Space, the final frontier…

My travels with the Enterprise this week take place during the original five year mission as the Federation starship is invited to take place in a race sponsored by a newly discovered species who is to join the United Federation of Planets.

But while the ships are gathering there is another force in motion, it seems a Romulan commander may have encountered this race before, and the wiped out his entire ship through paranoia and fear. Nor posing as member of the race, he plans to destroy this race before they can be used as a weapon against his people.

Carey, as always, tells a solid tale, wrapping it up nicely in the characters we know and love, giving Kirk, Spock and McCoy opportunity to shine, but I’ll admit I was hoping for something just a little more once the Romulan plot got underway. I honestly was hoping for a twist once the readers, and the crew of the Enterprise learn about the aliens’ abilities, that would show the Romulan may have been right after all…

Instead, it just plays out exactly as expected, which isn’t a bad thing, as there are lots of nice naval moments, as orders are thrown about as the ships race one another to the finish line.

Amongst the players are races we recognise, and characters that are introduced to cause some friction for our heroes, and allow those around them to grow.

It ends up being a very fun story, but man, if the twist I had thought was coming had actually played out, that may have brought the story to a whole ‘nother level.

I like, and have always liked, how Carey tells her tales, she knows and loves the characters as much as any fan, and wants the stories to be true to the universe, while giving the reader something new combined with the Trek we all so dearly love.

I love the sailing and racing things at work here, as well as Kirk’s confrontations with the Romulan commander, all if it rings true for the universe it’s set in.

I won’t lie, it took me about a quarter of the book to really get into it, but after that, the thing just took off for me, and I was swept up in the moments, and the characters, and it, like a few of the others I’ve read, could be seen in my head, playing out like an actual episode.

And there are so many more to come as I continue my explorations with Kirk and company… boldly going where no one has gone before.

The Human Adventure continues…