BW Media Spotlight

Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.

Last time the Enterprise got their marching orders: head back to Vulcan with the exiles you were taking from them, pick up some people at least one member has a bad history with if he’s in this story, and take them to a plague planet. Starfleet doesn’t always have the brightest people. McCoy’s experience with interspecies offspring is limited to one half-Vulcan, and while they may be the closest ship (as usual) you know these guys are going to be trouble.

I liked this story as a kid enough to get the book it was a sequel to, so I’m pretty sure I’ll like this again in what’s now my second ever read. On the other hand I’m an adult who has spent at least the last decade or so going over stories with a more critical eye, so I have to ask if the Followers Of T’Vet are even needed in this story. I can understand getting Sorel and Daniel Corrigan, plus her take on Dr. M’Benga (again, this is way before Strange New Worlds gave him more presence). She’s familiar with those characters and their medical expertise. On the other hand we’ve already seen they’re going to be trouble because they land somewhere between Vulcans and Romulans, not exactly evil but ones that still believe in the old ways before Surak led them out of the dangerous past to pursue logic over emotion. We’re know they’re going to be a threat one way or another.

I’m assuming this is to fill the Star Trek action quota, but we already had a perfectly good set-up with the Orions. Borth already sees the potential to sell this off as a bioweapon but without a cure for at least his own people it’s useless in the long term. Just make them the antagonists instead of making Starfleet look like idiot for their own illogic in choosing a ship with potentially dangerous “guests” about to cause an issue. I know it’s a pickup/dropoff mission but I still see this ending poorly. Get the Vulcan Academy doctors over there and join them with McCoy once they drop off the Followers on their new home. That’s not what happened, so we’ll see how badly this goes, though not right away. It’s only the fourth chapter, so let’s get a move on.

Continue reading →