Best Destiny by Diane Carey

 

Best Destiny by Diane Carey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Best Destiny turns back the clock and sheds some non-canon light on the teenage years of one James Kirk, the story covers two separate time frames with the first showing James as a rebellious teenager and the other as a Captain looking at the end of his career. The focal point is the planet Faramond and the events that surrounded the discovery of a race vastly more technically advanced that the Federation and who seem to have as a species packed their bags and vanished into history.

Commander George Kirk with help from Captain Robert April arrange to take Jim on a cruise to Faramond for a ribbon cutting event in the hopes he can reach his wayward son before anything too serious happens. Jim is playing fast and loose with rules and regulations and roping other people into his games, it's only a matter of time before events spiral out of control and something happens that can not be fixed. The kicker is that Captain April is taking out the Enterprise and even the already jaded Jim Kirk is in awe of her beauty and power, of course he tries not to show it. April, George, Jim and some crew take one of the shuttles as Enterprise makes a call on another world but the shuttle is ambushed by pirates, badly damaged and with casualties Jim has to learn some very painful lessons in what it means to really lead people and be prepared to sacrifice all for the benefit of those who may never even know what you did.
Decades later the constitution class USS Enterprise is coming to the ends of its life and on its final voyage its sensors pickup an energy surge which is only associated with the explosion of warp engines. The source is a starship in the Faramond system, records indicate it's likely to be the Excelsior Class USS Bill of Rights under the command of Captain Alma Roth (former officer under Kirk). Captain Kirk does not believe in coincidences and provides records to both Spock and McCoy on events so long ago and orders his ship towards Faramond. James Kirk is again looking at life that may not hold many more wonders and has to face his mirror image yet learns that the journey is never going to be complete, there will always be one more world, one more civilisation and that will be enough to spur on this Captain, this ship and this crew.

Best Destiny by Diane Carey is one of the novels that played a part in my own personal Star Trek canon, I like this Jim Kirk (similar it has to be said to the Kelvin Universe) and no question that drawing upon her own novel Final Frontier helped greatly in continuity. The novels asks many questions of its core characters and the two timelines with varying technologies and challenges work well for the narrative and while the experienced Captain Kirk and Enterprise are pure Trek it's perhaps the young Jim with his father and April that hold the limelight. This era of Star Trek and Diane's own take on a young Kirk may not be for everyone but it works for me.

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The Great Starship Race by Diane Carey

The Great Starship Race by Diane Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A story of first contact and one of the more unusual introductions to the galaxy wide family of sentient species await the people of the world Gullrey located far on the edge of the Milky Way. Their position which is well outside of the normal traffic patterns leads to an usual event, a race from the nearest Federation Starbase to Gullrey open to all starships who are willing to abide by some basic performance rules. In essence the great starship race is a promotional and marketing event for a world desperate to belong after being alone without even a hint there could be any other life in the galaxy.
The event welcomes Starfleet vessels, private commercial vessels, representatives of independent and Federation worlds and surprisingly a Romulan vessel who all agree to the rules of the race. This course consists of a number of waypoints carefully hidden amongst the naturally occurring navigation hazards of this space, speed is not the only consideration rather the skills and luck needed to make the right choice which will lead to the next beacon in the list ultimately revealing Gullrey itself.
I have to admit The Great Starship Race as a book title was not that inspiring but I do like the writing of Diane so never a doubt I would be reading the novel. It opens up on two fantastic events, both first contacts one involving a Romulan Battlecruiser (doesn't go well) and the other the Starship USS Hood which goes better. We then get into the meat of the novel as the Captains of the competing ships are learning the "rules" and given that relations between them are not all sweetness and light we are promised an interesting race. The only drawback as Kirk sees it is that if any ship gets into trouble there is no question a Starfleet vessel will help, other ships may not abide by that unwritten rule. As you would expect the IRV Red Talon commanded by Valdus Ionis Zorokove is not there to win a race and we learn the motivations of Valdus and his crew as the race progresses. The upside is that Valdus is written very well, he is a classic TOS Romulan in the truest sense, yes he is ruthless but there is a core of honour and respect for a worthy rival that shines through. As always a good "villain" makes for a good story for our "heroes" to work within and The Great Starship Race turns out to be far better than you might have expected.

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Best Destiny by Diane Carey

Best Destiny by Diane Carey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Best Destiny turns back the clock and sheds some non-canon light on the teenage years of one James Kirk, the story covers two separate timeframes with the first as James as a rebellious teenager and the other as a Captain looking at the end of one career. The focal point is the planet Faramond and the events that surrounded the discovery of a race vastly more technically advanced that the Federation and who seem to have as a species packed their bags and vanished into history.

