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Title: Surak's Soul (Star Trek Enterprise) by J. M. Dillard ISBN: 0-7434-6280-7 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.23 (13 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: An okay read, but nothing to get too excited about
Comment: It has been a very long time since author Jeanne M. Dillard has written an original Star Trek novel. Her work the last few years has primarily been episode and movie novelizations, most recently the novelization of Nemesis. With the Enterprise novel Surak's Soul, she has fashioned a pleasant enough story but regrettably, while the novel is very readable it is not particularly original, complex or lengthy.
When the Enterprise responds to a distress signal they find a civilization on the brink of extinction, the entire population dead or dying from a mysterious illness. T'Pol, forced to kill the last remaining survivor in order to save Hoshi, undergoes an identity crisis. She cannot help fearing that her time on board the Enterprise is leading her to forsake the teachings of Surak and his philosophy of non-violence.
While the Enterprise remains to investigate the mysterious disease, they learn more about the planets inhabitants, the Oani, a society whose reverence for life has sadly led to their own demise. Offered assistance by a mysterious alien entity, an energy being they call the Wanderer, the Enterprise and its crew soon begin to exhibit the same symptoms as the Oanis. Did they bring the illness back on board despite their precautions, or is there a more sinister plan afoot?
Surak's Soul moves at a good pace and I really enjoyed Ms. Dillard's characterization and attention to the small details. Unfortunately that is not enough to overcome the periods of tedium the story generates. Despite the dire circumstances the crew finds themselves in the story fails to generate a sense of urgency or real danger.
T'Pol's philosophical soul searching, the issue of when violence is or is not justified, is the major theme of the novel. Unfortunately, in the case of Surak's Soul, ethical contemplation is not enough to sustain the story on its own.
Rating: 5
Summary: Surak's Soul - Best "Enterprise" book so far
Comment: The purpose of this review is to say whether or not "Surak's Soul" is worth shelling out ...hard-earned cash for. Yes, in this case, the entertainment was well worth the exchange.
Five stars, A+, a "good-job" sticker, and high praise for J.M. Dillard.
So far, I like Dillard's book better than all of the others written for the Enterprise series (with the exception of "Broken Bow" which is the novelization of the pilot TV episode. I found "Broken Bow" useful to get a grip on the "new" Star Trek crews' characters).
I unreservedly say that Dillard wrote the best Enterprise story so far. Her book reads like a good TV episode. At first, I was exceedingly apprehensive about spending the money on a book with rather larger print and only 218 pages, but I took the chance. I am glad I did. I read the story slowly to savor it and found that I really enjoyed the book.
Other reviews may give synopses of the storyline, so I'll make mine very brief since the purpose of my review is really only to say whether or not I think a book is worth the money it costs. I will take it for granted the you already know who the main characters are and what their relationships to each other are.
T'Pol accidently kills an alien and creates a severe philosophical trauma for herself. While she's working to resolve her inner conflict, the Enterprise crew, and ultimately Earth, are threatened by an alien entity. T'Pol must decide whether or not to aid the crew by using violence or not. The story is filled with philosophy (which I never enjoy, but it was essential to the story), emotion (Dillard did a very good job in this department), and action (again, she did a great job with the action scenes).
To sum up, I am very well pleased overall with "Surak's Soul" as a new edition to the Enterprise series. I haven't been tremendously happy with the other books in the series, but Dillard revived my hope that Pocket Books found a great voice for telling Enterprise stories. I hope Dillard will write many more books for this new fun group of Star Trek stars.
Also, I would like to praise the cover-designer as well. Good job.
Rating: 2
Summary: Weak ending.
Comment: This is, overall, a fair to middling Star Trek story; the action is good, the characterizations are better than average, the plot fair if not terribly original. The problem is, it is mostly spoiled by a rather wishy-washy, unsatisfying ending. Since I can't say much more about the ending than that without giving away major plot points, suffice it to say that I found both the climactic point AND the post-climax epilogue to be very implausible and to be a cheap out for the major focus of the story.
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Title: What Price Honor? (Star Trek Enterprise) by Dave Stern ISBN: 0743462785 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Daedalus: Part One of Two (Star Trek: Enterprise) by Dave Stern ISBN: 0743471180 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Expanse (Star Trek: Enterprise) by J.M. Dillard, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga ISBN: 0743484851 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: By the Book (Star Trek Enterprise) by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch ISBN: 0743448715 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Broken Bow (Star Trek Enterprise) by Diane Carey, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga ISBN: 0743470621 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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