What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Trek: The Original Series #6
The Abode of Life
ON THE PLANET MERCAN THERE ARE NO STARS, NO MOON, NO OUTER SPACE... The citizens of Mercan cannot conceive of worlds beyond their own. Their sun, Mercaniad, is prone to deadly, radioactive flare-ups, and the Mercans have organized their life around the need to survive The Ordeal -- until a strange visitor appears from out of nowhere... The Enterprise, badly crippled and in desperate need of repairs, must seek help from a people who cannot believe in its existence. Mercaniad is about to blow, and James Kirk faces an impossible to attack the sun itself and save his ship and crew -- or let a people live in peace, in the only world they know...
Cover art by Rowena Morrill.
Cover art by Rowena Morrill.
207 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1982
33 people are currently reading
504 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
January 29, 2012
It had to happen. I've read too many of these. That... or it really is deadly, deadly bland.
Lost in a void is a bad opening heading tediously to a dull end. Planet of gun-toting, totally isolated jerks think they're the 'center of the universe' Americans... sorry MERCANS. They must face the truth when Enterprise shows up. Spock fires torpedos into their sun to stabilize it's periodically deadly rays, with a 1 in 5 chance of causing a nova. REALLY? 20% chance of killing a planet and that's what you went with? That sounds like horrible odds to me. It also sounds like putting the needs of the 400 before the needs of the BILLIONS. Kirk and company also FORCE the planets' factions into peace talks at phaser point. Oh, hypocrisy, what fun.
That aside, it's not appealing. Douglas Adams 'Life The Universe and Everything' does the 'nothing but us exists, it'll have to go' better with his Krikkitmen.
Lost in a void is a bad opening heading tediously to a dull end. Planet of gun-toting, totally isolated jerks think they're the 'center of the universe' Americans... sorry MERCANS. They must face the truth when Enterprise shows up. Spock fires torpedos into their sun to stabilize it's periodically deadly rays, with a 1 in 5 chance of causing a nova. REALLY? 20% chance of killing a planet and that's what you went with? That sounds like horrible odds to me. It also sounds like putting the needs of the 400 before the needs of the BILLIONS. Kirk and company also FORCE the planets' factions into peace talks at phaser point. Oh, hypocrisy, what fun.
That aside, it's not appealing. Douglas Adams 'Life The Universe and Everything' does the 'nothing but us exists, it'll have to go' better with his Krikkitmen.
February 27, 2018
Well this was terrible. The politics of this book are really not Star Trek at all, it's really awful, when I finished the book I went to look up the author to see if I was imagining thing, but no. Lee Correy was the pseudonym of G. Harry Stine, a rocket scientist very interested in free-market libertarianism... you know like Ayn Rand crap.
So the enterprise crew are propelled by a kind of wormhole into unknown space and find this isolated planet where the Mercans live... Mercans is a really poor stand in for (A)Mer(i)cans. They are a polite society because everyone has to carry a gun, how Star Trek! The position defended here is that Mercans managed to defeat violence by arming everyone in the society and so arguments had immediate consequences of injury or death. Maybe Lee Correy is a pseudonym of Trump or Wayne LaPierre.
The conflict that the crew faces is not with this but basically trying to reconcile the Technics and the Guardians, or the progressive scientists and the Luddite ruling class. They do this by abducting everyone against their will and making them sit in a room putting up two fingers to the Prime Directive and screaming "Yeehaw!" in the process. It's awful, it's contemptible, it breaks character with Star Trek and it's a thinly veiled attempt to push his political agenda into a place where it really doesn't belong. Trek is all about peace and coexistence, not about arming everyone so people are polite or else they get shot in the face... but even the crew seem to appreciate this a a great cultural advancement. Was no one vetting these books? I'm pretty sure Gene Roddenberry wouldn't have let this kind of crap pass if they were.
So the enterprise crew are propelled by a kind of wormhole into unknown space and find this isolated planet where the Mercans live... Mercans is a really poor stand in for (A)Mer(i)cans. They are a polite society because everyone has to carry a gun, how Star Trek! The position defended here is that Mercans managed to defeat violence by arming everyone in the society and so arguments had immediate consequences of injury or death. Maybe Lee Correy is a pseudonym of Trump or Wayne LaPierre.
The conflict that the crew faces is not with this but basically trying to reconcile the Technics and the Guardians, or the progressive scientists and the Luddite ruling class. They do this by abducting everyone against their will and making them sit in a room putting up two fingers to the Prime Directive and screaming "Yeehaw!" in the process. It's awful, it's contemptible, it breaks character with Star Trek and it's a thinly veiled attempt to push his political agenda into a place where it really doesn't belong. Trek is all about peace and coexistence, not about arming everyone so people are polite or else they get shot in the face... but even the crew seem to appreciate this a a great cultural advancement. Was no one vetting these books? I'm pretty sure Gene Roddenberry wouldn't have let this kind of crap pass if they were.
January 6, 2018
Wow this was so boring skip it.
January 18, 2020
Not every Star Trek episode, be it TV or novel needs to be wall-to-wall action with Kirk banging a babe. They can be cerebral and focus on concepts like The Conscience of The King or Metamorphosis or this novel did. The Prime Directive is explored in The Abode of Life as is the concept that humanoids were scattered across the ST universe like mentioned in a few TOS episodes. For what it set to accomplish, the novel did a very good job.
June 9, 2021
It was a fair entry into the Star Trek franchise, very much structured like one of the regular episodes. However, there was an overall lack of tension and/or drama. The crew were never really in any danger, they were able to leave at any time, just chose not to, and the dilemma with the solar system's primary, hyped up on the cover and with the stated potential of being devastating and a gamble, was solved relatively painlessly with minimal effort. It was almost as if the author was afraid (or instructed) to keep the danger light, as we can't have anything bad actually happen to anyone.
July 27, 2018
There's an episode in the fifth season of Mad Men when the pretentious Paul Kinsey (who had left the ad agency a couple of years previously) reappears and asks Harry Crane, the head of the firm's television operations, to use his Hollywood connections to get NBC to look at his Star Trek spec script entitled "The Negron Complex" about a world in which a group called the Negrons are enslaved by people of different skin color. When Harry reads it he is appalled by how terrible it is, particularly with the clumsiness of its parallels to civil rights issues. "The twist is that the Negron is white!" he marvels sarcastically.
Ever since I laughed at Harry's deadpan declaration, I keep coming back to it when I encounter other heavy-handed examples of the franchise's commentary on contemporary society, as it came to mind again as I read this book. Written by "Lee Correy" (the pen name for G. Harry Stine), it transports the Enterprise crew to the planet Mercan, where a priest-like leadership known as the Guardians exploit the periodic radiation outbursts from their sun to maintain control over the population. Resisting them are the Technics who, in addition to developing prohibited technologies, are promoting the heretical idea that the Mercans are not the only beings in the universe.
You can guess how that turns out once the Enterprise shows up. And that for me was the big problem with this book, as the author is more focused on criticizing intellectual oppression than he is on developing distinctive characters or writing a suspenseful novel, At no point is there any real sense of narrative tension; the danger to the crew is minimal (the Guardians are very lackadaisical in their handling of Kirk and company), and all it takes to expand the civilization's horizons is a quick trip to the ship. Perhaps if Stine was focused less on setting up such flimsy straw men he might have done more with some of the more interesting ideas he introduces, such as the concept of a teleporter-based civilization. Instead all we have is another weak example of a Star Trek writer who prioritizes their opinionating over telling a good story.
