#makeitsofriday

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Make It So Friday

This isn’t your normal sort of Star Trek novel or novelization. This one is specifically written for teens (or it was written for teens when it was written, now, it may even be an okay book for an older pre-teen to read). Sarek is on Marath to try and broker a peace between factions of the same species from that world. Spock is there too. He makes sorta friends with a kid named Cha. Then he gets to travel on the Enterprise where he meets Pike and Captain April. He also sorta saves the ship. When he is back on Vulcan the strife follows him though, and he has to work through that, as well as working through how he isn’t fully Vulcan or fully Human. Finally, he gets offered the chance to go to Starfleet Academy instead of the Vulcan Science Academy, and, so, he has a hard choice there too. Although, spoiler alert, we know the answer… heh heh…

As I said, it’s not just the slightly easier vocab that marks this as a book written for teens. The number of choices, and the kind of choices that Spock has to make also definitely mark it as a YA book. It was a short book, but there was so much good stuff crammed into those small numbers of pages. It was a really fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked:

Starfleet Academy: Crisis on Vulcan by Brad and Barbara Strickland

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Make It So Friday

Okay, that was really cool and weird in a way that I didn't anticipate at all.

It's set in the TOS era where the Security redshirts don't live much past their 30s. And is primarily from the point of view of a redshirt who got attacked by a Mugato and survived. He and a bunch of other Redshirts are sent on a mission that will not go well, but they go anyway because it is their duty, and the Redshirt Miller tries his best to complete it despite insane odds.

Now, I know that it sounds like a regular sort of Star Trek book (with a bit of an edge), but, then... that ending. Whoa nelly. It was fun. The whole story was awesome and different and such a fun read.

Star Trek: Redshirts by Christopher Cantwell

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Make It So Friday

Space Pirates, or one space pirates' ship to be more precise. It's a mammoth ship that mostly works in Cardassian space, but then the Captain changes his mind and starts creeping into Federation space and going after Federation traders. (That is a big no no in the Star Trek world). After the pirates go after the 'Gift of Flight' ship, Sisko and the DS9 crew are sent after the pirate ship in earnest.

What I liked most about this book wasn’t so much the plot, although it was a usual sort of enjoyable Star Trek novel plot. It was the characters. There was such a balanced use of all the DS9 characters. Odo and Kira had just the slightest bit bigger of a role, but, only barely. I mean, we even got to see some Garek and Quark (thankfully not too much Quark or Gul Dukat for that matter). Honestly, I would have loved it if this book had some sort of sequel, because I really liked the original pirate characters. Ah well, I guess I can just reread this one again.

You may like this book If you Liked: Fire with Fire by Bernd Perplies, Moments Asunder by Dayton Ward, or Acts of Contrition by Kirsten Beyer

Proud Helios by Melissa Scott

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Make It So Friday

A lot of Star Trek novels seem to be about, or use, Data as the main character. Perhaps it's because they can write Data as growing during the story, or they like having a character that is nearly always correct even if he's not always right. Here, the computer of the Enterprise gets 'confused' (takes readings of an unknown phenomenon) and the crew (and Spot, Data's cat) find a dying civilization in the middle of a Nebula-like thing. Of course, there is political turmoil and the Enterprise crew is never quite trusted entirely.

But, the main reason that I’m recommending this seemingly random Star Trek novel out of any others is Spot. Those were my favorite parts. The author has a very good grasp of how cats exist, act, and it came off hilarious in the novel. It's a quick, light, and easy read. Quite a fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack, Gods of Night by David Mack, or Shadows Have Offended by Cassandra Rose Clarke.

Into the Nebula by Gene DeWeese

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Make It So Friday

Captain James T. Kirk has gotten himself into a pickle. He finds out that there is increased Klingon activity around Neural (think the Mugatos with the big horn planet). He left the Hill People there, they and the Villagers having an uneasy sort of peace at that point.

But, when he goes back, that peace doesn't exist anymore. There is industry, slavery, and so so many Klingons. And so, Kirk and a small crew have to see if they can get the Klingons to leave, and not die themselves in the process.

It was a very TOS sorta novel. Very Kirk centric. It also is another of the novels that takes place between the end of the series and the first movie (he was really busy then, heh). Him trying to figure out who he wanted to be. There was even a bit of Uhura, Scott, and Chekov which was definitely cool.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack, The Unsettling Stars by Alan Dean Foster, or Acts of Contrition by Kirsten Beyer

Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte

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Make It So Friday

Okay, this is one of the weird Original Series novels. But, it also has a lot of fun stuff too. The USS Enterprise is sent to the Taygeta V system because a time bubble has swallowed a spaceship. Poof, gone. Starfleet sends a composer of all people, Guy Maslin, to try and figure out the language/song of the species that lives on Taygeta. And, does it have anything to do with the ‘poof, gone’ of the ship.

As I said, it was weird, not exactly bad weird, but, it’s most definitely a book that is of its time (it was written in 1984). But, in addition to the singing creatures, there’s also the always fun friends/foes when it comes to the Klingons. (oh who am I kidding, mostly foes, with just a dash of honor between enemies in the face of destruction). And, of course, there was Uhura. I’m always a sucker for a book with Uhura (or Sulu, or any of the non-Kirk or non-Spock characters) in it. A fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Captain to Captain by Greg Cox, The Body Electric by David Mack, or Cathedral by Michael A. Martin

The Tears of the Singers by Melinda Snodgrass

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Make It So Friday

This comic is actually two different comics all about Shax (the Security Chief on the Star Trek: Lower Decks TV show). First is Shax’s best day, where it’s him against some cult member Klingons. He is trying to retake and save the Defiant. Then there’s his worst day, where he starts as part of Lore’s… people, as Lore oppresses everyone in the universe (nope, not kidding, if you read Star Trek: Lore Wars, this is from that). But, while reading the underlying comics might give a little extra oomph to these stories, I don’t think it’s totally required. Just watching as Shax revels in what he’s good at is just such a fun, fun read.

Star Trek: Shaxs' Best (and Worst) Day by Ryan North

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Make It So Friday

This is a pretty classic 90s Star Trek graphic novel, with wrong uniform colors, who knows what was going on with that Holodeck, and totally out there stories. This had poor O'Brien as an assassin (sorta), Wesley screwing up in multiple time periods, and quite the shore leave for Riker and LaForge (it involved Ferengi). Oh yeah, this was such a fun, fun read. (To be fair, Michael Jan Friedman is the type of writer that most things in his hands turn out pretty well).

You may like this book If you Liked: Zero Sum Game by David Mack, Shadows Have Offended by Cassandra Rose Clarke, or The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack

Maelstrom by Michael Jan Friedman