Intellivore

Star Trek: The Next Generation #45

by Diane Duane

The Great Rift lies between the Sagitarius and Orion arms of the galaxy. Stars are scarce there, beyond the authority of the Federation, and legends abound of lost civilizations and of ancient monsters that prey on those who dare to venture into the vast darkness between the stars. When several ships and colonies mysteriously disappear into the Rift, the U.S.S. Enterprise leads an expedition to investigate various disturbing reports. Accompanied by two other Federation starships, Picard and his fellow captains discover a bizarre menace of unimaginable power. And the only way to trap this destructive entity is to use the Enterprise as bait.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Fiction, Media Tie In, Ebooks, Fantasy

239 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

About the author

Diane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than forty years.

Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.

She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood.

Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance."

(From her official website)

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Taking apparent inspiration from the TOS episode The Doomsday Machine this was a pretty chilling tale of a sly, ancient behemoth of an enemy, a boogeyman lurking in the shadows at the edge of the galaxy, shrouded in centuries of myth and legend. The title, while perfectly apt, gives away a bit too much of the mystery in my opinion. This is quite a short novel, and thankfully Duane skips much of the cruft and goes straight to the good stuff.

[Randy Mcdonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I stopped off at the huge BMV used bookstore on Bloor Street in downtown Toronto after work one night in February of 2011, I was surprised and pleased to find a near-mint copy of Diane Duane's 1997 TNG novel Intellivore for just $C2.99. I like Duane, I like her Trek novels, I like that one my copy is packed in my parents' basement on Prince Edward Island), I'd an evening free, so the logic for picking the book up seemed unimpeachable. My conclusion? Intellivore stands up well, a mystery/horror-leaning novel that reflects a lot of Duane's interests and fits in pretty well with many of the themes that modern Trek is exploring.

The novel begins with the Enterprise-D being sent, along with the Galaxy-class Oraidhe captained by the Trill Gohod Clif, to join the long-range explorer Marignano (captained by Ileen Maisel, a former subordinate of Picard) in policing the pirate- and disappearance-prone fringes of the Orion Arm by the eerie ruins of Kepler's Supernova. It's not long at all before the three ships discover that something much worse is hiding in the dark, something that has a taste for souls. Something Must Be Done.

Intellivore fits into the Duaneverse as influenced by TNG and DS9, the blue-green colour of Trill's atmosphere popping here and references made to the sort of generation-starship travels made by the proto-Romulans/Rihannsu and the unusual mathematics of the Hamalki (akin to that of the Trill, it seems) being mentioned in passing. An annoying thing is the discrepancy in the depiction of her mobile trading culture the Lalairu, in the Dark Mirror where they were introduced being a multispecies trading civilization with an impenetrable language, here in Intellivore the Lalairu are shown as a culture drawn from a single species capable of regenerating indefinitely so long as a DNA coil remains Intellivore. Minor discrepancies--let's say they ran into two different Lalairu subcultures--and I can't help but wonder whether Pocket Books in its pre-continuity days forced this shift in the description of the Lalairu.

This novel isn't as immediately engaging as Dark Mirror, though I suspect that may be because Intellivore lacks the Mirror Universe hooks that made Dark Mirror so fantastic (fun-loving Security Officer Deanna Troi, say). It's a quieter sort of story, the initial investigations into piracy and disappearances becoming more complicated when it turns out that there are worse things out there than the quotidian pirate. Some entities don't want your property, or your life even; some entities might want you, the life force that makes anyone a person.

Picard featured prominently, a man trying to lead a coherent response to an unexpected horror, as did Data (our hero) and the Dr. Crusher who outlined the mechanics of what was going on, while her new characters of Captains Clif and Maisel--one mature, the other impetuous, both engagingly inquisitive--got me.

One major element of Intellivore that I appreciated at the time and still do now is the extent to which it's rooted in a wider universe. It's part of the Duaneverse, as I mentioned, and the sentient planet Iruh that sucked the minds of shiploads of proto-Rihannsu makes an appearance here. The action takes place in a three-ship task force, letting the TNG characters interact with their peers in a more socially complex Starfleet environment that we're used to in the novels. There are distinctive cultures, like the hapless life-hating Third Submission colonists on their mission, or the Lalairu. Most interestingly, Intellivore refers to the sciences, not only to the hard(ish) sciences but to the social sciences, to the indexed folklore of a galactic civilization. I encountered this sort of thing much later in Christopher's The Buried Age and liked it even more then. Trek's good as a rule, but Trek that's explicitly embedded in an actual universe is even better.

