Star Trek #3: The Klingon Gambit by Robert Vardeman

[Damian]

I just completed my re-read of "The Klingon Gambit", released 10/1981. It takes place around Stardate 4720 and Memory Beta puts the time frame around 2268 which sounds about right. It has been years since I read this and I didn't remember a thing about it.

The Enterprise is sent to Alnath II, and on route they encounter a ship full of dead Vulcans. Once they reach Alnath II they meet up with a Klingon dreadnought ship which apparently is capable of destroying the Enterprise, called the Terror (a bit obvious of a name but there you go ). Once they reach the planet the meet up with an excitable Andorian archaeologist, Threllvon-da, who only cares about his new discovery of an apparent ancient society and a mysterious pyramid on the surface. The Klingons are making trouble, of course, and we learn later they mostly care about mining the planet for topaline, which is used in their life support systems (I recall hearing about topaline at some point during the TV series IIRC).

Mysterious things start to happen to the crews of both ships. The Klingon captain has to deal with a number of mutinies while Kirk has to deal with Scotty and his assistant who are obsessed over increasing the warp drive efficiency by removing other ship components, McCoy distrusts his machines to the point he actually sews up a wound and resorts to primitive medicine techniques, Chekov has a happy trigger finger, Kyle takes up sculpting while in duty, and Spock shifts between emotionalism and total logic as he is pursued by a love sick assistant. This reminds me of the 2nd season Enterprise episode "Singularity" where the crew become obsessed with trivial matters.

Also, once they discover a city below the pyramid Kirk discovers after a fire fight with the Klingons that the city, after being damaged, self repairs itself, which reminded me a bit of the Borg. Eventually Captain Kirk must engage in some diplomacy once he suspects the cause of his crews behavior before he is able to set things right.

The Klingons are depicted much like one would expect, being that the book was written before even TWOK was released. Though Vardeman a few times notes a certain code of honor among the Klingons, even using the word 'honor' a few times in the novel when discussing the Klingons. But it is a basic form of honor. And honestly, even as treacherous as the Klingons were originally designed to be, they would have to have some code they followed or their entire society would degenerate into anarchy. And being that they were depicted as a martial society, some code of honor would seem to fit. In some ways the Klingon captain reminded me a bit of Kang. Warlike, itching for a fight, but not foolishly so. He's smart enough to know where his best interests lie, and he seems to have a grudging respect for Kirk (though he says otherwise).

Anyway, overall, I found the book to be about average for the era (judging against many current books it would rate probably below average, but I want to be fair and compare it to other books of the era). It did enough to keep my interest, it's better than many of the Bantam era books (which isn't saying a whole lot I suppose). It has the basic things you'd expect out of a book, a problem, a number of issues that arise, the crew must overcome that problem and the problem is solved. It's the kind of book you read, finish, put back on the shelf and probably forget about a year later.

It's always interesting to read books of this era, when there was much more of an open canvas. His depiction of the Klingons seems in line with what we knew at the time for instance.

I was curious to see Kirk leave Ensign Chekov in command when Lt. Uhura was on the bridge. Vardeman did clarify Kirk did this to give Chekov some experience at the conn, but it does seem odd. Doesn't Uhura need some experience in command as well? I thought this a bit unusual. But I guess we did see Ensign Kim in command on Voyager, though overnight. But it would have been nice to see Uhura at the conn maybe at some point.

Anyway, I decided next to re-read Vardeman's other novel "Mutiny On the Enterprise". I have read this one just a few years ago and do recall a few elements of that novel, like Lorelei and her effect on the crew. I just started that one and am up to Chapter 3 and he did write this basically as a sequel to "The Klingon Gambit"--some of the officers he created there reappeared already, and the mission to Alnath II was briefly mentioned.

 

[tomswift2002]

I remember that Vardeman mentioned in, I think Voyages of Imagination that The Klingon Gambit was the first Trek fiction novel bought and greenlit by Simon & Schuster, but in order to launch the series it was decided to go with Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect, as McIntyre was better known.

 

[Desert Kris]

I snagged a copy of Mutiny on the Enterprise for reading down the road. The story elements sounded interesting, but I know sometimes the reality doesn't play to match our expectations. I read somewhere later that Mutiny has some returning elements/characters from The Klingon Gambit. I'm somewhat curious about Mutiny, but The Klingon Gambit isn't really on my radar. The most I can say is that my family borrowed it out of the library once upon a time, but I didn't get around to reading it (but then, they borrowed Strangers From the Sky for me, too, and that did get read eventually...several decades later). The archaeology angle sounds kind of interesting, and a story can't go wrong by including a pyramid.

 

[Stevil2001]

Fun fact: I included an Andorian named "th'Rellvonda" in The Tears of Eridanus as my tribute to this book. I figure it was just Anglicized in a different way; presumably he's a family member. (In retrospect, I wish I'd made him a different gender, so it was "ch'Rellvonda" or something, make the Easter egg a little more hidden.)

I always thought the painting of the Klingon battlecruiser on the cover was pretty great. According to ISFDB, Andy Lackow didn't do any other Star Trek covers, though.

 

[Damian]

I remember that Vardeman mentioned in, I think Voyages of Imagination that The Klingon Gambit was the first Trek fiction novel bought and greenlit by Simon & Schuster, but in order to launch the series it was decided to go with Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect, as McIntyre was better known.

Yeah, I think I saw that on Memory Beta when I was doing some 'fact' checking on my review. It was released only a few months later IIRC than "The Entropy Effect."

The archaeology angle sounds kind of interesting, and a story can't go wrong by including a pyramid.

