Rating: 
Summary: Not Your Cookie-Cutter Trek
Review: I read this book years ago and remember it as my favorite. Why? Because it dares to challenge the monolithic personalities that most other books portray of our Starfleet heroes. In addition, the deceptive simplicity of the weird fuzzy aliens (who travel by moving space instead of themselves, but still hunt for food like so-called "lower" animals) is fabulously juxtaposed with the weird fuzzy circus troupe being ferried aboard the Enterprise. The McIntyre's plot appears juvenile on first inspection and initially evokes as much head-scratching as Kirk and crew upon their First Contact with the aliens. But ultimately, the alien encounter was masterful, as was the metaphoric circus aboard ship. It all results in a story striated with meanings deeper than the simple (and always obvious) parables that shallower Trek readers and viewers come to expect.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: McIntyre has captured the true feel of Trek. This story is full of great introductions and wonderful character interactions. The plot is among the best of the Trek novels I have read. I highly recommend this to any fan. It gives you a great setup for the five year mission. This is one to definately re-read as the years go by.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: McIntyre has captured the true feel of Trek. This story is full of great introductions and wonderful character interactions. The plot is among the best of the Trek novels I have read. I highly recommend this to any fan. It gives you a great setup for the five year mission. This is one to definately re-read as the years go by.
Rating: 
Summary: ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: On its first mission the Enterprise hosts a traveling circus and invertently runs into a bubble ship filled with fuzzy little aliens. And you expect me to believe this?
Rating:
Summary: Sweet Begining
Review: The book Enterprise by Vonda N. McIntyre is both a sweet adventure and an unusual interpretation of the Star Trek universe.While the seemingly soft characterizations and undeveloped friendships within the original Enterprise crew might be off- putting for some, it represents an original concept through the author's mind, allowing voice for her own interpretation of the beloved characters of the favourite television show. I myself liked the interactions between the newly-aquainted Kirk and Spock. Here, the author introduces a feeling of testing the waters of a friendship between the two men, which becomes strong as their lives moved on past their first mission together. Also, a lovely touch are Spock's observations of human nature in the light of a traveling vaudeville's performance, related to Captain Kirk; his observations and Kirk's reactions are a precursor to the friendly barbs traded between the two men in the future. I reccomend this book for anyone who questions and wonders about the first mission of the Enterprise under the command of Captain Kirk. . . It is a question previously not answered in the Star Trek universe. L.L.A.P.
Rating: 
Summary: an uninformed writer?
Review: The interesting part of this book, is to Uhura - Rand interaction, which is a sub-subplot at the most. The main plot (touring a circus through the galaxy!!) is never accomplished, and the book get's lost in one of the other subplots, an encounter with some not very interesting aliens, "thus" achieving the start of intergalactic peace with the Klingons without even aiming to do so. A bad case of luck at best. Obvisiously, something must go wrong with that after this book is finished, since Kirk is known to have fought these bastards for most of his carreer. And this book describes his very first mission. There is none of the normal entertaining Kirk-Spock interaction. Or something of it that predates their friendship later on in the series. (now that would have been an inetresting plot!) And honestly, Spock is not behaving very Spock-like. Why not give him an other name and just say he's Xon, a (rare) Vulcan with a bad temper, and a tendency to plunge into illconsidered adventures. Perhaps you could name him... Kirk (oops). I can only advise you NOT to read this book. If you're a Star trek fan you'll get turned of because of the mis-characterisations. And if you're just (sorry 'bout that) a science fiction fan, you'll get borred with the plotlessness of this book.
