Book Review: Star Trek #74: The
Fearful Summons
Written by Denny Martin Flinn
Pocket Books, $5.99US/$7.99Can
273 pages
This is one of the first books to mention the Excelsior and
her crew; the problem is, they start by having the crew captured
and needing Kirk to rescue them. They are captured by a race
who's main occupation seems to be piracy. Normally this would
be bad enough, however, a large number of the aliens appear to
be religious fanatics who believe they will soon lead a Jihad
against the rest of the galaxy of "non-believers in the
only way".
While the story is entertaining enough and quite well written,
I find it somewhat bemusing that even the crew of the, much larger,
Excelsior seem unable to work their way around the galaxy without
the help of James T. Kirk.
There are also several fairly amusing parts in this novel,
set after The Undiscovered Country. One of the best is
when the now-retired Kirk wanders into a pub frequented by officers
and cadets from the nearby Star Fleet Academy. The reaction he
causes among the younger members of the crowd is vaguely similar
the what happens when he walks down the hallway at a convention.
However, in the pub he does not need a group of bodyguards.
The book has some bad points. Fortunately, these are more
than outnumbered by the flair of writing and the coherent script.
All in all, this one gets 5/10.
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