Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Pocket Books
Pages
401
Description
Thrown in jail beside a young Vulcan who has been charged with plotting to sell Vulcan artifacts, a troublesome young James T. Kirk forges an uneasy alliance with his cellmate, Spock, with whom he is given a choice to stay imprisoned or to join Starfleet.
Series
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2007
Physical description
401 p.; 6.75 inches
ISBN
1416503978 / 9781416503972
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User reviews
LibraryThing member bigorangemichael
A dozen or so years ago, William Shatner took the Star Trek publishing world by storm when he wrote the Ashes of Eden. A story about Kirk, told by the man who brought Captain James T. Kirk to life for so many years was must reading for this Star Trek fan.
That must have extended to a lot of other
In the Shatnervise, the entire universe revolves around James T. Kirk. And while I'm a huge Kirk fan, I can't necessarily say this is a good thing. In Shatner's Trek-world view, nothing can be done, no evil can be defeated without the manliness that is Kirk. As each novel has gone along, the line between Kirk and Shatner has slowly blurred to the piont that you can't really tell any more whether Shatner is making up adventures for himself or his most famous role.
Which all brings us to the latest installment from Shatner. This time, instead of going forward, we go backward to the earliest days of James T. Kirk and his admission to Starfleet Acadamy.
Now, let me preface this by saying that if you're a Trek continuity geek, you need to just put this book down and walk away. I enjoy continuity but I'm not as much a slave to it as some. I can enjoy a good story that has a few continuity violations. That said, this one made my head hurt with the number of liberties taken with Trek canon. It's hard to imagine how co-authors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens could help write this without at least asking, "No really, Bill. You want to do that?"
The story postulates that Kirk and Spock met as young men on Earth. Both are at the 23rd Century version of a brothel when they meet. Spock is there, selling Vulcan artifacts under the table to expose a conspiracy in the Vulcan embassy and Kirk is there hiding from the law. Seems the Kirk we meet here at 17 is pretty much your standard young punk who hates everything to do with Starfleet. Shatner tries to explain this by flashing back to Kirk's experiences at the hands of Kodos the Executioner.
Kirk catches the attention of some mysterious figure in Starfleet and is blackmailed into joining Starfleet Acadamy. Yes, you read that right--blackmailed into joining. But unfortunately, this is not the most absurd plot twist we're asked to believe. As the story goes along, we find out that Kirk's on the trail of a conspiracy that just happens to cross paths with the conspiracy Spock is unravelling. Suddenly, civilization as we know it is threatened and only Kirk and Spock can save us all--again.
The final half of this book found me flipping from page to page, my jaw dropping further and futher in disbelief at the absurd things Shatner was coming up with for these characters to do. All of this might have been better had these characters acted anything like the Kirk and Spock we know from any Star Trek series...but unfortunately, this is Kirk and Spock in name only.
I'm sure my neighbors loved the sound of the book repeatedly hitting the wall as I threw it across the room. And I'm sure I entertained the people at the gym as I kept shaking my head, muttering "You're kidding" as I read the final few chapters working out on the treadmill.
This is, without a doubt, one of the worst examples of Trek fiction out there. Don't waste your money or your time on it.
That must have extended to a lot of other
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fans because sales were good enough to bring about a second and then a third novel. Then a new trilogy and another one after that, creating what is referred to in the Trek fiction universe as "The Shatnerverse."In the Shatnervise, the entire universe revolves around James T. Kirk. And while I'm a huge Kirk fan, I can't necessarily say this is a good thing. In Shatner's Trek-world view, nothing can be done, no evil can be defeated without the manliness that is Kirk. As each novel has gone along, the line between Kirk and Shatner has slowly blurred to the piont that you can't really tell any more whether Shatner is making up adventures for himself or his most famous role.
Which all brings us to the latest installment from Shatner. This time, instead of going forward, we go backward to the earliest days of James T. Kirk and his admission to Starfleet Acadamy.
