Star Trek: The Lost Years

Star Trek: The Lost Years #1

by J.M. Dillard

Recounts the adventures of the crew of the Enterprise after they completed their original five-year mission, detailing how Kirk, McCoy, and Spock managed to enter into as much danger as they did when they were in space. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy struggle to establish new lives apart from each other and the starship.

The newly-promoted Admiral Kirk is placed in charge of a specially-created Starfleet division and attempts to defuse a critical hostage situation; Mr. Spock, who, in the midst of a teaching assignment on Vulcan, finds the one thing he least expected; and Dr. McCoy, whose unerring instinct for trouble lands him smack in the middle of an incident that could trigger an interstellar bloodbath.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook, Star Trek Original Series

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

J.M. Dillard is the pseudonym under which Jeanne Kalogridis (b. 1954) publishes her Star Trek novels.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big anything Star Trek fan and enjoy the old characters. They are all pretty much present in this story, but, for me, the portrayals fell just a little flat. This still is a read that is recommended, primarily because it expands the story to life after the Enterprise.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just back from their five year mission on the Enterprise and now contemplating their future plans, McCoy, Spock and Kirk get tangled up in a plot involving an evil ancient Vulcan "wizard" and the Romulans. The main focus here is McCoy, which is a nice change from most ST stories, and the latent tension in the relationships between the three as they part ways.

[Clint Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I identified with the start of the book quite a bit seeing as Kirk was making the transition from a physical job to a desk job. I recently did that myself, so I understand the dread of possible tedium peeking over the horizon outside the office window. Maybe a realization that your physicality not only is fading, but surely will dwindle some more as you push keys and direct a mouse. Is this what's left? I get that, and think it was captured nicely.

Anyone who grew up with the movies is curious about that ten year gap between show and movie. This is a real life fantasy that we keep track of, right? Once we leave our desks, we go visit a cast of characters who survive crazy adventures every week and there's no way that they are getting a break from those adventures, right? So what did happen in those ten years? No one ever talks about it, and The Motion Picture hurries through those years Kirk spent behind a desk. So what did happen?

This is the start of an adventure that takes place within those mysterious years that is done quite well. There is a lot of Star Trek politics in it and a story that would've felt very original had I not seen it on 'Enterprise' for a story of their own set on Vulcan in the early 2000s (our time). The story on Enterprise wasn't identical, though, so it actually helps you believe that this book could be part of canon.

Enjoyable, but only for Trek fans. Much better than the last Trek book I read, but still can't make it past 3 stars.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars for The Lost Years: Star Trek: The Lost Years, Book 1 (audiobook) by J. M. Dillard read by Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan.

The Enterprise is done with its five year mission and the crew is struggling with new roles in life. Kirk has been promoted to admiral and Mr. Spock is on a teaching assignment on Vulcan. And Dr. McCoy has found himself in the middle of in a sticky situation that could turn deadly.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll be honest: I prefer Star Trek in television form. Not only are the stories better, but, the content is usually cleaner. My introduction to space opera was Star Wars, where the films had few if any profanities, which led to serious shock when the characters in Wrath of Khan shot off at the mouth excessively. Then again, maybe part of that was that I wasn't familiar with the characters yet; it wasn't until recent years that I'd seen more than an episode or two of any Trek series. It also may be that I've always been a bigger fan of television series than movies; even outside of the realm of science fiction, my favorites as a kid ranged from Lizzie McGuire to Growing Pains to Mork & Mindy to, of course, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. None of those ever got the big screen treatment, save for Lizzie, and that was a disaster; it did not stay true to the spirit of the original sitcom.

So...despite being a Star Trek fan, some of these references were lost on me. Add to that copious profanity--even for this franchise--and a scene involving tarot cards, and this is definitely not the best Roddenberry's space opera has to offer. I've heard that the Star Trek literary canon has a lot of rubbish contained within; I hate to say it, but, this falls into that category.

However, if you're a big fan of the flicks, you may feel differently; I'm probably the odd one out here.

[Oleta Blaylock · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways this is a very depressing story. I knew that Kirk, Spock and McCoy went their separate ways at the end of their first five year mission, however I didn't realize that it could have been for such a devastating reason.

