Star Trek #83: Heart of the Sun by Pamela Sargent & George Zebrowski (1997)

[Damian]

I just completed reading this novel. It's the last original series numbered novel I had left unread. Memory Alpha gives the year it takes place as 2267, which is probably about right. The time frame definitely appeared to be sometime during season 1. Chekov does not appear at all, Lt. Kevin Riley is still at navigation and Yeomans Rand and Tonya Barrow appears. References are made to season 1 episodes as well, such as "The Menagerie".

It's basically 2 stories connected together. It starts off with the Enterprise on a mission to help some planets restore their computer databases after a flawed update is sent out wiping out their databases (which seems a bit implausible to me since one would think the Federation would have back-up systems to prevent that--but the novel was written in 1997 so it's possible the writers had not considered that). Their job is to help the various planets restore their databases using their own back-ups if they have them or trying to reconstruct them from other sources. The colony on Tyrtaeus III is very independent minded, and many of their colonists would prefer total independence from the Federation. So the computer glitch does not reflect favorably on the Federation obviously. The crew is met with suspicion and almost open hostility. But they succeed in restoring their database.

Which leads us to the 2nd part of the story. An asteroid-like object is on course for the systems sun. The Enterprise finds what appears to be life on the asteroid and plan to investigate. Being that it is their system the colony leadership insists on having representatives on board to monitor what happens. Captain Kirk reluctantly agrees, since the Federation does not want to lose any members and Kirk doesn't want to be the cause of a rift by acting rashly. So one of the leaders who is more inclined to want to remain in the Federation and a more open minded assistant of hers go with them. Meanwhile her political rival has machinations of his own, but as she can't really prove he has ulterior motives she can't air her suspicions.

Eventually they find they can't divert the asteroid from its collision course with the sun and they are concerned based on some of their readings that it could have a detrimental effect on the sun. When they board it to investigate the crew, except for Spock, finds it hard to function inside the asteroid. The passageways are bizarre and the colors on the ship cause the other landing party members issues. They feel they are getting closer to the indeterminate life signs but eventually give up in the maze of bizarre corridors.

Eventually Spock boards the asteroid on his own via shuttlecraft and ends up trapped their when an energy field appears. Kirk is distressed because they cannot beam Spock out before the asteroid enters the sun. But then they are contacted by Spock and eventually he encounters the mysterious aliens on the ship, who have foregone their physical existence in favor of one that appears to be more thought and illusion. Comparisons are made to the Talosians, but Kirk and Spock soon learn that it is very different. However it has caused them to be insular and afraid of outsiders. Like the colony, they prefer to be left alone. Eventually it leaves the system unaffected and the colony appears to decide to remain within the Federation for now.

So overall, it was a decent enough story. We do have a truly alien species and other than some political intrigue on the colony, it's not your typical villain story. The aliens are not villains, it's really all just a misunderstanding basically. The colony is an interesting story in and of itself. Typically the Federation is treated as a utopia, even in the 23rd century. Why would anyone want to leave it or not be a part of it? So it presents a different dynamic. Though the story is ultimately presented as, well, 'why would anyone not want to be part of the Federation.' It doesn't really present the colonist view point in any sort of positive manner. Though they are self-sufficient and hard working so it's not totally negative. You might wonder why the Federation just doesn't say good riddance to such ungrateful ingrates. But then that's not how the Federation works. We are stronger together after all.

The aliens are true aliens, though they appear humanoid to Spock, Kirk and McCoy. Which I thought was a bit unfortunate. Earlier on the asteroid environment is portrayed as totally alien...to the point that it actually causes the human crew members discomfort and even a bit of nausea. It would have been more consistent had the aliens appeared as such (we are told their appearance is likely similar to their 'true' physical form).

The main flaw I saw was the 2 apparently distinct stories that really don't tie together. The earlier story about the data crash is basically the 'excuse' to make sure the Enterprise was in the right place at the right time and is basically discarded in the 2nd half of the book. There's nothing wrong with dual stories. I liked the recent A Contest of Principles which actually had 3 stories going on. But it's all the way it's handled and in this case there is no real purpose to the first story except to make sure they are there for the 2nd. A fair amount of the book was spent on that first part as well (I can excuse it more if it were just a chapter or 2). And the aliens were a bit disappointing after the build-up. You're expecting something totally alien by the time they finally communicate with Spock and it's sort of a let down.

So overall their was some potential for a great story here, but I think the book falls just short of that potential. I'd probably say it's an average book. It holds your interest but you find yourself wanting more.

 

[mastadge]

Their job is to help the various planets restore their databases using their own back-ups if they have them or trying to reconstruct them from other sources.

Too bad Garak wasn't around to do it.

 

[Christopher]

(which seems a bit implausible to me since one would think the Federation would have back-up systems to prevent that--but the novel was written in 1997 so it's possible the writers had not considered that).

Computer backups were a well-known concept quite a bit before 1997. But if everyone in fiction took basic safety precautions, there'd be a lot fewer crises for the heroes to solve.

 

[JD]

I've never even heard of this one.

 

[Damian]

Computer backups were a well-known concept quite a bit before 1997. But if everyone in fiction took basic safety precautions, there'd be a lot fewer crises for the heroes to solve.