Now, let me preface this by saying that if you're a Trek continuity geek, you need to just put this book down and walk away. I enjoy continuity but I'm not as much a slave to it as some. I can enjoy a good story that has a few continuity violations. That said, this one made my head hurt with the number of liberties taken with Trek canon. It's hard to imagine how co-authors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens could help write this without at least asking, "No really, Bill. You want to do that?"
The story postulates that Kirk and Spock met as young men on Earth. Both are at the 23rd Century version of a brothel when they meet. Spock is there, selling Vulcan artifacts under the table to expose a conspiracy in the Vulcan embassy and Kirk is there hiding from the law. Seems the Kirk we meet here at 17 is pretty much your standard young punk who hates everything to do with Starfleet. Shatner tries to explain this by flashing back to Kirk's experiences at the hands of Kodos the Executioner.
Kirk catches the attention of some mysterious figure in Starfleet and is blackmailed into joining Starfleet Acadamy. Yes, you read that right--blackmailed into joining. But unfortunately, this is not the most absurd plot twist we're asked to believe. As the story goes along, we find out that Kirk's on the trail of a conspiracy that just happens to cross paths with the conspiracy Spock is unravelling. Suddenly, civilization as we know it is threatened and only Kirk and Spock can save us all--again.
The final half of this book found me flipping from page to page, my jaw dropping further and futher in disbelief at the absurd things Shatner was coming up with for these characters to do. All of this might have been better had these characters acted anything like the Kirk and Spock we know from any Star Trek series...but unfortunately, this is Kirk and Spock in name only.
I'm sure my neighbors loved the sound of the book repeatedly hitting the wall as I threw it across the room. And I'm sure I entertained the people at the gym as I kept shaking my head, muttering "You're kidding" as I read the final few chapters working out on the treadmill.
This is, without a doubt, one of the worst examples of Trek fiction out there. Don't waste your money or your time on it.
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LibraryThing member whjensen
Go back in time to a James T Kirk is a...Well, he's a young punk. And Spock is struggling through an identity crisis of who he is - Vulcan or human. Throw them together and join old friends 20 years before you knew them.
Shatner's book, Collision Course, defies other Star Trek books (and most likely
The danger of a book like this, and Shatner does go off the rails, is a loose plot with deus ex machina. There are stretches of the book where the author seeks to delve into his television character more deeply or tries to psychoanalyze Spock. Good in small amounts, Shatner risks going too far. Likewise, he introduces elements that go beyond setting aside reality. He has a group of a few raw cadets steal a most advanced starship. Something straight out of...the third movie, but done by the characters of the tb show after years doing their jobs.
So..do you like a ride? Did you grow up watching Star Trek but set it aside? Can you forgive an oldish man his literary jaunt to his past, with loads of "Huh? He can't have really meant that, could he?" moments? Then read it. It's fun, it's light, and you get the sense that William Shatner is not ready to be done being Captain Kirk.
Shatner's book, Collision Course, defies other Star Trek books (and most likely
Show More
the movie coming out) and seeks to show Spock and Kirk in their first meeting. I'm not a big Star Trek book fan. In fact, this is the first I've ever read. But I think I've seen all the episodes. That is an advantage here, because I can revel in Shatner putting on a character he knows better than anyone else. This is not literary classic time here, folks, but a guilty pleasure. Character development? Pshaw. Good writing? Go read Edgar Sawtelle. This is merely FUN, with a capital F-U-N.The danger of a book like this, and Shatner does go off the rails, is a loose plot with deus ex machina. There are stretches of the book where the author seeks to delve into his television character more deeply or tries to psychoanalyze Spock. Good in small amounts, Shatner risks going too far. Likewise, he introduces elements that go beyond setting aside reality. He has a group of a few raw cadets steal a most advanced starship. Something straight out of...the third movie, but done by the characters of the tb show after years doing their jobs.
So..do you like a ride? Did you grow up watching Star Trek but set it aside? Can you forgive an oldish man his literary jaunt to his past, with loads of "Huh? He can't have really meant that, could he?" moments? Then read it. It's fun, it's light, and you get the sense that William Shatner is not ready to be done being Captain Kirk.
