Spoilers TOS: Living Memory by Christopher L. Bennett - Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Kilana2, Jun 11, 2021.

?

Rate Living Memory

  1. Outstanding

    14 vote(s)
    43.8%
  2. Above Average

    12 vote(s)
    37.5%
  3. Average

    2 vote(s)
    6.3%
  4. Below Average

    3 vote(s)
    9.4%
  5. Poor

    1 vote(s)
    3.1%
  1. Kilana2

    Kilana2 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2015
    Location:
    Kilana2
    [​IMG]

    Blurb

    While attempting to settle in as commandant of Starfleet Academy, Admiral James T. Kirk must suddenly contend with the controversial, turbulent integration of an alien warrior caste into the student body—and quickly becomes embroiled in conflict when the Academy controversy escalates to murder. Meanwhile, Captain Spock of the USS Enterprise and Commander Pavel Chekov of the USS Reliant are investigating a series of powerful cosmic storms seemingly targeting Federation worlds—unstoppable outbursts emitting from the very fabric of space. Endeavoring to predict where the lethal storms will strike next, Spock and Chekov make the shocking discovery that the answer lies in Commander Nyota Uhura’s past—one that she no longer remembers….

    https://www.simonandschuster.com/bo...t/Star-Trek-The-Original-Series/9781982165895


    A book I'm looking forward to reading this year.....
     
    Markonian and Cyfa like this.
  2. Reanok

    Reanok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2002
    Ditto I've been looking forward to getting this book. I pre - ordered it.
     
    Ronald Held, Cyfa and Kilana2 like this.
  3. Cyfa

    Cyfa Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2013
    Location:
    Over the Cusp...
    Me, too! I can't wait for the download on Tuesday* I love Christopher L Bennett's Trek novels, TOS movie era, and Uhura, so this can't come soon enough. I'm wondering if Uhura's memory loss is down to Nomad? She might have re-learned her previously acquired skills and knowledge etc, but memories are rather different.

    * which is when my photon torpedoes and medical staff should arrive, too :rommie:
     
    Markonian likes this.
  4. indianatrekker26

    indianatrekker26 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2006
    im hoping im lucky enough Barnes and Noble has copies out early tonight when i hit the store. Ive really been looking forward to this one. I've loved all of Christopher Bennett's movie era TOS books.
     
    Kilana2 likes this.
  5. indianatrekker26

    indianatrekker26 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2006
    I just picked this up at Barnes and Noble tonight. Yup they had 3 copies out. Usually my local Barnes always puts new trek books out the friday before the tuesday release date. I just started it.
     
    Cyfa likes this.
  6. Kilana2

    Kilana2 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2015
    Location:
    Kilana2
    Enjoy it! :techman:
     
    Ronald Held likes this.
  7. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2005
    Location:
    On the USS Sovereign
    Awaiting my copy to appear....
     
  8. Reanok

    Reanok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2002
    I like it when Tos novels has Star Trek movie era stories.I liked Christopher Bennet's Star Trek Movie era movie book I read last year.
     
    TOMFAN and Kilana2 like this.
  9. Leto_II

    Leto_II Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2013
    Location:
    Room 303, The Heart O' The City Hotel
    Gonna be picking this one up tomorrow at Barnes & Noble, but just from glancing at this forum and our Facebook ST timeliners-group, it looks like lots of stores have already placed it out for sale early. :lol: :D
     
  10. Desert Kris

    Desert Kris Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2008
    Location:
    Desert City
    I saw copies of it out this last Friday at my local book store, several days early. The odd thing is they didn't even have the recent Discovery tie-in novel for it's release date, it had to be ordered, but this new TOS novel they brought out with a greater sense of urgency (or maybe it's down to the idiosyncrasies of different booksellers stocking on different days).
     
  11. Extrocomp

    Extrocomp Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2004
    Interesting that this novel establishes that Captain Chandra from Court Martial is the same character as Admiral Nensi Chandra from Star Trek (2009).
    Back in 2016, I changed the Memory Alpha and Memory Beta pages from "Nensi Chandra" to "Chandra (Captain)", arguing that Chandra and Nensi Chandra couldn't possibly be the same character since Chandra looked Indian, while Nensi Chandra was clearly East Asian in appearance. Now I've renamed the Memory Beta page back to Nensi Chandra, but I probably won't be able to do the same to the Memory Alpha page because evidence from a novel means nothing to the Memory Alpha community and the same arguments I used to convince people in 2016 will be used against me now if I tried.
     
    Elwro, Leto_II and TheAlmanac like this.
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    I've always presumed they were intended to be the same character, given that they were both on the panels of disciplinary proceedings against James T. Kirk. I never really noticed the movie actor's appearance. He was an uncredited extra anyway.


    Novels are just conjectures anyway. Well, all fiction is conjecture, but nothing in the novels is binding on the screen version of the fiction unless its creators want it to be. Heck, Star Trek: Prodigy is canonizing the existence of the Brikar from New Frontier, but it's also featuring a regular Medusan character whose portrayal will probably blow away my Medusan worldbuilding in The Higher Frontier.
     
    Leto_II, Markonian and Ronald Held like this.
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    seigezunt, Leto_II, Markonian and 3 others like this.
  14. Desert Kris

    Desert Kris Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2008
    Location:
    Desert City
    Thanks for providing a guide to the sequence of the stories. This will be a good incentive for getting to the Mere Anarchy collection, with the challenge being to plan it so Darkness Drops lines up with the novels.
     
  15. David Weller

    David Weller Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2017
    Location:
    Wales
    Just finished it. Rated outstanding.
     
  16. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2005
    Location:
    On the USS Sovereign
    It has arrived. I intend to start it when I have some time, likely this weekend.
     
  17. Reanok

    Reanok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2002
    I got my book this morning. Looking forward to reading it.
     
  18. Markonian

    Markonian Fleet Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2012
    Location:
    Derbyshire, UK
    Still in the middle of it.
    I'm enjoying this a lot.

    We're dealing with a sci-fi mystery and its grander than a classic "ship, crew & planet in peril" story. It was only now that I've noticed that Christopher's story often weave a grander story than the "one ship, one crew" adventures we're accustomed to in most Trek.

    Another boon is learning something totally new about an established character, and that it's based completely in their existing history. I hadn't realized how much Spock evolved after the V'ger (or is it V'Ger?) encounter until I read Ex Machina. And now we learn how a throwaway drama-gag from TOS is turned into a character-defining moment for Commander Uhura.

    On the note of ships, several previously established ships and their personnel reappear, and a few new ships are mentioned but their classes not established.

    For scenes set aboard the Malachowski-class USS Asimov, I'm picturing DSC-era sets but with TOS movie era-consoled/bridge stations. Presumably, this class wouldn't require such a massive refit as the Constitution-Miranda-class family of ships. Perhaps the deflector dish has been replaced with a blue-glowing bowl.
     
    Leto_II and Kilana2 like this.
  19. E-DUB

    E-DUB Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2011
    Just started mine. It's always nice to see the crew of the Reliant. Noticed that Capt. Terrell addressed Kyle as John. I'd always heard that his first name was Winston. (Both are nods to the actor John Winston, who portrayed Kyle.)
     
    Kilana2 likes this.
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    John is the name that Kyle was previously given in the novel continuity. I think "Winston" is mainly from fan references. DC's Who's Who in Star Trek called him Thomas Kyle.
     
    Leto_II and Ronald Held like this.