I used to read the Star Trek novels religiously up until about three or four years ago. A lot of them were pretty good, some were even terrific and because of the franchise value, some of the better science fiction authors were willing to mold their story ideas into the ST universe. Nowadays I read more on the web and less fiction but sometimes one of the novels will catch my eye.
The Last Roundup is an Original Series book written by Christie Golden set in the months between the sixth (The Undiscovered Country) and seventh (Generations) movies. The bridge crew has dispersed to various parts of the quadrant: Spock, Uhuru and Bones are working on the details of the Federation-Klingon peace agreements, Scotty is vacationing on a lake in Scotland, Sulu is (still) captain of his own starship, Chekov is not finding a ship of his own to captain and Kirk is bored as instructor at Starfleet Academy. Two of Kirk’s nephews, young men in their 20s who James T. ignored as his own career boomed, come to him to ask for his participation in a new colony they plan to found.
Reluctantly he agrees, bringing along Scotty and Chekov and, of course, almost instantly the colony is in the middle of a scheme for revenge by a never-before heard of species whose primary complaint is against another species, one of whom is an Academy student who followed Kirk to this planet. The aggressors, who provided the planet to the colony as a front for their plans which will, of course, threaten millions of lives and destroy the galaxy as we know it.
Golden is a veteran of the ST Universe and though that short description seems riddled with cliches, she did a decent job and so I’d say that the novel is better than, say, an above-average ST TV episode. Characterizations are real, very little cardboard. Kirk, for instance, is facing his age and not just protrayed as the instant female magnet who can solve every problem by snapping his fingers. Though he does in the end fix everything–even Golden can’t avoid the requirements of the formula.
Recommended
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