Intellivore is a fun book, with interesting characters featuring in a compelling plot with plenty of action and cool natural and social background.

[Kyle Muntz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very pleasant surprise. In general, it seems most of these Star Trek novels are just aiming to imitate the feel of an episode--but of course, each author (hopefully) has their own little something to contribute. For Diane Duane, in addition to some unusually polished prose--at moments almost classical--this has a nice hint of something approaching cosmic horror. It still feels like another episode of The Next Generation, but a somewhat unusual one. There are no huge character moments, but it's a cool scenario and nice mystery, and the first TNG novel I've really enjoyed that wasn't written by Peter David.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diane Duane novels are always a treat to read, and in that respect, Intellivore did not disappoint. In some ways, it is a "smaller" story than her other novels, such as the Rihannsu series or Spock's World. However, the stakes are high, and Intellivore comes replete with the numerous character moments that I love. There is real emotion in this novel, and while it is most probably Diane Duane's least-known Trek work, it holds to the high standard of writing I've come to love from her.

Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2014/12/i...

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things to like about this novel: (1) Ms. Duane's ability to take a scientific puzzle and transform it into a life-or-death situation; (2) the ability to take the exploration theme at the heart of ship-based "Star Trek" as inspiration, instead of simply a framework for some other type of story; (3) it takes a near-mythological snippet of Romulan history from her novel "The Romulan Way" and expands it into a unique form of sequel.

Things that keep this novel at a three star rating: (1) Like "Dark Mirror" before it, "Intellivore" is an example of Ms. Duane becoming too enamored with the technobabble inherent in science; (2) Ms. Duane doesn't have quite the same rapport with the TNG crew as she does with the TOS crew -- they occasionally feel off to me; (3) What IS it with her ship names? They are epic, bordering on outrageous...

[rivka · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Romulan Way, the Iruh, a species of intellivores -- with the habit of moving their planet around -- is mentioned almost in passing.

Far too intriguing an idea not to turn into a story of its own! And this novel is that story. Interesting and entertaining, a good but not spectacular ST novel.

[Nico · Rating 3 out of 5]

What in the actual hell? A ST:TNG book with some substance to it?!?! Sorry, the sound you hear is my brain short circuiting. Please contact your service provider for the estimated time until its reboot.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

No problem giving this Star Trek: The Next Generation novel 4 stars, as it's written by one of my favorite S.T. authors, Diane Duane (published in 1997--why didn't I read it before now?).
It works as just a very good science fiction story. The Enterprise is sent off on a mission into "the Great Rift" in space, where stars are few. Ships and colonies have mysteriously disappeared in the Rift and Capt. Picard's job is to investigate the disturbing reports. Picard & his crew also have to work with two other captains and their crews with their Federation starships.
I read the book almost entirely in one sitting. Since I've been reading ST novels since the 70s, they have been easy reads. I can easily picture the various characters and even hear their voices in my head.
What can I say? The Star Trek novels are my "comfort food."

[Minimyzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out interesting, but then found the ending to be lackluster and rather confusing. The intellivore's "motivation" wasn't entirely clear, and while it's interesting to introduce other captains and crews - I really come to these wanting to focus on the enterprise and seeing where an author might bring something new to the relationships amongst the crew. A good mystery was built up, but then the ending didn't resolve that mystery in as clever way as one would hope.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diane Duane can write prose with emotional depth and beautiful language, and her thorough familiarity with the characters of the Star Trek universe makes her one of the most reliable authors in that franchise. "Intellivore" is so far the weakest book by her I've read. The reason for this is easy to point out as the plot of the novel is completely substandard. Starfleet chases a malevolent life form that causes severe brain damage to people who encounter it. That's the premise and that's the whole story.

