(I just closed the book, and my thoughts are mostly inchoate, more feelings at the moment.)
What a fantastic book. What an even more enjoyable reading experience.
First off, Ms. Bonanno has done again so well, so expertly, what she did in Burning Dreams: go behind the screen and behind the mask to reveal what I think of as the unabridged story. In Burning Dreams, it was Vina she brought to life, and although the novel is ostensibly the biography of Christopher Pike—and a fascinating one at that—it was the revelations about Vina, about what was (hypothetically) going on behind the mask and the screen, interspersed between what we saw and heard in "The Menagerie", that was most engaging and electrifying in the novel.
I cannot recall the specifics, but I remember at the time thinking, "This is the feminist lens I want and am hungry for in order to make "The Cage" and "The Menagerie". . . I'm not sure what. More complete? Maybe.
In Unspoken Truth, she reveals the impact on--Saavik, Spock, Amanda, Sarek, Kirk--and aftermath of the events of the trilogy of Star Trek stories told as the movies/novelizations: “The Wrath of Khan”, “The Search for Spock”, and “The Voyage Home.”
(No coincidences. I bought 150 Trek books in 2004 and 2005 after I first read Avatar and A Stitch in Time and realized that these literary adventures did not live down to my feared expectations. I've got 8 books left. I'd meant to read the omnibus--Duty, Honor, Redemption--for over two years but only dove into it in January, so fresh off the broadening and deepening of the narrative and characters presented by Vonda N. McIntyre, I looked forward to another foray into that world. Oh, how my expectations, already high from my love of the author's previous books--the aforementioned Burning Dreams and Catalyst of Sorrows--were left in the dust.
Bonanno is terribly gifted--the story she tells, the pacing, the words she chooses like paint pigments from a palette. (Careful, boy, slipping into alliteration.)
This entire book was a treasure to read. Writing (and struggling with) my own novel, I found myself in awe as she deftly sketched Saavik's past on Hellguard, interweaved the impact of this on her present in the unfolding story, and interspersed both of these with gems revealed about the immediate past events that Saavik—and we, the reader and viewer, the lovers, of Star Trek—has suffered through: the murder and mayhem perpetrated by Khan; the death and resurrection of her savior and mentor; said mentor's difficulties after the refusion on Vulcan and grief that he is possibly lost to her forever; the murder of David Marcus and guilt that she could have somehow prevented this; setting aside her Self in order to save Spock when the time came for pon-far; her encounter with Spock on board the H. M. S. Bounty before the crew depart Vulcan and her; and all of this on her training cruise as a cadet.
Touché, Ms. Bonnano. I don't know if any of us ever really appreciated the effects of the trauma that Saavik (and those other kids on the "little training cruise") at age 21 went through in a very compressed period of time. Your book does her and them justice.
Finally, as a lover of books and good writing (and having spent the last few years learning what elements make for good writing, I am that much more appreciative), reading Bonanno is sipping the perfect cocktail after work while one begins one's evening: joy, relaxation, appreciation, anticipation.
D. Browning Gibson
What a fantastic book. What an even more enjoyable reading experience.
First off, Ms. Bonanno has done again so well, so expertly, what she did in Burning Dreams: go behind the screen and behind the mask to reveal what I think of as the unabridged story. In Burning Dreams, it was Vina she brought to life, and although the novel is ostensibly the biography of Christopher Pike—and a fascinating one at that—it was the revelations about Vina, about what was (hypothetically) going on behind the mask and the screen, interspersed between what we saw and heard in "The Menagerie", that was most engaging and electrifying in the novel.
I cannot recall the specifics, but I remember at the time thinking, "This is the feminist lens I want and am hungry for in order to make "The Cage" and "The Menagerie". . . I'm not sure what. More complete? Maybe.
In Unspoken Truth, she reveals the impact on--Saavik, Spock, Amanda, Sarek, Kirk--and aftermath of the events of the trilogy of Star Trek stories told as the movies/novelizations: “The Wrath of Khan”, “The Search for Spock”, and “The Voyage Home.”
(No coincidences. I bought 150 Trek books in 2004 and 2005 after I first read Avatar and A Stitch in Time and realized that these literary adventures did not live down to my feared expectations. I've got 8 books left. I'd meant to read the omnibus--Duty, Honor, Redemption--for over two years but only dove into it in January, so fresh off the broadening and deepening of the narrative and characters presented by Vonda N. McIntyre, I looked forward to another foray into that world. Oh, how my expectations, already high from my love of the author's previous books--the aforementioned Burning Dreams and Catalyst of Sorrows--were left in the dust.
Bonanno is terribly gifted--the story she tells, the pacing, the words she chooses like paint pigments from a palette. (Careful, boy, slipping into alliteration.)
This entire book was a treasure to read. Writing (and struggling with) my own novel, I found myself in awe as she deftly sketched Saavik's past on Hellguard, interweaved the impact of this on her present in the unfolding story, and interspersed both of these with gems revealed about the immediate past events that Saavik—and we, the reader and viewer, the lovers, of Star Trek—has suffered through: the murder and mayhem perpetrated by Khan; the death and resurrection of her savior and mentor; said mentor's difficulties after the refusion on Vulcan and grief that he is possibly lost to her forever; the murder of David Marcus and guilt that she could have somehow prevented this; setting aside her Self in order to save Spock when the time came for pon-far; her encounter with Spock on board the H. M. S. Bounty before the crew depart Vulcan and her; and all of this on her training cruise as a cadet.
Touché, Ms. Bonnano. I don't know if any of us ever really appreciated the effects of the trauma that Saavik (and those other kids on the "little training cruise") at age 21 went through in a very compressed period of time. Your book does her and them justice.
Finally, as a lover of books and good writing (and having spent the last few years learning what elements make for good writing, I am that much more appreciative), reading Bonanno is sipping the perfect cocktail after work while one begins one's evening: joy, relaxation, appreciation, anticipation.
D. Browning Gibson