Ever since I laughed at Harry's deadpan declaration, I keep coming back to it when I encounter other heavy-handed examples of the franchise's commentary on contemporary society, as it came to mind again as I read this book. Written by "Lee Correy" (the pen name for G. Harry Stine), it transports the Enterprise crew to the planet Mercan, where a priest-like leadership known as the Guardians exploit the periodic radiation outbursts from their sun to maintain control over the population. Resisting them are the Technics who, in addition to developing prohibited technologies, are promoting the heretical idea that the Mercans are not the only beings in the universe.
You can guess how that turns out once the Enterprise shows up. And that for me was the big problem with this book, as the author is more focused on criticizing intellectual oppression than he is on developing distinctive characters or writing a suspenseful novel, At no point is there any real sense of narrative tension; the danger to the crew is minimal (the Guardians are very lackadaisical in their handling of Kirk and company), and all it takes to expand the civilization's horizons is a quick trip to the ship. Perhaps if Stine was focused less on setting up such flimsy straw men he might have done more with some of the more interesting ideas he introduces, such as the concept of a teleporter-based civilization. Instead all we have is another weak example of a Star Trek writer who prioritizes their opinionating over telling a good story.
January 9, 2020
One star is too generous. This is genuinely dreadful, on a level that I don't expect from Star Trek. I know that every franchise has their stinkers, but this book is so contrary to the humanism and principles of the series that I can't believe it ever got published. I'm not talking about the low-level annoyances here: the sexism, the piss-poor editing (in one place, it's stated it'll take the ship 100+ years at Warp 2 to get back to Federation space, a few pages later it's suddenly "several years" away at the same rate). I'm not even talking about the asininely stupid world-building, in which a civilisation capable of developing transporter technology on a par with that of the Federation has no concept of time and has only managed weapons technology sufficient for a gun which would be antique even by our standards. No, I'm talking about how Kirk and crew (because none of them ever object) bulldoze the Prime Directive into the ground with not one iota of self-awareness, rather an abundance of hypocrisy, violence, and absolute obnoxiousness. Kirk destroys the culture of a planet (and very nearly the entire planet itself) purely for his own benefit, and doesn't even have the decency to be honest about it. It's your choice, we won't use force! he says, having kidnapped, phasered, and otherwise browbeaten and threatened the people of this world to get his own way. He's an absolute disgrace, not within ten million light years of the Kirk I know, and I can only hope in some horrible mirror universe, which this can only be, the real Kirk appears and kicks his disgusting arse.
I sincerely hope this was the only Star Trek book this author ever wrote.
I sincerely hope this was the only Star Trek book this author ever wrote.
February 4, 2024
I’ve been a Star Trek TOS fan for a number of years now, so I’m predisposed to liking this book haha
I would recommend to anyone who wishes for more Star Trek.
The Abode of Life was a quick, but enjoyable read. The characters and universe followed along with what show had already set up. (In bad ways too, women aren’t very prominent and had small not very important parts).
It felt like I was reading an episode of the show. The plot was simple, easy to follow, and didn’t meander into much descriptions on place or people. Enough information to be fulfilling, but skimpy enough to not go on and on and on.
Warning: minor gun violence
I would recommend to anyone who wishes for more Star Trek.
The Abode of Life was a quick, but enjoyable read. The characters and universe followed along with what show had already set up. (In bad ways too, women aren’t very prominent and had small not very important parts).
It felt like I was reading an episode of the show. The plot was simple, easy to follow, and didn’t meander into much descriptions on place or people. Enough information to be fulfilling, but skimpy enough to not go on and on and on.
Warning: minor gun violence
February 8, 2019
As a Star Trek fan watching the original TV series back in the 60s, I was extremely disappointed when the show was cancelled. But I could console myself with the Star Trek novels that started coming out in the 70s. Then we got movies, spin-off series, and I also kept reading ST novels well into the 80s....but I missed this one, published in 1982 (number 6 in the series). Unsurprisingly, by checking reviews by fans, I could see that this is considered a poor entry in the series. I think it's not true to the characters or the humanistic spirit of Star Trek. BUT I think it works as an interesting science fiction story in its own right ( hence, the ***, not bad, not good). The damaged Enterprise comes upon an isolated world called Mercan. From their corner of the galaxy, the Mercans cannot see stars and have no moon....so they believe that they are the Abode of Life--and there's no other life in the universe. Then along comes the starship needing repairs. The Enterprise has to seek help from a people who don't believe in its existence...And if that's not enough, the Mercans' sun is ready to blow and Capt. Kirk has to decide to attack the sun to save his ship--and risk the lives of everyone on the planet. This is the only Star Trek novel written by "Lee Correy" who was really G. Harry Stine (1928-1997). He was a founder of model rocketry and a science and technology writer, as well as a science fiction writer. His politics were libertarian and it shows--and, in that way, this book is different than other Star Trek novels.
November 14, 2015
Abode of Life takes place during the original 5-year mission. Something a good thriller can do is make the user actually feel tense when they are reading the story. Abode of Life did this for me for the first half of the book. I could actually feel it in my chest as I was gobbling up the story and couldn't see a way out of the situation that Kirk and the landing crew found themselves in. To me, any book that can do that is definitely worth reading.
Lee Correy does a bang-up job of nailing the characters and creating a story that is interesting and fun to read. Although there are a lot of politics in this story, which can sometimes be kind of boring, the author does a great job of keeping the story rolling and the reader never has a chance to let their mind wander.
Don't let the cover fool you. The image of Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise is reminiscent of the clothing and design of the Enterprise in the original movie. Most of the story takes place on the planet Mercan and deals with Kirk trying to get out of the situation he has found himself in without breaking the Prime Directive.
Abode of Life is a great Star Trek book and should not be missed.
I rated this book a 8 out of 10.
Lee Correy does a bang-up job of nailing the characters and creating a story that is interesting and fun to read. Although there are a lot of politics in this story, which can sometimes be kind of boring, the author does a great job of keeping the story rolling and the reader never has a chance to let their mind wander.
Don't let the cover fool you. The image of Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise is reminiscent of the clothing and design of the Enterprise in the original movie. Most of the story takes place on the planet Mercan and deals with Kirk trying to get out of the situation he has found himself in without breaking the Prime Directive.
Abode of Life is a great Star Trek book and should not be missed.
I rated this book a 8 out of 10.
October 2, 2023
I was pleasantly surprised by this book which I hadn't read since it initially came out.
The premise is simple: how for the crew of the Enterprise to deal with their away team (Yes, I know: a Next Gen phrase, but you understand) being revealed to the locals who have an unknown scientific ability to transport anywhere on their world.
I thought this would become the usual kidnapped crew, they break out, and the locals rebel, but it didn't go that way. Instead, the final two-thirds of the book thoughtfully cover how the Starfleet officers deal with violating the Prime Directive and it's great. I was absorbed by every discussion and every action of the crew and the locals. The ending was incredibly satisfying.
Some might find this a dull Trek outing because there's very little conflict, but this book really pondered the Prime Directive in a thoughtful, engaging, and entertaining way.
The premise is simple: how for the crew of the Enterprise to deal with their away team (Yes, I know: a Next Gen phrase, but you understand) being revealed to the locals who have an unknown scientific ability to transport anywhere on their world.
I thought this would become the usual kidnapped crew, they break out, and the locals rebel, but it didn't go that way. Instead, the final two-thirds of the book thoughtfully cover how the Starfleet officers deal with violating the Prime Directive and it's great. I was absorbed by every discussion and every action of the crew and the locals. The ending was incredibly satisfying.
Some might find this a dull Trek outing because there's very little conflict, but this book really pondered the Prime Directive in a thoughtful, engaging, and entertaining way.
