Star Trek: The Original Series: The Children of Kings [Mass Market Paperback]

I was looking forward to a classic untold Captain Pike adventure and Children of Kings started out promising. The story takes a turn and becomes rather boring, focusing on Dr. Boyce rather than Pike. But what really brought me out of it was Stern's reference to the Ferengi Alliance as a source of information for Starfleet. I know, I know..it's a geek point, but let's face it: you're a Trek geek if you're interested in reading this book. And we Trek geeks know that the Ferengi were unknown as a race and identity to the Federation until Picard encounters them in Season one. It's a point that a casual reader wouldn't even notice,and I'll admit that it didn't even affect the story, but it took me out of the story and made me wonder what else the author wasn't aware of. Considering that it's hard to get a shot at writing a Star Trek title, it should be a prerequisite that the author knows his canon or stay away from certain topics.

But, if you're interested in Boyce this book is well written enough that it is worth a try if you don't mind the errors.

This is such a bad mish mash.

The TOS characters we know best, Spock, Number 1, Pike, all act out of character: Spock and Number 1 take off to explore a destroyed space station against orders, apparently without thinking much about it. Pike shows up with the cloaking device and seems surprised to discover that he's been replaced.

And the characters we don't know: The replacement captain just bursting into Number 1's cabin yelling about catching her and Spock together. (and Number 1 and Spock forgetting a formal diner) The engineering Chief (I think he was) getting drunk and telling the captain insulting jokes. Spock being this guys best friend.

what a mess. I can't tell you anything about the plot because I barely understood the parts I read, and didn't bother finishing.

I very nearly did not buy this book because of the poor reviews here- all 3 of them- but bought it anyway when I had some time to kill. The sad thing is that the story starts out pretty good with an interesting dilemma facing the Enterprise crew, and I'm thinking 'what were these guys complaining about?' Halfway through, I found out.

Now, I don't expect much from Star Trek novels. Give me characters true to their characters, good dialog, and a story that isn't silly or plot-less, and I'm fairly happy. I have over a hundred TOS novels on my shelf and I've read many of them several times, even some less notable ones, because they are, if nothing else, FUN. There might be lots of Spock, humor, interesting character interaction, a clever plot, good use of Scotty/Bones/Uhura, etc, as their redeeming quality. The Children of Kings was not fun in any way, shape, or form. I can't see myself wanting to read this again.

As I said, the story is an interesting on to begin with, but halfway through it takes a drastic turn. Boyce is stuck on the Orion ship with Hoto, who sounds exactly like Spock. My thoughts were that the author originally had Spock and Boyce captive together and did not want to rewrite the part of Spock for someone else when he changed the plot.

Boyce is essentially an earlier Bones McCoy and spends his time between flashbacks freely wandering the halls of the Orion ship he's held captive on, looking into various rooms and finding things that shock him. Pike is lost and presumed dead, but we know he's not, so there's not a scrap of tension there. A new guy takes over the Enterprise, but he has an appalling Russian accent that is more distracting than anything else. While Scotty's brogue adds immensely to a story, this does not. Number One is a dull character and Spock isn't very interesting, either.

Number One and Spock sneak off the ship to investigate the destroyed starbase and there's an attempt at excitement and tension...but it falls flat; as time runs out before they must return, the two spend pages discussing if she owes someone an apology and Spock's sprained leg. Once Pike makes his dramatic return, it gets worse: a scene with him trying to take a bath, but crew keep interrupting. It goes on for pages and is nothing but silly.

In the end, all is wrapped up and explained, at least, so there's no head-shaking over what the book had been about. Boyce has the spotlight, with Pike second, so don't expect Spock to play a very large role, despite his picture on the cover.

There are worse Trek books out there, but there are also many that are better, and let's face it: everyone has their own personal tastes when it comes to Star Trek. I can forgive a lot in novels about my beloved Star Trek, but I just didn't find much interesting in this one. But, The Children of Kings does have a decent plot, so you might find that there's enough there to make it worthwhile, if you are forgiving enough.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews  3.1 out of 5 stars