"Vulcan's Forge" you have GOT to read this book!
Kavking
I bought Vulcan's Forge at my bookstore this morning, and couldn't put it
down. The characters are true to the characters we have come to know, and
the plot is original and well done.
Uhura gets to sit in the center seat in this one, and it's about time. It
is good to have her used to her potential, altho at one point she does
want to turn around and show the communications officer how it is done.
These authors have made her real.
There are references and tributes to TOS, and TAS that ring true, and it
is good to see that the authors did research, (or else watched the
episodes as often as the rest of us) and got the facts straight. I
thought it was interesting that Spock winds up in a shuttle that is a
refit Galileo type shuttle, considering the events that occur with it.
I thought the character of David Rabin was interesting, and could see the
foundation for actions that occured in the later storyline. (If by some
chance you have missed this, part of the book takes place when Spock is
just becoming an adult on Vulcan, and part of this book takes place a year
after Kirk has died.)
McCoy is truely a mixed bag in this book. He is trying to ease Spock
through the loss of Capt. Kirk, and sometimes it doesn't go well. He
really gets to resent that Spock could dare have another human friend
after Jim dies. He really suffers with the people who are dying on the
planet, and has a great scene with a mother about her son. He is very
much the human doctor that I care about and have known for 30 years.
And Spock's character was...SPOCK. You could see him torn between what
his father wants, and what his mother wants for him (the difference is
quite plain in this book), and this real insight, when he discovers that
maybe there is something HE wants.
I realise this probably sounds a little stilted, but I enjoyed this book,
and don't want to do any more spoilers than I have to, to make my point.
I know this is a bit early for a real review, and I want to let everyone
enjoy this book as much as I did.
K
Arthur Levesque
Kavking (kav...@aol.com) wrote:
K>I bought Vulcan's Forge at my bookstore this morning, and couldn't put
K>it down.
You're apparently ahead of me, but I share your opinions so far.
K>Uhura gets to sit in the center seat in this one...
And takes immense pleasure from telling someone else to "open hailing
frequencies"! :)
--
/\ Arthur Michael Levesque 2A4W <*> bubba bo bob baks...@nicom.com
\B\ack [fnord] King of the Potato People =/\= Cthulhu matata! (-O-)
\S\lash Jake and Elwood - the original Men in Black!! "Hoopla, Denton!"
\/ "God is an Iron"-Spider Robinson http://www.nicom.com/~bakslash
Kav...@aol.com
In article <19970709044...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
kav...@aol.com (Kavking) wrote:
>
I left out the spoiler space for this book, sorry.
Watch out as it does carry some spoilers.
K
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Mary T
Vulcan's Forge, by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz, came out this
week, but I was able to read it some weeks ago. I had been looking
forward to this book for a long time, ever since John Ordover
mentioned that it was in the works. Spock has always been a favorite
of mine, in fact, my favorite character in the original series, with
Sarek an extremely close second. When the original Star Trek went off
the air, I was devastated not just to be losing the show itself, but
to be losing Spock. When the stories and books started coming out, I
was quite pleased. Over the years, I've had a mixed reaction to the
books; the ones that featured Spock heavily, I liked much more than
the ones that did not. SPOCK'S WORLD by Diane Duane and SAREK by Ann
Crispin are among my favorites of all the books.
VULCAN'S FORGE is a more than worthy successor to SPOCK'S WORLD and
SAREK.
Aside from filling in the blanks for Spock's and Sarek's personal
histories, these books also told me more about Vulcans. I have often
thought that SPOCK'S WORLD and SAREK should be required reading for
anyone in Star Trek who presumes to write episodes that feature
Vulcans or any actor who plays the part of a Vulcan. So many Vulcans
in TNG were not quite right; they were stiff and had no personality.
Establishing the character of a person who is emotionally stoic and
controlled but still has emotions and a personality, despite the
public denials, is not easy. Capturing the characters of even the
Vulcans we know, like Spock and Sarek, not to mention the relationship
between them, seems to be more than some writers can do. Diane Duane
and Ann Crispin did it and set a standard for others to follow.
