Set a course far away from this book—maximum warp.
Goodman (The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, 2015, etc.) continues his series of in-universe memoirs by Star Trek captains.
Perhaps the second-most provocative question one could ask a Star Trek fan is “Who was the best captain?” (The first question being “Which is better: Star Wars or Star Trek?”) Every fan has a captain who holds a special place in his or her fandom heart, and fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation now get their turn to pore over the faux memoir of their favorite, Jean-Luc Picard, written in the same in-universe style as Kirk’s (with Goodman as its “editor”). Picard recounts his entire life, from his earliest childhood on his family’s French vineyards in the 24th century through his years on the USS Stargazer and Enterprise to his retirement back on Earth. Many details of his early life, touched upon briefly during Next Generation, are expanded upon here; readers discover, in detail, how he gained his love of archaeology and how he felt when he first met Beverly Howard (later Crusher). However, Picard’s voyages on the Enterprise—which spanned 178 episodes and four movies and which are arguably what readers are most interested in—merit less than a fifth of the entire book. Aside from Crusher, none of Picard’s romantic relationships are addressed, and many fan-favorite moments are completely omitted. (Darmok and Jalad, their episode unmentioned.) In Kirk’s autobiography, Goodman thoughtfully and lovingly wove together details to create a real sense of Kirk as a fully fleshed-out human being—which makes it infuriating that Picard’s story seems utterly lifeless in comparison. Goodman never really grasps who Picard is or displays any sense of his voice. Picard often comes across as uncharacteristically pedantic and emotionally revealing, while canonical personality details are twisted to suit Goodman’s lazy writing: for instance, Picard’s unease around children becomes a churlish loathing. Worse still, Goodman occasionally injects unheard-of events (such as the origin of the Borg Queen) into the story—a surprising carelessness from someone who penned an entire Futurama episode about Star Trek fans’ affection for minutiae. If this book series is to continue, fans should hope that Goodman relinquishes command to writers who truly love and understand the captains they write about.
Set a course far away from this book—maximum warp.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78565-465-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Titan Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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