Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the 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 read-along book club.
So far Captain Kirk is off to a rough start on his first day as captain of the Enterprise. He can’t get the first officer he wants, his medical officer hasn’t arrived, the command staff already thinks the worst of him for not being their old captain, his helmsman doesn’t want to be here…and something is in his shuttlecraft bay. It’s not going to get better from here, folks.
To say that Kirk is not happy he’s pretty much serving as the first Starfleet USO courier is an understatement. And I do understand both sides. The admiral wants to give Kirk a bit more recovery time and Kirk wants a mission that will help him make sure he has his nerve still. What he doesn’t know is that at their first stop Koronin is planning to begin her one ship assault on the Federation. (Oh, and she has a pet primate she names Starfleet. She holds a grudge.) At least we get to see Kirk make piece with the troupe’s leader. Who’s a girl and this Captain Kirk so I think we know how this will turn out.
I just realized something, by the way. Kirk’s first adventure on the Enterprise is just after he was seriously hurt, and the first adventure WE see of Christopher Pike is after a mission where he got hurt. It’s probably a coincidence but I still find it interesting. I also like the name of this troupe, now that they’re doing the first vaudeville act in space: the Warp-Speed Classic Vaudeville Company. Oh, and she has a Pegasus “equiraptor”. I’m not sure…how to pronounce that, actually, or what the point is for giving wings to a horse when it can only fly in 1/10g gravity and even that’s theoretical. She–the director and “horse” trainer, Amelinda Lukarian (or Lindy to her friends and the guy writing these reviews) talks about how nobody complains about genetic modification improves or makes more food (maybe in the future; in the present there’s a huge backlash against “non-organic” animal and vegetable growth) but complains about creating a “Pegasus” or Chimera. Except THOSE have a point, to feed more people. What’s the point of a Chimera or a winged horse that can’t fly but does eat meat and goes nuts because it should fly thanks to the spliced-in bird DNA but can’t because you can’t actually make wings big enough for a horse? I don’t get it.
It’s nice to see Kirk realize what an equiraptor’s backside he’s been and try to smooth things over with Lindy. Will this good will extend to the crew and will McCoy finally get on the ship? We may find out in the next chapter and our next installment.
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[…] is what I’m saying. No wonder vaudeville was even less out of fashion in the First Adventure novel than it is today. I’m surprised anyone remembered […]
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