This story picks up as Enterprise is coming home after its five year mission in space. The crew is considering what they are going to do while Enterprise is in space dock for refit. She will be there for at least 18 to 24 months. There are parties and everyone says their farewells. They all scatter to the four winds. It isn't long before a series of events bring Kirk, Spock, and McCoy together again. The tragedy at the end is the final straw that forces Spock to withdraw from his friends and family. I am surprise that the High Master of the Kolinahr even allowed Spock to take this step. It is a guilty conscious that drives him to try to give up all emotion. Kirk finds someone that he cares about and McCoy decides to make something better of his life after a friends sacrifices herself to save McCoy and Spock. Scotty is the only one that doesn't leave the Enterprise.

So the we start the period between the end of the television series and the first movie STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE.

This is probably the hardest of these books that I have read. I hated seeing everyone breaking away to do other things. It is like a good friend moving away and you don't know that you will ever see them again. I know logically that they all come back and reform their bonds of friendship but this book doesn't end with any kind of hope that will happen.

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published in 1989.

The idea behind the book is interesting: What happened to the characters from the original Star Trek series between the end of their original five year mission and the events of the movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture ?

But, the follow-through is quite weak.

The characters feel like cardboard cut-outs of themselves, especially McCoy. Kirk's decision to become an admiral makes sense. but McCoy's outlandish, petulant, even childish response to Kirk's decision was simply not believable to me. Even worse, the new characters are, at best, one-note wonders.

McCoy quits Star Fleet to find a woman from the TV episode "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky." She is the leader of a group of refugees who live inside a giant spaceship that they thought was a planet. They had a romantic spark but when McCoy returns to visit her he finds that she has made a political marriage because her people need her more than McCoy did. McCoy responds by consuming lots and lots of alcohol.

The book would have been so much better if it had...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2013/...

[Heylin Le · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really really want to like this novel, but I cannot help but feel disappointed. “The Lost Years” is a somber story about our favorite characters, who just concluded their journey and now faced with decisions that would shape their future for better or worse. The opening is promising. We understand the pressure the crew experience, their sorrow and disappointment of having to say goodbye. We expect new adventures that will excite and bring them together once again, but the novel never delivers. Instead, it gives us a bland adventure with messy plot and dull, unconvincing romances. There is no suspense, no tension: events happens, characters react. The story has no buildup, and its attempt at emotional impact gives lackluster results. Moreover, it has a worrying trend of portraying women as overly emotional and easily upset even though they are seasoned officers. At least, the characterization of the Triumvirate is on point. Though to be honest, the only thing I find interesting about this novel is the conflict between the two alien cultures. If only Dillard focused more on that. Overall, it is a mediocre book.

[Angel Torres · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all! I love Star Trek, I really do.
I enjoyed this story but I'm not gonna lie, it was just okay 🤷🏻‍♂️ It wasn't bad, it was just OKAY.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that tries to cover the five years between the last episode of Star Trek and the Motion Picture.

I consider it apocryphal.

There were some good parts, but I treated it like it was gnostic text.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Lost Years is one of the first Star Trek novels to address the murky period between the end of the original series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. People at Paramount must've liked it, since J.M. Dillard replaced Vonda McIntyre at the helm of the prose adaptations of the movies. While it has it's moments, and has a lot of action, it doesn't compare to other examinations of the same period (like the first two books of the Crucible series).

The coup for me in this book was bringing back Kevin Riley, a featured player on two of the original series episodes ("The Naked Time" and "Conscience of the King"), but he's brought back as such a simpering wretch, you'd almost rather the author hadn't bothered. We also have Spock's father, Sarek, and are introduced to a number of new characters that sort of meld into the background like furniture, no matter if Kirk is having sex with them or not. Spock's characterization is completely off in this one, as he comes off annoyed, miffed, and even pissed at Kirk. So much for all that Vulcan training and such controlling his emotions.

And the antagonist in this one is basically a super-villain; he has amazing, deadly powers that he uses to kill creatures all over the place. Give him a fancy costume and he could fight the X-Men; it was a bit too four-color for a proper Star Trek adventure.

While it was an interesting effort, the whole equation adds up to a lackluster Star Trek novel.

[Stasia Bruhn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was pretty awful to me. The characters did not sound like themselves. I have read better books. This also had too many characters that I didn't care about and frankly didn't know..I read to page 53 and gave up. Scotty doesn't have his scottish accent well then pretty much it's lost something. I have read William Shatner's Ashes to Eden and The Return..In Both books the characters talk like themselves and it's believable. This pretty much has everyone talking in the same way, nothing of their personality comes through..Just didn't work for me..

[Joe Kucharski · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Lost Years should have remained lost.

