Review of
Crisis on Vulcan
Published:
August 1996
Reviewer Rating:
Avg User Rating:
(3.30)
Ambassador Sarek is concluding the negotiations of a peace treaty in the Marath system. His teenaged son, Spock, is along as part of the entourage to observe and learn before his admittance to the Vulcan Science Academy. But not all parties are pleased with the terms of the treaty and dangerous assassins pursue Sarek and Spock back to Vulcan. Spock needs to help his father determine what part of the treaty is upsetting a rebel faction before Vulcan closes its borders to all outsiders.
I was actually intrigued and impressed with this story. As a YA novel I expected just a silly little actioner focused on a teen version of Spock that offered little beyond obvious tie-in potential. There's actually more going on here - insight into the negotiation of a treaty, a glimpse at an interesting alien culture, and a young man's decision-making process that will color his future. The downside is that not all of these things are as detailed or have as much subtlety and nuance as they might be in an adult novel, but it provides an interesting base for a younger reader.
Spock's journey through the story is somewhat typical of a teen novel - feelings of estrangement, being an outsider, dealing with parental and peer pressures and the like. But seeing how inspired he is by his short visit aboard the Enterprise and how he feels accepted and part of something larger than himself was nice to see. Later in the book, he has a nice discussion with his mother about his future and his decisions. We don't often see a lot of Spock and his mother, so this was pretty enjoyable.
The most disappointing portion of the book was actually the end. Everything wrapped up so quickly with a lot of "tell me, don't show me" kind of exposition. You could tell the Stricklands were hitting a page count and needed to wrap it up. I feel there were a lot of missed opportunities here that I would love to have seen played out for readers. The fact that I was actually looking for more, says a lot about how invested I was in the story.
Yes, we get to see a couple of other Trek characters like Christopher Pike (not yet a captain) and Robert April, first captain of the Enterprise. The book doesn't have a lot of fan-pandering, but the Enterprise sequence covers that well enough. There's more than a little Wesley Crusher in Spock at this point, so it was a little cringy, but still kind of fun.
Overall, I was pleased and surprised by this book. I had low expectations of a YA media tie-in book, but this one actually rose above that. No, it's not a brilliant piece of literature, but it was enjoyable all the same.
I was actually intrigued and impressed with this story. As a YA novel I expected just a silly little actioner focused on a teen version of Spock that offered little beyond obvious tie-in potential. There's actually more going on here - insight into the negotiation of a treaty, a glimpse at an interesting alien culture, and a young man's decision-making process that will color his future. The downside is that not all of these things are as detailed or have as much subtlety and nuance as they might be in an adult novel, but it provides an interesting base for a younger reader.
Spock's journey through the story is somewhat typical of a teen novel - feelings of estrangement, being an outsider, dealing with parental and peer pressures and the like. But seeing how inspired he is by his short visit aboard the Enterprise and how he feels accepted and part of something larger than himself was nice to see. Later in the book, he has a nice discussion with his mother about his future and his decisions. We don't often see a lot of Spock and his mother, so this was pretty enjoyable.
The most disappointing portion of the book was actually the end. Everything wrapped up so quickly with a lot of "tell me, don't show me" kind of exposition. You could tell the Stricklands were hitting a page count and needed to wrap it up. I feel there were a lot of missed opportunities here that I would love to have seen played out for readers. The fact that I was actually looking for more, says a lot about how invested I was in the story.
Yes, we get to see a couple of other Trek characters like Christopher Pike (not yet a captain) and Robert April, first captain of the Enterprise. The book doesn't have a lot of fan-pandering, but the Enterprise sequence covers that well enough. There's more than a little Wesley Crusher in Spock at this point, so it was a little cringy, but still kind of fun.
Overall, I was pleased and surprised by this book. I had low expectations of a YA media tie-in book, but this one actually rose above that. No, it's not a brilliant piece of literature, but it was enjoyable all the same.