Read
July 22, 2021This was one of the more philosophically interesting Trek books I have read to date. The author has some tics in his writing that I found a little grating. Just as an example, dialogue is often written like this:
“What are you doing here?” Kirk wanted to know.
Yeah, of course he wanted to know. That’s generally why people ask questions. And I know - it’s my own hangup but this specific tag is used a lot - and it’s pretty annoying.
The story is engaging enough to keep me on board. I liked the dilemma playing out here of the crew needing to repair the ship but at the same time needing to keep from contaminating the progression of an alien society. I find stories centered around the Prime Directive generally pretty interesting and the author did a good job presenting the inherent diplomatic challenges faced by the crew of the Enterprise.
“What are you doing here?” Kirk wanted to know.
Yeah, of course he wanted to know. That’s generally why people ask questions. And I know - it’s my own hangup but this specific tag is used a lot - and it’s pretty annoying.
The story is engaging enough to keep me on board. I liked the dilemma playing out here of the crew needing to repair the ship but at the same time needing to keep from contaminating the progression of an alien society. I find stories centered around the Prime Directive generally pretty interesting and the author did a good job presenting the inherent diplomatic challenges faced by the crew of the Enterprise.
April 2, 2013
Apparently I read this a long time ago but I don't remember it. I actually really liked this one. This book was more focused on the Prime Directive and first contact situations, which I would think is very boring, but it wasn't. I think it was very well written. It kept me reading till the last page. Even though nothing SUPER huge and exciting happened, it was still a tense book and I think it takes talent to make something as diplomatic as first contact something interesting to read. Anyway, that's my opinion of it. :)
April 29, 2021
This story is perfect approximation of an enjoyable episode of the television series. The crew explored a strange new world, they sought out new life and a new civilization and boldly went where no Federation ship had gone before. There is the obligatory risk, adventure and reward that makes it a complete stand alone story. Unlike other attempts by other authors, this story was told without changing the personalities of our crew members, devolving into deep non-sensical philosophical conundrums, or introducing magical problem-fixing devices to wrap up the tale.
March 2, 2020
This was my first ever Star Trek novel and I enjoyed it. I bought 21 Star Trek novels in a lot on ebay and am looking forward to reading them.
August 15, 2022
A true to form Star Trek "episode" from start to finish. 4.5 stars. It gets a bit slow toward the end but it was also charming. Vastly better than the previous three (reading them in order).
July 9, 2023
"Humans, for example, are not rational beings; they are rationalizing beings." - Spock
OK, so, to hell with the Prime Directive. This quick read, seemingly asking for about the same time an old-school episode of the TV series does, is uneven and probably not kosher on a few fronts regarding the humanitarian ethos that's made the series' legend thrive for almost 60 years at this point. It has more in the way of so-called "diplomacy" and Captain's logs than it does action, but, on the plus side, it's fun to mentally hang out with all the regulars for a while, no matter what bind they find themselves in or how unlikely their return to their mission. This episode doesn't so much "boldly" as "manifoldly" go there, but still it has a line referring to Sulu as "not the samurai he thought himself to be," which made me laugh. Not much else did, and editing- or writing-wise, the author used "Kirk snapped" as an interjection roughly at least 20 times too often. The book did strike me as prescient on at least one front, though: It's set on the planet Mercan, all of whose citizens tote sidearms and two-thirds of whose citizens belong to factions opposed to science. This book was published in 1982, a full three decades or so before I ever heard the ugly term "dumb Murricans," but pretty much every time "Mercans" was mentioned in this I thought of that.
First lines:
"May I call to your attention, Captain, that our present course takes us disturbingly near the reported gravitational turbulence reported by Federation ships in this sector of the Orion Arm?" As usual, Spock was both punctilious and logically correct in his assessment of the situation.
August 23, 2024
It was only 190 pages, but it took me forever to get through it. The concept is excellent. An anomaly shields an alien planet from the rest of the universe. The intelligent life there develops without any desire to explore space because they don't know it exists. They believe their planet is the universe. When the Enterprise is damaged and maroon in the planet's quadrant of space, their only hope of getting home is to negotiate with the inhabitants (The Mercans) for some dilithium. But does that violate the Prime Directive? I was cool with this part of the book.
But then, it became overly focused on the Mercans' way of life, and I didn't care. The leaders stifle the planet's technology through religious dogma, but they have transporters that can beam people anywhere on the planet. Yet, they still use old-fashioned pistols. It made no sense. The crew has superior firepower, so they are never in danger. Kirk just kind of bullies his way into getting what he wants. Eh... skip this one.
But then, it became overly focused on the Mercans' way of life, and I didn't care. The leaders stifle the planet's technology through religious dogma, but they have transporters that can beam people anywhere on the planet. Yet, they still use old-fashioned pistols. It made no sense. The crew has superior firepower, so they are never in danger. Kirk just kind of bullies his way into getting what he wants. Eh... skip this one.
April 24, 2017
This book is inexplicable and useless.
The story begins when the enterprise, after running into a gravitational anomaly, is stranded in a very distant zone of the galaxy . The ship is also badly damaged and can’t use warp speed . They find a planet that has the resources needed for the restoration but the planet is inhabited by aliens who are more technologically advanced than the federation but totally unaware of other life forms in the universe. ( yeah , why not , this is perfectly plausible! ;)))).The rest of the book is the report of how capitain Kirk reveal the truth to the alien , and convince them in joining the federation….It’a long and boring disquisition ,mostly about religion and philosophy.I read it waiting for a dramatic turn of events, but nothing happens…Anybody should leave this book after a couple of chapters ,unless you have nothing better to do ,like me…!
The story begins when the enterprise, after running into a gravitational anomaly, is stranded in a very distant zone of the galaxy . The ship is also badly damaged and can’t use warp speed . They find a planet that has the resources needed for the restoration but the planet is inhabited by aliens who are more technologically advanced than the federation but totally unaware of other life forms in the universe. ( yeah , why not , this is perfectly plausible! ;)))).The rest of the book is the report of how capitain Kirk reveal the truth to the alien , and convince them in joining the federation….It’a long and boring disquisition ,mostly about religion and philosophy.I read it waiting for a dramatic turn of events, but nothing happens…Anybody should leave this book after a couple of chapters ,unless you have nothing better to do ,like me…!
September 1, 2018
Kirk and crew travel to Mercan! A previously unknown planet and star! They set things right with a couple photon torpedoes and some diplomacy! I love Star Trek! 4 stars!
January 2, 2023
Publicado originalmente en mi blog
SINOPSIS
El Enterprise se encuentra en una zona de extrañas irregularidades gravitacionales cuando algún misterioso fenómeno les envía a una región entre dos brazos de la espiral galáctica, muy alejado de las zonas conocidas por la Federación de Planetas Unidos. De hecho, está alejado de cualquier estrella conocida, ya que es una zona excepcionalmente «vacía». El motor hiperespacial ha sido dañado, y a la velocidad que pueden alcanzar en estas condiciones, tardarían miles de años en llegar a la base estelar más cercana. La prioridad de Kirk y compañía es encontrar algún planeta habitado y con tecnología lo suficientemente desarrollada como para reparar el motor del Enterprise y regresar al espacio de la Federación.
COMENTARIOS
Este libro forma parte de la serie de novelas basadas en Star Trek (1966), la serie de televisión original. A diferencia de las novelizaciones de episodios o de películas, estas novelas son historias completamente nuevas, aunque generalmente recuerdan y siguen la estructura típica de un episodio clásico de Star Trek: el Enterprise en su misión de exploración de mundos desconocidos, el encuentro con alguna nueva raza o cultura, la intención de obedecer la primera directriz y no interferir, y el fracaso inmediato violando dicha directriz.
