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Rating: 
Summary: Good Stuff
Review: First of all, the bad stuff: at times Marshak's and Culbreath's prose is a little dense and difficult to get through. Sometimes I put the book down just to take a break! But on to the parts that got the four stars: this book, unlike many recent Star Trek novels, is rich with emotion, novelty and philosophy. I have to disagree with the reviewer who complained that the authors made Kirk and Spock into "closet lovers": So what if they did? Their relationship comes off as beautiful and touching. And as for "dominating women," that is very in keeping with the wonderful Romulan Commander's character, and I find it--well, silly that a reader would be threatened by that. Anyhow, like I said, sometimes hard to get through, but well worth the effort. I've ordered the sequel, The Fate of the Phoenix, and can't wait to read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Ponderous, tiresome, and overall a difficult read.
Review: I grew up a Star Trek fan. I grew up watching the 1960's Star Trek Television show. It's important to understand this to put some perspective on this review; i.e. I liked Star Trek as a young man. And to this day I still have some fondness for that show.I bought and read all the Star Trek novels I could growing up. I've even read a couple of them more than once. But the two that I wished I had never read were Sondra Marshak's and Myrna Culbreath's "The Price of the Phoenix" and "The Fate of the Phoenix." It's been over twenty years since I've read either, and I would rather keep it that way. Both books were very difficult to get through, and follow at times the first time I read them. At the time I thought reading through such books was a great accomplishment. Afterall, our English teachers in high school and college asked to read books that at times could be difficult to read. But the difference between the two is that popular sci-fi, as artistic as a lot of it can be and is, was never meant to be so hard, or so tedious as the "Phoenix" books. Certainly not like a Virginia Woolfe novel, and neither "Phoenix" book can hold a candle to any mandated scholastic reading material. And it's a real shame too. Largely because both authors edited "Star Trek: The New Adventures" and "The New Adventures 2" books, which were fairly good reads, though nothing sterling. One of the problems with writing for a popular sub-genre like Star Trek is that everyone's got a story for their favorite characters (Kirk and Spock in this case), which makes for a large pool of talent from which interesting tales should be forthcoming. The downshot is that everyone's got their take on what the U.S.S. Enterprise does, is doing, has done, and will do in the future. Add to this you have people who want to add their own social twist and messages to the story, all in an effort to push their way of thinking. Well, all I can say is I "got" the messages in both "Phoenix" books, and believe you me they're not worth contemplating (and are somewhat insulting to the true sci-fi fan, though a Trek fan may be blinded by his love for the franchise). The prose is tiresome, the story meandering, the action rather sadistic and pointless at times, and overall it's just not very good. If you want to read the classic 1970's Trek novels published by Bantam, then go look to Gerrold's "The Galactic Whirlpool," James Blish's "Spock Must Die" or Gordon Eklund's "Devil World." The original Trek novels are largely hit and miss deals. The ones that are good are passing, but the ones that are bad, like the Phoenix books, are exceptionally horrid. Read at your own risk. I've been waiting two decades to vent that ... I feel better now.
Rating:
Summary: Ponderous, tiresome, and overall a difficult read.
Review: I grew up a Star Trek fan. I grew up watching the 1960's Star Trek Television show. It's important to understand this to put some perspective on this review; i.e. I liked Star Trek as a young man. And to this day I still have some fondness for that show. I bought and read all the Star Trek novels I could growing up. I've even read a couple of them more than once. But the two that I wished I had never read were Sondra Marshak's and Myrna Culbreath's "The Price of the Phoenix" and "The Fate of the Phoenix." It's been over twenty years since I've read either, and I would rather keep it that way. Both books were very difficult to get through, and follow at times the first time I read them. At the time I thought reading through such books was a great accomplishment. Afterall, our English teachers in high school and college asked to read books that at times could be difficult to read. But the difference between the two is that popular sci-fi, as artistic as a lot of it can be and is, was never meant to be so hard, or so tedious as the "Phoenix" books. Certainly not like a Virginia Woolfe novel, and neither "Phoenix" book can hold a candle to any mandated scholastic reading material. And it's a real shame too. Largely because both authors edited "Star Trek: The New Adventures" and "The New Adventures 2" books, which were fairly good reads, though nothing sterling. One of the problems with writing for a popular sub-genre like Star Trek is that everyone's got a story for their favorite characters (Kirk and Spock in this case), which makes for a large pool of talent from which interesting tales should be forthcoming. The downshot is that everyone's got their take on what the U.S.S. Enterprise does, is doing, has done, and will do in the future. Add to this you have people who want to add their own social twist and messages to the story, all in an effort to push their way of thinking. Well, all I can say is I "got" the messages in both "Phoenix" books, and believe you me they're not worth contemplating (and are somewhat insulting to the true sci-fi fan, though a Trek fan may be blinded by his love for the franchise). The prose is tiresome, the story meandering, the action rather sadistic and pointless at times, and overall it's just not very good. If you want to read the classic 1970's Trek novels published by Bantam, then go look to Gerrold's "The Galactic Whirlpool," James Blish's "Spock Must Die" or Gordon Eklund's "Devil World." The original Trek novels are largely hit and miss deals. The ones that are good are passing, but the ones that are bad, like the Phoenix books, are exceptionally horrid. Read at your own risk. I've been waiting two decades to vent that ... I feel better now.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging but too hung-up on psycho-sexual fantasies
Review: I read this when I was a teenager and thought that it was apretty good book. Years later, it doesn't hold up as well from thestandpoint of an adult. Marshak and Culbreath have a hang-up aboutportraying men who are close friends as almost being closet lovers. They also get into women physically dominating men...Still, the action scenes and labrinth of adventures the characters live through make it entertaining reading.
