STRANGERS FROM THE SKY - Margaret Wander Bonanno

STAR TREK WEEK


 There was a time that I read every Star Trek novel as soon as they were published.  Until the mid-1980's, these all featured Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew from the original series and with only two or three a year, it was easy to keep up with the releases.  But then, particularly around the time Star Trek: The Next Generation hit stations, books were being released at a rate of 6 or more per year.  Aside from the financial strain of trying to buy that many books, I simply couldn't read that many Star Trek books (there are so many other books to read, too!).

Early on (this book, Strangers From the Sky, was one of the earliest original novels) the books varied greatly in quality and length. Sometimes the character didn't sound or act like the characters we'd come to know through the television series.  But fans like me read them because at the time it was the only way to get new adventures with these old friends.

Margaret Wander Bonanno's Strangers From the Sky was an oddity when I first read it (probably 1987) so I thought I'd give it a try again.  It's still odd.

There are two books here - there's the story of Captain Kirk and Spock and Dr. McCoy in which Kirk, having been reading the non-fiction account of the first meeting between humans and Vulcans, imagines how he might have reacted differently if he'd been involved in that first meeting. And then there's the story about that fateful meeting (titled Strangers From the Sky) included within the pages of the book.  Once we get to the book within the book, the chapter numbers even start over.

I don't think I caught on to this very well 30+ years ago and while it made more sense to me now, I feel as though I may have been more disengaged with this reading. I wasn't so eager for any new Star Trek story and so I was more discerning. 

The novel within a novel wasn't necessary and didn't work.  Or ... it worked just fine, but in that case, we didn't need the odd time travel piece of the story, sending the Enterprise crew back in time to 'correct' the first meeting.  There's just one too many plot devices happening, with characters who feel wooden and simply walking through their roles, to make this the exciting tale that it should be.

Looking for a good book? I held on to my copy of Strangers From the Sky by Margaret Wander Bonanno as a reminder of those more innocent years when I bought a book just because it had the words Star Trek on the cover (as well as some swell Boris Vallejo art). Now I'm hanging onto it because there aren't likely to be many people who actually want to read this.

2-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Strangers From the Sky

author: Margaret Wander Bonanno

series: Star Trek: The Original Series

publisher: Pocket Books

ISBN: 9780671640491

paperback, 402 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more