This is a mostly-forgettable story that attempts to shoehorn in one last adventure of the Enterprise's command crew of Kirk, Spock, and Bones leading up to the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The Lost Years deals with a Romulan spy who steals the katra of an ancient Vulcan warlord...

...and oh who cares. There is no true tension or ramifications as fans already know where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy end up in time for V'Ger to hit Epsilon Nine. Pass the Romulan ale and fire up the new Blu-Ray of The Motion Picture instead.

[Lois Merritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

*my usual caveat here - I listened to the audio, have no idea how the book is compared to the abridged audio version*

Yes, this one, like many others have said, this is a story that happens just at the end of the original 5 year mission, so we see how they break up and how Kirk gets Admiral and Spock stays on Vulcan. But the main thing that I came away from this one with is how very Star Wars-y this one is. With the ancient Vulcan katra that came back that they had to fight and all this stuff- it was very Jedi and Sith like. :)

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first third was really good. You get to see what is happening with the crew after the five year mission and how they’ve gone their separate ways. I liked all the scenes of Kirk on earth settling into being an admiral. Unfortunately the other two thirds are a totally by the numbers plot about two warring factions being manipulated by the romulans. Almost unreadably boring to read in the last 75 pages. So definitely a mixed bag here. Could’ve been so much more.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid story with lots of fun ties. Kirk getting coaxed into admiralty by offering him to head a task force and Bones getting caught up in a mess which requires the aid of said task force. They both experience romantic interest which is better handled than it would have been in TOS.

I thought it would be a good idea to jump straight into the Lost Years series after finishing the Lost Era series but that caused me a little confusion. Uhura was already an admiral in the latter and Sulu already a captain, so my brain was glitching at times.

I enjoyed it very much.

[Vega :)]

den här tjommen tänkte verkligen "tänk om samerna blev terrorister" och "vore det fucked up om man kunde smälta en kille med sina tankar" och skrev en bok om det? båda samtidigt? lite jobbigt att läsa för att de är i sin Divorce Era och bråkar, men jag hade kul!! plus att allas olika rebound-tjejer var jättecharmiga och kul att läsa om!

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly good, though a scene involving tarot cards and a weird typo in the edition I had muddled things a bit for me.

[Lisa Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoyed reading this book that I kept delaying finishing it! I admit I am a Trekkie and also admit I could be a bit biased!

[Chad]

As a lifelong Star Trek fan, my entry to the franchise came via the movies with the original cast. I watched the series when I could but as there was no TV in the house those chances were few and far between. This detachment led me to see the series and the movies almost as two different things. I still believe you can make an argument that those first Star Trek movies were the first reboot of the franchise, just from the tones of the films being so different.

As such, these books have always been close to my heart as I love how they offer a possible bridge between the end of the five year mission and the Motion Picture. One aspect of the first movie that has always struck me is how Spock and Kirk’s relationship seems much more strained, as if something had happened to the two of them. This book specifically does a nice job presenting a possible reason for this and is very well done in that regard.

The book does a good job showing just how Kirk is talked into accepting promotion in the first place, as well as showing how that decision creates some animosity between him and his crew.

Besides presenting this narrative link the story is pretty good on its own. We get a great Vulcan antagonist that is more than a little frightening and brutal, especially for a Star Trek novel. Kirk, Spock and McCoy all get some good parts to the story and it all works together surprisingly well. There are some nice references to the original series as well. Once the plot kicks in, it races to the finish line and finishes strong.

There is a romance angle in here that doesn’t work as well for me and I would have rather it been left out. It feels pretty shoehorned in and honestly, not every story involving a male and female counterpart needs to lead to romance. I do get that this relationship becomes more of a plot point later on in the series, especially leading into TMP but this character and Kirk could have still had a close relationship without making it physical.

Why does Captain Kirk decide to take on the role of Admiral and leave the Enterprise? Why does McCoy choose to leave Starfleet? Why does Spock turn inward and try to push away everyone in his life?

Give this a read and find out.

[Byron · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was better than "Death Count," but along the same lines of plot over character substance. Not super impressed.

MAIN THOUGHTS:

1) Depiction of McCoy is annoying. He's just a whiny victim for the entire book, only slightly redeemed towards the end. I know he's not a fighter and I know he's irascible but in this book he's totally worthless aside from his medical abilities.

2) The Vulcan katra stuff is really fascinating and constitutes the one true Idea of this book. I loved that one aspect.

3) The relationship between Kirk and his superior...is ridiculous and trite AF. He's handsome. We get it. But she's a professional and I'm tired of all these women losing their shit around Kirk. It's not interesting, guys. It's just never-ending Gary Stu.


