This is gonna be an interesting one.
Long time listeners to our podcast-a-roonie will know that I adored A.C. Crispin’s Han Solo trilogy, so much so that I have two complete copies of the trilogy.
So seeing that she had also written Star Trek novels!?
Oh, you can sign me the fuck up right now, man!
But what if she didn’t have as good of a grasp on this universe?
After all, I did find out that this was indeed her first novel and, I can tell you for a fact, I would be intimidated as hell to have my first novel be set in one of the biggest Sci-Fi franchises of all time.
So let’s find out together how well her first time out the gate turned out, gang!
Set your phasers to ***SPOILER ALERT***
Drawing from elements of TOS episodes All Our Yesterdays & The City On The Edge Of Forever, when some oddly Vulcan looking paintings are found on the now destroyed planet of Sarpedion and dated to 5000 years ago.
Spock, Kirk, & McCoy head back in time, via the Guardian Of Forever time portal, to investigate the origins of them only to find that Spock & Zarabeth had a child, Zar, in All Our Yesterdays.
Zar, now an adult, comes back to the Enterprise with the trio, posing as a distant relative of Spock’s, and begins his Vulcan education.
But soon the Romulans attack the planet Gateway, home of the Guardian of Forever, and the crew must decide how they will save the portal…even if that means destroying it!
The most interesting thing about this story for me would be Zar and McCoy’s relationship.
Odd, I know, and that’s not to say that his and Spock’s rather cold interactions aren’t…fascinating…because they are.
But the way that McCoy almost takes Zar under his wing is so curious because of how McCoy and Spock have always interacted.
Sure, they always seem antagonistic but, much like their Star Trek Beyond relationship, it comes from a place of mutual respect and even admiration.
How does this compare to her Star Wars work?
That’s a bit difficult to compare since this is so short and that was a trilogy (I haven’t gotten to her SW Tales short stories yet), but it’s about on par with those and that’s saying a lot.
Weighing in at only 191 pages, Crispin is spinning some major plates and playing with continuity like a pro.
Sequelizing two well known episodes, giving Spock a kid, a Romulan attack, I’m stunned at how well she handled all of this without really short changing or rushing any of it like a lot of novels of the era are known to do.
I know I use this phrase quite a bit, but it’s damn economical storytelling.
I haven’t read a shit ton of TOS Trek novels, but this may well be my favorite I’ve read thus far.
In my research for this review I’ve found that she wrote a sequel to this novel five years after this was released, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I wish she had been around a few more years so that we could have gotten more writing out of her, because so far she’s 4 for 4 in my book.
If you dig dancing between the raindrops of continuity there is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t seek this one out, gang.
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And finally, given the state of the world, do what you can to leave it a little bit better than you found it.
As difficult as that may be currently, it can have an impact far greater than you know.
Until next time, stay safe out there, gang.
