I've seen that there has been a series of Star Trek books by William Shatner (and others) featuring a returned Captain James T. Kirk in the era of Next Generation / Deep Space Nine / Voyager – but as yet I have not read any of them. And, I have to admit, I have been a little concerned about them. It sounded a little contrived to me, a way of cashing in on Shatner's fame and association with the Kirk character.

Now as for the method of Kirk's return I simply cannot comment – not having read the first book. But let's take it as a given that we have a Captain Kirk roaming around the Universe covertly for Star Fleet in the company of Bones (pretty much the oldest human going – and even including a possible reason for his longevity), Scotty (after his emergence from the transporter buffer in a Next Generation episode) and Spock (no problem for a Vulcan still being around) and get to the story.

Warp core's all across the Universe are starting to go critical. Crews lucky enough to eject them before they explode, including Riker's ship Titan, are left stranded light years away from home without a means of getting back. The only ships capable of warp travel are those machines with older cores, which following the events in the film Star Trek: Nemesis includes Picard's Enterprise. But even Picard's advantage might be short lived as the Federation's scientists believe that, in time, even these older cores will prove susceptible to whatever affected the Titan and other ships.

Add to this people (including Spock) are vanishing without a trace. So Picard, Kirk, Riker and the rest of Star Fleet need to discover the source of these events and to prevent what seems to be an attempt to take over the galaxy.

That sounds like many a typical Trek storyline. It shouldn't put you off though, for standing against disaster for the "Universe-As-We-Know-It" is common for Star Trek, it's the kind of tale that Trek fans thrive on.

So does this book deliver? Do we get an enjoyable tale? The simply answer is yes, this is a bit of a romp. If you start with this book in the series as I did, you do have to just accept a few things - Kirk being around in Picard/Janeway's time is just one of them. Kirk has a son, a mixed species, six-year old who is on an accelerated-aging track who serves as part of Kirk's crew.

The one thing that feels odd about this book is that, having read many other Trek books of late, this seems to be totally separate. It just doesn't feel to be part of the regular Star Trek timeline you will encounter in the other books I've read since the Trek rebirth in the books a couple of years or so back. But this is not necessarily a negative.

I definitely found this book to be enjoyable. I was wary of it before picking it up off the shelf but it surprised me – it's a reasonably good book. And I'd guess that if you are a Trek fan, and one who enjoyed the interaction between Kirk and Picard in Generations, then you might enjoy this one too.

Synopsis
With the civil war on Romulus averted, Kirk is finally free to seek out the truth behind the death of his oldest and closest friend. Was Spock killed by the shadowy organisation known as the Totality? A generous offer from Starfleet provides him with the starship he needs in order to reach his goal. Their only proviso: that they can call on his help if they need him. But what happened to Spock is not Kirk's only worry: Joseph, his son, is rebelling wildly against the restrictions placed on him as the price of Romulan peace. Is the Totality somehow also linked to Joseph's rage? But before he can find the answers to either troubling question, Kirk receives a call from Admiral Janeway, telling him she needs him to save the Federation. Torn between his mission and his duty, the cause of the Federation must claim him one more time before he can turn his attention either to his friend or to his son. Pop culture icon William Shatner returns with another breathtaking Star Trek adventure in which both generations must battle an unstoppable enemy for the existence of all life in this galaxy - and beyond.