Rating: 
Summary: The pits
Review: I've decided that this book is worth two stars... why? Well, I must say that it is the absolute worst of the Star Trek novels I've read. It was difficult to understand and the plot was a bit obscure. Also, it seemed to me that Spock and Kirk were portrayed as homosexuals. I began to wonder whether or not this was a story based on sexual fanasties(as a previous reviewer stated). I did, however like the fact that the character of the Romulan Commander was reintroduced. All in all the book was creative yet poorly written. I will not buy the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: This is why I don't like Star Trek books!
Review: It is bad enough that most of the 79 episodes of Star Trek focused primarily on Kirk and Spock. That is my main #1 beef against the original TV series. Authors who repeat and magnify that blunder make the matter worse! Once again, Kirk and Spock (mostly Spock) are the main focus of attention, with the rest of the Enterprise crew functioning as no more than glorified pages and squires. Even worse is the way Spock is charcaterized by the authors. In this book, Spock might just as well be wearing a cape with a red "S" on it! I read this book before ST:TNG, ST:DS9, and Voyager were made, and I despised this book then. After enjoying the way ALL of the characters were included and developed in the three latest Star Trek series, both my love of Star Trek and my hatred of this book grew. Enough, already!
Rating:
Summary: Pricing the Phoenix
Review: The fourth of the original Star Trek novels, this was part of the attempt by Bantam to step up publication of Star Trek-related material, with interest increasing in the syndicated reruns and word of a new TV show/movie becoming a hot topic. Already the editors on a book of short stories, the authors tried their hand at a book-length adventure. Reportedly, this was planned as a short story for the "New Voyages" book, but turned into a longer story. It would probably have been better at short story length. As the book opens, Captain Kirk is dead. He has been killed through the machinations of the leader of a planet peopled mostly by political and other refugees, and the man named Omne has caused Kirk to be at the scene of a burning building, and the Captain has sacrificed himself to save a mother and baby. Spock, livid at the turn of events, returns to the planet to confront Omne, and finds that there is a surprise: Omne has created a process to clone bodies, and also to snatch away a person's conciousness at the moment of death: he has created a duplicate Kirk! The plot comes to a showdown between Omne, Spock, Kirk, and the female Romulan commander. Omne is defeated, but there is doubt that he is really beaten, later turned into a sequel, "The Fate of the Phoenix." The writing is at turns interesting and tedious. The book is melodrama, and has a tendency to switch between fast-paced fight scenes and long conversational pieces, usually with one or more hostages in Omne's custody to attempt to heighten the tension. The melodrama also results from the authors' tendency to cast Spock as a superhero, with Kirk in the Lois Lane role of damsel-in-distress. Much is made of "Vulcanoid strength," and superhuman abilities. The long conversational scenes tend to take on a Jungian tone, with the characters in the guise of archetypes. Spock in particular gets his character rewritten to fit the authors' impressions, and the Kirk here often feels unfamiliar as well. It plays something like many of the third-season episodes, where Spock had some kind of emotional outburst on every other show to heighten the dramatic tension, since he was acting against Vulcan type. It might work once, but regularly it gets tiresome as it does here. For all that, the story is gripping, as good melodrama always is. One does wonder how this can be resolved, and even though the conclusion is somewhat unsatisfactory, it does wrap up the plot and leave loose ends to ponder. There is much sound and fury here, but not much is signified. If you want to see an early version of a Trek novel, see if you can get this one cheap. It's a summer beach type of book, throwaway entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: the price of the phoenix
Review: This is an older Star Trek (TOS) book. Kirk is kidnapped by a mad scientist who wants to hold Kirk captive forever. The scientist has found a way to defeat death and needs Kirk's hard-held views on morality to keep himself in control. Spock joins forces with a Romulan Commander to rescue Kirk and to stop Omni from taking over the galaxy.
Rating:
Summary: Written By True Fans
Review: You can tell that Sondra and Myrna are true fans of Star Trek: TOS. I too prefer the Next Generation to the original, but it's nice to 'visit' with old friends and that's what this book is. A visit with old and dear friends. The sequel is even better.
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