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Rating: 
Summary: Devil World
Review: Eklund's second ST novel, following "The Starless World," it involves a Federation traitor, his daughter, and creatures that resemble the "devils" or "demons" of folklore. It also examines some religious issues. At shore leave on Starbase 13, Kirk encounters a young woman who follows the philosophy of Jainism---to harm no living creature, no matter how small. To this effect, she wears a face mask so as not to inadvertently swallow an insect and kill it. The woman is searching for her father, who turns out to be a Starfleet officer who left the Federation for the Klingon Empire some years before. In the meantime, the starbase commander asks Kirk to take on his son as a personal steward, as the young man has washed out of Starfleet Academy, and needs direction in his life. Through the commander, Kirk also learns more of the story of the woman's father: he had been stranded in space in only a survival suit for nearly a month before being rescued, and had moved to the Empire on promises of his own planet, since contact with any creatures is now painful to him. Now, it is learned that the man has travelled to Heartland, a quarantined planet, where the colony started 40 years ago had withdrawn, with every colonist turned mad. The inhabitants of the planet, a dying races called the Danons, resemble satanic creatures, with reddish skin and forked tails. Kirk takes the Enterprise to retrieve the unauthorized personnel. Complications ensue. This is a somewhat better outing than Eklund's first, but still a bit stiff as well as short. Kirk is again out of character, while Spock and McCoy are portrayed satisfactorily, but other characters such as Scotty and Sulu show little character at all. Chekov at least tells Russian stories, but there are few telling character touches, as if the author is unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the characters. Again, the plot is interesting enough, but the writing is mediocre. Story elements are introduced, then not seen again. What happens to the "demons" conjured by the stage magician in the opening scene? Are they meant to signify something? I kept waiting for the payoff, but it never came. The writing is weak in that way. Don't spend a lot of money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Kirk versus the devils.
Review: This is one of the original Star Trek Novels first put out by Bantam in 1979. It does not follow the same formula length that the Pocket books maintain. The original Bantam series is a bit rarer than the Pocket novels of today. They are a reasonable next generation avenue of reading for the Star Trek fan.
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