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Vulcan's Glory (Star Trek, No 44)

Vulcan's Glory (Star Trek, No 44)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Vulcan's Glory....Spock's missions with Captain Pike
Review: D.C. Fontanna's novel shows Spock's different relationship with Captain Pike. We get to see an early Scotty who is not yet chief engineer. I liked the part where he had a distillery within the engine room. We need more of these one book adventures and less of the six part ones. Without giving away too much; it shows a more emotional Spock who falls for another female Vulcan officer. It explains why he appeared so emotional in the pilot.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An average Star Trek novel
Review: I read this book because Vulcans are my favorite ST aliens and because D.C Fontana has traditionally gotten good reviews as an author. While the story was detailed and captivating, I was disappointed by the character development. It would have been better written as a general sci fi novel where it could have introduced new characters and alien races, rather than playing off of those we already know. The characters never felt "real" to me and I found many of their actions unbelievable when compared to how they are portrayed in the actual series. Overall, it was a good story. But I do not rank it as one of my favorite Star Trek novels.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Five star concept, three star execution.
Review: The concept, or should I say concepts, behind this book are excellent. It's a delight to see something truly different, and a novel set during Captain Pike's tenure as captain of the Enterprise certainly qualifies; the only regulars from the original series that we see in this book are Scotty (who mainly shows up in a minor subplot) and Spock, who the story centers around. And while stories centering around Spock are hardly novel, the concept of exploring the background of the character before he met Kirk, et al, is certainly a nice change.

Another concept behind this book is to explore the "hidden" emotional lives of Vulcans. This concept is handled much less well than the background concept; those of us well-versed in the lore of Star Trek know that it is a mistake to believe that Vulcans have no emotions, and we've certainly seen Spock's emotional side before. But Vulcans in general, and Spock in particular, are FAR more circumspect about acknowledging those emotions openly than they are shown to be in this book. Disappointing, because D.C. Fontana ought to know better; she wrote for the original series, including the episode "Journey To Babel", in which she showed a much better grasp of the way Vulcans display (or fail to display) their emotions.

The peeks into the respective personalities of Captain Pike, Number One, and Doctor Boyce was nicely handled, though. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more books from this time period.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Vulcan pride at it's best
Review: This book lets you into some of the working of vulcan marriage rituals, and it shows exactly how far vulcans will go to hide a lie. Scotty makes this story good his charcter was my favorite in this story.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not the usual Captain of the Enterprise.
Review: This book was the first set during Christopher Pike's captaincy. There are two mostly separate story lines through the book. One is Pike's planetary mission, which goes from being a cultural check to resolving a kidnapping. The Enterprise section is a recovery of the Vulcan's Glory, and then a murder mystery. This section has Spock as the main character, and there is a lot about Vulcans in general in the book. There is also a small but very amusing sub-plot of the Enterprise's newest engineer, Scotty, and his "engine room hooch" as they put it. Despite the time spent on them, the non-Kirk era characters are good but not vividly portrayed. This book is fairly well written and generally entertaining, but there is nothing that makes the book stand out, which is really surprising considering the author. I expected more.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A typical Star Trek book.
Review: This can't really belong to TOS, as it's not actually that closely related to the original series. Following Spock as he tries to reconcile his human and Vulcan sides as he is posted for the first time to the Enterprise, the book also introduces us to a young Scotty in an entertaining side story. We also meet Captain Pike (who might as well be Kirk from the way he behaves), and the previous doctor, engineer and first officer. The plot goes that an ancient (and missing) Vulcan gem, the largest in existence, has been found on a primitive planet which the Enterprise happens to be visiting. After retrieving it, however, mysterious murders start to happen on the Enterprise, while Pike, on the planet's surface, becomes embroiled in a missing person hunt for two young lovers who could have been kidnapped by mutants. And then love blossoms between Spock and another Vulcan on the ship... the ending rounds everything off nicely. This book isn't really anything special, but it's quite entertaining for a Trek book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great look into a young Spock and Captain Pike
Review: This is just a great Star Trek novel in every way. It provides an incredible amount of insight into the early crew of the enterprise during a very key mission in Spock's career. You also get a refreshing look at a young engineer we're all familiar with. D.C. Fontana - great job!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: D.C. Fontana did it again
Review: This was the first Star Trek book I ever read. And it was good.

To read about Spock's first mission, and see Scotty when he first joined the Enterprise crew is just fun!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A decent book but a bit of a disappointment
Review: Vulcan's Glory wasn't a bad book, but I was expecting more from a story about this time period. Fontana had an excellent opportunity to expand upon the history of Christopher Pike, but she didn't. James Kirk could have been captaining the Enterprise and the story would have been exactly the same. The Character of Number One was fleshed out somewhat, but that was about it. Fontana had an opportunity to add to what we know about Star Trek in this time period, but instead she gave us a story that could have easily happened during Kirk's first five year mission. The story line with Scotty was useless and had nothing to do with the plot, it was almost as if the editors told her that she needed another familiar character after the book was written and she just threw those pages in. And the murder mystery that was happening on the Enterprise while Pike was down on the planet was ill conceived. In a proper mystery clues are supposed to be planted within the story that would allow the reader to try to figure the murder out along with the characters in the book. Not so here. All of the suspects were cleared, and Fontana simply gave us the murderer at the end. It was as if she changed her mind at the last minute who she wanted the murderer to be and couldn't be bothered to go back into her manuscript to establish credibility (or a stronger motive).

I would love to see more books written in this time period, but only if they give us something unique in Christopher Pike. If you are going to portray the character as identical to James Kirk, then call him James Kirk.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A decent book but a bit of a disappointment
Review: Vulcan's Glory wasn't a bad book, but I was expecting more from a story about this time period. Fontana had an excellent opportunity to expand upon the history of Christopher Pike, but she didn't. James Kirk could have been captaining the Enterprise and the story would have been exactly the same. The Character of Number One was fleshed out somewhat, but that was about it. Fontana had an opportunity to add to what we know about Star Trek in this time period, but instead she gave us a story that could have easily happened during Kirk's first five year mission. The story line with Scotty was useless and had nothing to do with the plot, it was almost as if the editors told her that she needed another familiar character after the book was written and she just threw those pages in. And the murder mystery that was happening on the Enterprise while Pike was down on the planet was ill conceived. In a proper mystery clues are supposed to be planted within the story that would allow the reader to try to figure the murder out along with the characters in the book. Not so here. All of the suspects were cleared, and Fontana simply gave us the murderer at the end. It was as if she changed her mind at the last minute who she wanted the murderer to be and couldn't be bothered to go back into her manuscript to establish credibility (or a stronger motive).

I would love to see more books written in this time period, but only if they give us something unique in Christopher Pike. If you are going to portray the character as identical to James Kirk, then call him James Kirk.


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