El punto de partida es bastante interesante. El Enterprise se encuentra en una zona desconocida, que además es insólitamente «vacía», en el sentido de que no existen estrellas cercanas al encontrarse entre los brazos de Orión y Sagitario de nuestra Vía Láctea. Aún es más insólito cuando de hecho encuentran una estrella y un planeta que la órbita: Mercan. No están mal las reflexiones que hace el autor acerca de una civilización sin apenas cielo nocturno, sin otras estrellas que la suya, además del brazo galáctico al que llaman «Cinta de la Noche». Es una civilización que se cree el centro del universo, como de hecho lo hemos creído nosotros mismos durante siglos. Pero de alguna forma, los pobres habitantes de Mercan tienen mejores motivos para creer tal cosa, al estar galacticamente «aislados». Jamás han sido contactados por la Federación ni han tenido motivos para buscar nada en el espacio ni explorarlo físicamente, porque no parecía que hubiera nada que explorar.
Parece que los habitantes de Mercan tienen sus propios problemas. Su estrella es inestable, seguramente debido a que en algún momento se encontraba en las cercanías de algunos de los brazos galácticos, sufrió la misma suerte que el Enterprise y fue transportada a esa región inhóspita. Lo que en principio era una situación desesperada para el Enterprise, que debía pedir socorro, se invierte de tal manera que es ahora el Enterprise quien ayuda a los mercanianos en dos sentidos: por un lado, consiguen estabilizar su estrella, y por otro (y que de forma un tanto decepcionante acaba siendo la parte central del libro), la tripulación del Enterprise se convierte en los mediadores de un conflicto diplomático interno entre facciones de mercanianos. No voy a negar que la parte diplomática es importante en cualquier historia de Star Trek (seguramente más en La Nueva Generación que en la serie original), pero aún así me pareció que los problemas técnicos del Enterprise quedan completamente en segundo plano. Cuando uno lee la sinopsis se pregunta: ¿y cómo lo harán para solucionar su problema con el motor hiperespacial? Y la respuesta es prácticamente inexistente. Aunque sí que hay una extensa recreación de cómo el contacto con el Enterprise altera para siempre la situación política de los habitantes de Mercan, y la revelación de que no están solos en la galaxia.
En resumen, Correy ha sabido plasmar los aspectos típicos de la serie, lo que unido a que no es demasiado extensa, me ha permitido disfrutar de la novela. Pero el que contenga lo guiños y tópicos de la serie de televisión es un punto a favor relativamente débil, puesto que absolutamente todas las novelas de la colección (de la que contando esta misma he leído cinco números), comparten esa misma cualidad. Si eliminamos la nostalgia producida por el recuerdo de la serie, lo que nos queda es una novela de ciencia ficción con una premisa interesante y un desarrollo al que le falta un poco más de acción y conflicto.
SINOPSIS
El Enterprise se encuentra en una zona de extrañas irregularidades gravitacionales cuando algún misterioso fenómeno les envía a una región entre dos brazos de la espiral galáctica, muy alejado de las zonas conocidas por la Federación de Planetas Unidos. De hecho, está alejado de cualquier estrella conocida, ya que es una zona excepcionalmente «vacía». El motor hiperespacial ha sido dañado, y a la velocidad que pueden alcanzar en estas condiciones, tardarían miles de años en llegar a la base estelar más cercana. La prioridad de Kirk y compañía es encontrar algún planeta habitado y con tecnología lo suficientemente desarrollada como para reparar el motor del Enterprise y regresar al espacio de la Federación.
COMENTARIOS
Este libro forma parte de la serie de novelas basadas en Star Trek (1966), la serie de televisión original. A diferencia de las novelizaciones de episodios o de películas, estas novelas son historias completamente nuevas, aunque generalmente recuerdan y siguen la estructura típica de un episodio clásico de Star Trek: el Enterprise en su misión de exploración de mundos desconocidos, el encuentro con alguna nueva raza o cultura, la intención de obedecer la primera directriz y no interferir, y el fracaso inmediato violando dicha directriz.
El punto de partida es bastante interesante. El Enterprise se encuentra en una zona desconocida, que además es insólitamente «vacía», en el sentido de que no existen estrellas cercanas al encontrarse entre los brazos de Orión y Sagitario de nuestra Vía Láctea. Aún es más insólito cuando de hecho encuentran una estrella y un planeta que la órbita: Mercan. No están mal las reflexiones que hace el autor acerca de una civilización sin apenas cielo nocturno, sin otras estrellas que la suya, además del brazo galáctico al que llaman «Cinta de la Noche». Es una civilización que se cree el centro del universo, como de hecho lo hemos creído nosotros mismos durante siglos. Pero de alguna forma, los pobres habitantes de Mercan tienen mejores motivos para creer tal cosa, al estar galacticamente «aislados». Jamás han sido contactados por la Federación ni han tenido motivos para buscar nada en el espacio ni explorarlo físicamente, porque no parecía que hubiera nada que explorar.
Parece que los habitantes de Mercan tienen sus propios problemas. Su estrella es inestable, seguramente debido a que en algún momento se encontraba en las cercanías de algunos de los brazos galácticos, sufrió la misma suerte que el Enterprise y fue transportada a esa región inhóspita. Lo que en principio era una situación desesperada para el Enterprise, que debía pedir socorro, se invierte de tal manera que es ahora el Enterprise quien ayuda a los mercanianos en dos sentidos: por un lado, consiguen estabilizar su estrella, y por otro (y que de forma un tanto decepcionante acaba siendo la parte central del libro), la tripulación del Enterprise se convierte en los mediadores de un conflicto diplomático interno entre facciones de mercanianos. No voy a negar que la parte diplomática es importante en cualquier historia de Star Trek (seguramente más en La Nueva Generación que en la serie original), pero aún así me pareció que los problemas técnicos del Enterprise quedan completamente en segundo plano. Cuando uno lee la sinopsis se pregunta: ¿y cómo lo harán para solucionar su problema con el motor hiperespacial? Y la respuesta es prácticamente inexistente. Aunque sí que hay una extensa recreación de cómo el contacto con el Enterprise altera para siempre la situación política de los habitantes de Mercan, y la revelación de que no están solos en la galaxia.
En resumen, Correy ha sabido plasmar los aspectos típicos de la serie, lo que unido a que no es demasiado extensa, me ha permitido disfrutar de la novela. Pero el que contenga lo guiños y tópicos de la serie de televisión es un punto a favor relativamente débil, puesto que absolutamente todas las novelas de la colección (de la que contando esta misma he leído cinco números), comparten esa misma cualidad. Si eliminamos la nostalgia producida por el recuerdo de la serie, lo que nos queda es una novela de ciencia ficción con una premisa interesante y un desarrollo al que le falta un poco más de acción y conflicto.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2020
This story started with another unplanned space jump when the Enterprise hits the space equivalent of a speed bump, throwing it hugely away into a part of the universe where the Milky Way and the other familiar constellations and galaxies are not even visible. The odds of returning are slimmer and slimmer as the various department heads report, forcing the captain to make a decision to invade - er, visit - yet another planet as a First Contact.
There, they violate the Prime Directive so forcefully one has to wonder if the writer thought it was something useless. The population of the planet they visit not only see them, but imprison them (not a new twist at all) and the leading group wants confessions on how they are involved with a splinter group of Technics who claim there are other lives in space. In addition, the leaders decide the landing party must be some kind of construct, a clone or maybe an android was my reading on that, and debates doing autopsies. Kind of a creepy thought considering the crew could hear every word.
