Captain's Blood (Star Trek)

Rating:
Summary: Star Trek: Captan's Blood
Review: Star Trek: Captain's Blood written by William Shatner and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens is a genuine spot-on hit. A continuence of the storyline from the lack luster "Captain's Peril," Captain's Blood" is an Kirkcentric novel with twists and turns and plenty of action-adventure.

We get a blending of the main characters of TOS,TNG, and Voyager. Meaning that we have Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Dr. McCoy mixed with Picard, Worf, Riker, Dr Crusher, and Geordi along with Janeway and the EMH. There is a nice interweaving of Kirk's son (Joseph) in this book, making for some interesting scenes.

The book opens with Spock's death, but is he really dead. The story is about a mission to Romulus to investigate Spock's death, but that is just of only 2 missions wrapped into one for this crew. Admiral Janeway sends Kirk, Scotty, and Dr. McCoy to investigate who killed Spock. While Picard, Dr. Crusher, Geordi, and the EMH are on a covert mission. All are on a space yacht called the Calypso which is a Q-ship and are sent on their why to Romulus.

Well, of course, they do not make it to Romulus but they are sent to Remus the planet the revolves around Romulus as the two planets were cleved from one proto-planet. Remus does not revolve so one side is always facing the Romulan primary and one side is always in darkness. Although both were settled by the same Vulcans the planets evolved seperate ways. Now, the Remans are the slaves of the Romulans which is the premise for a civil war between the two planets.

This book follows the events of ST-Nemesis as the Romulan Star Empire is in major disarray and Ambassador Spock is pulling out all stops as he attempts to reunify the Romulans and the Vulcans. Now, intergalactic war is a distinct possibility as in a public speach Spock is assassinated.

Trapped on Remus on the eve of a civil war with Romulus Kirk must find a way to end the conflict but finds a conspiracy of major importance and the truth about the threat that faces the Romulans. We get a hint of what to expect about the startling destiny of Joseph, and the final chapter in the book whets your appetite for what is to come in "Captain's Glory."

As for Spock, don't count him out as of yet... things look pretty grim from what is in the book but this is only the second book of a trilogy and there is time for miracles to happen. This is a well-written story that moves at a well-paced clip. You should finish this book quickly as the action-adventure plays out. This book is well worth the money as the story is interesting.

I hope that "Captain's Glory" will be as well-written as "Captain's Blood." Only time will tell as everyone else in the galaxy will know soon enough... the Peace of the Totality is on it's way.

Rating:
Summary: Kirk is the just-off-center of the universe!
Review: The name "William Shatner" on a novel can strike fear into the hearts of a lot of Trekkies (though I know some are fans). I gave up on his Mirror-universe series because it was just getting more and more dull and making Kirk more and more the center of the universe. It also seemed like every new book jumped on the bandwagon of the latest events on the television series, rather then telling its own story (Janeway (ok, a Mirror-Janeway) shows up after Voyager premieres on television, etc). Each book also contained a lot of new television series continuity. Since I know Shatner doesn't pay that much attention to the current series, it just adds to the "were these books ghost-written?" mystique.

That being said, when I heard that Shatner had a new Kirk book out, I decided to check it out. I was aware of Captain's Peril, but it sounded like a self-contained adventure that didn't interest me that much, so I avoided it. Captain's Blood, however, dealt with Spock and the Romulans. Anybody who has read my review of Star Trek: Nemesis knows that I love Romulans, so I had to check this one out. Captain's Blood is a direct sequel to Nemesis (there's that "jumping on the bandwagon of the current series" again) that deals with the fallout of Shinzon's aborted coup in that movie. So was I mercilessly teased into reading yet another Kirk-lovefest? In a way. I found it better than the Mirror-Universe saga, but it did suffer from some of the same faults.

(...)

Captain's Blood isn't quite as Kirk-centric as the Mirror-Universe books (though that's admittedly not saying much). Sure, Kirk is still the center of the action. Sure, Kirk gets to be all self-righteous to Picard and Janeway (though Picard is supposed to be his friend) and talk about how things were different (and better) in his day. Thankfully, that last bit is toned down to just a couple of comments, but it still grated at times. You would think that somebody who uses the current continuity to this extent would try not to denigrate it at the same time. However, Picard and his crew are fairly well characterized. Riker suffers a little bit from being treated too much like a new captain. Shatner seems to be forgetting that Riker was pretty well-rounded as first officer on the Enterprise under Picard, instead portraying him as a bit tentative and needing some of Kirk's instruction. Janeway has turned into a real hard-case, even more so than she was on Voyager.

