The Antares Maelstrom (Star Trek: The Original Series)

...to disappoint. I kept thinking the book was written for Early Teen audience. But no, this is just how he writes. This book went straight to the donation pile.

Fun adventure but a little off-balance and inconsistent. It is nice that some of the tension just comes from the crew being spread around. Spock and Chekov have a good buddy cop adventure -- could've used more of this. Sulu's station sabotage plot seems a bit aimless and I'm underwhelmed with how it wraps up -- but a regular whodunit probably would've also been frustrating. Scotty has a nice adventure that ends a little oddly: you think there's more to come, but no, all's well when he next shows up. McCoy is underused. Uhura really is the highlight of this book: she has great leadership moments, and it is nice to see her shine somewhere other than the communications console.

Out of all the many incarnations of Star Trek, the Original Series remains my favorite. And reading the novels has become a nice bonus, as it provides a way to have even more adventures with the starship crew we've all come to love and admire. So when a good friend of mine gifted me this book, I eagerly dove right in, and found myself wishing this were an actual episode.

When a rare and valuable mineral called pergium is discovered on Baldur III (a planet that's friendly with the Federation but technically not a member), a tidal wave of excited prospectors from across the galaxy swarm the planet to try and strike it rich. When this modern day gold rush proves to be too much for Baldur III's natives to handle, the Enterprise is called in to help keep the peace and get the irritated, unorganized proceedings under control. But one after another, dangerous problems arise. Baldur III's power plant is on the verge of melting down. Contraband tea is being smuggled in from Yurnos--an undeveloped, pre-warp planet that, should the smuggling continue, will violate the Prime Directive. And right in the flight path to Baldur III is the Antares Maelstrom--a dangerous nebula that no ship has ever survived a trip through. Between Spock and Chekov heading off to Yurnos to deal with the smugglers, Sulu staying behind on a space station to guard the Maelstrom and catch a saboteur on said station, and Scotty and Uhura holding the fort on Baldur III's surface, is the Enterprise's forces being stretched too thin? And when rumors spread about a fabled safe shortcut through the nebula, will this be the day that a ship manages to survive the deadly Maelstrom?

Well, it's obvious that if you're reading a Trek novel, you've seen the show and are a fan of it, as this book (and any Trek book, really) basically reads like a professionally published fan fiction. Going in, they expect you to know who all the crew members are, what the Federation is, and what not. And although many plot points are explained well enough for a more casual fan, this is one story that a newbie Trek fan isn't ready for. You definitely need to have more than just a passing knowledge of the Original Series in order to understand most of what's going on. The plot contains TONS of callbacks to classic episodes like, "Dagger of the Mind", "The Cloudminders", "Who Mourns for Adonis", and many others.

We have no less than three major subplots going on all at once, and the author manages to juggle them all perfectly. And in amongst this modern spin on a "wild west"-style gold rush scenario, all three plots carry the theme of branching out into new, undiscovered territory. Baldur III's colony must decide on whether they want to join the Federation or not, with the lingering fear that they'll lose some of their independence. Thus, we see the domino effect of what can happen when a settlement is unprepared for a population boom and when they refuse outside help for too long (especially when said outside help is clearly better equipped to deal with the disaster). We get to see Spock and Chekov go undercover on a pre-warp planet and see the tragic consequences of breaking the Prime Directive. And Sulu must help guard the Maelstrom against anyone daring to try and pass through it, and in the process, discovers a life form like no other.

All the main bridge crew are given plenty to do, with each person having their own separate adventures that all somehow tie into the gold rush. Fans of Lt. Sulu will especially be happy, as this is the most screen time I've ever seen him get, both in the show AND in the novels. And overall, these overlapping plots are a different and nice change of pace compared to the usual Trek stories. It's interesting to see tons of regular people who aren't diplomats or officers or anything, painting a bigger picture of what life in the future is like. The stakes are high, but not in a world-ending "the whole planet is about to explode" kind of way. And most relatable of all, there's plenty of instances to show how some people selfishly take advantage of a tragedy to make a quick buck, and simultaneously, how selfless others can be in uniting to save and protect each other in the face of a disaster.

Needless to say, Greg Cox is becoming one of my favorite Trek novel writers, as he's clearly a loving fan who pays attention to and remembers little details about obscure episodes and characters that other authors sometimes miss. I can't wait to read the rest of his works.

Listened to this as an audiobook. It had a rather slow start in the beginning, but once it got going it was pretty interesting.

One thing that you can say about this book, that you can't say about many Trek novels, is that you actually get a decent amount of "screen time" for all of the characters, not just Kirk and Spock. I especially liked the subplots about Sulu and Uhura in particular.

Good book

Arrived on time and good condition!

Book was in very good shape. Don't remember if was new or used, but looked like new. Came in the time I was told it would be shipped

Great book for trekkies and newbies alike. A fun little Trek-inspired diversion to what reads like an (updated) lost episode of the original series. Loved it!

Wait for me to read/ only been four days since I received

New story. Exciting.