Crucible: Kirk - The Star to Every Wandering Star Trek: The Original Series

Crucible: Kirk - The Star to Every Wandering
by David R. George III

First Published 2007
320 Pages

ISBN-10: 074349170X
ISBN-13: 978-0743491709
Reviewer
Dave
August 2007

There's a simple premise to this book, that is Captain James T. Kirk does not die at the hands of Dr Soren as detailed in the film Star Trek: Generations. It sounds contrived, and in many ways it is. But the means by which it is accomplished is at least by means of the familiar to Trek fans, there is no new rabbit-out-of-the-hat here.

What the author has done is link this to possibly the best episode of the original series "The City on the Edge of Forever" and use The Guardian as the device to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

What follows is pretty much what you would expect from a Star trek fan writing a novel correcting something he felt went wrong in the TV show / films. This sounds rather negative I know and this is exactly how I was feeling when I started the book. I was concerned that what I would have hear would be a fan-boy writing down his Trek wet dream.

It's nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be, in fact in many ways this was very good fun to read. The author knows his Trek lore, he understands the characters and he has managed to write a readable 300 page novel.

Okay in many ways this is a bit of fluff, an in flight novel - but it did its job. It kept me entertained on a recent flight, even managing, at times, to make me forget the incredible cramped conditions I was being forced to endure, and the annoying child in the seat in front of me.

I find Star Trek books ideal for flights, they are the kind of fiction you can read without total concentration required for some books, but provide all the distraction you need. Okay, I am being unfair, a number of the Trek books I have read are superbly written and contain great stories. The thing is though, you are not having to learn new worlds and new characters. You just settle back, relax and let visit with old friends.







6
 

Synopsis
In a single moment, the lives of three men will be forever changed. In that split second, defined paradoxically by both salvation and loss, they will destroy the world and then restore it. Much had come before, and much would come after. But through all the events of their lives, both together and separately, nothing would define them more than that one, isolated moment on the edge of forever. James T. Kirk, displaced in time, allows the love of his life to die in a traffic accident, thereby preserving Earth's history. Returning to the present, he continues his career as a starship captain, opening up the galaxy. But as he wanders among the stars, he is haunted by that moment, and the incandescence that once filled his heart remains elusive. Now, facing his own death, the very fabric of existence collapses, forcing him to race through time itself - until at last he comes full circle to that one bright star by which he has always steered.