Star Trek: Demands of Honor (Errand of Fury Book 2) - Kevin Ryan

Title: Demands of Honor (Errand of Fury Book 2)
Author: Kevin Ryan
Published: 2007
Chronological Period: 2267

Available at:
Amazon
The Book Depository
Amazon UK

Review:
"Demands of Honor" is the second novel in Kevin Ryan’s “Errand of Fury” trilogy which continues to explore the build up to a Klingon-Federation War briefly ignited in the Original Series episode “Errand of Mercy”. In this novel we get to see Kirk and the Enterprise being sent back to System 7348, a world inside Federation Space that is home to a lost Klingon colony. Their aim is to oversee a diplomatic mission from the Klingon Empire who are determined to reach out to their newly discovered brothers in the hope of claiming a key system inside Federation space and gaining access to the Dilithium present there.

I particularly enjoyed this middle book in the trilogy as we got to discover more about the Klingons living in System 7348. The primitive culture created by Ryan is very well written and there is action a plenty as would be expected when Klingons are involved. There is also a sense of danger because this society is new to Star Trek lore and therefore I had no idea if some of these wonderful characters may actually perish in amongst the action. It is actually quite nice to read a Star Trek novel where there is a real sense of not knowing in regards to characters that are actually reasonably prominent.

The “lower deck” characters from the previous novels continue to be the main focus of the novel however and I have now grown to like Michael Fuller, the new “redshirt” character introduced in the previous novel. His drive, motivation and background have now been built up to the point that I found myself really engaging in his journey which is full of twists, turns and a few heartfelt surprises.

One thing I did note is that the main crew members felt even more pushed into the background with this novel. They are there and get some important roles in the story but I found they were even less prominent than they have been in Ryan’s other novels of this series.

Overall, this is a thoroughly enjoyable novel which captures more of the feeling from the previous trilogy that its predecessor “Seeds of Rage” did. If you have read the previous novels you will not be disappointed and I am anticipating Ryan’s final novel in the series with great hope.

Star Trek: Seeds of Rage (Errand of Fury Book 1) - Kevin Ryan

Title: Seeds of Rage (Errand of Fury Book 1)
Author: Kevin Ryan
Published: 2005
Chronological Period: 2267

Available at:
Amazon
The Book Depository
Amazon UK

Review:
“Seeds of Rage” is the first novel in Kevin Ryan’s “Errand of Fury” trilogy which is a sequel trilogy to the incredibly enjoyable “Errand of Vengeance” trilogy. As with the previous trilogy Ryan continues to explore the build up to the Klingon – Federation War that briefly occurs in the Original Series episode “Errand of Mercy”. Of course the original star of the first trilogy, the Klingon spy Jonathan Anderson is dead but Ryan continues to explore the lives of the people he was involved with such as his brother, Karel & Enterprise security officer, Leslie Parrish.

The story itself is fast paced, exciting and action packed. In other words, it feels a lot like the final novel in the “Errand of Vengeance” trilogy. Personally, I actually preferred the slower pacing of the earlier novels in that previous trilogy as this did a better job at bringing out the suspense, political intrigue and character development. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book but I do feel that the overall development of the people and intricate politics appears to have stalled a little.

In regards to the characters, I really appreciated that Ryan once again tries to tell the majority of the story from the view point of “lower deck” characters. So those of you who, like me, fell in love with these other characters can breathe easy knowing that you will get to see more from them. In addition, I also enjoy how Ryan still manages to take standard Trek lore and events from the various Original Series episodes and builds on it to enhance both my appreciation of the novel and what I had previous seen on the TV screen.

Overall this was a very competent and entertaining continuation of Ryan’s Klingon-Federation Cold War series. The more intricate development of the characters and some plot points do appear to have come to a halt but the main plot is still moving forward and if you like the more action orientated novel then this book should appeal. Despite my own minor issues I still enjoyed the novel and am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Star Trek: The Joy Machine - James Gunn & Theodore Sturgeon

Title: The Joy Machine
Author: James Gunn & Theodore Sturgeon
Published: 1996
Chronological Period: 2267

Available at:
Amazon
Amazon UK

Review:
“The Joy Machine” is a Star Trek Original Series novel written by James Gunn based on a story outline written by Theodore Sturgeon. Whilst two of Sturgeon’s outlines got converted into actual episodes, namely “Amok Time” & “Shore Leave” this one didn’t make it and therefore this novel is the only way to actually discover the story.

The story follows the crew of the Enterprise who have been sent to the vacation planet Timshel to find out why the planet has quarantined itself & why two previous Federation investigative teams stopped communicating. Upon arrival, Kirk discovers that the people are under the control of a machine known as the Joy Machine which allows the residents to experience pure pleasure as payment for conducting various mundane tasks. This results in a form of severe social stagnation and the crew of the Enterprise soon realise that if this spreads beyond the planet it could spell the end for the Federation.

This plot is actually rather interesting and does feel like a classic TOS episode with it taking a look at how a perfect world for humans actually results in the loss of drive and exploration which could lead to stagnation and potentially worse. However it is probably stretched out a little bit too much in novel form and I do feel it would have worked much better as an hour long TV episode. I found myself getting a little bit bored at times as it felt a little bit padded which resulted in a rather slow pace. I actually think this may have worked better as a short story as the limited length may have helped to make it feel more like the TV episode it was originally planned to be.

The novel is also very Kirk centric which I actually didn’t mind as most of the other Star Trek novels I have read recently weren’t in this mould. If you are a lover of Kirk then I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy this but you shouldn’t expect to see much from the other characters who tend to fade into the background, especially the original ones who I found to be very underwhelming.

Overall this is a rather average Trek novel which does a good job in capturing the mood of the original series although it does feel a little bit bloated by the conversion from Episode outline to full blown novel. It was quite fun to visualise what could have been if the story had become an episode but beyond that I don’t think it was anything special. In addition the Kirk centric nature of the story could put some people off. However, if you can’t get enough everyone’s favourite Starship captain then I think you will enjoy this novel despite the minor issues I have mentioned.