This book is fun and interesting because I love the premise of filling in the gap of the "lost years" between TOS and TMP. I wish the characters were more authentic. Also it took way too long to read since I had houseguests this month! This book has made me want to read something more substantial next.

[Will Hoover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is actually a very mixed bag, but I still ended up giving it three out of five stars. But maybe I'm just a nice guy. Or maybe I just plain love, love, love, and am always rooting for, various interpretations of Star Trek to actually be... you know... good.

Unfortunately however, the first half of this book reads like typical "Trekker" or "Trekkie" fan fiction, with leisurely, even somewhat classic soap opera-style pacing. The author also seems to have gone to considerable trouble and verbiage to introduce a number of peripheral characters that really don't seem all that necessary, relevant, or even especially interesting from the outset.

As a result, I really had to push myself to plod dutifully ahead, and strenuously hurdle a number of curiously unnecessary pseudo-literary landmines to finally get to the very end of J.M. Dillard's 'The Lost Years' - which in the second half, thankfully, finally begins to take on a readily discernible Star Trek: The Original Series format, flavor, and quality.

The biggest problem for yours truly was the author's periodic inclusion (mostly in the first half) of terribly biased, so-called "feminist" (perhaps even reverse-sexist) oriented social justice style themes, dialog, and commentary that I sincerely doubt would have ever made it past the initial draft stages had this particular story been subjected to the usual, quite rigorous standards of the NBC Television Network, and especially Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry.

Yes, the "Great Bird of the Galaxy," as the much celebrated Mr. Roddenberry became widely known (especially when the show began to dramatically increase in popularity in the early to mid 1970s), was himself constantly attempting to sneak his sometimes thinly veiled social and political commentary past 1960s era Network censors, but I doubt that even he would have let a story like this one pass without at least giving it a good, thorough rewrite - which is in fact what he anonymously did to most of the scripts submitted for at least the first year and a half of the production of the series.

Take the following for example:
"He [one of the easily confused bad guys of the piece] owed the Djanai gratitude for being a patriarchy, one that the Empire decided would relate better to a male authority figure than a female one—a fact which enabled him to beat out several better-qualified female candidates for the job."

Whoa! Now THAT'S rather harsh, one would think. Maybe even just a bit too shamelessly (or perhaps just obliviously) obvious and downright blatant, even. I mean, isn't that kind of... you know... pathetically one or two-dimensional, cardboard cutout villain type thinking right there? But then, there's also this:

"... although in the course of the briefing, it became clear that Olmsted’s political views were nowhere near as liberal as a professor’s. Obviously brilliant, he was nevertheless a right-wing extremist who saw anti-Federationists and Romulans hiding behind every bush and tree."

Okay! Alrighty then! Well, as one might imagine, by that point in the book, I was pretty darn sure where all THAT kind of commentary was headed. And then I got to the part that read, "You see, the Djanai are extremely religious—which makes them very difficult to deal with..." and even, "Their religion scorns technology; like our Amish, they believe their god wants them to keep it simple."

Ooo-kay. Well, I'm sure the author honestly thought she was being the perfect little social justice warrior when she wrote all that, but times really do change, you know! And doggone it, despite the fervent hopes of many so-called "progressives," now in the once thought to be far flung future-scape of the early 21st century, the USA STILL has yet to be taken over by jack-booted "Nazis" who gleefully send minorities off to be gassed and shot into unmarked mass graves, only to return home at the end of a long, hard day of killin' to force their barefoot and ever-pregnant womenfolk to "git back in that thar kitchen and make me a sammich, bee-itch!"

Go figure. But I guess that kind of perhaps wishful thinking, that sort of an apocalyptic, doom-soaked, dystopian hell of an America gone irreversibly just plain BAD, could yet still be on the horizon! Maybe so. But probably... NOT. Although, a whole lot of folks who fancy themselves fancy "liberal" sure do seem to always be decrying the impending coming of such a dastardly and dire scenario anyway. So... tell me again, who is it that sees "Nazis" and "racists" "hiding behind every bush and tree?"

Ahem.

Yet still, taking the book as a whole, and conveniently overlooking completely unnecessary trash talk like the actual, honest to goodness quotes provided above, J.M. Dillard's writing style itself runs the gamut from perfectly adequate to at times really quite good, to downright brilliant. Which, I'm guessing is why most reviewers even bother to rate the book as highly as they do. Hey, it worked for me. Well... mostly anyway.

