TOS: The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes
Blurb:
A Romulan Bird of Prey mysteriously drifts over the neutral zone and into Federation territory. Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise investigate, only to find the ship dead in space. When Starfleet orders the derelict ship brought to Earth for examination, the Enterprise returns home with perhaps her greatest prize.
But the Bird of Prey carries a dangerous cargo, a deadly force that is soon unleashed in the heart of the Federation. Suddenly, the only hope for the Federation's survival lies buried in the tortured memory of Commander Spock's protégé, a cadet named Saavik. Together, Spock and Saavik must return to the nightmare world of Saavik's birth -- a planet called Hellguard, to discover the secret behind the Romulans' most deadly threat of all...
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My review from a decade or so ago:
A for the most parts average novel with some great character work.
The story itself is not very innovative and more or less on the same level as many Star Trek novels from the same time frame (around 1990). First of all : In my opinion the whole story wouldn’t even be possible, because I don’t think Starfleet would be so naive to bring an enemy ship, which was captured under rather strange circumstances I might add, directly into the heart of the Federation. I would assume that Starfleet has some secret research stations for occasions like that. And even if they would bring it to earth I find it highly unlikely that they would send parts of the interior around, even if they don’t have any significance on first sight, like the artifacts. O.K., it is said that Harper’s mom has a high security clearance, but in my opinion that doesn’t mean they would send her anything interesting, but rather that they would invite her if Starfleet needed her expertise.
What makes the novel somewhat special is the very good character work, especially for Saavik and a little bit less for Spock. It’s highly interesting to see her background and where she’s coming from. To see her relationship to Spock grow and how both of them benefit from each other is a very good read and the absolute highlight of this novel. It feels a little bit “Woody Allen-ish” to see the two in some kind of father/daughter relationship here and then later as a married couple in the “Vulcan’s …” series, but that takes nothing away from the great work done for the two characters here in this novel. Kirk and McCoy play rather minor roles here and that’s never a bad thing, if you keep in mind how many “Big Three” – novels there are. None of the other of the main cast get really big roles either, but at least there’s some kind of fairness in the way the attention is divided among them.
Overall a novel which wouldn’t be especially worthy to remember, if not for the great Saavik backstory.
Blurb:
A Romulan Bird of Prey mysteriously drifts over the neutral zone and into Federation territory. Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise investigate, only to find the ship dead in space. When Starfleet orders the derelict ship brought to Earth for examination, the Enterprise returns home with perhaps her greatest prize.
But the Bird of Prey carries a dangerous cargo, a deadly force that is soon unleashed in the heart of the Federation. Suddenly, the only hope for the Federation's survival lies buried in the tortured memory of Commander Spock's protégé, a cadet named Saavik. Together, Spock and Saavik must return to the nightmare world of Saavik's birth -- a planet called Hellguard, to discover the secret behind the Romulans' most deadly threat of all...
__________________________
My review from a decade or so ago:
A for the most parts average novel with some great character work.
The story itself is not very innovative and more or less on the same level as many Star Trek novels from the same time frame (around 1990). First of all : In my opinion the whole story wouldn’t even be possible, because I don’t think Starfleet would be so naive to bring an enemy ship, which was captured under rather strange circumstances I might add, directly into the heart of the Federation. I would assume that Starfleet has some secret research stations for occasions like that. And even if they would bring it to earth I find it highly unlikely that they would send parts of the interior around, even if they don’t have any significance on first sight, like the artifacts. O.K., it is said that Harper’s mom has a high security clearance, but in my opinion that doesn’t mean they would send her anything interesting, but rather that they would invite her if Starfleet needed her expertise.
What makes the novel somewhat special is the very good character work, especially for Saavik and a little bit less for Spock. It’s highly interesting to see her background and where she’s coming from. To see her relationship to Spock grow and how both of them benefit from each other is a very good read and the absolute highlight of this novel. It feels a little bit “Woody Allen-ish” to see the two in some kind of father/daughter relationship here and then later as a married couple in the “Vulcan’s …” series, but that takes nothing away from the great work done for the two characters here in this novel. Kirk and McCoy play rather minor roles here and that’s never a bad thing, if you keep in mind how many “Big Three” – novels there are. None of the other of the main cast get really big roles either, but at least there’s some kind of fairness in the way the attention is divided among them.
Overall a novel which wouldn’t be especially worthy to remember, if not for the great Saavik backstory.
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Yeah, never noticed it myself either.
