon with soda-water, blue grits, and a lot of weird songs. And the climax is to DIE for. It's goofy, but it's fun. If you insist on the characters rigidly adhering to what you see on the show, then you will hate this book. If you're willing to see them loosen up, dance and sing, and get involved in madcap adventures, then you will love this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible
Review: The worst Star Trek novel of all time. Avoid at all costs. Sometimes, Star Trek franchise Quality Control breaks down, and we end up with junk such as this. Pink yoghurt coming from the air vents? Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: This book had been so highly recommended to me for so long that I finally bit the bullet and decided to dive into it. Well it's not the best book I've read, but it's head and shoulders above most other Star Trek novels. This book is humorous (I especially enjoyed the paranoid shipboard computer...hilarious) but the humor is downright silly. As a previous reviewer noted, the pie fight scene is one where I screwed up my face and kept reading. It seemed to belong more in a Three Stooges movie than a Star Trek book. Several of the 'humorous' situations are forced, but there's enough good stuff in there to keep you entertained for the entirety of a fairly brief novel.
Rating:
Summary: Humor...The Final Frontier.
Review: One of the great vehicles that Star Trek used to convey a story is humor. "A Piece Of The Action", "Star Trek IV" used humor appropriately and sparingly in their story. Yet, in Ford's "How Much For Just The Planet?" I find the humor to be mundane or almost "British." Pie fights in Star Trek? Yep. Is it funny? Matter of opinion I guess, but I found the humor in a pie fight lacking. I really don't think slapstick humor in Trek suits very well. This is humor that you'd see in a 3 Stooges episode, not Trek. Only redeeming factor that I enjoyed from the book is the Federation survey team that crash lands on the planet. I'm glad to see that not every starship, no matter what size, has access to holodecks (yeah I know pre-generation), rec-decks, and libraries. The boredom that the crew was suffering from was protrayed nicely from the author. Best that Trek has to offer? No, but definitely not the worst.
Rating:
Summary: BUY THIS BOOK EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE TREK!
Review: This is a fantastic, marvelous book. Humor at and around the main characters of the Trek canon bites without becoming tiresome. Unlike other tries at ST humor, this one doesn't telegraph it's moves or become tiring after five pages. It would be worth the money for even more than the price - isn't it nice that it isn't that expensive?
Rating:
Summary: A Classic...
Review: This book is just classic Star Trek. It really is an apogee of fine literature. The winding plot and hilarious Interludes makes this a great book.
Rating: 
Summary: "Roddenberry and Hammerstein?"
Review: Yup, just like I said. There are actually songs in there, sung by the characters, integral to the plot. As I read the lyrics, I was mentally putting a tune to them, but it was a ripoff of a dozen Broadway songs I'd heard. If this book is never reissued by Simon & Schuster, author John Ford ought to get in touch with a competent show tune composer and actually do it as a musical. It would actually draw a fair-sized audience.
Rating:
Summary: Not all Trek is about saving the Universe!
Review: A good hold your belly, laugh till you cry novel. Complete with cat burglars, old movies (quoted by Klingon Ensigns, no less!), pie fights, Roman Emperors and many other laugh a minute (mis)adventures. If your in the mood for Trek, but want something lighthearted, try this! (If you can find it, try conventions or used book stores)
|