Commander George Kirk with help from Captain Robert April arrange to take Jim on a cruise to Faramond for a ribbon cutting event in the hopes he can reach his wayward son before anything too serious happens. Jim is playing fast and loose with rules and regulations and roping other people into his games, it's only a matter of time before events spiral out of control and something happens that can not be fixed. The kicker is that Captain April is taking out the Enterprise and even the already jaded Jim Kirk is in awe of her beauty and power, of course he tries not to show it. April, George, Jim and some crew take one of the shuttles as Enterprise makes a call on another world but the shuttle is ambushed by pirates, badly damaged and with casualties Jim has to learn some very painful lessons in what it means to really lead people and be prepared to sacrifice all for the benefit of those who may never even know what you did.
Decades later the constitution class USS Enterprise is coming to the ends of its life and on its final voyage when its sensors pickup an energy surge which is only associated with the explosion of warp engines. The source is a starship in the Faramond system, records indicate it's likely to be the Excelsior Class USS Bill of Rights under the command of Captain Alma Roth (former officer under Kirk). Captain Kirk does not believe in coincidences and provides records to both Spock and McCoy on events so long ago and orders his ship towards Faramond. James Kirk is again looking at life that may not hold many more wonders and has to face his mirror image yet learns that the journey is never going to be complete, there will always be one more world, one more civilisation and that will be enough to spur on this Captain, this ship and this crew.

Best Destiny by Diane Carey is one of the novels that played a part in my own personal Star Trek canon, I like this Jim Kirk (similar it has to be said to the Kelvin Universe) and no question that drawing upon her own novel Final Frontier helped greatly in continuity. The novels asks many questions of its core characters and the two timelines with varying technologies and challenges work well for the narrative and while the experienced Captain Kirk and Enterprise are pure Trek it's perhaps the young Jim with his father and April that hold the limelight. This era of Star Trek and Diane's own take on a young Kirk may not be for everyone but it works for me.

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Final Frontier by Diane Carey

Final Frontier by Diane Carey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Final Frontier was one of the "giant" Star Trek novels of the time and for me it went alongside Diane Duane's work in shaping my view of Starfleet and the Kirk family, I believe the term is head canon and for the most part superior to anything seen on tv or the moves:)
The novel tells the story of the very first mission of the very first Constitution class Starship, a new cutting edge design making use of the latest computer tech often spoken of within the tv series which would have been set a few years after these events. Captain Robert April who oversaw the building of the ship shanghai's George Kirk and his fellow security officer Francis Drake Reed to fill spots on the ship as it attempts a high priority but clandestine rescue mission. Captain April is worried that the ship and it's power will be seen as being overly aggressive by both the Federation members and the many enemies looking in, an epic rescue mission as an introduction for the ship will ease her into the spotlight. Almost immediately there are issues with the ship's tech but the skeleton crew pull together and warp towards the huge ion storm which has trapped a colony ship which is adrift without power, the families on board doomed to die with the media spotlight listening to every transmission. The ship ventures into the storm using it's vastly improved navigation and shield systems but the gravity system malfunctions and incapacitates the crew, they awake much later adrift in an unknown part of the galaxy and not far away an alien starship is looking on prepared to defend her space from the "invaders".
Yeah I love this novel, this is how I picture George Kirk even though JJ did the character proud in his first big screen adventure but I still like this idea better. The introduction of the Enterprise also suits my own view that the Constitution design was a quantum leap in starship design not just a small advance on a design which seems to be everywhere in the canon franchise. Once again I love how the aliens are described both the overall culture and the individual character traits and no question the combat sequences are very well written. There is plenty of humour as well and I do get a little tingle when Pike is describing the sort of Captain who will eventually take this ship and venture into the void, a combination of the courage and tenacity of George Kirk and the intellect and compassion of Pike. The novel is so far from canon yet for me it is Star Trek or at least what came before the Star Trek we got to know, highly recommended.

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Battlestations! by Diane Carey

Battlestations! by Diane Carey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Battlestations! by Diane is the sequel to her novel Dreadnought! and makes full use of the same main characters along with the usual crew of the Enterprise. In this story Lt Commander Piper fresh from her promotion is living the command track by working on Kirk's ocean going sail boat when Starfleet security beam onboard to "escort" Kirk and any of his command crew to headquarters. He doesn't reveal that Piper is aboard and when he is beamed away she evades capture and meets up with her new command (arranged by Kirk).
It turns out the Sarda the young Vulcan weapons specialist is believed to be associated with the theft of classified cutting edge transwarp technology during the chaos of the Starfleet investigation into the treason and corruption within the ranks. Piper once again teamed up with her friends warps towards the planet Argelius intent on finding out the truth but find more than they bargained for when the technology is put to use and a mad scramble by numerous galactic powers leads to a shooting war to possess the technology.
Battlestations! is a fun read but not quite upto the standard of the first novel although I have to admit the scene painted by Diane of Kirk at the helm of his ketch named "Edith Keeler" is something I would have so loved to have seen on screen.

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Dreadnought! by Diane Carey

Dreadnought! by Diane Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dreadnought! was a Star Trek novel I always enjoyed reading and bares a striking familiarity to a certain recent Trek movie given a super secret starship with all cutting edge technology and weaponry being used to further an individuals agenda and force the Federation down a certain path.
In this story the central character is Lt. Piper a young officer who is posted to the Enterprise at the request of Captain Kirk after she shows an interesting approach to the demands of the Kobayashi Maru. Soon after arriving onboard and meeting her roommates the Enterprise is assigned the task of retrieving the stolen Dreadnought "Star Empire" and Piper's ID is attached to the demands of the "terrorists".
This was and remains an entertaining read, over simplistic perhaps but that was par for the course at the time yet the novel retains pace and tension as the factions fight for control of the ship but for different reasons. Kirk being thrown into the mix has to decide who he believes and how he'll use his command and influence to resolve the situation before and after the shooting starts. If you do enjoy the novel then many of the characters return in the sequel "Battlestations" another entertaining Trek read from Diane.


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