Fortunately, everything else in "Intellivore" (excluding the awful title) is a perfect manifestation of Duane's talent. There are many illuminating, compelling character scenes and philosophical discussions to make this an interesting, even captivating book. It's beautiful and contemplative, and if the focus of the novel would have been taken a bit more off the hideous plot we might have a true winner here. However when looked at as a whole "Intellivore" has to settle with being an exceptionally well written piece of mediocrity.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I don't know if this is a spoiler but this one was not about the Borg which it looks like the cover suggests - even the title sounds "borg-ish" which I guess is the whole idea after this book came out so soon after First Contact. Anyway, if you look past the cheap trickery of that it's a pretty awesome book. I liked the camaraderie between the three captains in the book and thought the villain, battles and solution were all creative which is just up Diane Duane's alley. Duane's Picard always feels a little too jolly for what I am used to but that's a minor issue. Overall, I liked it and it was a breeze to get though!

[KR · Rating 1 out of 5]

The concept and premise are interesting. I liked this book during the climax; liked the descriptions of the antagonistic force and the action of the solution that was devised.

But… oof. The flaws.

Most innocuous was the use of the holodeck; there were some scenes where it was used to good effect, but others where it seemed to harm the pacing without enough payoff to make up for it.

Second least annoying was that, if this book and The Wounded Sky are anything to go by, Diane Duane is very fond of idioms, metaphors, and literary references. I found this compelling and fitting in The Wounded Sky with the TOS crew, and it added to my experience of that book. But here, with the TNG crew… it felt more out of place. Maybe I’m just not far enough into TNG to know better — I’m currently watching Season 4 — but there’s something about Data of all characters saying lines like “And then the wolf would have gone out into the fold, as it were,” that just feels very out of place to me; not only for the use of the idiom but for the specific circumstances and phrasing.

Lastly and most angering to me, personally, even if I’m aware that many other folk would not share my feelings and may in fact actively agree with the book’s stance, was the book’s handling of disability.

So… look. I can take a premise at face value. This is Star Trek. If a story tells me that the Problem of the Day is eating people’s minds and leaving them irrevocably mind-dead, I can take it at its word. I’m not the kind of reader that feels the need to read an allegory into every last thing. I was nodding along, because when that premise is accepted as true, then questions about long term care and quality of life and characters’ advance healthcare directives are perfectly reasonable. All of that was fine.

Unfortunately, this book ruined that for me by drawing its own direct comparison to real-world mental disabilities. And it wasn’t drawing a comparison to the more genuinely comparable case of things like brain death or persistent vegetative states. No, Diane Duane writes Dr. Crusher giving a whole speech about symptoms that sound a heck of a lot like catatonia and/or high support needs autism. And she ends that speech with the conclusion that those symptoms resulted in “Human beings without the thing that makes them human, without minds.”

And ahahah. Oh. Oh, that speech angered me.

You can say the book is just a product of its time on that front, and that Diane Duane’s psychiatric background being decades ago would have actively trained her into this particular flavor of ableism. You don’t know what you don’t know, and people with autism and intellectual disabilities have had much more opportunity to speak for themselves and describe their own experiences in recent years with technological advances and the disability rights movement.

Nevertheless, I don’t have to like it, I will not recommend it to others, and I hope Diane didn’t express similar perspectives anywhere that would directly affect her “mindless” patients.

(A condensed direct quote, just to make it clear that I’m not interpreting anything the book didn’t explicitly state all on its own: “Then, one day, they took us to a school for people with mental disabilities. […] There was a big playroom, and there were children there who simply stood against the wall — one or two who couldn’t be stopped from repeatedly hitting the walls… And there were a few who just stood, or sat, and looked. Looked out into space, didn’t see anything, didn’t hear you when you spoke to them. […] in that pretty, sunny building, I had seen the most horrible thing in the world. Human beings without the thing that makes them human, without minds.”)

[Andy Stjohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

TNG #45: Intellivore by Diane Duane

I was hesitant to read this book given the mixed reviews it has on Goodreads. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dark Mirror by her, her other TNG book. But I absolutely love her TOS books and My Enemy, My Ally is easily one of the best if not the best Trek novel. But there is so many in the running for that, it’s hard. This book was ok and Duane did a good job setting up the mystery of the Intellivore. I also liked the mention of the Romulan colonists from the Romulan Way, which is just a nice line of continuity. Basically, this book was a murder mystery meets Jaws and Picard and crew were basically fighting Ego the Living Planet.

