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THE HISTORIC SAGA BEGINS Born in the twilight years of Vulcan's violent and passionate past, those who declared themselves Rihannsu chose to reign free in the unknown reaches of space rather than to serve under the new tyranny of logic. Having severed themselves from their homeworld, they survived the perilous voyage across the stars to wash ashore on a distant planet, there to begin the civilization that would one day flower into the Romulan Star Empire. Now, after millennia of wars and conquests, that empire is decaying from within, surrendering its noble heritage to reckless ambition, abandoning honor for kidnapping and murder. The corruption is so great that the Rihannsu's finest military officer -- Commander Ael t'Rllaillieu of the warbird Bloodwing -- believes she can save her people only by joining forces with her greatest enemy: Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise(tm). Meanwhile, on the Romulan homeworld, a Federation deep-cover agent has been posing as a household servant named Arrhae i-Khellian -- but her operation takes a strange turn when a captured Starfleet officer is brought to her home . . . The lives of Ael, Arrhae, and the crew of the Enterprise come together in these astonishing adventures -- originally published in four volumes: My Enemy, My Ally; The Romulan Way; Swordhunt; and Honor Blade -- that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the Romulans.… (more)
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A note on the edition - while I like that they gave up pretending that Honor Blade and Swordhunt were separate books, it would better to have the whole series in one volume. Instead, we're left with an awkwardly large book that only contains 3/4 of the story, and ends with a bit of a cliffhanger to boot. Make sure you have The Emtpy Chair on hand when you're reading this - you'll want to find out what happens!
I would say that Diane Duane doesn't 'get' Captain Kirk, or has issues with the character - she states in her notes that he 'has something of a reputation among the ladies' - but I really enjoyed her portrayal of him in Doctor's Orders, so I will just assume that she was so taken with her own Romulan character, Ael, that there was room enough for one captain only. I still resent the digs about Jim's 'past behaviour' with women, and the unsubtle reference to K/S shippers ('But watch it with Spock. People start the damndest rumours about this ship's crew, even without provocation'), if I read that line correctly. Duane is rather 'apologetic' for the original series throughout, in fact - the 'backing singers', as I like to call Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov, get to save the day in book one; Ael smacks of Mary Sue-ism, being a petite yet powerful starship commander who thinks on a level with Kirk and 'bonds' with Spock ( I would have much preferred the crew's trust in her to have been misplaced!); and there is an annoying assortment of aliens in Starfleet. Not just the usual humanoid species, but a spindly-legged crystal spider who 'chimes' and a horta, for heaven's sake! I know that the imagination is not hampered by special effects in the same way that the televisions series was, but I just didn't buy this gigantic rock rumbling around the decks of the Enterprise (and I didn't think he was cute, either).
Out of the four novels in this collection, I only really enjoyed reading the first. Book two - The Romulan Way - is a gigantic infodump on Vulcan/Romulan history and culture, interspersed with McCoy - ?! - being sent undercover to check on the status of a Starfleet officer posing as a Romulan housekeeper. Although interesting, particularly for roleplay material, Duane's Romulan backstory just doesn't have enough action to sustain half a novel. I'm sure the author had great fun creating a language and building on a few scant details in the episodes to imagine how the Romulans broke away from the Vulcans, but if research is supposed to be the tip of the iceberg, hinting at greater knowledge below, then The Romulan Way is the Titanic. Oh, and only Jim calls McCoy 'Bones' - I doubt he would ever tell anyone 'My friends call me Bones'. (McCoy's middle name starts with a 'H', too, not 'E' for Edward.)
Books three and four - or three when not split into two for marketing purposes - are just horrifically dull. Long expositional chunks of dialogue lead to a conference in space - randomly attended by Ambassador Fox and Samuel Cogley, just to remind readers about TOS - with a space battle tacked on to the end for good measure. And with Jim Kirk slightly 'off' - all reputation, no personality - not even the scenes aboard the Enterprise are worth waiting for.
Diane Duane knows how to write Star Trek, and Kirk, Spock and Bones, but I think she just got distracted here. The key to a good TOS novel is humour, of which there is perilously little throughout.
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