Last night at dance I finished reading a trilogy of Star Trek books. Technically it's a two volume set and then an addendum or "missing piece" of the story I suppose you could call it. It began with The Eugenic Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh Volumes I and II which takes place in the latter 20th century and incorporates real history into this story supposed by an early Trek episode. (I love old science fiction shows and movies that take place in "the far future" of 1987 or in this case, 1996.) The author, Greg Cox, through these two books, successfully in my opinion, makes it entirely possible that genetically engineered superhuman warred against each other during the 1990's without the average citizen like ourselves noticing. There were not just Trek references in here but references to other things pop culture-wise such as The Stepford Wives and even the Marvel Comic character "Black Panther."
The three books had Kirk, Spock and company doing something to set the story up. The first two had them visiting a colony of superhumans and wondering if the Federation was any more ready to deal with them now than they were dealing with Khan a few years before in "The Space Seed." The Klingons come to add their two cents to the issue. This storyline, though not as interesting as the 20th century story, was still rather thought-provoking.
The introductory story for To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh, that of Kirk Spock and McCoy battling teenagers that Khan left behind on Ceti Alpha V when he stole the Reliant in II, was not as interesting and was fairly unnecessary. Yes, it does tie up a loose end from the main story that took place between "The Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan but it was too "Miri" for my tastes.
The main story was awesome though. I want to be clear on that. While he didn't really need to put all the pop culture references in with this book since it took place in the 23rd century, Cox was able to make clear to the readers that these exiles are from the 20th century by adding references to things the writers wouldn't have known about in the 1960's or 1982 for that matter...
If you like Star Trek and/or pop culture, I recommend these books highly.
The three books had Kirk, Spock and company doing something to set the story up. The first two had them visiting a colony of superhumans and wondering if the Federation was any more ready to deal with them now than they were dealing with Khan a few years before in "The Space Seed." The Klingons come to add their two cents to the issue. This storyline, though not as interesting as the 20th century story, was still rather thought-provoking.
The introductory story for To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh, that of Kirk Spock and McCoy battling teenagers that Khan left behind on Ceti Alpha V when he stole the Reliant in II, was not as interesting and was fairly unnecessary. Yes, it does tie up a loose end from the main story that took place between "The Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan but it was too "Miri" for my tastes.
The main story was awesome though. I want to be clear on that. While he didn't really need to put all the pop culture references in with this book since it took place in the 23rd century, Cox was able to make clear to the readers that these exiles are from the 20th century by adding references to things the writers wouldn't have known about in the 1960's or 1982 for that matter...
If you like Star Trek and/or pop culture, I recommend these books highly.
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