Duane did a great job of world building for this part of the galaxy and it really added to the mystery of it. It really sold the creepiness of it. However, some of the techobabble felt clunky, particularly parts by Crusher. It felt out of character for her to deliver such complicated logic. She’s still very intelligent and I’m not trying to put her down, but I don’t imagine her saying stuff like that. Also the scenes on the Holodeck (which there was an absurd number of in the book) didn’t always work for me.

She was trying to recreate the scenes in her TOS books where the crew comes together and hang out. Those work really well in those books as this give great character development, but this book made it seem Picard had a holo addiction (putting Barclay to shame). This would have a decent episode if it had some more decent writing, and it felt like Schisms in how creepy it was.

I’m feeling a 5/10 on this one.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A larger than usual font size made this a quick to read Star Trek adventure.

The Enterprise joins another Federation ship to assist a deep space science vessel in exploring why so many ships and colonies are disappearing. The captains of the other ships are terrific characters, brought to life wonderfully by author Duane. When the ships discover what's causing these disappearances, as wells others, things get very serious.

There was much to like about this book: 1, the portrayal of Picard is fantastic; 2. Crusher, who's usually a minor character in Trek novels, really gets some passionate moments, and it's hard for the reader not to sympathize with her; 3. Data has some terrific moments in the book's climax; 4. Captain Maisel was brilliant and had me picturing Frances Sternhagen; 5. Captain Gohod Clif provides another example of a superb Trill character; and 6. The ending. I can't remember the last time I read a Trek novel with this conclusion. It's rare, realistic, fitting, and emotional.

The only element keeping this from a perfect score was the villain. When it's revealed and its perspective given, it's reminiscent of other Trek and Sci-Fi baddies. Not horrible, but nothing new.

I would definitely recommend this for Trek fans looking for something different and for Crusher getting some terrific scenes.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, Diane Duane has written some great Star Trek novels. The Wounded Sky, the Rhiansuu Cycle. Even her previous TNG work, Dark Mirror is pretty cool.

This book has a lot of her signature Star Trek books traits. New characters who are quirky and weird to the point is that you kinda don't care that they crowd out some of the regular. However, this book gives almost everyone the proper space. Picard, La Forge, Data, Riker, Troi and Crusher all their time to shine. As for Worf... he's there but is put in the background. But considering it is written at a time when TNG books were still using the gap between Season Seven and Generations to set many of the novels and the DS9 books were using a Season Four on up time frame. So if you wanted Worf, there was so if you're gonna cut someone, he's the cut to cut.

Another Duaneism it uses it really is weird high concepts. Sometimes these bend canon and others out and out break it. It was a little less noticeable on this book.

Still, I'd say by the standards of Trek books of the time, it was pretty good. But by the level I expected from her, it just didn't quite live up.

[Jared Estes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Diane Duane's Intellivore is a book with a great plot idea, that is very poorly executed. Most of the book is spent in worthless conversations in the conference room. With every meeting ending with Captain Picard stating "we will reconvene here in 2 hours". Then by the end of the page we are literally back in the conference room having mostly irrelevant discussion, with insight from Picard, and clever jokes from the crew. To make matters worse, Diane Duane writes in a very wordy manner, not to say that she uses big words, but that she places words in awkward positions and extends sentences way beyond there needed point. Intellivore is really the worst TNG book i have read. Diane Duane needs to rethink her dry and unfocused style of writing. New readers will be completely bored and TNG lovers will be largely disappointed. Think 0 stars, rather than 1.

[Gil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diane Duane's foray into Star Trek, Intellivore, is a mixed bag. On one hand, the slow build up of mystery and horror is a delight, while allowing the supporting cast to have time to breathe, be people, and get us invested. I particularly loved the reoccurring visits to the holodeck to allow that character development. However, I feel the story falls apart in the final third. Once the mystery is revealed, it feels like the story becomes an (intentional, for good reason) disjointed mess. I struggled to finish it and understand what was going on in the chaotic finale, brought down by the post climax exposition dump (which, to be fair, is a Trek trope staple). It is not my favorite Trek novel, nor will I be reading Intellivore again. But, I still do not regret reading it for the ideas, initial mystery, and side characters that felt more than red shirts of the week.