It turns out that the planet has a long history of periodic radiation outbursts from their sun which kill everyone not protected in some way. The Technics want to find another way than hiding, the Guardians control everything, and the Proctors run around doing whatever the Guardians say, which in this case includes imprisoning the landing party. However, their idea of prison is laughable, and the crew stumbles around trying to decide how to make it all better, without violating the Prime Directive any more than it already has been.
They decided on a solution which was logical but not the best, giving the planet no choice but to go along with all their decisions.
It was as if the Guardians had long ago decided that they were the only thinkers, and the Enterprise decided that since the Mercans didn't want to play nice, they would be forced to concede the game. That just didn't feel right - it was as if the biggest problem in the population was mostly ignored except when it needed to be used as a catch-all: the suppression of any development or writing that differed from the establishment view.
There was no danger, no real interaction with the people, and no real discussion groups. It was a do as I say decision forced on them by the Enterprise, which smacked to me of Imperialism (British Empire, Mongols, Germany). Not a suspenseful novel, not a well built group of characters (I had to keep checking to see who belonged to which group!) and not a real dangerous situation.
Some of the ideas were really good, such as the concept of a civilization which has not only built a teleporter, it is planet-wide, and free to use, and nearly silent in use.
Other information needed some tweaking as did the book, as it contained many grammatical errors and misspoken lines. For instance, the Mercans were much taller than the crew, at about 6'5" (2 meters) tall. Since Nimoy was six foot, five inches was taller, but not "much taller".
It could have been great, with another newly discovered planet to introduce to the Federation, but forcing any civilization to 'join up' will just cause problems later. A weak story that could have been truly great if it had been properly fleshed out with action instead of constant discussions on how this or that was wrong and needed to be corrected.
There, they violate the Prime Directive so forcefully one has to wonder if the writer thought it was something useless. The population of the planet they visit not only see them, but imprison them (not a new twist at all) and the leading group wants confessions on how they are involved with a splinter group of Technics who claim there are other lives in space. In addition, the leaders decide the landing party must be some kind of construct, a clone or maybe an android was my reading on that, and debates doing autopsies. Kind of a creepy thought considering the crew could hear every word.
It turns out that the planet has a long history of periodic radiation outbursts from their sun which kill everyone not protected in some way. The Technics want to find another way than hiding, the Guardians control everything, and the Proctors run around doing whatever the Guardians say, which in this case includes imprisoning the landing party. However, their idea of prison is laughable, and the crew stumbles around trying to decide how to make it all better, without violating the Prime Directive any more than it already has been.
They decided on a solution which was logical but not the best, giving the planet no choice but to go along with all their decisions.
It was as if the Guardians had long ago decided that they were the only thinkers, and the Enterprise decided that since the Mercans didn't want to play nice, they would be forced to concede the game. That just didn't feel right - it was as if the biggest problem in the population was mostly ignored except when it needed to be used as a catch-all: the suppression of any development or writing that differed from the establishment view.
There was no danger, no real interaction with the people, and no real discussion groups. It was a do as I say decision forced on them by the Enterprise, which smacked to me of Imperialism (British Empire, Mongols, Germany). Not a suspenseful novel, not a well built group of characters (I had to keep checking to see who belonged to which group!) and not a real dangerous situation.
Some of the ideas were really good, such as the concept of a civilization which has not only built a teleporter, it is planet-wide, and free to use, and nearly silent in use.
Other information needed some tweaking as did the book, as it contained many grammatical errors and misspoken lines. For instance, the Mercans were much taller than the crew, at about 6'5" (2 meters) tall. Since Nimoy was six foot, five inches was taller, but not "much taller".
It could have been great, with another newly discovered planet to introduce to the Federation, but forcing any civilization to 'join up' will just cause problems later. A weak story that could have been truly great if it had been properly fleshed out with action instead of constant discussions on how this or that was wrong and needed to be corrected.
December 6, 2024
SPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!!
SPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Don't read beyond this point if you haven't yet read the book and don't want spoilers revealed.
I gave this book 3 out of 5 star because for the most part it was alright. If I could, I'd give it 2.8 stars because of one issue that I found ridiculous and morally shocking. At one point in the story in order for Kirk to save everyone on his starship (crew + guests) which numbered a little over 430 people on board, he was willing to risk causing the deaths of MILLIONS of sentient people on a planet who were already able to cope with a predictable natural disaster that periodically occurred ON THEIR OWN planet. Who was Kirk to unilaterally decide to "fix" their problem for them, and for a planet that wasn't even his own home planet? I mean, the chutzpah, arrogance and selfishness of such a decision is unbelievable!!! Choosing the near certain death of 430+ people is a much better moral choice than possibly risking the lives of MILLIONS of people who were given no say in the matter whatsoever, and on a planet that was their own. Here are excerpts.
The following is from pages 130-131:
The following is from pages 133-134:
Kirk said, "I had no alternative. If your Guardians had cooperated, we might have worked out some arrangement that could have eliminated all of this." Moments later he said, "I had no recourse but to make that decision. We didn't come here deliberately. We tried to interact with you in such a way that it would offer the least impact upon your way of life. But the powers-that-be on Mercan had closed minds. I'm sorry." OH, so because they didn't do things to your benefit and the way you wanted it done, it's morally okay for you to risk the lives of everyone on their planet? Again, that's ridiculous!
Spock said, "In three generations, you would have discovered what we already know........and you would be trying this yourself. As a matter of fact, your assistance to me has taught me that you already have all of the basic data to try it. You would have found some factor that would drive you to it." Uhhhmmm....No! There's no guarantee that everyone on the planet would agree to take such a risk. Even if a majority agreed to try, what majority would it take? Fifty-one percent? Sixty-eight percent? Ninety-four percent? Shouldn't that be up to the people of the planet? If a global monarch unilaterally decided to risk it contrary to all or a majority of the planet's population, it would be a terrible thing, but Kirk isn't even a citizen of the planet!!! By his own admission he's only there by accident. Spock says in three generations the people of the planet would have tried it anyway. But three generations is a long time. For all that Spock knew, maybe within that time period the people of the planet might have developed interstellar travel and so could have colonized other planets so that at least some of their species would survive if their home planet was destroyed from attempting to do what Kirk and Spock were going to do.
On pages 134-135 Spock says "Fifteen seconds. Do you intend to warn the crew, Captain?" Then Kirk responds by saying, "Negative, Mister Spock. If it goes supernova, those of us right here will have only about two seconds to realize what's happened. We're all disciplined enough to expect the end at any moment among the stars...." Wait a minute. Kirk is being contradictory. On the one hand he says that Starfleet trained crew are disciplined enough to know that they could die at any moment such that they don't need to be told they are about to die; yet on the other hand, he's willing to risk murdering millions of people just to save a mere ~430 people on his starship, most of whom were part of Starfleet?!?!? That's an enormous contradiction! Also, the author has Kirk being so insensitive that Kirk doesn't give these people even a few moments to prepare for death. Maybe some of the people on board believed in gods and and in an afterlife, and would have liked to prepare their souls before they died. Even atheists might want to use that time to appreciate the remaining seconds of their lives. But, no. The author of this book has Kirk being a jerk when the topic is brought up. Why didn't the author just not bring it up? At the very least it would have saved the author from writing into his book a major discrepancy in Kirk's motivations and actions.