Rating:
Summary: books like these kill the Star Trek legend bit by bit
Review: This might seem sexist, but why do so many female Star Trek authors create female lead characters that don't make sense in the Star Trek universe? What's wrong with career-minded female officers as female leads? I guess the circus characters are meant to be comic relief. However, they don't mesh very well with the Star Fleet characters. The main female character is something of a nitwit. Of course everything works out OK as we couldn't have any kind of tradegy so early in the careers of the classic Star Trek characters.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting ramble
Review: This novel is well done, but I found that it was mostly just a big, long, ramble. The plot kept changing, and it just sort of meandered along until the end. It does introduce the characters to each other very well. I enjoyed seeing everyone's first reactions to Captain Kirk, the Enterprise, and each other, and how they all began to really work together at the end. The plot began with seeing the Enterprise turned over from Pike to Kirk, and that was a good beginning. Then we found out that the ship would be touring a vaudeville company around starbases. I didn't think this would be much of a story, and it turns out that the author did add other elements. There was a first contact, which was interesting, and a whole sub-plot about this Klingon renegade gal. I did not see where that fit in at first, and it didn't come into the main storyline until the end. That wasn't too well done. The new supporting characters were fun, however, and well done. I liked Lindy and Stephen, and the "equiraptor" Athene was very cool. What I also enjoyed was the creation of a back-story for Yeoman Janice Rand. I thought that her parts of the story were very interesting and I liked the way Uhura helped her. The plot of this book really wandered aimlessly from here to there - basically it was just a device to get the crew to go on their first voyage. The writing style was very descriptive, which was nice, but sometimes it was jumpy and I found myself confused as to when we got to this location or why we were going from this person's point of view. One small nitpick was that this book had Chekov on the Enterprise from the beginning - I thought he arrived at the end of season 1. That was the only technical problem I saw. Though slow, the book is a nice, enjoyable read. Original Series fans will probably really like this one, and others who don't know much about TOS can enjoy it too.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting ramble
Review: This novel is well done, but I found that it was mostly just a big, long, ramble. The plot kept changing, and it just sort of meandered along until the end. It does introduce the characters to each other very well. I enjoyed seeing everyone's first reactions to Captain Kirk, the Enterprise, and each other, and how they all began to really work together at the end. The plot began with seeing the Enterprise turned over from Pike to Kirk, and that was a good beginning. Then we found out that the ship would be touring a vaudeville company around starbases. I didn't think this would be much of a story, and it turns out that the author did add other elements. There was a first contact, which was interesting, and a whole sub-plot about this Klingon renegade gal. I did not see where that fit in at first, and it didn't come into the main storyline until the end. That wasn't too well done. The new supporting characters were fun, however, and well done. I liked Lindy and Stephen, and the "equiraptor" Athene was very cool. What I also enjoyed was the creation of a back-story for Yeoman Janice Rand. I thought that her parts of the story were very interesting and I liked the way Uhura helped her. The plot of this book really wandered aimlessly from here to there - basically it was just a device to get the crew to go on their first voyage. The writing style was very descriptive, which was nice, but sometimes it was jumpy and I found myself confused as to when we got to this location or why we were going from this person's point of view. One small nitpick was that this book had Chekov on the Enterprise from the beginning - I thought he arrived at the end of season 1. That was the only technical problem I saw. Though slow, the book is a nice, enjoyable read. Original Series fans will probably really like this one, and others who don't know much about TOS can enjoy it too.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks much from the book
Review: While it was nice to be able to experience this book while driving, hearing Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Zulu (George Takei) try to mimic the voices of Kirk, McCoy and Scotty sounded very tinny. Such readings are always better if done by a voice that is not so associated with any of the characters. Furthermore, the story is heavily abridged, which means a great deal of the story line of the book is lost. Therefore, I was nowhere near riveted by the telling of the story.
The main premise is a good one. The Enterprise receives her new captain, James T. Kirk, an arrogant yet extremely capable young officer. The backdrop of the initial reaction of Spock and Scotty does make for an interesting point of development in the overall Star Trek experience. The best part of the story by far is that of Steven, the Vulcan man who knew Spock when they were children. In traditional Vulcan eyes, Spock's included, he is a pervert because he seeks sensations and emotional peaks.
A secondary premise is that of a Klingon renegade who has stolen a ship. Unfortunately, there is simply not the time on this tape to develop that subplot to the fullest. It is clear that the ship is necessary for the story, but without the background, the appearance is artificial.
It is hard to take a story with a quality plot and abridge it without losing some of the essentials. That happens here and while a book on tape is fine for listening to in the car, I encourage you to read the book if you want to understand all of the points in the story.
|
