Shadow Lord (Star Trek, No 22)

Rating:
Summary: Mixed review:
Review: As a generic science fiction novel, this book isn't bad. It's not
great, but not bad.

As a Star trek novel, however, it's pretty
weak. The idea isn't bad: a novel in which Spock and Sulu are the
primary protagonists, rather than Spock and Kirk. But the author seems
to have a weak concept of the characters he's attempting to use; his
concept for Sulu isn't too egregiously bad, but his Spock fails in
many cases to demonstrate his established competence, presumably
because the author begrudged him the starring role he wanted to give
Sulu. His Vulcan strength and endurance are nowhere to be found, as he
shows no sign of having any physical abilities beyond those of a normal
human.

Worse, his playful bantering with Dr. McCoy is portrayed as
much more serious bickering, showing no understanding of the true
relationship between those characters. And worst of all, the author
demonstrates no understanding at all of the Prime Directive, which he
tries to make into a major plot point; Sulu is concerned, at one
point, that he may have overstepped the bounds of correct behavior and
violated the Prime Directive against interfering with a primitive
culture, completely ignoring the fact that the entire storyline from
the word "go" violated that directive. The very fact that
the Enterprise was there, that the natives knew of their existence,
and that the prince had been educated on Terra clearly and blatently
violated the prime directive.

As a story demonstrating why there IS
a prime directive, this story was fairly good. But as a story claiming
to be set in the Star Trek universe, it was wildly inconsistent with
established parameters.


Rating:
Summary: Mixed review:
Review: As a generic science fiction novel, this book isn't bad. It's not
great, but not bad.

As a Star trek novel, however, it's pretty
weak. The idea isn't bad: a novel in which Spock and Sulu are the
primary protagonists, rather than Spock and Kirk. But the author seems
to have a weak concept of the characters he's attempting to use; his
concept for Sulu isn't too egregiously bad, but his Spock fails in
many cases to demonstrate his established competence, presumably
because the author begrudged him the starring role he wanted to give
Sulu. His Vulcan strength and endurance are nowhere to be found, as he
shows no sign of having any physical abilities beyond those of a normal
human.

Worse, his playful bantering with Dr. McCoy is portrayed as
much more serious bickering, showing no understanding of the true
relationship between those characters. And worst of all, the author
demonstrates no understanding at all of the Prime Directive, which he
tries to make into a major plot point; Sulu is concerned, at one
point, that he may have overstepped the bounds of correct behavior and
violated the Prime Directive against interfering with a primitive
culture, completely ignoring the fact that the entire storyline from
the word "go" violated that directive. The very fact that
the Enterprise was there, that the natives knew of their existence,
and that the prince had been educated on Terra clearly and blatently
violated the prime directive.

As a story demonstrating why there IS
a prime directive, this story was fairly good. But as a story claiming
to be set in the Star Trek universe, it was wildly inconsistent with
established parameters.


Rating:
Summary: Mixed review:
Review: As a generic science fiction novel, this book isn't bad. It's notgreat, but not bad.

As a Star trek novel, however, it's prettyweak. The idea isn't bad: a novel in which Spock and Sulu are theprimary protagonists, rather than Spock and Kirk. But the author seemsto have a weak concept of the characters he's attempting to use; hisconcept for Sulu isn't too egregiously bad, but his Spock fails inmany cases to demonstrate his established competence, presumablybecause the author begrudged him the starring role he wanted to giveSulu. His Vulcan strength and endurance are nowhere to be found, as heshows no sign of having any physical abilities beyond those of a normalhuman.

Worse, his playful bantering with Dr. McCoy is portrayed asmuch more serious bickering, showing no understanding of the truerelationship between those characters. And worst of all, the authordemonstrates no understanding at all of the Prime Directive, which hetries to make into a major plot point; Sulu is concerned, at onepoint, that he may have overstepped the bounds of correct behavior andviolated the Prime Directive against interfering with a primitiveculture, completely ignoring the fact that the entire storyline fromthe word "go" violated that directive. The very fact thatthe Enterprise was there, that the natives knew of their existence,and that the prince had been educated on Terra clearly and blatentlyviolated the prime directive.

As a story demonstrating why there ISa prime directive, this story was fairly good. But as a story claimingto be set in the Star Trek universe, it was wildly inconsistent withestablished parameters.

Rating:
Summary: Shadow Lord
Review: In my opinion, Laurence Yep has never read a Star Trek novel in his life, and the editor probably hadn't either. Often, facts become distorted and don't concur with previously established facts. The story did have a decent plot line - for a fantasy novel, not a science fiction novel.

