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.

Back to the normal time. Last time we saw the effect of a Vulcan’s passing on their spouse, while I’m expecting this chapter to focus on the result.

I did a whole series about the strengths and weaknesses of each format of media currently in existence. (Unless I missed one. Check out The Art Of Storytelling.) When it comes to prose, especially novels, the ability to really see inside someone’s head without slowing the story is what’s important here. I skimmed through to confirm, but we’re about to see inside the heads of people involved in a Vulcan Mind Meld. Usually with Trek all we get is someone with their fingers on supposedly key parts of someone’s face going “my mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts” and then the Vulcan instituting the meld will randomly say words tied to whatever’s going on. “Pain. Suffering. Hunger. Jelly…donut. I think he really wants donuts, Captain.”

This should be interesting, but I was burned on Prime Directive not really doing anything with the Prime Directive outside of a brief plot device. On the mystery front we grabbed a suspect, but only “suspect” because we know this is a murder mystery, with Kirk and company playing detective. I’m not expecting anything on that front this chapter, since the deal is to help Sorel deal with the death of his wife and the disruption of the telepathic bond. So let’s dive in to a grieving Vulcan’s head. I’m sure everything will be fine.

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