Still, given all that, I have to say that the book isn't too bad. It's a quick read that grabs you and makes you say "just one more chapter." Shatner does have a way with action scenes, especially with Kirk and McCoy's escape from the ore processing plant (though this is one of the few times that Kirk actually seems superhuman). The main problem with the book, aside from some of the characterization issues, is the horribly abrupt ending. The plot is moving along, we find out who is behind the possible civil war, Kirk is able to stop the individual, and then it just ends with a totally different "to be continued." The villain escapes, an epilogue segues into the next book, and we never hear anything more about the Romulan civil war. What is it with the Romulans being treated like window-dressing? I WANT MY ROMULANS!!!

Ahem. Sorry. The lack of Romulans (despite their presence in the background of almost the entire book) is not my main problem with the ending. Along with the abruptness, we also find out that this is yet another ongoing series by Shatner. While it isn't absolutely necessary to have read Captain's Peril (there's a massive infodump about it right in the middle of a tension-filled scene, so don't worry), it's still the first cog in what could be another long-winded "epic" by Shatner. In fact, it seems that Captain's Peril is going to be another Ashes of Eden, a seemingly self-contained adventure that ends up starting a monstrosity. I hope history doesn't repeat itself, but I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, however, I'll give the next Shatner book a chance. It didn't annoy me as much as the Mirror-Universe books did. Ask me again in a book or two (or three?). Consider this a moderate recommendation.

David Roy

Rating:
Summary: Kirk is the just-off-center of the universe!
Review: The name "William Shatner" on a novel can strike fear into the hearts of a lot of Trekkies (though I know some are fans). I gave up on his Mirror-universe series because it was just getting more and more dull and making Kirk more and more the center of the universe. It also seemed like every new book jumped on the bandwagon of the latest events on the television series, rather then telling its own story (Janeway (ok, a Mirror-Janeway) shows up after Voyager premieres on television, etc). Each book also contained a lot of new television series continuity. Since I know Shatner doesn't pay that much attention to the current series, it just adds to the "were these books ghost-written?" mystique.

That being said, when I heard that Shatner had a new Kirk book out, I decided to check it out. I was aware of Captain's Peril, but it sounded like a self-contained adventure that didn't interest me that much, so I avoided it. Captain's Blood, however, dealt with Spock and the Romulans. Anybody who has read my review of Star Trek: Nemesis knows that I love Romulans, so I had to check this one out. Captain's Blood is a direct sequel to Nemesis (there's that "jumping on the bandwagon of the current series" again) that deals with the fallout of Shinzon's aborted coup in that movie. So was I mercilessly teased into reading yet another Kirk-lovefest? In a way. I found it better than the Mirror-Universe saga, but it did suffer from some of the same faults.

(...)

Captain's Blood isn't quite as Kirk-centric as the Mirror-Universe books (though that's admittedly not saying much). Sure, Kirk is still the center of the action. Sure, Kirk gets to be all self-righteous to Picard and Janeway (though Picard is supposed to be his friend) and talk about how things were different (and better) in his day. Thankfully, that last bit is toned down to just a couple of comments, but it still grated at times. You would think that somebody who uses the current continuity to this extent would try not to denigrate it at the same time. However, Picard and his crew are fairly well characterized. Riker suffers a little bit from being treated too much like a new captain. Shatner seems to be forgetting that Riker was pretty well-rounded as first officer on the Enterprise under Picard, instead portraying him as a bit tentative and needing some of Kirk's instruction. Janeway has turned into a real hard-case, even more so than she was on Voyager.

Still, given all that, I have to say that the book isn't too bad. It's a quick read that grabs you and makes you say "just one more chapter." Shatner does have a way with action scenes, especially with Kirk and McCoy's escape from the ore processing plant (though this is one of the few times that Kirk actually seems superhuman). The main problem with the book, aside from some of the characterization issues, is the horribly abrupt ending. The plot is moving along, we find out who is behind the possible civil war, Kirk is able to stop the individual, and then it just ends with a totally different "to be continued." The villain escapes, an epilogue segues into the next book, and we never hear anything more about the Romulan civil war. What is it with the Romulans being treated like window-dressing? I WANT MY ROMULANS!!!

Ahem. Sorry. The lack of Romulans (despite their presence in the background of almost the entire book) is not my main problem with the ending. Along with the abruptness, we also find out that this is yet another ongoing series by Shatner. While it isn't absolutely necessary to have read Captain's Peril (there's a massive infodump about it right in the middle of a tension-filled scene, so don't worry), it's still the first cog in what could be another long-winded "epic" by Shatner. In fact, it seems that Captain's Peril is going to be another Ashes of Eden, a seemingly self-contained adventure that ends up starting a monstrosity. I hope history doesn't repeat itself, but I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, however, I'll give the next Shatner book a chance. It didn't annoy me as much as the Mirror-Universe books did. Ask me again in a book or two (or three?). Consider this a moderate recommendation.

David Roy