The Rising

The Flight Engineer #1

by James Doohan, James Doohan

Crippled former pilot and flight engineer Peter Raeder finds his crew's struggle against their alien enemies threatened by an onboard traitor who is responsible for the death of Peter's predecessor. Reprint.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Star Trek, Space Opera, Ebooks, Action

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Canadian actor, best known for playing Scotty, the irascible but lovable Scottish Flight Engineer for the Starship Enterprise in various Star Trek series and films - See more at: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice SiFi story. I am interested to see where the trilogy goes. fast and entertaining read

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good military sci-fi blended with a mystery storyline. The solution to the mystery was rushed into the final three pages, but it was still excellent.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Rising enjoys moderate success as a military sf book. In the standard vein of such books, it tells the story of a brilliant spaceman who keeps bucking authority to get the job done. He’s just a bit smarter than everybody else, and braver by half. Stirling (and Doohan, I guess) include a number of delightful space battles and clever out-maneuverings of the enemy, as well as the required romance angle, the crusty senior officer angle, and others.

For most of the book, I was wondering if the main character was the analogue for Doohan’s Scotty, until we encountered the engineer from another ship. Here’s a relevant passage:

“Paddy,” Captain Montoya snapped into her comm. “We need those engines now!”

“I can’t do it, Captain,” the engineering chief answered.

His thick New Hibernian accent sounded worried and sincere…. “I had to shut reactors three and four down. The coils took a terrible beatin’ in that last surge…. And I’ve no likin’ for the way the containment fields on one are fluctuatin’. She’ll not take it if I try to get more power.”

The Star Trek angle is funny here, since this isn’t actually a ST book. It appears to be one, from the cover. In case you didn’t notice these elements on the cover image, I’ll summarize:

* The main element on the cover is a picture of James Doohan, “Scotty” from the original Star Trek crew.
* Aside from the book’s title — which has absolutely no meaning except in the most vague terms — and the authors’ names, the most prominent element wording on the cover is the phrase “Beam us up, “Scotty”!
* The blurb on the front says “Trekkies are likely to beam it up off the bookstore shelves.”
* We’re also promised that this is volume 1 of “The Flight Engineer.” Despite the fact that his ST character isn’t in the book, the role he played on the show was, indeed, Flight Engineer.

But really, you needn’t bother. It’s moderately successful, but with all the great books out there, I don’t think it’s worth pursuing unless you’re an avid military sf enthusiast.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wasn't expecting much and that's what I got. A rehashed Star Trek from the point of view of someone below decks. Although the main character was okay to hang out with for a while, I didn't find either him or the world around him or the story being told compelling. It was one small thing after another with some sort of slow-burn mystery that kept putting me to sleep. I only made it to the middle of the book before I decided it was time to set it aside for something more entertaining. At least I still have James Doohan's signature in the front of the book (a chance find in a used book sale).

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this but I'm sad to say it didn't live up to half of it. I gave it a 3 out of being very generous for James Doohan but the story was lacking. Mid way there were some exciting spots but overall poorly constructed plot.
The accusations to Lt. Robbins were very forced and poor. I knew it wasn't her. A blind illiterate man could see that. So it felt like it was all very forced.
A lot of the behaviors felt more at home in a high school setting rather than with these people.
I wanted to continue on with the books but I can't go any further than book one.

[Phil P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah it's an action science fiction novel, but more of a murderer/catch the traitor mystery. The problem is that it was clearly Larkin the whole time. They also rushed that ending which made it not so anti climactic. It was like one page. The bomb went off, boom, Larkin's dead. What's worse is I have the first novel and last novel in hardcover...I'm going to make myself finish this series.

[Mark Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts out very slowly until it finally gets going and ends with a bang. Not sure if James Doohan really cowrote or if ghost written. Pete Raeder was an ace pilot until the loss of his right hand brought his flying days to an end. Now a Flight Engineer he is assigned to the fast carrier Invincible. The captain gives him the assignment to find the saboteur that killed the last engineer.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant sci-fi read about interstellar war between a main group of planets and a planet of religious extremists, with an alien enemy of my enemy twist and a mystery. This is actually my second reading, first being hard copy from local library shortly after publication.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story with creative solutions to the problems. Has a Star Trek feel to some of the action.