Obviously the author of this novel in one sense knew how morally reprehensible Kirk's decision was given what the character Othol said. Yet, the author didn't think that was problematic for the story and his portrayal of Kirk? He didn't think his readers would find this objectionable and out of character for Kirk? Was the author really okay with Kirk's decision when the book was first published in 1982? I don't know if the author is still alive, but is/was he a sociopath in real life/IRL? Inquiring readers want to know. [grin]
SPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Don't read beyond this point if you haven't yet read the book and don't want spoilers revealed.
I gave this book 3 out of 5 star because for the most part it was alright. If I could, I'd give it 2.8 stars because of one issue that I found ridiculous and morally shocking. At one point in the story in order for Kirk to save everyone on his starship (crew + guests) which numbered a little over 430 people on board, he was willing to risk causing the deaths of MILLIONS of sentient people on a planet who were already able to cope with a predictable natural disaster that periodically occurred ON THEIR OWN planet. Who was Kirk to unilaterally decide to "fix" their problem for them, and for a planet that wasn't even his own home planet? I mean, the chutzpah, arrogance and selfishness of such a decision is unbelievable!!! Choosing the near certain death of 430+ people is a much better moral choice than possibly risking the lives of MILLIONS of people who were given no say in the matter whatsoever, and on a planet that was their own. Here are excerpts.
The following is from pages 130-131:
QUOTE
//"Captain, I have numbers for your consideration now," Spock announced from the hooded viewer. "If we place two proton torpedoes into the core of Mercaniad precisely twenty-three-point-one minutes from now, there is one chance in five-point-three that the star will stabilize or damp its flare-up. The alternative is not an ordinary nova, sir, but a supernova beginning with a core collapse, progressing to a chromosphere and photosphere blow-away, and culminating with a total collapse into a neutron star that worsens into a black hole."
"Recommendations, Spock?"
"With those odds, Captain, I would prefer to defer any recommendations."
"No sporting blood, Mister Spock?" Sulu asked rhetorically.
"Mister Sulu, Vulcans do not gamble," Spock reminded him.
"But I have to," Kirk pointed out. "I don't like the odds, but I can't get better ones. If we go, we'll go in a blaze of glory. Otherwise, we've got a reasonable chance of making it." Kirk paused a moment. He knew that there were other factors involved, including an entire planet and its population of millions of humanoids with a unique and advanced civilization. They would survive the Ordeal in the safety of their suboceanic Keeps as they had done for uncounted generations. But the USS Enterprise and 430 people aboard her, accompanied by a small contingent of Mercans, would not survive. There was no time for a detailed analysis, nor time for any agonizing appraisal. The decision had to be made...and it had to be made now.//
END QUOTE
The following is from pages 133-134:
QUOTE
Thallan was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "If Mercaniad explodes, what will happen to the Abode?"
Kirk said nothing, just shook his head.
"You took that chance, a chance that you would destroy a whole planet, a whole people, a whole culture?" Othol wanted to know.
"I had no alternative. If your Guardians had cooperated, we might have worked out some arrangement that could have eliminated all of this," Kirk observed.
"Why did you come to Mercan in the first place?" Othol asked, suddenly angry. "We were developing whole new ways to live together. In three generations, we would have changed all of the Abode! Why did you interfere?"
"In three generations, you would have discovered what we already know," Spock added, "and you would be trying this yourself. As a matter of fact, your assistance to me has taught me that you already have all of the basic data to try it. You would have found some factor that would drive you to it."
"But you signed the death warrant on a whole planet without even asking us about it!" Othol persisted.
"Othol, that 'death warrant' includes everyone on this ship as well. I had no recourse but to make that decision. We didn't come here deliberately. We tried to interact with you in such a way that it would offer the least impact upon your way of life. But the powers-that-be on Mercan had closed minds. I'm sorry. Anyway, the chances are in favor of the action working," Kirk said. Inwardly, he didn't like it any better than Othol did. "Sometimes you don't have the luxury of time enough to do things your own way. Circumstances usually force your hand and change things, whether you want them to change right then or not."
END QUOTE
Kirk said, "I had no alternative. If your Guardians had cooperated, we might have worked out some arrangement that could have eliminated all of this." Moments later he said, "I had no recourse but to make that decision. We didn't come here deliberately. We tried to interact with you in such a way that it would offer the least impact upon your way of life. But the powers-that-be on Mercan had closed minds. I'm sorry." OH, so because they didn't do things to your benefit and the way you wanted it done, it's morally okay for you to risk the lives of everyone on their planet? Again, that's ridiculous!
Spock said, "In three generations, you would have discovered what we already know........and you would be trying this yourself. As a matter of fact, your assistance to me has taught me that you already have all of the basic data to try it. You would have found some factor that would drive you to it." Uhhhmmm....No! There's no guarantee that everyone on the planet would agree to take such a risk. Even if a majority agreed to try, what majority would it take? Fifty-one percent? Sixty-eight percent? Ninety-four percent? Shouldn't that be up to the people of the planet? If a global monarch unilaterally decided to risk it contrary to all or a majority of the planet's population, it would be a terrible thing, but Kirk isn't even a citizen of the planet!!! By his own admission he's only there by accident. Spock says in three generations the people of the planet would have tried it anyway. But three generations is a long time. For all that Spock knew, maybe within that time period the people of the planet might have developed interstellar travel and so could have colonized other planets so that at least some of their species would survive if their home planet was destroyed from attempting to do what Kirk and Spock were going to do.
On pages 134-135 Spock says "Fifteen seconds. Do you intend to warn the crew, Captain?" Then Kirk responds by saying, "Negative, Mister Spock. If it goes supernova, those of us right here will have only about two seconds to realize what's happened. We're all disciplined enough to expect the end at any moment among the stars...." Wait a minute. Kirk is being contradictory. On the one hand he says that Starfleet trained crew are disciplined enough to know that they could die at any moment such that they don't need to be told they are about to die; yet on the other hand, he's willing to risk murdering millions of people just to save a mere ~430 people on his starship, most of whom were part of Starfleet?!?!? That's an enormous contradiction! Also, the author has Kirk being so insensitive that Kirk doesn't give these people even a few moments to prepare for death. Maybe some of the people on board believed in gods and and in an afterlife, and would have liked to prepare their souls before they died. Even atheists might want to use that time to appreciate the remaining seconds of their lives. But, no. The author of this book has Kirk being a jerk when the topic is brought up. Why didn't the author just not bring it up? At the very least it would have saved the author from writing into his book a major discrepancy in Kirk's motivations and actions.
Obviously the author of this novel in one sense knew how morally reprehensible Kirk's decision was given what the character Othol said. Yet, the author didn't think that was problematic for the story and his portrayal of Kirk? He didn't think his readers would find this objectionable and out of character for Kirk? Was the author really okay with Kirk's decision when the book was first published in 1982? I don't know if the author is still alive, but is/was he a sociopath in real life/IRL? Inquiring readers want to know. [grin]
August 21, 2023
The Enterprise finds itself catapulted into a galactic void, seriously damaged and faced with a decades-long journey home. There it encounters the rogue star system Mercaniad, where Kirk quickly finds himself embroiled in a diplomatic minefield.
"The Abode of Life" actually starts off quite well, with high-concept science fiction detailing the unfortunate events of the Enterprise being whisked off to the inter-arm galactic void (between the Orion and Sagittarius arms of the galaxy). There are tones of Star Trek: Voyager here, with Kirk and crew facing a decades long journey back to the Federation, limping home with a seriously damaged Enterprise. It's then that the crew encounter the planet Mercan, part of a rogue star system isolated from the rest of the galaxy.
And that's probably where I advise you stop reading the novel... because it's all downhill from the moment the landing party beam down.
