Star Trek: Prime Directive - Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

"You have violated our most sacred commandment, James T. Kirk -- and in doing so, destroyed a world. As of this day, you are relieved of your command, stripped of your rank and all accompanying privileges, and discharged from Starfleet. May whatever gods there are have mercy on your soul."

Just like that, the Enterprise is gone, Kirk, Spock, Sulu, and Chekov are forced to resign, Scotty is held at a useless post he doesn't desire, and Uhura is found guilty of crimes against the Federation. On top of all that, the world that the famous crew supposedly destroyed is in desperate need of help.

Disgraced and ruined, the crew refuses to give up hope, and even though they are apart they fight with all they are to get back to the planet where their careers ended and find out just what happened.

Can the world of Talin IV be repaired? Will the Enterprise ever be the same again? And what is the purpose behind the Federation's stern adherence to the Prime Directive?

As a fan of Star Trek: The Original Series I was delighted to pick up this book for five dollars at an antique sale. I picked it tentatively out of a shelf full of old Star Trek books, liking the look of the cover and hoping that the story wouldn't be atrocious when it came to content. My hopes were confirmed when I finally got around to reading it.

There are a few mild swear words scattered throughout, and one character swears a great deal in made-up languages, but other than that there's hardly anything problematic. Two male characters manage to get passage on a slaving vessel selling Orion slave girls, and when the slaver captain finds that they have no interest in the girls, he labels them "tislins," which they eventually determine to mean eunuchs.

As for the story itself, it's a very fun read. Definitely reminiscent of the Original Series episodes, but expanded into a fuller mystery, and giving more chance to explore the characters' thoughts and emotions. Meant to take place in the last year of the Enterprise's first five-year mission, the book does an excellent job of staying consistent with where the characters and the politics and science were supposed to be at that point on the timeline.

The plot is interesting, and keeps one reading, but not exceptional. The science talk was a bit heavy for me in places, though I found it interesting, and some parts of the plot seemed just a bit disjointed. Not a classic story by any means, but a fun book to read away a few afternoons with, especially for Classic Trek fans like myself.

It goes without saying that it's not a Christian book. References are made once or twice to possible "gods," and there are some evolutionary constructs referenced once or twice, as well as a fair amount of humanistic philosophy showing through. But the focus is on the adventure and the characters, so the non-Christian elements were not very strong, and not present enough to bother me.

Basically, the story felt like another episode of my favorite show, and allowed me to revisit the characters in a very fun way, despite its shortcomings. If you can get your hands on a copy, I'd recommend it for Trekkers who don't mind a few swear words and some average writing.

Stories. The largest frontier. These are the reviews of J. Grace Pennington. Her life-long mission: To explore strange new plots. To seek out new characters, and new settings. To boldly read where no one has read before.

(I couldn't resist...)

Grace Pennington is a homeschool graduate, a prolific writer, and the oldest of nine kids. She's partial to Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, and Daniel Schwabauer, but will consider almost any book. Most of all, she loves Jesus and desires to live her life for Him.