By: D.C. Fontana Publisher: Star Trek Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 256 Publication Date: July 25, 2006 Studio: Star Trek
Product Description: Years before he came to be known as the best first officer in the fleet, Spock was a conflicted young ensign, serving on the Starship Enterprise™ under Captain Christopher Pike. Struggling to reconcile his many obligations -- those forced on him by his Vulcan heritage, and those chosen by him upon his enrollment in Starfleet Academy -- Spock must also balance the desires of his own heart.
Those conflicting demands intersect during a mission to retrieve one of his world's most sacred artifacts, a relic of Vulcan's ancient past -- the search for which will reveal dark and deadly secrets, forever altering the course of Spock's life and defining the man he became.
A classic tale from D. C. Fontana, one of Star Trek®'s original producers and the writer of such classic episodes as "Journey to Babel" and "This Side of Paradise."
I always like anything about this character if it is well written.
Good book, but the ending seemed rushed. ^ This story hooked me from the very beginning--I found I had a very hard time putting it down. The descriptions were very vivid and I felt I could not only see what was being described, but what the people/aliens were saying. That is always a good quality in a book, in my opinion. It was a very solid story, well written, but there was too much exposition at parts, and the side trip to the planet with the mutants seemed to be unnecessary. And at the end it felt like they had run out of time and hurried to close everything up; it was just a little too neat somehow. Also, I think that there were some parts that could have used a little more exploration. But overall, I enjoyed the book and will probably read it again. And I believe it to be a good introduction to the Star Trek universe, as I am a very recent fan and still learning about the series. The information was presented in a smooth, flowing method that made it natural for me to pick up on, but that will not bore readers who are more knowledgeable.
Outstanding ^ Vulcan's Glory by D.C. Fontana, is Outstanding! Hands down one of the best Vulcan book around. Her depth of charater development is both logical and interesting. I only wish there was more of her books out there. This one has been around for sometime and I had read it years ago. A great read!
Young Spock's story is more interesting than Pike's ^ Certainly one of the most impressive TOS episodes is the 2-part "The Menagerie." I can't say that I was terribly intrigued by Captain Christopher Pike in that episode (he was basically James T. Kirk all over again), but when I learned that this book fleshed out young Spock's backstory, I decided to give it a read. I wasn't disappointed. Vulcan's Glory shows a side of Spock that is both plausible and surprising, mainly because it focuses on his very complicated love life. The mystery surrounding the gemstone is almost as interesting as the love story. Christopher Pike still didn't do much to set himself apart from Kirk, but I did enjoy reading about his first mate: Number One, a woman bred to genetic perfection.
As for the physical book, I found the font to be of a very generous size, bigger than most paperbacks. My eyes were not strained in the least, and I found it an easy, enjoyable read.
Not as bad as it could have been ^ So, let's not pretend like this book doesn't suck. As a novel, I mean. If we didn't already know who all these characters are, not one person would read this book. However, as fanfiction, it could have been worse.
Vulcan's Glory is a prequel to the original Star Trek series, telling the story of how Spock first came on board the Enterprise, under the command of Captain Pike. And yes, it's written by D.C. Fontana, one of the best writers from Star Trek, so I figured she'd have something particular to say. Nope. This novel reads kind of like she took two or three episode plots and mushed them together into a book. It's as though she's *heard* of character development, setting, and plot coherence, but doesn't quite know what these things *mean*.
There's an improbable romance for Spock, a dangerous away mission for Captain Pike, some random sub-plot for Scotty, and the search for the ancient treasure--the Vulcan's Glory. Not to mention murder aboard the Enterprise! All of these are at least vaguely promising, but none mesh well together, and none of them are satisfying or exciting. It's possible the author just forgot to make the book interesting.
It is (mostly) free of the kind of horrible conceits you might be fearful of in novelizations. Hardly anything cringe-worthy comes up, and if you're just looking to spend a few hours occupying the Star Trek universe without further expectations, this book may be for you.
I gave it a three star rating based on how much I enjoyed it, not how good it is.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