[Lionel Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this story, the Enterprise is teamed up with two other ships to investigate some strange happenings in a remote part of the galaxy. One captain wonders what does Starfleet expects them to run into that would require three starships? A planet-size entity that sucks the intelligence out of all that it encounters, as it turns out. But how do you defeat something that will destroy your mind the second you get too close to it? That is the challenge facing Picard and his crew. While the story is entertaining, it does drag on in parts and seems like it could have used some more action. Now a bad book for those who are regulars with the series but a first-time reader may want to skip this one.

[Luke Sims-Jenkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intellivore is the third book by Diane Duane that I've read and one that I found surprisingly slow considering it's pretty short at 239 pages. The last 50 or so are exciting and interesting, but don't make up for the rest of it being just so slow!

There are some interesting concepts such as galactic urban myths, nightmares, the vanishing of civilisations and the Intellivore itself, but as I have already said this book has serious pacing issues.

Picard and Crusher feel the most like their on screen characters, but the rest not so much and thats a shame since Dark Mirror showed that Duane does have a great grasp on what makes them tick. Sadly this one gets two stars.

[Solitudes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh no, not another Star Trek Novel!
Oh yeah, cause I am planning to read as many as I can in this lifetime :))))
Actually, to my surprise, this book has an exciting plot that would have deserved a more significant development, and the only fact that annoyed me was the fact that being so compressed between endless meetings and discussions, no wonder that the action became a little cloudy and for me it seemed to be really foggy. So maybe fewer meetings and more focus on the action itself would have made this book a really good one.
But, being the nerd I am, I still enjoyed it for several hours of reading.

[Vee Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written sci-fi novel featuring the cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Captain Picard and two other starships are called to the outer edges of explored space. There have been some mysterious happenings (including damaged ships and missing people) that need resolved ASAP. Together, the three starship captains strive to figure out what's going on. Very enjoyable.

Family corner:
No sex and no graphic violence. However, there are two or three of instances of strong language.

[R · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really very seldom find a Star Trek novel that I simply can’t finish. I gave this one the best chance I could. I’ve started and abandoned it about five times, and I’ve finally accepted that life is just too short to keep trying to read this book. The plot couldn’t catch my attention, the dialogue was just sort of strange and unnatural, etc. In short, this one definitely didn’t hit my list of favorites.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a smart, page-turner of a book. Is it on the level of The Silence of the Lambs, The Hunt for Red October, Inherit the Wind, or To Kill a Mockingbird? Of course not. It's a Star Trek novel, and I judge it in that context. I read books in a sort of rotation, or at least try to--a heavier type of novel, a non-fiction work, and then something fluffier ("brain candy," as it were). Star Trek novels tend to be in the fluffier category; some fun reading.

Intellivore fit the bill. A marauding danger of huge power is taking lives in a horrifying way and in huge numbers. At first, the captains of the starships sent to deal with this destructive force can't even grasp what they're dealing with. Then they must figure out how they can deal with this evil before it leads to their destruction and continues its rampage, killing millions more.

I very much enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good Trek story, or even sci-fi in general.

[John Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The shortest trek novel I've read yet, and maybe my least favorite? The prose is very wordy, favoring long paragraphs and narration over back and forth dialogue. There's no B plot, just a complete focus on the main narrative which never really hooked me until near the end. I did like what time we had with the original characters, and the showdown at the end was interesting, but overall I just wasn't a fan of how this was written and probably wouldn't seek out more by this author.

[Roz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and light. The enterprise, and mostly data, fight an intelligent planet. There’s some fun holodeck stuff where Picard lives out his Master and Commander fantasies, but overall it’s pretty uneventful, although it’s fun

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting concept for an "episode!" I genuinely enjoyed this book. I feel like Duane really understands the TNG cast and characters and made a story that is genuinely better than some of the actual episodes!

[Jene Dav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Good Story, True to Characters

Very Good Story, True to Characters. Mostly Picard, Beverly, n Data, focused,. As well as 2 other captains. Intriguing take on what lurks the dark n unknown areas of space. Well written.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently I read this book in 2008, but I don't remember reading it then. It's a decent story and reads like an episode of TNG. A few new characters, but not so many that I can't keep track of them. Most of the regulars are involved, as well.

[Arlomisty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read... I've always loved to read Star Trek books. I've had this one for years on the shelf and decided to pick it up and read it... just like watching one of the shows!

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid little TNG "episode"