Product Description

No one knows Captain James T. Kirk better than William Shatner, who portrayed him throughout Star Trek, the Original Series, and seven subsequent Star Trek feature films, making him in the process one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable science fiction characters on the planet. Since then, William Shatner has continued to explore and expand the career of Captain Kirk in no less than nine successful Star Trek novels. Now he turns his attention to the one part of Kirk's backstory that still remains a tantalising mystery, and one that his fans have always wanted to read - his formative years at Starfleet Academy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #304055 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

About the Author
William Shatner is known to millions as the actor who played Captain James T. Kirk throughout the original Star Trek television series and several movies. He is now a bestselling science fiction author. Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are a well-known science fiction writing team. They are the co-authors of William Shatner's bestselling Star Trek novels and their other bestsellers include the reference books The Art of Star Trek and The Next Generation: The Continuing Mission.

Customer Reviews

As entertaining as the other Shatner novels
Having read other reviews of this book, I was a bit reluctant to go and get this one. However, as I have thoroughly enjoyed the other Bill Shatner books, I felt I should give the authors the benefit of the doubt.

What can I say, I enjoyed it as much as I did the other books. ST lore is getting exceptionally complex these days, and whilst I consider myself a fan, I am not unduly concerned about the occassion faux pas with how the stories fit into the ST history.

I felt the characterisation was good, and it was pleasing to see more of a Kirk/Spock balance, which is often not the case in the other books.

I for one, am looking forward to the next installment.

No one knows Kirk like Shatner
As fond as I am of Star Trek in all its incarnations, I remain a loyal fan of the original series/films above all the others.

It was refreshing to get something new to read from the "old" ST that was original (mind you, I can read, and have done, ST novels by the dozen from any genre!) and that contributes to expanding our knowledge and understanding of the ST universe.

Jean-Luc is cool, Capn Kate is awesome, Sisko sultry, but James Tiberius Kirk RULES. Put this together with the original and inspirational Spock and Shatner writes in a way no other can. I loved the concept of their first meeting ( kinda explains by episode 2 of the original series how everyone was friends already!) and look forward to many more to come.

Shatner's no Shakespeare, but he "is" James T Kirk.

Enjoy!

Uninspiring Trek fare
Much as the recent Star Trek film gave us a slightly off canon version of Star Trek, this book does likewise, having Kirk and Spock meeting and joining Starfleet at the same time. Kirk has anti-Starfleet baggage and Spock is trying to find his true identify and path in life. The story is spun around Kirk and Spock doing their own investigations into a smuggling ring, both coming at it from different directions and eventually working together.
Well, Mr Shatner knows his character and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens know how to churn out a good Trek novel, but in the end, this didn't really work for me. Having said that I am a Trek fan of old, but gave up on the books a few years ago, only occasionally dipping into one, so maybe I am asking too much.
With this one, the target audience seemed to sit between YA Trek fans and adult fans, but sat uncomfortably on the fence between the two. Kirk is portrayed as a young technological genius (never saw that in the series or films!) and it didn't sit right with the Kirk we eventually saw on screen. Spock is better in the way he is pitched although some of the Vulcans (including some Vulcan bad guys) just did not feel right with what we know about the Vulcans.
So Kirk and Spock scamper through the story, brushing against both Starfleet, assorted family and the bad guys and (in Kirk's case) the trauma of a past incident. Obviously the climax takes place on.... well you can guess where before we slip back into Trek Canon with our heroes joining different branches of Starfleet.
This just felt very average, and I was never really engaged and in summary, it did remind me why I gave up reading Trek books.....