James Kirk is dead.

But Spock, Uhura, McCoy and the rest go on in the next Star Trek book from Pocketbooks/Simon & Schuster, Vulcan’s Forge. While Chekov has gone off to serve as Sulu’s first officer aboard the Excelsior, and Spock has taken a captaincy aboard the Intrepid II, he is joined by McCoy, and Uhura as they find themselves confronting an enemy from Spock’s past on Vulcan.

Vulcan’s Forge is an interesting tale, as it attempts to bookend Spock’s Starfleet career. The story moves back and forth through time and space. We join Spock as a late teen, as he begins a friendship with a young Starfleet cadet, David Rabin, just as they are caught up in a horrifying attack led by Sered, a violent Vulcan who seems to be spouting a lot of fascist and xenophobic lines.

He’s seized hostages with David’s mother, Captain Rabin, among them, and Spock and David must face the Vulcan desert in order to survive. It is here that Spock comes to his decision to join Starfleet.

In their present, Captain Spock has answered a distress call from his old friend Captain David Rabin, and the Intrepid II arrives at Obsidian, a desert planet on the edge of the Romulan Neutral Zone, which seems to be on the verge of civil war.

After their shuttle crashes, Spock, McCoy, Rabin and some of their combined crews end up in the desert, McCoy is captured, and Spock and Rabin confront another trial by fire in the desert, which sees Spock continuing to develop his diplomacy skills. He started it with the Klingons, but here, it seems a familiar enemy is being manipulated by the Romulans, and that may plant a seed for the beginnings of reunification.

It may also lead him to ultimately connect with his father, Sarek, the Federation ambassador, who was initially against Spock’s decision to join Starfleet.

It explores the beginning of Spock’s decision to join and leave Starfleet, and how he came to those choices, at least in this version of the story, and it’s done well. I had a bit of a struggle getting into the story, but once I was into it, and it was racing along, I really dug it.

It’s interesting to read a story set in the time after Kirk’s ‘death’ on the Enterprise B, and how the rest of the characters continued onward, and I really like the stuff with Uhura in this book, she gets a chance to shine in the captain’s seat, and she’s awesome at it.

The Human Adventure continues, and there are so many more Trek books to come. Boldly go.