Yeah, if you ever do read "The Klingon Gambit" don't be too disappointed about that. There is basically one chapter that covers what's under the pyramid and that was interesting, but that's about all. And not is all as it seems (I'll just leave that hanging since I don't want to ruin the ending . Other than the pyramid being there and a physical description, there isn't a whole lot about it. There are a few scenes here and there on the planet, but most of it covers some sort of conflict, either between the Andorian and Kirk about him not having his proper tools to do his dig, or between the crew of the Enterprise and the Terror.

 

[mastadge]

I just started that one and am up to Chapter 3 and he did write this basically as a sequel to "The Klingon Gambit"--some of the officers he created there reappeared already, and the mission to Alnath II was briefly mentioned.

I've always enjoyed reading through one writer's whole Trek œuvre to better appreciate the little connections that often exist. Of course then you get to a case where someone rather aggressively writes out someone else's recurring character whom you've gotten to know over 10 books *coughlyssacampbellcough*.

 

[Damian]

I've always enjoyed reading through one writer's whole Trek œuvre to better appreciate the little connections that often exist. Of course then you get to a case where someone rather aggressively writes out someone else's recurring character whom you've gotten to know over 10 books *coughlyssacampbellcough*.

Certainly in the early days of Pocketbooks I think you see authors who wrote more than on Star Trek novel often had their own recurring characters and themes. Diane Duane did that probably the most. Diane Carey did some of that as well. It was more rare for another author to carry something from a previous author. My favorite book of all time "Chain of Attack" by Gene DeWeese used a plot device from a previous book (for some reason the name escapes me at the moment--that particular book wasn't all that memorable though). It's more common today, esp. with the relaunches.

I always thought it was kind of nice, esp. when another author decides to carry on something from someone previously.

 

[tomswift2002]

The Abode of Life

 

[Damian]

The Abode of Life

Thanks. It was past my bedtime . Usually I'd check on Memory Alpha when I forget something but I was being lazy. As part of my summer 'camper' reading I've been re-reading the old Pocketbook novels and I'll probably re-read that one (along with Chain of Attack and it's sequel The Final Nexus) and we'll see how it is. I remember very little about Abode and it'll be interesting to see how they all flow together. I first read COA when it first came out, and Abode years later (and at the time I didn't realize COA was a loose sequel) so it will be interesting to read them 'in order.'

 

[Therin of Andor]

I remember the huge excitement of "The Klingon Gambit" turning up in my mailbox.

The novelization of TMP had a local Australian edition and was being sold from spinner racks in supermarkets a week before the movie opened. But "The Entropy Effect" was on an agonizingly slow boat from the USA (as was its other version from UK) and would take at least three months to arrive at Galaxy Bookshop, Sydney - including the frustrating delay after its controversial "Kirk will die!" promotion by "Starlog" - to permit Bantam to release the novels they already had in the pipeline.

Then I discovered "Space Age Books" in Melbourne, which had a mail order facility and listed "The Entropy Effect" as arriving earlier than the Galaxy stock. And it had been such a riveting story when it came! So I ordered "The Klingon Gambit" from them as well - and it, too, beat the sea-freight stock heading to Galaxy. I think "Space Age" was importing air freight copies?

"The Klingon Gambit" arrived, but it was noticeably thinner. Back to the word count of many of the Bantam titles. It didn't grip me like "The Entropy Effect" had. However, I guess the Andorian archaeologist made up for some of the disappointments. I guess owning it early was more exciting than reading it early.

It was when Vardeman's next novel, "Mutiny On the Enterprise" turned up (a sequel!) that I reevaluated "The Klingon Gambit" more harshly. Both of the Robert E. Vardeman titles had plots which relied on the main Enterprise crew (particularly Scotty and his female engineering assistant, Heather McConel, with their makeshift Scotch distillery) acting way out of character as an intrinsic part of the stories being told.

 

[Christopher]

It was when Vardeman's next novel, "Mutiny On the Enterprise" turned up (a sequel!) that I reevaluated "The Klingon Gambit" more harshly. Both of the Robert E. Vardeman titles had plots which relied on the main Enterprise crew (particularly Scotty and his female engineering assistant, Heather McConel, with their makeshift Scotch distillery) acting way out of character as an intrinsic part of the stories being told.

For me, the bigger problem is that Mutiny had them acting out of character before they came under mind control. I was willing to write off McCoy's fanatically exaggerated anti-technology attitude in TKG as an effect of the alien whoozis altering his mind, but then he acted in the exact same way throughout MotE, and I realized it was just caricatured writing.

 

[Damian]

It was when Vardeman's next novel, "Mutiny On the Enterprise" turned up (a sequel!) that I reevaluated "The Klingon Gambit" more harshly. Both of the Robert E. Vardeman titles had plots which relied on the main Enterprise crew (particularly Scotty and his female engineering assistant, Heather McConel, with their makeshift Scotch distillery) acting way out of character as an intrinsic part of the stories being told

That was my issue as well. I could forgive some of it in his first book, The Klingon Gambit. It wasn't a particularly strong story, but I'll forgive some of the incongruities to serve the large plot.

But then he went with the same thing again in Mutiny on the Enterprise. I was like, dude, seriously, we're doing that same plot device again. And yeah, it kind of makes you look at the first book a bit more harshly. Had he did something different with the 2nd, I could let some things go with the first. And as I said, I tried to be fair, comparing it to other books of the era and not of the current era.

At best, it was fair. It had enough of a thread to keep my interest. But it's not something you'll remember years later.