[dennis miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid story

For a new setting, this was a well done story. While a few elements are not solid, the setting and characters are all well done.

[Nathan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's kinda like what one might expect if John Grisham and Tom Clancey were to collaborate to write Star Trek.

[Stephanie Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hints of "Scotty"

Good future space story. If you know Star Trek you will see the hints of Commander Scott sprinkled here and there. All in all a good read to the end.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straight ahead investigator find the bad guy.

Well written kept me reading. I wish the problem solving had been more through. I did like the characters. I will read the second book

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This trilogy is one continuous story, as I remember it: Rising, Privateer, and The Independent Command. It is written by Sci Fi veteran S M Stirling and James Doohan (yes, Scotty from the original Star Trek series).

This follows the life of Peter Raeder. For saving the lives of many, he is reprimand (didn't follow the rule book), he is born to fly and he's grounded. He knows there's a traitor, but he has to find out who. His only escape from his bureaucratic prison is a suicide mission--which he takes.

I found it easy to relate with this character, feeling his frustrations and hopes. The book has sufficient twists and turns to be very interesting. It even has a mystery to solve along with just staying alive.

[Aaron Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I REALLY enjoyed this series of three books. They reminded me so much of Polaris by Sheldon Perkins, a book that I turn to often when I want to enjoy a Star Trek type story and wish there were more to them.

At the time of reading this series I failed to make the connection of Star Trek and the author's name since I got the books for my Kindle without a cover picture, so discovering it was written by Scotty from Star Trek was something of a surprise.

These books are, easy reading and very entertaining. I really enjoyed them.

[Cara Noyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer break book number one and I stayed up most of the night reading it. Main character peter Raeder was clever and a cowboy, an engineer with a fighter pilot's bravado. Not only does he have experiences that are near death, his entire ship is in peril. And it seems that he is the only one who can save them. That sounds typical of Scotty from Star Trek doesn't it? The relationships are well developed and the battle scenes pretty cool. I will probably read the next book in the series before the end of the summer.

[Tom Folsom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering I was expecting this to be a complete drag (I bought two of the books of this series for a dollar each), I was pleasantly surprised. It was largely what one would expect from Doohan - space opera with an engineer central figure.

These are very very easy, quick reads. You do get attached to the main character a bit, but even so, it's not that compelling. Just good mind candy when you need to not think.

[Elsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember when I started reading this book. I bought it at Baen's eBook store and loaded the Mobipocket version into my Blackberry and would read a couple of "pages" or two whenever I had some idle time. This is the first of a short series and I'd like to buy the rest of them at some point in the future.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book gets off to a slow start. Doohan's light-hearted writing style is hoaky, more grating than amusing. I can't really say definitively it was a bad book because I didn't make it that far in, just the first few chapters or so--enough to know that I didn't want to commit myself to the entire trilogy (If you're like me, you read one, you gotta read 'em all).

[Andreas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is book one of the Flight Engineer series. “Mr. Scott” from Star Trek makes an attempt. This shameless plug on Doohan’s celebrity is terrible. “Young Adult” or not, I can’t believe that Stirling was willing to put his name on it. Still more unbelievable is that there are more books in the series. Stay away!

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=643

[Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Urgh. Got a couple of chapters in for the main character irritated me too much - he's such a Garry Stu: ace pilot; top of his class engineer; master of physics of dice and knows better than everyone so selectively obeys orders.

Ugh. I was coping with the rest, but it was that one that made me switch off!

[Lynn Calvin]

baen ebook

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts pretty slow, but then the pace picks up. It ended up being a decent military sci-fi book. It is good enough I am reading the next one in the series now.

[Gary Barrentine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beam me up Scotty, I really enjoyed the pace and story line. Look forward to reading Volume 2.

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, a lot of the action seems to happen offscreen. And sometimes parts of the plot seem forgotten. But it has some fun moments.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it. Lighter but good action.