Star Trek Reads discussion
This topic is about
From History's Shadow
The Original Series
>
From History's Shadow
date
newest »
newest »
Enjoyed it very much too, reading the sequel "Elusive Salvation" by Dayton Ward ATM. Highly recommend, but don't want to give away any spoilers here...
I liked how this played with our history while working in Star Trek lore. Dayton Ward was on Literary Treks when this came out. It's a good listen. http://trek.fm/literary-treks/32?rq=H...
Star Trek: The Original Series: From History's Shadow by Dayton Ward takes place in 1947. Following the Roswell incident, involved an alien craft crashing on Earth, Captain James Wainwright is recruited into a secret government organization that investigates and collects proof of life on other planets. The story spans several decades, following the cases that Wainwright and his partner Airman First Class Allison Marshall are assigned. Some of the story also takes place in 2268 aboard the Enterprise, where two intruders have just snuck aboard – all the way from 1968.
While not a TOS reader, I'm a sucker for anything with time travel in it. As soon as I read the blurb about this being set just after the DS9 episode "Little Green Men" I knew I had to read this. The story is really about tying together all the times Trek went back in time in the 20th Century - "Tomorrow is Yesterday", "Assignment: Earth", "Little Green Men", "Future's End, Part 1 & 2", "Detained", and "Carbon Creek". Ward does a really good job of tying all the episodes together with real world sighting of UFOs. It makes for an intense, but interesting, read.
The TOS timeline mostly serves to set up the 1940s timeline and serve somewhat as narrator. Having not seen many of the TOS episodes that are mentioned in the novel, I don't think I was missing out on anything – the author did a great job of including important plot points. In the last quarter of the book the TOS characters have more involvement in the story. When Gejalik and Mestral show up on the Enterprise from Earth, 1968, the ship is soon intercepted by a delegate from Gejalik's homeworld of Certoss – and the Tandarans. The Tandarans are convinced that Gejalik's presence would indicate war between their worlds, and demand Gejalik turned over to them. This is what's meant as the main storyline, though the 1948 timeline is what propels us to this point. Kirk et al go through a lot to protect Gejalik, and in the end it feels like she volunteers herself so easily. Then the Tandarans agree to interview her aboard the Enterprise anyway. I was a little uncertain about this final resolution of the storyline, as it felt like it wrapped up a little quickly.
Wainwright is definitely my favorite character in this story. We follow him with what starts out as a job, that becomes an obsession that sees to the detriment of his personal life. I also loved Marshall, Wainwright's partner. She begins as a secretary, which seems reasonable for a woman in the army in that era. Her responsibility grows the more we see her: she's the one with the Geiger counter, she's not afraid to pull out her gun, and she's keeps up with Wainwright every step of the way as they tromp through the bush in Carbon Creek. I was kind of sad that we didn't see more of Sutherland, the publisher of "Watch the Skies." I was interested to see more about him and the magazine, and would have loved to see him get more involved with the work that Wainwright was doing.
I admit it: I got chills when I was reading some of the UFO descriptions. They read as if they were written by someone in that era – with all the uncertainty and fright of the unknown. It was to the point where I'd get the same creepy chills that I did the first time I heard the "War of the Worlds" original radio broadcast – there was realness in that fear.
Overall I enjoyed this book. As I said, it is a heavier read, so don't tackle this if you're tired!