But again, at least the first half to a third of Dillard's Lost Years really should have been reworked; if for no other reason than to foreshorten the less relevant parts of the narrative, and/or to completely excise some of the extraneous detail, non-essential character development and pathetically biased and horrifically blatant social commentary altogether.

My guess is that the author was in some way pressed (by either the publisher or perhaps even herself) to make the book long enough to be considered a full-fledged novel, and not just follow the standard one hour TV drama teleplay format - that in most cases, only results in a volume that is, interestingly enough, roughly about half the length of this particular title.

The author may also have even written a great deal more to begin with, and only the last half ended up being properly edited/rewritten to make it suitably exciting and thought-provoking - or at least on par with the overall quality of the vast majority of Star Trek material that actually made it to screen during the show's original run - but alas, I'm afraid most readers will never quite know for sure.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Lost Years" is the first installment in a four book series wich tells us the tale of the crew of the original Enterprise in the years between the original five year mission and "The Motion Picture". The novel is very well written by Jean Mary Dillard and contains great characterization, but lacks somewhat in terms of plot developement.

The biggest problem with this novel is the fact that almost all characters involved in the story just happen to be the familiar characters of the Enterprise crew who are connected to the plot via ridiculously unbeliavable coincidences. Mix that with two-dimentional additional characters, magic, Tarod reading and prophesies, you get an entertaining novel with no credibility to back it off.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always a fan of works that fill in missing periods of Trek history. J.M. Dillard does her usual competent job here. I also appreciated how much she used the history of the Romulans as outlined by Diane Duane in My Enemy, My Ally and especially in The Romulan Way, seeing as I had just read that novel. It was definitely a pleasant surprise!

Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2011/11/l...

[Cristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. None of the characters did things that were believable, the plot was difficult to follow, and it introduces a new villain that is too dumb to have more than 200 pages of fame, apparently. I'm not against the mystical elements per se since the Original Series has a ton of that, but McCoy is a scientist; he wouldn't have been that buddy-buddy with an Earth psychic unless she was really pretty.

[Madison Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirk and Spock go to the ends of the Earth (figuratively) to get Bones back and I’m supposed to be normal about this. Ok. Not happening.

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book ranks in the bargain bin of unprofessional rubbish. The editor needed to step in and point out the major flaws in the story construction. Embarassingly, laughably badly thought out on every level. Worse than fan fiction. Like I said, the editor took a break on this one. Inexcusable publication.

What's the plot? Yes.

A planet with a political crisis, poorly developed and explained. Completely unrelated to what may or may not be considered the 'main' narrative about a Vulcan wizard-any shred of science fiction is gone when the antagonist FINALLY shows up. After an impressive, mystical prologue setting him up as the big bad. No fewer than three separate kidnaps. Each simply ends. At least I lolled when Kirk pulled the whole, 'I'm feeling ill' crap from his one. Then the one guard is knocked out and that's it. I forget why Sarek is even there, but he's kidnapped with Uhura. And then they're not. And another one... but one's a trick that everyone sees through immediately...so what was the point?

Sooo, the big deal. Why does Kirk become an admiral:...........lots of setup about how he never will.......two pages and he's in. One admiral says 'please', another says 'I have an interesting portfolio of...' "WELL, I'M IN". The only logical reason for Kirk to make such a dramatic about face was the pathetically undercooked romance. Well, at least, 'cos he wanted to dip is wick in the first woman he meets' is character consistent.

The most inept scene was when Kirk is literally face to face with the wizard, the antagonist. THEN THE ANTAGONIST JUST LEAVES. FOR NO REASON. And Kirk doesn't stop him!

Then they're on a Romulan ship. But it was all a trap to catch the wizard. So why did the wizard go to the ship? And what could they have achieved with a wizard who you have captured. The one who literally immediately walks out of the cell and makes everyone dead. COS HE'S A WIZARD, YOU IDIOTS!

But Spock can't TALK, cos then the wizard will hear. (Why can't the wizard hear EVERYONE'S thoughts? How can the wizard melt spaceships--psychic powers?!)

What about those political shenanigans? Oh, one line of idea, pulled out of somebody's arse. And that's it! Intrigue done! NEXT STORRRY.

And then a classic two wizards standing across from each other waving their hands scene. THERE'S SAND ON THE SPACESHIP? WHAT!? One wasn't a wizard. She was a wet fucking blanket who had a hernia over some fucking tarot cards. But then she's a wizard for some reason.

