(no subject)

[skygiants]

I would say that genarti lent me Laurence Yep's Shadow Lord, which is perfectly true, but, uh, the lending only happened after I lurked over her shoulder while she was buying things on Amazon saying things like 'hello, my Star-Trek-fan-shaped friend! Have I mentioned yet that the brilliant Laurence Yep has written an out-of-print Star Trek novel, available for less than a dollar on Amazon, that I would really like to read? Because I could mention it again, if it would help.'

Anyway the point is that she bought it, entirely of her own accord, and then read it and then kindly and again entirely of her own accord lent it to me! From the back cover, which informs me that the whole book is about SPOCK and SULU and an ALIEN PRINCE, I was already anticipating great things:



And, wonderfully, the alien prince does in fact have a fantastic eighties style sense and lots of mascara, although he probably looks a bit less human than in that picture. The basic plot is that the prince has spent most of his formative years being educated on Earth and is now returning home to a low-tech and politically vicious home culture, which is pretty clearly a setup for Laurence Yep to do two things: have Spock talk about being a third-culture kid, and have Sulu swordfight ALL THE TIME. (Sulu also gets a chance to talk about being a third-culture kid, and Spock also gets to swashbuckle a bit, but mostly it is the other way around - and, having seen George Takei swordfight, I'm not going to complain about this.) Most of the rest of the cast barely appears. Kirk's in the beginning a bit to sit back and go LOLOLOL at everyone, which seems about right for Kirk. genarti, who is, as I have said, much more of an OST fan than I am, finds much of the Spock dialogue interesting but a bit OOC; I think she's probably right, and you can tell where Laurence Yep is Putting This Discussion Here (subtle is nooot the word for much of the book) but at the same time I'm glad Laurence Yep got a chance to put that discussion there. And did I mention all the swashbuckling? There is A LOT of swashbuckling. Plus a hilarious attack of giant evil cockroaches! (I am pretty sure Laurence Yep was also really excited to be writing a novel not for kids where he could kill extras off in a noble Dumas fashion all over the place.)

The book isn't entirely unproblematic - I do find it totally hilarious whenever Spock and Sulu start talking about how the Federation totally just helps other cultures modernize without having ulterior motives, NO REALLY, IT'S ALTRUISTIC AND IDEALISTIC AND STAR TREK IS SUPPOSED TO BE SET IN A POLITICAL UTOPIA WE SWEAR, let's watch Laurence Yep try to convince himself that this is possible because these are the rules of the franchise! Also most of the aliens seem to have random and inexplicably Hindu names, which was disorienting for me and probably would be moreso to someone who would recognize that trend sooner. But overall I found it highly enjoyable; I would be so much more likely to watch more Star Trek if 50% of the focus was always on Sulu swordfighting everything.

Comments

[libitina]

All of my old star trek novels are carefully packed away into boxes under my sister's old bed in my parents house. Since she left for college in 1993, the room has been a repository for every thing that did not have a place - and now the room is filled to the ceiling and there is barely space to open the door. But I ~want~ those old star trek books!

[skygiants]

Oh, FRUSTRATION! I have many old books tucked away in my parent's house, but at least I can usually make my way through the clutter of my old room to reach them . . . mostly.