Jo Sherman and Susan Shwartz meet and exceed the standard. VULCAN'S
FORGE continues what SPOCK'S WORLD and SAREK began and tells us much
more about Vulcans, their character and the harsh land that forged it.
My emotional reaction (after all, much as I aspire to Vulcan-ness, I'm
not a Vulcan) is: I LOVE THIS BOOK! These women *know* Spock. They
know Sarek. They understand the relationship between the two and how
Amanda felt about both of them. They understand that desert world and
its harshness and beauty. They understand how difficult it was for
Sarek to reject Spock and his choice of careers and the impact it had
on the entire family. They understand how difficult it was for the
young Spock to be of two worlds yet not comfortable in either.
VULCAN'S FORGE tells two stories, one of Spock as a boy just before he
entered Starfleet Academy and another set about a year after the death
of Kirk aboard the Enterprise B (or, rather, after Kirk was taken into
the nexus). Each story has galactic implications, but on the surface
involves Spock's journey with a human, David Rabin, someone Spock
learns to call friend. Each story has Romulans, and they are the old
fashioned, interesting Romulans in the tradition of the two Romulan
commanders fans have always loved, the ones from BALANCE OF TERROR and
THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT. I have been unhappy with the relative absence
of Romulans from the recent incarnations of Star Trek. The Romulans
were always far more interesting to me than Klingons, who for the most
part, are one dimensional. These Romulans, like Mark Lenard's
character in BALANCE OF TERROR, have their own agenda, but also have
an honor of their own.
The post-Generations story also features Uhura and McCoy, serving
under Captain Spock of Intrepid II. McCoy, of course, is the ship's
CMO, and Uhura is first officer. All are dealing with the loss of
Kirk. The authors capture the relationship between Spock and McCoy,
and they are spot on with the characterizations of McCoy and Uhura as
well as Spock and Sarek. There are some very nice scenes with Uhura,
and I think that John should send Nichelle Nichols a copy of this book
when it's published. I think she'll like it.
David Rabin, the boy, and David Rabin, the man and starship captain,
is a worthy friend to Spock. I was happy to see a Jewish captain in
Star Fleet; if one looks merely at the series, one might get the idea
that there are no Jews left in humanity, and that has always made me
uncomfortable. Israel still exists in the 23rd century, and David
Rabin is an Israeli. One of his officers is a Saudi prince. I like
the implication that the entire mid-Eastern conflict is a thing of the
distant past, and yet the heritage of the people is still important
and respected.
Not only were the characterizations accurate and logically developed
given the time spent since the events of GENERATIONS, both stories
were compelling and interesting. The thread that ties the stories
together is surprising but logical. The Romulan story provides a solid
lead in for why Spock left the Starfleet path and walked the path of
his father in diplomacy to work for reunification with the Romulans.
Jo Sherman and Susan Shwartz weave two related tales of Spock and two
events that shaped his life at critical turning points. They tell us
much about Vulcans that we have always wanted to know, and everything
they establish flows logically and consistently from what was
presented to us in AMOK TIME and other Vulcan based episodes, plus
SPOCK'S WORLD and SAREK. What they establish of Spock's story in
Vulcan's Forge may not be canon, but it ought to be.
I'm very happy that VULCAN'S FORGE is a hardcover. My (signed) copy
is now residing in its place of honor next to SPOCK'S WORLD and SAREK
on my Star Trek hardcover shelf.
Mary
Mary T <cat...@starnetinc.com>
Arthur Levesque
I'm halfway through it myself. My only complaint is that the
Obsidian plot seems too much like "Star Trek: Dune". At the very onset, I
knew that there were a hell of a lot more Freemen/Nomads/whatever in the
desert than Rabin and the city dwellers thought, and that they'd have huge
underground areas, be more advanced, etc.