Correy crafts a civilization made of three factions, the Guardians (government), the Proctors (paramilitary force) and the Technics (scientists/engineers/free thinkers). Sadly the Mercan characters are given little depth beyond the broad strokes of these three sectors of society.
Kirk and co's initial plan to peacefully make contact (in order to secure raw materials for ship repairs) quickly goes awry, but that's no issue for Kirk as he quickly runs roughshod over the prime directive and turns into a full on conquistador. The author is clearly aware of how bad this sounds, and devotes page after page to interminably long Captain's logs where Kirk laments about not wanting to break the prime directive or be a conquistador. (Spoiler alert - he does it anyway).
Sadly's Correy's writing becomes ever more distasteful as the novel progresses. It is unforgivable to put Kirk and Spock in a position where Kirk orders Spock to fire photon torpedoes into an unstable sun to stop the Enterprise from being bombarded by radiation, while acknowledging that there's a sizable chance the star will go nova and kill millions on the planet's surface when the torpedoes hit. The whole thing is bizarre, completely out of character and definitely not Star Trek.
Similarly, the author then has Kirk turn into an armed kidnapper, ordering officers to turn their phasers on multiple Mercans (who have lesser defensive technology), so he can kidnap them back to the Enterprise where he proceeds to indoctrinate them into the ways of the United Federation of Planets. Apparently this includes bombarding them with the UFP anthem, flags, dress uniforms, and advising them that the UFP charter allows them to stake claim to Mercan and a whole swathe of the galaxy.
Awful. Truly awful. Completely out of character, and Roddenberry would be turning in his grave if he ever read this dross. Avoid!
"The Abode of Life" actually starts off quite well, with high-concept science fiction detailing the unfortunate events of the Enterprise being whisked off to the inter-arm galactic void (between the Orion and Sagittarius arms of the galaxy). There are tones of Star Trek: Voyager here, with Kirk and crew facing a decades long journey back to the Federation, limping home with a seriously damaged Enterprise. It's then that the crew encounter the planet Mercan, part of a rogue star system isolated from the rest of the galaxy.
And that's probably where I advise you stop reading the novel... because it's all downhill from the moment the landing party beam down.
Correy crafts a civilization made of three factions, the Guardians (government), the Proctors (paramilitary force) and the Technics (scientists/engineers/free thinkers). Sadly the Mercan characters are given little depth beyond the broad strokes of these three sectors of society.
Kirk and co's initial plan to peacefully make contact (in order to secure raw materials for ship repairs) quickly goes awry, but that's no issue for Kirk as he quickly runs roughshod over the prime directive and turns into a full on conquistador. The author is clearly aware of how bad this sounds, and devotes page after page to interminably long Captain's logs where Kirk laments about not wanting to break the prime directive or be a conquistador. (Spoiler alert - he does it anyway).
Sadly's Correy's writing becomes ever more distasteful as the novel progresses. It is unforgivable to put Kirk and Spock in a position where Kirk orders Spock to fire photon torpedoes into an unstable sun to stop the Enterprise from being bombarded by radiation, while acknowledging that there's a sizable chance the star will go nova and kill millions on the planet's surface when the torpedoes hit. The whole thing is bizarre, completely out of character and definitely not Star Trek.
Similarly, the author then has Kirk turn into an armed kidnapper, ordering officers to turn their phasers on multiple Mercans (who have lesser defensive technology), so he can kidnap them back to the Enterprise where he proceeds to indoctrinate them into the ways of the United Federation of Planets. Apparently this includes bombarding them with the UFP anthem, flags, dress uniforms, and advising them that the UFP charter allows them to stake claim to Mercan and a whole swathe of the galaxy.
Awful. Truly awful. Completely out of character, and Roddenberry would be turning in his grave if he ever read this dross. Avoid!
December 30, 2023
The book was insanely boring to me, with almost no development after the first 150 pages, from then on everything is pure filler. The Mercanians were extremely annoying (Kirk and the other members of the Enterprise's interactions with them seemed to paraphrase any random episode of the Original Series). I don't remember if it was in the middle or at the end of the first season of the Original Series where Janice Rand stops appearing, but I don't care anyway, it only helps us to place the story somewhere in S1, so fuck off Janice lol. Also, the Mercanians and their entire civilization are so fucking stupid. 0/10 boring book that in the end becomes a total filler.
The story is about how the Enterprise is investigating gravitational turbulence. For some reason everyone seems tired and Kirk thinks they should relax sometime. Gravitational turbulence causes them to travel to an unknown space in the void between the arms of Orion and Sagittarius. There they find a planet called Mercan and its inhabitants, who do not seem to know the existence of other worlds or even the fact that life may exist elsewhere in the universe. With the Enterprise damaged, they investigate how this civilization lives, but avoiding intervening in its development and evolution so as not to violate Starfleet protocols. They discover that there are three different groups that are in conflict on the planet and that, in addition, the planet's sun is unstable and produces radioactive explosions that threaten to burn them all. Spock launches some photon missiles at the sun and manages to stabilize it, thus saving everyone. After this, Kirk forces the three groups to enter into talks to end the conflict that Mercan is suffering. The peace treaty is finally given and is known as The Treaty of the Enterprise. With the promise that the Federation will one day return to the planet Mercan to annex it to its government, the Enterprise along with its entire crew returns to its journey.
The story is about how the Enterprise is investigating gravitational turbulence. For some reason everyone seems tired and Kirk thinks they should relax sometime. Gravitational turbulence causes them to travel to an unknown space in the void between the arms of Orion and Sagittarius. There they find a planet called Mercan and its inhabitants, who do not seem to know the existence of other worlds or even the fact that life may exist elsewhere in the universe. With the Enterprise damaged, they investigate how this civilization lives, but avoiding intervening in its development and evolution so as not to violate Starfleet protocols. They discover that there are three different groups that are in conflict on the planet and that, in addition, the planet's sun is unstable and produces radioactive explosions that threaten to burn them all. Spock launches some photon missiles at the sun and manages to stabilize it, thus saving everyone. After this, Kirk forces the three groups to enter into talks to end the conflict that Mercan is suffering. The peace treaty is finally given and is known as The Treaty of the Enterprise. With the promise that the Federation will one day return to the planet Mercan to annex it to its government, the Enterprise along with its entire crew returns to its journey.
November 30, 2020
It's not good. But it is a quick and easy read. I flew threw it in a few hours. 2.5 stars if I had the option.
There are a myriad of problems with the plot, from the hilariously named Mercans (GEE I WONDER WHAT THAT COULD STAND FOR) to an overexaggerated version of Spock's typical pedantry to Kirk making the shockingly selfish and career-ending decision of risking supernova of a people's star on a half-assed attempt to stabilize it—without their permission or request—to sexism so ingrained that women are admittedly FORGOTTEN to be mentioned. Whoopsie! I forgot you girls existed, sorry!
But Star Trek TOS was full of Kirk making crappy decisions, Spock being intentionally pedantic for the giggles, and women being discriminated against (though admittedly not usually forgotten to exist). So as annoying as it all is, it's similar to one of the original episodes in many ways.
It also isn't very exciting and doesn't follow a typical plot. There's no real climax, no twists, very little action, and the new characters aren't developed at all—to the point where their names could be interchanged and I don't think we'd notice. But I didn't mind all that for an easy, mindless read on a Sunday afternoon.
One thing that was spot on? Spock and McCoy hounding each other over nothing in the last two pages. And maybe that's the crux of my feeling about this one: In spite of, or perhaps because of, all this book's truly terrible flaws, it felt kind of nostalgic.
Very happy to not read anything by this author ever again, though.