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LibraryThing member lycomayflower
This is a story of teen-aged Jimmy Kirk and how he ended up on the path to becoming Starfleet captain and legend James Tiberius Kirk. There's at least one other Star Trek novel which follows this same premise, though that story is very different. Yet, however many permutations of young!Kirk we get
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(I know of three: this novel, Diane Carey's Best Destiny, and Star Trek XI), there's one constant: Kirk is always portrayed as a troubled, rebellious, smart kid who only ends up on his way to greatness because an honest, weather-worn Good Man (TM) takes an interest him. I'm okay with that as a cultural myth for everyone's favorite captain of the Enterprise, but I wonder where it comes from, as it seems to be in direct conflict with canon (Kirk tells Bones, in the episode "Shore Leave," that he was studious and "positively grim" as a first-year cadet--hardly the image of a just reined-in trouble-maker). Anyroad, point being that this is a fun vision of Kirk as a teenager. There's a plot, and it holds together alright, but the point of it (and the book) is to let Jimmy Kirk run around being troubled and smart and charming. This it does well. All kinds of points, too, for Kirk's interactions with a young Spock; for the appearances of Sam and George Kirk, and Finnegan and Mallory; and especially for the exploration of what happened to a fourteen-year-old Kirk on Tarsus IV and how those events shaped him afterward. Show Less
LibraryThing member burnit99
Most of William Shatner's other Star Trek novels are written in the same pretentiously grandiose staccato as his acting style. But this one actually isn't badly written; my speculation is that by this time Shatner's co-writers have wrested more creative input from him. I found the storyline
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intriguing also, being a prequel that shows how a young Kirk and Spock (17 and 19, respectively), both dealing with teen and parental angst, reluctantly join forces (their first meeting) to thwart an attempt by Kodos the Executioner to steal dilithium from Starfleet. The Reeves-Stevens creative team has a nice touch for bringing in obscure references to the Star Trak literary canon without beating the reader over the head with their Trekky acumen. Show Less
LibraryThing member Jennifer35k
The idea of putting Spock and Kirk together when they were young and attending academy was amazing! William Shatner is one hell of a writer and I loved this book. I read this book in about 3 days and have hung onto it for several years. I will not go into the story since I do not want to give
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anything away, but if you are interested in the younger years than you should pick up this book. Well, pick this book up for its sexiness! LOL! Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
I downloaded William Shatner's novel early this year, in the first flush of my reinvigorated Star Trek crush, and took a year plucking up the courage to test the author(s) narrative flair. Whatever the arrangement between Shatner and his ghost writers, this is a readable addition to the many and
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multiform range of ST novels, paying fan service to 'Spirk' and Tarsus IV, and with a guest appearance from the Enterprise herself, but I was hardly blown away. The plot is similar to the rebooted movie version of the original series, with a plucky, rebellious Kirk fighting his Starfleet destiny and meeting up with Spock in his teens, and Shatner still has an intuitive sense of his iconic character, yet I still prefer the implied canonical backstory of the show over this teen adventure. I'm not exactly devastated that parts two and three of the planned trilogy never came about! Show Less
LibraryThing member JudithProctor
I'm not a big fan of Shatner the man, but he had the sense to pick excellent co-writers and to make sure they got credited. Judith and Gar Reeves- Stevens have written some of the best Trek fiction out there.
This is a very enjoyable story that fits seamlessly in to Classic Trek continuity.
This is a very enjoyable story that fits seamlessly in to Classic Trek continuity.
LibraryThing member Chris_El
I needed something a bit frivolous to read because I've been inundated with technical reading and I've been on a history/biography kick lately.
Not sure if this fits with Star Trek cannon but it was a reasonbly fun ride.
Not sure if this fits with Star Trek cannon but it was a reasonbly fun ride.
LibraryThing member Kiri
I enjoyed the humor and the "back story" proposed by this novel. I really laughed over the final few chapters. There's a moral .. but it would ruin the tale to tell it. Also I do suspect we have some Section 31 in this book as well, even if it is not named as such.
Original reading: Read from
Original reading: Read from
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December 12 to 13, 2010 Show Less
Call number
FIC H Star