Review of
Surak's Soul
Published:
March 2003
Reviewer Rating:
Avg User Rating:
(2.75)
The Enterprise crew responds to a medical emergency but are too late to save the planet's population and have almost no idea what killed them. But once Doctor Phlox falls ill himself, the crew is faced with a race against time to find the source of the illness and stop it before Enterprise becomes a ghost ship!
What begins as an interesting medical mystery, eventually sort of devolves into a standard sort of "threat of the week" plotline. Disappointingly, there really wasn't a lot of mystery to this story once it gets moving. It's really pretty easy to figure out where the narrative is going, and while a solution is offered, it really doesn't make total sense to me.
The most interesting aspect of this novel is in the sub-story. T'Pol accidentally kills one of the last survivors on the planet and her guilt has her examine the tenants of non-violence and just how far to take it. Ghandi is brought up often in the book and his philosophies are bandied about when discussing the lengths of non-violence. The pacifistic race who died did little for their own survival once they were told a microbe was the cause of their illnesses - they believed ALL life to be sacred and so refused to kill even a microbe that was threatening their entire species. T'Pol herself decides she should no longer carry a weapon or use violence in defense of herself or even her shipmates. Other crew members provide counter-arguments and a sort of debate goes on throughout the book. interesting, if a bit heavy-handed.
Nothing outstanding here - I was hoping for some revelations about Vulcans or more on their philosophies as presented in this era, but that didn't happen. We don't get a lot of character development at all as no one really has any great moments.
A solid read, but nothing that should compel new readers.
What begins as an interesting medical mystery, eventually sort of devolves into a standard sort of "threat of the week" plotline. Disappointingly, there really wasn't a lot of mystery to this story once it gets moving. It's really pretty easy to figure out where the narrative is going, and while a solution is offered, it really doesn't make total sense to me.
The most interesting aspect of this novel is in the sub-story. T'Pol accidentally kills one of the last survivors on the planet and her guilt has her examine the tenants of non-violence and just how far to take it. Ghandi is brought up often in the book and his philosophies are bandied about when discussing the lengths of non-violence. The pacifistic race who died did little for their own survival once they were told a microbe was the cause of their illnesses - they believed ALL life to be sacred and so refused to kill even a microbe that was threatening their entire species. T'Pol herself decides she should no longer carry a weapon or use violence in defense of herself or even her shipmates. Other crew members provide counter-arguments and a sort of debate goes on throughout the book. interesting, if a bit heavy-handed.
Nothing outstanding here - I was hoping for some revelations about Vulcans or more on their philosophies as presented in this era, but that didn't happen. We don't get a lot of character development at all as no one really has any great moments.
A solid read, but nothing that should compel new readers.