So, Spock divorces his wife. I don't really know why. Cos wizards! (I guess) So Spock becomes a penitent, because the plot of this atrocious 'book'...? Oh...dear...I preferred the simpler 'cos emotions' that the movie makes perfectly clear.

Staggeringly incompetent on every level. Some things just make you wonder why you read books at all.

[Tim Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Trek: The Lost Years is a compelling addition to the Star Trek literary universe, bridging the narrative gap between the end of The Original Series and the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It’s a thoughtful, character-driven story that explores the transitional period after the Enterprise’s five-year mission, giving fans a deeper look at what happened as the iconic crew disbanded and went their separate ways.

The novel shines in its ability to evoke the spirit of a great two-part Star Trek episode. There’s everything a fan could want: classic adventure, a touch of alien mystery, philosophical and moral dilemmas, and the emotional weight of life-and-death decisions. J.M. Dillard has a strong grasp of the tone and themes that define Star Trek, and she uses them to explore how these familiar characters struggle with their evolving identities outside the structure of the Enterprise.

One of the most interesting aspects of The Lost Years is the character focus. While you might expect Captain Kirk to be front and center, he is surprisingly sidelined for much of the story. Though his subplot is meaningful—laying the groundwork for Spock’s journey—it feels more like an afterthought than a central thread. Instead, the emotional core of the book rests with Dr. McCoy and Spock. Their arcs are well-written, believable, and engaging, providing both philosophical depth and interpersonal tension that keep the story moving forward.

For fans of McCoy and Spock, this is a rewarding read. Their internal conflicts and evolving perspectives offer a lot to reflect on, especially in the context of what’s to come in The Motion Picture. The novel also adds to the broader Star Trek canon by introducing new alien lore and raising ethical questions that feel true to the franchise’s roots.

While it might not be the absolute best that Star Trek literature has to offer, The Lost Years is still a fantastic read—neither too long nor too short—and one that feels worthy of a revisit. It earns a solid 4 out of 5 stars for its character focus, thematic richness, and ability to evoke classic Trek storytelling.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

TITLE: Star Trek: The Lost Years

AUTHOR: J.M. Dillard

GENRE: Star Trek/Science Fiction

PAGES: 321

FORMAT: E-book

I am a Trekkie. I have been for most of my life (I discovered STAR TREK on a Saturday evening when I was the tender age of 7…”Trouble With Tribbles”), and dove into the books series in the 70’s Star Trek Logs 1-5 on a Christmas break when I was 10. When the books series started in the 80’s, I was in seventh Heaven!

In 1989, J.M. Dillard released Star Trek: The Lost Years. The book was an instant bestseller. Every Trekkie went bananas for the book!

31 years later, it still holds up, and here is why:

Star Trek: The Lost Years bridges the gap between the end of the Original Series and STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. For those who have wondered why Captain Kirk took promotion, why Spock did not pursue his career with Starfleet, and what Dr. McCoy was up to. Lt. Uhura makes an appearance as well, but that is it for the main characters of the original series.

This book is an excellent read for Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. It may help if you have some knowledge of who the characters are, but it is not necessary. For the most part all of the bases are covered. Questions were answered and the bridge for missing time was made, right down to the new uniforms that looked like pajamas in the movie! The pace is swift and when the action starts it is a roller coaster ride right to the end. The only ding I give this one is the very end is a bit rushed. I got the feeling that the author worked a deadline and clipped the end where just a few more sentences/pages would have smoothed it out.

4 out of 5 bookmarks.

[Jamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going through my Star Trek hardcover novels a week ago (I think I have all of the except Spock’s World which was the first) and settled on the second. It had been years since I had read this version of the final days and those following the end of Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise’s historic five year mission. Dillard answers a lot of questions we have all had between the time our friends said goodbye to the moment they were all brought back together for The (slo) Motion Picture. Why McCoy resigned his commission? What led Spock to become a student of the Kolinahr? And probably why most unbelievable of all: Why did Captain James T. Kirk do the unimaginable and let himself be promoted to admiral?

We get the answer to these three questions along with a gripping adventure that once again brings the big three together again eventually drawing them all into a Romulan Bird of Prey on the other side of the Neutral Zone in an attempt to stop a madman.

To say that I reread this novel in a week is something. I was so surprised but it was full of on the edge excitement and spot on characterizations. Separated but still perfect characterizations of the big three. The swashbuckling Kirk charging in and darn the consequences. The ever logical Spock. And Bones always finding himself in the thick of trouble. Plus new characters and past characters from the show make appearances.

All part of a trilogy covering the time of the end of the tv series to the movies.