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288 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2003
Okay, I tried to cut down on the number of books I read at once. You wouldn’t believe how many things I read that aren’t on Goodreads so I don’t bother to review.
And it worked! Sort of. I wound up finishing all of the fiction that I was reading. But that left a ton of non-fiction and games that I was still reading because they are always longer books.
So I went to bed last night and realized that I had nothing to read. So I just grabbed the first book off the headboard.
I’ve actually read several accounts of Garth of Izar. It’s one of those fascinating tidbits dropped in Star Trek that screams for more information.
Still, old faithful here pays off in Chapter 2. Serious stakes, like a great teaser.
Of course, all along the way the author - usually through Kirk - has posited alternative explanations for everything going on so that you can’t be sure of the truth of anything!
This book makes use of the technique of capturing people in the ‘transporter buffer’ (though they don’t call it that). This idea has always bothered me. If you could do that then why wouldn’t you always have backup copies of everyone who beams down - just in case? No one ever need die after transporting….
It’s fascinating to me that the author took an inexpensive ‘TV trick’ to make an episode more interesting and used it to ask some fundamental questions about the Federation ideals and put them to the test.
It also doesn’t shirk on all the possible ramifications and interpretations possible in these circumstances. It’s riveting.
The book also makes the Transporters a little too reliable and precise - another pet peeve of mine - again because if that were the case then there would be no turbolifts on the Enterprise.
Of course, giving up shapeshifting isn’t just about the ability to infiltrate, it’s also about the ability heal and the ability to fly.
This was a terrific book that took a simple idea and made it very profound - in a Star Trek kind of way.
4 stars