An accomplished, stirring tribute to a beloved sci-fi series that will captivate fans and newcomers alike.
A faux memoir of Star Trek’s iconic Capt. James T. Kirk that draws on nearly half a century of the franchise’s history.
Star Trek, in all its various forms, has become an indelible part of the American science-fiction landscape. And while its fans may continue to debate which fictional captain was best at his or her job, its first, James Tiberius Kirk, is certainly the best known. This book, an autobiography presented in an in-universe style, covers everything from Kirk’s childhood to his disappearance from the Enterprise (as seen in the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations). There are plenty of nods and winks to the fandom—Goodman, the book’s “editor,” also wrote for Star Trek: Enterprise and penned a Star Trek–themed, Nebula Award–nominated episode of Futurama—but the references never get in the way of the storytelling. If anything, the book is refreshingly accessible; readers won’t need any knowledge of Star Trek in order to enjoy the overall tale. In fact, this book could just as easily serve as a primer to the entire franchise. Its strength lies in how it takes elements from disparate moments over the Star Trek canon and weaves them together in unexpectedly thoughtful and emotionally moving ways. For example, Kirk’s relationship (or lack thereof) with David, the son he had with old flame Dr. Carol Marcus, is a running thread throughout the book; Kirk himself is painted as a child of absent parents who didn’t want to repeat that mistake with his own son but who realized too late that he’d done just that. However, in a surprisingly touching afterword “written” by Spock, the Vulcan points out that Kirk’s regrets over not having a family were unfounded: “His children are the crew members who revered him and carry his legacy now to the limits of known space. His family lives on.”
An accomplished, stirring tribute to a beloved sci-fi series that will captivate fans and newcomers alike.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 9781783297467
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Titan Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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