Rating:
Summary: Shadow Novel
Review: Shadow Lord is an entertaining yarn, although it has precious little Trek in it. Spock and Sulu end up on a world with the technology level somewhere akin to 16th century Japan. They become embroiled in a coup and end up on the run - think "Friday's Child" with gory sword fights.

The plusses here include likeable secondary characters (a rarity in a Trek novel) and . . . well, there's not a lot else that's exceptional. Shadow Lord is enjoyable and quick, but not much else.

There are a couple of huge negatives however, which warrant the two star rating. The first is not Yep's fault, but it is enormously aggravating. The cover art. First, it has Sulu in a blue uniform. Second, the "shadow lord" is pictured as a late 70s porn star; seeing him, you picture a man full of his own machismo who tries to hit on Uhura. In reality, however, the "shadow lord" is a large, furry mammal which looks like an otter, with a keen sense of humor. The second involves the whole backstory. The shadow lord's world, Angira, wants to learn more about the Federation . . . great, but how did this medieval society learn about the Federation in the first place?? When one is able to put this issue out of mind, Shadow Lord is amusing, but then it comes back and the eyes start to roll.

Rating:
Summary: Shadow Novel
Review: Shadow Lord is an entertaining yarn, although it has precious little Trek in it. Spock and Sulu end up on a world with the technology level somewhere akin to 16th century Japan. They become embroiled in a coup and end up on the run - think "Friday's Child" with gory sword fights.

The plusses here include likeable secondary characters (a rarity in a Trek novel) and . . . well, there's not a lot else that's exceptional. Shadow Lord is enjoyable and quick, but not much else.

There are a couple of huge negatives however, which warrant the two star rating. The first is not Yep's fault, but it is enormously aggravating. The cover art. First, it has Sulu in a blue uniform. Second, the "shadow lord" is pictured as a late 70s porn star; seeing him, you picture a man full of his own machismo who tries to hit on Uhura. In reality, however, the "shadow lord" is a large, furry mammal which looks like an otter, with a keen sense of humor. The second involves the whole backstory. The shadow lord's world, Angira, wants to learn more about the Federation . . . great, but how did this medieval society learn about the Federation in the first place?? When one is able to put this issue out of mind, Shadow Lord is amusing, but then it comes back and the eyes start to roll.

Rating:
Summary: Star Trek: Shadow Lord
Review: Star Trek: Shadow Lord wriiten by Laurence Yep is a Sulu/Spock with a flavor of "Highlander" to give it some character. So sword fights are the norm and phaser fire is kept to a bare minimum.

This book starts out on a mission to a primative and very violent planet called Angira where Sulu/Spock are to accompany Price Vikram to his home planet... then all hades breaks out as they are caught in an ambush. This book features the sword fighting skill of Sulu and those of Spock as well making for an interesting tale as modernization is shunned. With the future of Angira hanging in the balance, it is upto the skills of both Sulu and Spock to carry on with the mission as their survival and that of Angira are all dependent upon their abilities with the sword.

Rating:
Summary: Star Trek: Shadow Lord
Review: Star Trek: Shadow Lord wriiten by Laurence Yep is a Sulu/Spock with a flavor of "Highlander" to give it some character. So sword fights are the norm and phaser fire is kept to a bare minimum.

This book starts out on a mission to a primative and very violent planet called Angira where Sulu/Spock are to accompany Price Vikram to his home planet... then all hades breaks out as they are caught in an ambush. This book features the sword fighting skill of Sulu and those of Spock as well making for an interesting tale as modernization is shunned. With the future of Angira hanging in the balance, it is upto the skills of both Sulu and Spock to carry on with the mission as their survival and that of Angira are all dependent upon their abilities with the sword.

Rating:
Summary: Spock and Sulu on a Grand Adventure
Review: To say this one is different is an understatement. This book takes Sulu and Spock and a Prince called Vikram to a hostile world. It has more adventure than most obscure Treks. The most contemporary theme here is a society afraid of modernization. There are no phaser fights here folks. Highlander style sword fights are the norm here. Think of Sulu and Spock inspired by Highlander.

Rating:
Summary: Spock and Sulu on a Grand Adventure
Review: To say this one is different is an understatement. This book takes Sulu and Spock and a Prince called Vikram to a hostile world. It has more adventure than most obscure Treks. The most contemporary theme here is a society afraid of modernization. There are no phaser fights here folks. Highlander style sword fights are the norm here. Think of Sulu and Spock inspired by Highlander.