...Across the Universe
Review: Star Trek: Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
I think I have read this before, albeit a while ago. It's out of the Pocket series and definitely one of the better Star Trek novels.
Prime Directive is set right at the end of the five year mission. Kirk is drummed out of Starfleet in disgrace for violating General Order Number One.
Spock, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu have also been busted...called worldkillers and the Enterprise Five.
Scott escapes, and is stuck trying to repair a seriously damaged Enterprise. And the world of Talin IV has been all but destroyed.
Of course, all is not as it seems, and we know that this will end with Kirk vindicated and Talin IV somehow, if not saved, then at least rebuilt. The Reeves-Stevens couple manage to put tons of tension in this...it's a real skill for tie-in writers to work within the framework of what we know can't happen, of the plot immortality held by the characters.
They manage a book in which we know the destination, but the journey is the interesting part.
If you're a Star Trek fan and haven't read this one, seek it out if you can.
Review: The Autobiography of James T. Kirk: The Story of Starfleet's Greatest Captain by David A. Goodman
The conceit here is fun...this is purported to be Kirk's autobiography, "edited" by David A. Goodman.
I also read the one they did for Sisko. That one was better. The problem with this book is that anyone familiar with Star Trek and the movies...the original ones...knows the entire plot of this book. It is fun to cross connect it with the episodes featured, but there are no surprises.
That means the real interest in this is seeing everything from a deep Kirk PoV. Which would be great, but the book reads, perhaps quite accurately, as if it was in fact written by Kirk's ghostwriter.
(Of course Kirk would have a ghostwriter, that's not the point).
Goodman just doesn't quite pull off convincing us he is James T. Kirk. A for effort, and I don't know if I could do better. (I have attempted Star Trek fanfic, but not from Kirk's perspective). Maybe he should have gotten Shatner to beta read? (Worse, maybe he did...)
I'm not saying it's terrible, I'm saying that except as a fun kind of mini episode guide, it doesn't quite work. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except old school Trekkies in need of a fix...but it is an enjoyable fix.