Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site aplvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!clyde!akgua!psuvax!burdvax!presby!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric
From: eric@aplvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: new Star Trek books
Message-ID: <428@aplvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Nov-83 14:14:17 EST
Article-I.D.: aplvax.428
Posted: Wed Nov 23 14:14:17 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Nov-83 05:49:28 EST
Organization: JHU/Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD
Lines: 38


	I have just finished reading two of the latest Star Trek
books, "Mutiny on the Enterprise" and "The Wounded Sky". I know, call
me masochistic, but somehow I can't stop myself from reading them.

	Anyway, the "Mutiny" is a fairly good book. My ruler for
these things are if it would make a good episode, and this one would.
No inside jokes, its not necessary to have memorized every episode
to understand it, and best of all, no major revelations about the
characters. Lets face it, what character development that was done
during the series was pretty minimal, and fairly subtle (well, maybe
not so subtle). Anyway, they didn't constantly go around proclaiming
their love for each other. "Mutiny" avoids this also, and as a result
leaves a pretty good plot, complete with some social issues to consider.
If you are into ST books, I recommend this one.

	I had great hopes for "The Wounded Sky". The blurbs inside
the cover had quotes from various SF writers I respect. Further, it
was larger than your run of the mill ST novel. Here, I thought, was
a ST novel that might actually be good SF as well. The first third of the
book furthered these great hopes. The author (I believe it is Dianna
Dunn, and that this is her first effort) does seem to like to invent
starship names, and describe strange alien life forms (particularly
in the crew), but I can forgive her this, and the premise of the
Enterprise exploring a new Galaxy had lots of possibilities. Unfortunately,
the second two-thirds of the book fall into the same ruts that most other
ST novels do - trying to show the great love and respect of all the crew.
The first few such episodes are intriguing (because you don't know what is
coming) but it quickly becomes repetitious, then boring. The great conflict
of the novel becomes very far-fetched and finishes any hopes for the story.
I rank this one along with the Phoenix books, and a few others. In other
words, pretty rank.

	I just calls them the ways I sees them.

-- 
					eric
					...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric