Star Trek: Enterprise – The First Adventure, by Vonda McIntyre
There’s a good chance you know that, somewhat as a goof, I have a gigantic box of Star Trek novels.
Well, I decided to dip into one of them. This is supposedly one of the better ones – and its premise is the “first adventure” of the NCC-1701 under the Captaincy of one James Tiberius Kirk. Given the forthcoming events of May 8, I figured why not?
I’ll tell you why not. It is a bore.
The first half is great. Setting up the world – hanging out with Captain Pike on his last day. Learning how Sulu found himself aboard what he thought was the wrong mission. McCoy’s first impression of Spock, Spock’s first impression of Kirk. Some Uhura/Rand action. But after all the set up, where do we go? Nowhere. Pages and pages about how Kirk is bored. Guess what? We’re bored, too. And the traveling “Vaudeville” show is just a joke. Who cares?
I’ll be happy when Orci & Kurtzman’s script renders this all moot. (Or will it, considering the myriad universe concept!??)
Anyway, I may give some of these older Trek books a break. The newer ones (mid-90s on) are much better.