This is true . There are certainly plenty of Star Trek episodes, and even movies, that are guilty of doing the same thing.

So I guess I won't hold that against Sargent and Zebrowski.

I've never even heard of this one.

Just the 83rd of 97 original series novels . But in all seriousness it's probably not great enough to remember years later, or bad enough to remember years later. Just an average standalone story.

One thing that was kind of interesting though is that it's one of the few novels that was clearly a late season 1 novel. Most novels that take place during the TV series outside what are clearly early Kirk takes command of the Enterprise stories (i.e. Strangers from the Sky, The Captain's Oath, My Brother's Keeper, etc.) are usually 2nd season or later when Chekov is the primary navigator. Chekov is not mentioned at all in the novel and it's clear, I believe, that the authors wanted us to know this was a late first season episode (which is why 2267 as noted in Memory Alpha sounds accurate). And the few times an episode is mentioned it was always a season 1 episode.

I mean, it's not like an 'oh, wow' sort of thing, just perhaps a little unusual for a straight up 5YM Star Trek novel.

 

[Reanok]

I read this book a few years ago I found it at my used book store.The story was okay I thought some of the astronomy and science was average at best but the story still held my interest and I like it. I have another Star Trek novel by these authors .I thought both Tos novels were worth reading.

 

[Damian]

I read this book a few years ago I found it at my used book store.The story was okay I thought some of the astronomy and science was average at best but the story still held my interest and I like it. I have another Star Trek novel by these authors .I thought both Tos novels were worth reading.

Yeah, that was my feeling as well. Good enough to hold your interest, but probably not something you'd remember years later like, say Destiny or, you know, Chain of Attack (ok, I had to throw that one in there ).

Or a really bad book like Price of the Phoenix. It's funny how we remember bad things as well. Like restaurants. You're more likely to remember a bad one then an average one (usually if I go to a restaurant I haven't been to for a while I think, well I can't remember what it was like but it must not have been bad or I would have remembered it ).

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

It’s also, for want of a better term, sort of a signal to noise ratio - there are SO MANY variations on missions set during the five year mission, it’s harder and harder to remember them all unless something REALLY stood out. They can be perfectly good, serviceable stories that are telling the best that author ever told in the setting, but when just the Pocket Books catalog has more than a hundred stories set in that timeframe, plus the original 79 episodes and any number of fan works, short and long... If they do what they do well, but don’t particularly do anything noteable that does stand out as “oh, this is THAT one,” I think they do start blending into the background.

Like my reread of Trek Lit hit the start of the TNG era right around the start of lockdown, and I’m now just past First Contact a year plus later. In that time... I read them, I enjoyed the majority of them, I can tell you a few authors I wish had more of a presence in Trek Lit, I could name a few I particularly enjoyed, and I could even remember more details if you handed me a specific book, but for a lot of them, despite the recent refresh, I probably couldn’t identify them that much as individual stories.

That’s a marked difference to the Avatar and on era of Trek Lit in the 24th century, because those are ongoing developing stories. Story events of one book had to take place there so story events in later ones do.

Like I strongly enjoyed many of the five year mission novels I read, stories by authors I love, who are still writing. But with so many of them, details tend to slip away unless they did something that stuck for me - If they are the quality I expect from those familiar authors, for example, I might not remember the details so well a few months or years later.

No condemnations or anything, just... There’s a LOT of Trek Lit to go through, and it’s not surprising to see some perfectly good novels slip through the cracks just because they’re solid but not stand out.

 

[Damian]

Like I strongly enjoyed many of the five year mission novels I read, stories by authors I love, who are still writing. But with so many of them, details tend to slip away unless they did something that stuck for me - If they are the quality I expect from those familiar authors, for example, I might not remember the details so well a few months or years later

Yeah, I find that's true. Sure, there are some bad books, and in a way a bad book stands out because it's bad. You're more likely to remember that because it stood out (though for all the wrong reasons). Ditto for a book you really like. My favorite book ever was Chain of Attack (I know, I keep bringing it up must be the 3rd separate thread in a week). I haven't read it in about 20 to 25 years but I remember that book very well. Another is the Destiny trilogy. I haven't read that since it came out but I still remember that well.

But a lot of them just fade into history. I've been re-reading some of the older Pocketbook novels from the 1980s (as part of my summer 'camper' reading ), books that I haven't read since the later 80s or early 90s and it's like reading them for the first time. I might recall a snippet here and there. Like in Mutiny on the Enterprise, a lackluster book overall. Remembered almost nothing except for the one character, Lorelei, who had a hypnotic effect on the crew. Don't know why but that was the one thing I remembered (perhaps because her character was probably the most interesting thing in that book--the one bright spot in an otherwise meh book).

The only other books that end to stick out for me are books that take place in unusual periods. Early Captain Kirk missions, Captain Pike or April related books, movie era books, and Lost Era books (or even books that aren't officially Lost Era but take place during that time like Excelsior: Forged in Fire or Cast No Shadow, or even some of the Stargazer books). They tend to get my notice. Foul Deeds Will Rise always comes to mind because I always found the period between TFF and TUC to be underserved by the novels. So when someone writes a novel during that period I'm more likely to remember (hint--hint ).