There are a myriad of problems with the plot, from the hilariously named Mercans (GEE I WONDER WHAT THAT COULD STAND FOR) to an overexaggerated version of Spock's typical pedantry to Kirk making the shockingly selfish and career-ending decision of risking supernova of a people's star on a half-assed attempt to stabilize it—without their permission or request—to sexism so ingrained that women are admittedly FORGOTTEN to be mentioned. Whoopsie! I forgot you girls existed, sorry!
But Star Trek TOS was full of Kirk making crappy decisions, Spock being intentionally pedantic for the giggles, and women being discriminated against (though admittedly not usually forgotten to exist). So as annoying as it all is, it's similar to one of the original episodes in many ways.
It also isn't very exciting and doesn't follow a typical plot. There's no real climax, no twists, very little action, and the new characters aren't developed at all—to the point where their names could be interchanged and I don't think we'd notice. But I didn't mind all that for an easy, mindless read on a Sunday afternoon.
One thing that was spot on? Spock and McCoy hounding each other over nothing in the last two pages. And maybe that's the crux of my feeling about this one: In spite of, or perhaps because of, all this book's truly terrible flaws, it felt kind of nostalgic.
Very happy to not read anything by this author ever again, though.
January 26, 2022
I had avoided this novel for a long time -- the cover is an abomination, and I've read some dubious reviews. Now that I have read it...I'm conflicted...but in a surprisingly positive manner. Had I confined myself to the first 100 pages, this would be reaching 5 stars. It's solid hard-SF style Trek, moderated by an excellent command of the TOS crew that make them all gifted professionals, with no red shirts in evidence. In fact, this is easily Yeoman Rand's finest Trek appearance: confident, capable, and unflappable. But once we reach the second half, I have some philosophical issues with Kirk's decision on how to circumvent the Prime Directive...some of it founded in some uncomfortable imperialist examples from the past. The second half of the novel also features far too much exposition, especially in Kirk's over-long log entries. Too much tell, not enough show. But now I have to reassess once more: the isolated civilization is realized with a detail worthy of Asimov and Clarke, the solution ends up being a matter of discussion, debate, understanding & communication worthy of Trek, and my qualms about the Prime Directive are actually debated within the story itself. It's a hot, complicated, fascinating mess of a novel, and its reach exceeds its grasp. But it's also ambitious, empathetic, and an example of Rodenberry's idealism at its most challenging. So I'll split the difference with a 3 star rating...but with the caveat that it exceeded my expectations.
April 30, 2024
Here's your rewritten book review:
"The Abode of Life" by G. Harry Stine, writing under the pseudonym Lee Correy, stands out as a pinnacle of Star Trek: The Original Series literature. Set on the planet Mercan, where the inhabitants have no concept of outer space beyond their own world, the novel introduces a fascinating dynamic between the Enterprise crew and the insular Mercans.
Stine skillfully navigates the interaction between Kirk, his crew, and the Mercans, who are accustomed to a life centered around surviving the deadly solar flares of their sun, Mercaniad. As the Enterprise faces dire straits and seeks assistance from a people unaware of its existence, Kirk must confront an impossible dilemma: save his ship and crew by confronting Mercaniad, or allow the Mercans to continue their peaceful existence.
The novel expertly delves into themes of adaptability and the clash between long-held beliefs and new information. Through the lens of a societal group that denies facts to maintain power, Stine crafts a compelling narrative that captures the essence of Star Trek while exploring deeper philosophical questions.
Despite its campy elements typical of TOS novels, "The Abode of Life" shines as a thought-provoking and enjoyable read. It offers a fresh perspective on classic Star Trek themes and delivers a satisfying blend of adventure and introspection. Overall, it's a standout addition to the Star Trek literary universe.
"The Abode of Life" by G. Harry Stine, writing under the pseudonym Lee Correy, stands out as a pinnacle of Star Trek: The Original Series literature. Set on the planet Mercan, where the inhabitants have no concept of outer space beyond their own world, the novel introduces a fascinating dynamic between the Enterprise crew and the insular Mercans.
Stine skillfully navigates the interaction between Kirk, his crew, and the Mercans, who are accustomed to a life centered around surviving the deadly solar flares of their sun, Mercaniad. As the Enterprise faces dire straits and seeks assistance from a people unaware of its existence, Kirk must confront an impossible dilemma: save his ship and crew by confronting Mercaniad, or allow the Mercans to continue their peaceful existence.
The novel expertly delves into themes of adaptability and the clash between long-held beliefs and new information. Through the lens of a societal group that denies facts to maintain power, Stine crafts a compelling narrative that captures the essence of Star Trek while exploring deeper philosophical questions.
Despite its campy elements typical of TOS novels, "The Abode of Life" shines as a thought-provoking and enjoyable read. It offers a fresh perspective on classic Star Trek themes and delivers a satisfying blend of adventure and introspection. Overall, it's a standout addition to the Star Trek literary universe.
August 18, 2023
A good read that barrels along and doesn't outstay its welcome (unlike some of the more recent Trek novels, which have really ballooned in length). I really liked the concept of this planet and the development of this civilisation, which raised some interesting concepts and made a lot of sense along the way.
Also, what is with the cover of this book? Firstly, it's definitely not set in the post-TMP era, as the uniforms would suggest, and where are Kirk and Spock supposed to be in that picture? Certainly nowhere in this novel.
Despite its enormous flaws, I did enjoy this book, and I pretty much do recommend it. A swift read and an engrossing adventure.
Also, what is with the cover of this book? Firstly, it's definitely not set in the post-TMP era, as the uniforms would suggest, and where are Kirk and Spock supposed to be in that picture? Certainly nowhere in this novel.
Despite its enormous flaws, I did enjoy this book, and I pretty much do recommend it. A swift read and an engrossing adventure.
September 29, 2017
This story was very different from others that I have read for the original series. In many ways it is a nice change to the conflicts and mysteries that so many of the other stories are about. Plus this story involves more of the crew than others have as well. We get to see more of Scotty, Janice Rand, Sulu and Chekov.
The Enterprise is on routine mapping of gravitational waves that were discovered by another ship. This is supposed to be a relaxing change from the duty of patrolling the borders of the Klingon Empire. However it isn't long until a fold in space takes the Enterprise and her crew in the void between the Orion and Sagittarius Arms of the Milky Way. The Enterprise suffers damage and must be repaired or it will take years to get back to where Starfleet can help them. In this void the crew discover a planet and possibly the means to get home.
It is nice to see more of Spock in this book. The earlier books I read concerning the years between the end of the five year mission and when Kirk takes over as captain again have very little of him in the stories. While I enjoyed reading the stories that had the other characters in them I always look forward to reading more about Mr. Spock. This is an entertaining story and it puts the crews diplomacy skills to the test. This is a quick read and I am sure that Star Trek fans will enjoy the story.
The Enterprise is on routine mapping of gravitational waves that were discovered by another ship. This is supposed to be a relaxing change from the duty of patrolling the borders of the Klingon Empire. However it isn't long until a fold in space takes the Enterprise and her crew in the void between the Orion and Sagittarius Arms of the Milky Way. The Enterprise suffers damage and must be repaired or it will take years to get back to where Starfleet can help them. In this void the crew discover a planet and possibly the means to get home.
It is nice to see more of Spock in this book. The earlier books I read concerning the years between the end of the five year mission and when Kirk takes over as captain again have very little of him in the stories. While I enjoyed reading the stories that had the other characters in them I always look forward to reading more about Mr. Spock. This is an entertaining story and it puts the crews diplomacy skills to the test. This is a quick read and I am sure that Star Trek fans will enjoy the story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews