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Star Trek Adventures #1
Spock Must Die!
When a transporter experiment goes horribly awry, suddenly there are two Mr. Spocks! One is the true First Officer of the Enterprise. The other is his complete opposite, a traitor whose very existence poses a grave threat to the crew, the ship, and the Federation itself. One of the Spocks must die. But which one ... ?
118 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1970
About the author
James Blish
423 books288 followersJames Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr.
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
March 1, 2012
Common opinion seems to hold that being a Star Trek fan is akin to declaring a form of voluntary abstinence in this sexual age:
I find that perception to be a serious boat miss. I am a Trekker...not an “in garb” convention going, mind-meld teaching, Klingonese poetry writing disciple of the Church of Roddenberry (for which it’s worth, I worship Cthulhu who reigns supreme over all). However, I am a big fan of the universe, the stories and the “can do” and “can do the right way” attitude that the Prophet Gene foresaw for the human race. While most of my favorite SF runs to the seedier underbelly of our potential, Roddenberry’s positive, uplifting, kumbaya view of our future is something of which I have always been quite impressed.
Plus…it’s not like Star Trek can’t be all kinds of sexy:
… bom chicka wah wah…
…and for you fetishists out there….
...and because no one sex could ever contain the Kirk…
…go on…you can say it…Star Trek = smoking sexxxxxy time that makes you want to put on your O face.
In addition to being all that with chips, Star Trek, especially the original series, also had a way of showcasing social commentary on a host of important issues and doing so in very entertaining ways. The treatment may not have been overly deep, but the Roddenberry got his message across and it was always clear and effective. To this day, I still think that the episode, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” was one of the best statements on race-relations that I’ve ever seen.
Anyway, I know this review has started off as an open fan letter to Star Trek, but since this is the first of the original Star Trek novels I thought it was an appropriate place to declare my affection. I shall turn off the gush spigot.
PLOT SUMMARY:
In addition to being a fan of the show, I am also a big fan of James Blish. His Black Easter and The Day After Judgement are among my all time favorite novels and A Case of Conscience is an important SF classic that I really enjoyed.
As I mentioned above, this is the first of the “original” Star Trek novels (i.e., not a novelization of one of the TV episodes). The plot will remind TOS fans of the episode “The Enemy Within” and concerns a transporter accident that creates a “duplicate” Spock. While the crew works to identify which is real Spock and which is the Memorex, they find themselves embroiled in a battle with the Klingons who have found a way to resume hostilities after the “Organian Peace Treaty” imposed on the Federation and the Klingon Empire established at the end of the episode, “Errand of Mercy.”
Marrying the built-in history and characters of the Star Trek universe with a quality writer like Blish is a recipe for an excellent story. In Blish’s case, he was already very familiar with writing Trek as he had written most of the earlier novelizations of the TOS episodes. You could tell he knew his way around this playground.
While, in general, Blish does a good job with the characters, there was one major, “bring my enjoyment to a screeching halt” exception that ultimately cost the book a star (or at least a half star). The voice/accent Blish gives to Scotty is positively ridiculous. It actually made me wince every time the character was on the page. I am flummoxed as to just how Blish could miss that badly with a major character given his familiarity with the show…and his general overabundance of skill as a story-teller.
Still…that one big caveat aside, the rest of the story is very good and contains some interesting discussions about the nature of the soul.
Does a person have one?
What is its makeup?
What happens to it when it’s transported?
The novel also provides some nice insight into Spock’s psychology which I found enjoyable to read. I really enjoy how the novels allow the fans to better get inside the heads of these characters that we have become so fond of over the years.
All in all, a good, fun read and a good way to start if interested in reading the original Star Trek novels.
3.5 stars (4.0 but for the Scotty miss).
I find that perception to be a serious boat miss. I am a Trekker...not an “in garb” convention going, mind-meld teaching, Klingonese poetry writing disciple of the Church of Roddenberry (for which it’s worth, I worship Cthulhu who reigns supreme over all). However, I am a big fan of the universe, the stories and the “can do” and “can do the right way” attitude that the Prophet Gene foresaw for the human race. While most of my favorite SF runs to the seedier underbelly of our potential, Roddenberry’s positive, uplifting, kumbaya view of our future is something of which I have always been quite impressed.
Plus…it’s not like Star Trek can’t be all kinds of sexy:
… bom chicka wah wah…
…and for you fetishists out there….
...and because no one sex could ever contain the Kirk…
…go on…you can say it…Star Trek = smoking sexxxxxy time that makes you want to put on your O face.
In addition to being all that with chips, Star Trek, especially the original series, also had a way of showcasing social commentary on a host of important issues and doing so in very entertaining ways. The treatment may not have been overly deep, but the Roddenberry got his message across and it was always clear and effective. To this day, I still think that the episode, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” was one of the best statements on race-relations that I’ve ever seen.
Anyway, I know this review has started off as an open fan letter to Star Trek, but since this is the first of the original Star Trek novels I thought it was an appropriate place to declare my affection. I shall turn off the gush spigot.
PLOT SUMMARY:
In addition to being a fan of the show, I am also a big fan of James Blish. His Black Easter and The Day After Judgement are among my all time favorite novels and A Case of Conscience is an important SF classic that I really enjoyed.
As I mentioned above, this is the first of the “original” Star Trek novels (i.e., not a novelization of one of the TV episodes). The plot will remind TOS fans of the episode “The Enemy Within” and concerns a transporter accident that creates a “duplicate” Spock. While the crew works to identify which is real Spock and which is the Memorex, they find themselves embroiled in a battle with the Klingons who have found a way to resume hostilities after the “Organian Peace Treaty” imposed on the Federation and the Klingon Empire established at the end of the episode, “Errand of Mercy.”
Marrying the built-in history and characters of the Star Trek universe with a quality writer like Blish is a recipe for an excellent story. In Blish’s case, he was already very familiar with writing Trek as he had written most of the earlier novelizations of the TOS episodes. You could tell he knew his way around this playground.
While, in general, Blish does a good job with the characters, there was one major, “bring my enjoyment to a screeching halt” exception that ultimately cost the book a star (or at least a half star). The voice/accent Blish gives to Scotty is positively ridiculous. It actually made me wince every time the character was on the page. I am flummoxed as to just how Blish could miss that badly with a major character given his familiarity with the show…and his general overabundance of skill as a story-teller.
Still…that one big caveat aside, the rest of the story is very good and contains some interesting discussions about the nature of the soul.
Does a person have one?
What is its makeup?
What happens to it when it’s transported?
The novel also provides some nice insight into Spock’s psychology which I found enjoyable to read. I really enjoy how the novels allow the fans to better get inside the heads of these characters that we have become so fond of over the years.
All in all, a good, fun read and a good way to start if interested in reading the original Star Trek novels.
3.5 stars (4.0 but for the Scotty miss).
April 28, 2011
OK - the first Star Trek story not based on a shooting script, requested by popular demand (fan mail to the author, from readers of his script adaptations.)
What would you do with that opportunity? Let's just say I am unsurprised that Blish's story revolves round a transporter accident. The technology raises heaps of questions in the minds of anyone with the slightest philosophical bent - and any decent SF writer fits in that category. Also, at the time, most of those obvious ideas hadn't already been used three times each...
The book opens with Bones waxing metaphysical with Scotty and Kirk being surprisingly willingly dragged into the debate. Not long after, a transporter accident makes the theoretical discussion all too real, and threatens the very existence of the Federation, to boot. A good deal of care was put into developing a story that fits the characters and background of the TV show. Indeed, in an utterly non-preachy way, Blish pushes the values of equality and non-prejudice espoused by the Federation even further than the broadcasts did, by giving Uhura much more prominence and effective input.
I can't help feeling that Blish had his tongue in his cheek, affectionately, too, though: mastery of James Joyce helps in the field of practical cryptology and Scott's accent varies from barely comprehensible Glaswegian to completely neutral, depending on his stress-level, as if Blish is taking the mick out of James Doohan's portrayal...
(Anybody who knows Blish's work well will recognise that James Joyce was something of an obsession of the author.)
It's an easy, entertaining book that Blish manages to turn into a good opportunity to examine ideas that interested him and I therefore strongly recommend it to Blish fans who might feel reluctant to read a "tie-in" novel. It's not first-rate, but it's worthwhile.
What would you do with that opportunity? Let's just say I am unsurprised that Blish's story revolves round a transporter accident. The technology raises heaps of questions in the minds of anyone with the slightest philosophical bent - and any decent SF writer fits in that category. Also, at the time, most of those obvious ideas hadn't already been used three times each...
The book opens with Bones waxing metaphysical with Scotty and Kirk being surprisingly willingly dragged into the debate. Not long after, a transporter accident makes the theoretical discussion all too real, and threatens the very existence of the Federation, to boot. A good deal of care was put into developing a story that fits the characters and background of the TV show. Indeed, in an utterly non-preachy way, Blish pushes the values of equality and non-prejudice espoused by the Federation even further than the broadcasts did, by giving Uhura much more prominence and effective input.
I can't help feeling that Blish had his tongue in his cheek, affectionately, too, though: mastery of James Joyce helps in the field of practical cryptology and Scott's accent varies from barely comprehensible Glaswegian to completely neutral, depending on his stress-level, as if Blish is taking the mick out of James Doohan's portrayal...
(Anybody who knows Blish's work well will recognise that James Joyce was something of an obsession of the author.)
It's an easy, entertaining book that Blish manages to turn into a good opportunity to examine ideas that interested him and I therefore strongly recommend it to Blish fans who might feel reluctant to read a "tie-in" novel. It's not first-rate, but it's worthwhile.
September 4, 2018
DISCLAIMER: This review assumes that you have a good working knowledge of “Star Trek” and its universe, especially the “classic” original series “Trek” from the 1960s. If all you know of “Star Trek” is the lens-flare movie reboots, then this isn’t really the place to be. If you’re a “Star Wars” fan, fuggedaboutit. Me, I like ‘em both, and I snort Melange, too, so there. It’s a niiiiice spice.
In 1967, noted science-fiction author James Blish was commissioned by Bantam Books to write a series of adaptations of episodes from the “Star Trek” television show. The stories were collected and released in a 12-volume set, completing the run in 1977. Blish wrote the bulk of the adaptations, though his wife J. A. Lawrence also contributed a number of the entries in the books. These recycled stories proved to incredibly popular, and kept “Star Trek” in the public consciousness long after the television series was canceled. It’s quite probable that the “Trek” renaissance would not have happened if not for Blish’s commitment to produce faithful and well-written condensations of the television episodes.
In 1970, Blish was offered the opportunity to write and publish an original novel based on the “Star Trek” characters and universe. Blish took to this project with relish, and produced what can officially be called a genuine artifact of the entire “Trek” canon. Indeed, it is no mean stretch to call “Spock Must Die” the first true piece of “Star Trek” fanfiction to reach the market.
NOTE: Author Mack Reynolds produced a “Star Trek” tie-in for young readers called “Mission to Horatius” that preceded Blish’s novel. There was also a Gold Key comic book series starring the “Trek” characters, but neither of these are considered by fans as a true starting point for any adventures beyond the original episodes of the television series.
“Spock Must Die” is a short read at 118 pages, and the action moves very much like any installment of the TV show would. In point of fact, it rehashes a familiar theme introduced in the original show itself, that of the Enterprise’s transporter device malfunctioning and causing a “replica” effect to take place.
The plot summary is pretty short and sweet: the Klingon Empire has taken the Federation by surprise and attacked, in full defiance of the Organian Peace Treaty. The Enterprise and her crew are caught behind enemy lines and decide to make way for the planet Organia to see what might have happened to the ultra-powerful creatures of pure thought who dwell there. Enroute, Engineering Chief Scott theorizes a way to make the transporter work by way of tachyons, thus allowing for transport of a “duplicate” officer over galactic distances. The idea is to beam Spock over to Organia in duplicate form in order to find out what happened to the Organians. Upon his return, he is to report his findings and the “duplicate” Spock has his tachyon self dispersed into the ether. But as we know, things seldom work as advertised in the “Trek” universe. The experiment is conducted and now the crew of the Enterprise must deal with TWO Spocks, both identical and both claiming to be the original. How does Kirk and his crew sort this out in the middle of a war with the Klingons? Well, you’ll just have to read it for yourself to find out.
“Spock Must Die” makes good use of Dr. McCoy’s phobia regarding the transporter system. McCoy even begins the book with one of his philosophical debates about the integrity of the system itself. His questions of how the transporter system works and whether or not it might affect what some would call a “soul” is a persistent theme in the “Trek” universe. And it IS kind of an interesting question. If a body can be disassembled and reassembled at will, are we then nothing more than a series of electron positions floating around pretending to be conscious? It’s about as philosophically deep as “Star Trek” ever gets, although the series has always had a strong and enduring set of moral and ethical benchmarks that have underpinned its success over the decades.
“Spock Must Die” was not an overnight success within the “Trek” fandom, though it gained in sales and reputation as the years went on. Blish intended for there to be an ongoing set of sequels, but his health was failing and he never produced a follow-up. It would be several more years before another author would pick up the trail with a book titled “Spock, Messiah,” but I’ll cover THAT debacle in another review somewhere down the road.
There are a few nitpicks that mar “Spock Must Die.” One is that Dr, McCoy is referred to by the nickname “Doc” throughout the book. This was in contrast to his established nickname of “Bones” in the series. Blish blamed this oversight an an unnamed editor. Engineer Scott also spends most of the novel speaking with a VERY pronounced Scottish brogue. This isn’t necessarily out of character, but it IS taken to an extreme that seems a bit…..shall we say….over the top. Kirk also spends a lot of time describing one of the shuttlecraft ships as a “gig.” In nautical terms that typically refers to a rowboat of sorts, hardly an apt description for the well-equipped exploration devices that had a multitude of uses in the original series.
Still, “Spock Must Die” is a fun read, and a quick one. Besides that, it’s a true relic in the “Star Trek” canon, a first stab at creating adventures beyond the original set of stories that established “Star Trek” as one of the most robust and loved franchises in all of science-fiction media. I managed to buy a 1972 9th printing of this fun little book, and I’m glad that I had an opportunity to spend a few hours with it. It’s well worth picking up if you see it sitting in a used paperback rack somewhere.
Live long, and prosper.
In 1967, noted science-fiction author James Blish was commissioned by Bantam Books to write a series of adaptations of episodes from the “Star Trek” television show. The stories were collected and released in a 12-volume set, completing the run in 1977. Blish wrote the bulk of the adaptations, though his wife J. A. Lawrence also contributed a number of the entries in the books. These recycled stories proved to incredibly popular, and kept “Star Trek” in the public consciousness long after the television series was canceled. It’s quite probable that the “Trek” renaissance would not have happened if not for Blish’s commitment to produce faithful and well-written condensations of the television episodes.
In 1970, Blish was offered the opportunity to write and publish an original novel based on the “Star Trek” characters and universe. Blish took to this project with relish, and produced what can officially be called a genuine artifact of the entire “Trek” canon. Indeed, it is no mean stretch to call “Spock Must Die” the first true piece of “Star Trek” fanfiction to reach the market.
NOTE: Author Mack Reynolds produced a “Star Trek” tie-in for young readers called “Mission to Horatius” that preceded Blish’s novel. There was also a Gold Key comic book series starring the “Trek” characters, but neither of these are considered by fans as a true starting point for any adventures beyond the original episodes of the television series.
“Spock Must Die” is a short read at 118 pages, and the action moves very much like any installment of the TV show would. In point of fact, it rehashes a familiar theme introduced in the original show itself, that of the Enterprise’s transporter device malfunctioning and causing a “replica” effect to take place.
The plot summary is pretty short and sweet: the Klingon Empire has taken the Federation by surprise and attacked, in full defiance of the Organian Peace Treaty. The Enterprise and her crew are caught behind enemy lines and decide to make way for the planet Organia to see what might have happened to the ultra-powerful creatures of pure thought who dwell there. Enroute, Engineering Chief Scott theorizes a way to make the transporter work by way of tachyons, thus allowing for transport of a “duplicate” officer over galactic distances. The idea is to beam Spock over to Organia in duplicate form in order to find out what happened to the Organians. Upon his return, he is to report his findings and the “duplicate” Spock has his tachyon self dispersed into the ether. But as we know, things seldom work as advertised in the “Trek” universe. The experiment is conducted and now the crew of the Enterprise must deal with TWO Spocks, both identical and both claiming to be the original. How does Kirk and his crew sort this out in the middle of a war with the Klingons? Well, you’ll just have to read it for yourself to find out.
“Spock Must Die” makes good use of Dr. McCoy’s phobia regarding the transporter system. McCoy even begins the book with one of his philosophical debates about the integrity of the system itself. His questions of how the transporter system works and whether or not it might affect what some would call a “soul” is a persistent theme in the “Trek” universe. And it IS kind of an interesting question. If a body can be disassembled and reassembled at will, are we then nothing more than a series of electron positions floating around pretending to be conscious? It’s about as philosophically deep as “Star Trek” ever gets, although the series has always had a strong and enduring set of moral and ethical benchmarks that have underpinned its success over the decades.
“Spock Must Die” was not an overnight success within the “Trek” fandom, though it gained in sales and reputation as the years went on. Blish intended for there to be an ongoing set of sequels, but his health was failing and he never produced a follow-up. It would be several more years before another author would pick up the trail with a book titled “Spock, Messiah,” but I’ll cover THAT debacle in another review somewhere down the road.
There are a few nitpicks that mar “Spock Must Die.” One is that Dr, McCoy is referred to by the nickname “Doc” throughout the book. This was in contrast to his established nickname of “Bones” in the series. Blish blamed this oversight an an unnamed editor. Engineer Scott also spends most of the novel speaking with a VERY pronounced Scottish brogue. This isn’t necessarily out of character, but it IS taken to an extreme that seems a bit…..shall we say….over the top. Kirk also spends a lot of time describing one of the shuttlecraft ships as a “gig.” In nautical terms that typically refers to a rowboat of sorts, hardly an apt description for the well-equipped exploration devices that had a multitude of uses in the original series.
Still, “Spock Must Die” is a fun read, and a quick one. Besides that, it’s a true relic in the “Star Trek” canon, a first stab at creating adventures beyond the original set of stories that established “Star Trek” as one of the most robust and loved franchises in all of science-fiction media. I managed to buy a 1972 9th printing of this fun little book, and I’m glad that I had an opportunity to spend a few hours with it. It’s well worth picking up if you see it sitting in a used paperback rack somewhere.
Live long, and prosper.
April 6, 2022
The story is a mix of the Star Trek episodes Errand of Mercy and The Enemy Within. Some of the details about the class of star ships and aliens do not jive with the Star Trek universe. The book needs a better cover.
October 1, 2012
One of the first original Star Trek novels written, "Spock Must Die" is a product of an entirely different era in Trek publishing. Veteran sci-fi writer James Blish famously adapted most of the original 79 episodes of classic Trek as short stories in a series of 12 collections. (For many fans, like myself, these collections were an essential part of our discovery of the original series in the days before we could watch any episode we wanted any time we wanted via video-tapes, DVD collections or streaming). Their success and fan letters encouraged him to try his own hand at crafting an original Trek story and the result is "Spock Must Die."
"Spock Must Die" is a far more philosophical novel than many of the Trek tie-ins published today. It's also a lot more sweeping in its scope than many of the Trek novels published today. And yet it weights in at just a mere hundred and twelve pages.
The central philosophical issue is raised on the first page of the story with McCoy (who is inadvertently called Doc instead of Bones due to an editing error at the time) debating Scotty on the implications of using the transporter. McCoy wonders if the person who steps into the transporter and is beamed down is the same person who arrives or if you're just a relatively close duplicate of a person who no longer exists.
The novel spends the next hundred or so pages trying to answer that question when a transporter experiment creates a duplicate of Spock. Unable to tell which is the original, Kirk and company wrestle with the morality of the situation as well as trying to ensure that one of the Spocks isn't a cleverly disguised Klingon agent. It's not helped by the fact that neither Spock can break the tie and one of them attempts to blackmail Kirk into killing the other and insisting he's the original.
All of this is set against the backdrop of the Organians disappearing and war erupting with the Klingon Empire. Blish's novel operates under the theory that space is really, really huge and that the Enterprise really is out there alone on the edge of the frontier. It's no quick jaunt back to Organia, but instead a six month voyage at high warp through hostile territory. That six month period gives a lot of time for debate, philosophical reflection and hand-wringing over what to do about the duplicate Spock problem and why the Organians are no longer enforcing their treaty that created the uneasy peace between the Federation and the Klingons.
There's even a section of the novel given to the debate over what makes Spock so attractive to women.
Written in a time before there were a zillion or other so tie-in novels and stricter rules on what one could and couldn't do in a Star Trek novel, Blish is allowed to take some risks that might not be available to writers today. For example, the novel's end finds the Organians returning and punishing the Klingons for their role in cutting them off from the universe (and their plans to impose a similar fate on Earth) in a way that's fairly far-reaching in scope and feels like it's intended to be the final word on the subject.
And while "Spock Must Die" helped pave the way for other writers to dabble in the Star Trek universe, I can't say it's one of the better tie-in novels ever written. Philosophical debates aside, Blish's portrayals of certain classic Trek characters doesn't ring entirely true. While it's admirable to see him put Uhura into the chain of command, it doesn't ring true that Kirk would put her in command of the ship at certain points of the story when Sulu is available. At least based on the evidence from the classic episodes.
The resolution to how we determine which Spock is which also seems a bit abrupt. I'm not sure if Blish was being kept to a page count or just didn't know the best way to write his way out of the dilemma he'd created for the story. Either way, the resolution and denouncement of which one is the copy isn't nearly as compelling or interesting as the events leading up to it.
In the end, "Spock Must Die" is a bit of a mixed bag. It's a harder sci-fi take on the original series, but it doesn't necessarily always get the characters right. Blish did a lot to help invent the sub-genre of Trek publishing and for that I'm grateful. I just wish his original creation for the line had been a bit better.
"Spock Must Die" is a far more philosophical novel than many of the Trek tie-ins published today. It's also a lot more sweeping in its scope than many of the Trek novels published today. And yet it weights in at just a mere hundred and twelve pages.
The central philosophical issue is raised on the first page of the story with McCoy (who is inadvertently called Doc instead of Bones due to an editing error at the time) debating Scotty on the implications of using the transporter. McCoy wonders if the person who steps into the transporter and is beamed down is the same person who arrives or if you're just a relatively close duplicate of a person who no longer exists.
The novel spends the next hundred or so pages trying to answer that question when a transporter experiment creates a duplicate of Spock. Unable to tell which is the original, Kirk and company wrestle with the morality of the situation as well as trying to ensure that one of the Spocks isn't a cleverly disguised Klingon agent. It's not helped by the fact that neither Spock can break the tie and one of them attempts to blackmail Kirk into killing the other and insisting he's the original.
All of this is set against the backdrop of the Organians disappearing and war erupting with the Klingon Empire. Blish's novel operates under the theory that space is really, really huge and that the Enterprise really is out there alone on the edge of the frontier. It's no quick jaunt back to Organia, but instead a six month voyage at high warp through hostile territory. That six month period gives a lot of time for debate, philosophical reflection and hand-wringing over what to do about the duplicate Spock problem and why the Organians are no longer enforcing their treaty that created the uneasy peace between the Federation and the Klingons.
There's even a section of the novel given to the debate over what makes Spock so attractive to women.
Written in a time before there were a zillion or other so tie-in novels and stricter rules on what one could and couldn't do in a Star Trek novel, Blish is allowed to take some risks that might not be available to writers today. For example, the novel's end finds the Organians returning and punishing the Klingons for their role in cutting them off from the universe (and their plans to impose a similar fate on Earth) in a way that's fairly far-reaching in scope and feels like it's intended to be the final word on the subject.
And while "Spock Must Die" helped pave the way for other writers to dabble in the Star Trek universe, I can't say it's one of the better tie-in novels ever written. Philosophical debates aside, Blish's portrayals of certain classic Trek characters doesn't ring entirely true. While it's admirable to see him put Uhura into the chain of command, it doesn't ring true that Kirk would put her in command of the ship at certain points of the story when Sulu is available. At least based on the evidence from the classic episodes.
The resolution to how we determine which Spock is which also seems a bit abrupt. I'm not sure if Blish was being kept to a page count or just didn't know the best way to write his way out of the dilemma he'd created for the story. Either way, the resolution and denouncement of which one is the copy isn't nearly as compelling or interesting as the events leading up to it.
In the end, "Spock Must Die" is a bit of a mixed bag. It's a harder sci-fi take on the original series, but it doesn't necessarily always get the characters right. Blish did a lot to help invent the sub-genre of Trek publishing and for that I'm grateful. I just wish his original creation for the line had been a bit better.
November 29, 2023
This was the first Star Trek novel intended for adults to be published (the first novel, Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds, was a juvenile from Whitman), and I find it fascinating (ahem) that it was written before and concurrent with the first manned Lunar landing. Blish had previously written three volumes of his prose adaptations of the television episodes, so he was quite familiar with the characters and backgrounds. (Though he did go a bit overboard on Scotty channeling James Joyce.) It's a fairly standard transporter-malfunction tale, amidst a blast-those-pesky-Klingons-anyway story, but he tells it well, with a bit of humor and a warp four pace. When this short novel hit the stands in February of 1970 it could be truly said that Blish had boldly gone where no one had gone before.
March 29, 2008
I shoplifted this from Eastlawn Pharmacy in Midland MI somewhere around 1972. Can't remember a damn thing about it other than everybody wanted Spock dead. Including me.
November 22, 2011
In this existential treatise on the philosophy of self, James Blish attempts to resolve the infamous "McCoy's Paradox" regarding the continuity of essentia through the medium of a Star Trek: The Original Series novel. As you do.
McCoy's paradox is of course well known to anyone who has even walked past a bookshop that contains philosophy texts, but for completeness I'll recapitulate it here in Blish's terms. The transporters of Star Trek can be (erroneously) thought of as working by converting the entirety of the subject's mass into energy, recording the quantum state of every constituent atom along the way, beaming this energy to the destination point (which even Tesla knew how to do (even if we don't…)) and then using the recorded data to reverse the process.
The "paradox" (which like all good paradoxes isn't a paradox) is the following. The person who emerges post-transport is identical in every way to the person who stepped onto the transporter pad, right down to the quantum level. But are they the same person? Having been disassembled, digitised, zapped across the aether, and reassembled (crucially ceasing to exist for a few seconds in the meantime), are you really the same person as at the start of this sentence?
The question, I should point out lest you become agitated to know Blish's answer, is not resolved within this book. Indeed it was still being discussed into the twenty first century. Transfuturist Peter Hamilton in his philosophical note Judas Unchained — in many ways a spiritual sequel to Spock Must Die! — rephrases the problem in terms of attaining immortality through the process of downloading one's memories periodically and, in the event of "body loss", uploading these memories into a cloned body. But is this really immortality or, to paraphrase Hamilton, do I simply die, and then someone else walk away with all of my memories? He counters this issue by analogy with sleep — when one awakes each morning the only connection to the person who went to sleep the previous night is one's memories.
Blish takes a more combative approach to the question, taking an already divided entity — the half human, half Vulcan Spock — and having the transporter malfunction, essentially causing the Spock that would have been disassembled and the Spock that would have been reassembled to both exist concurrently. Do both of these Spocks have equal grounds to claim that they are the original, bona fide person? Well, Blish's précis is summed up in his treatise's title: only one of these Spocks is the real one, and one of these Spocks Must Die. (!)
As far as insightful arguments go, I've heard better. And so as a philosophical discourse the book falls flat on its face — I've known a few philosophers during my time at University and I can count on one hand the number of times they've brought up Spock Must Die! during one of their disquisitions. Fortunately though, and no doubt entirely by chance, the Star Trek trappings that Blish uses as a vehicle for his argument end up forming a quaint story in their own right. It's quirky and oftentimes over the top, and while it's sometimes a little top heavy, the charm of the televised series does sometimes shine through. And on those occasions this book provides its own answer to the paradox; it may go onto the transporter pad as a philosophical tractate yet be disassembled at the atomic level and upon reassembly find itself no longer what it was, but now a fun little science fiction novella. And if we were to have our atoms torn apart and flung pell-mell and everywhither across the Universe I dare say we could all do worse than come back as that.
McCoy's paradox is of course well known to anyone who has even walked past a bookshop that contains philosophy texts, but for completeness I'll recapitulate it here in Blish's terms. The transporters of Star Trek can be (erroneously) thought of as working by converting the entirety of the subject's mass into energy, recording the quantum state of every constituent atom along the way, beaming this energy to the destination point (which even Tesla knew how to do (even if we don't…)) and then using the recorded data to reverse the process.
The "paradox" (which like all good paradoxes isn't a paradox) is the following. The person who emerges post-transport is identical in every way to the person who stepped onto the transporter pad, right down to the quantum level. But are they the same person? Having been disassembled, digitised, zapped across the aether, and reassembled (crucially ceasing to exist for a few seconds in the meantime), are you really the same person as at the start of this sentence?
The question, I should point out lest you become agitated to know Blish's answer, is not resolved within this book. Indeed it was still being discussed into the twenty first century. Transfuturist Peter Hamilton in his philosophical note Judas Unchained — in many ways a spiritual sequel to Spock Must Die! — rephrases the problem in terms of attaining immortality through the process of downloading one's memories periodically and, in the event of "body loss", uploading these memories into a cloned body. But is this really immortality or, to paraphrase Hamilton, do I simply die, and then someone else walk away with all of my memories? He counters this issue by analogy with sleep — when one awakes each morning the only connection to the person who went to sleep the previous night is one's memories.
Blish takes a more combative approach to the question, taking an already divided entity — the half human, half Vulcan Spock — and having the transporter malfunction, essentially causing the Spock that would have been disassembled and the Spock that would have been reassembled to both exist concurrently. Do both of these Spocks have equal grounds to claim that they are the original, bona fide person? Well, Blish's précis is summed up in his treatise's title: only one of these Spocks is the real one, and one of these Spocks Must Die. (!)
As far as insightful arguments go, I've heard better. And so as a philosophical discourse the book falls flat on its face — I've known a few philosophers during my time at University and I can count on one hand the number of times they've brought up Spock Must Die! during one of their disquisitions. Fortunately though, and no doubt entirely by chance, the Star Trek trappings that Blish uses as a vehicle for his argument end up forming a quaint story in their own right. It's quirky and oftentimes over the top, and while it's sometimes a little top heavy, the charm of the televised series does sometimes shine through. And on those occasions this book provides its own answer to the paradox; it may go onto the transporter pad as a philosophical tractate yet be disassembled at the atomic level and upon reassembly find itself no longer what it was, but now a fun little science fiction novella. And if we were to have our atoms torn apart and flung pell-mell and everywhither across the Universe I dare say we could all do worse than come back as that.
February 1, 2018
This was my second Star Trek Bantam novel (Planet of Judgment was my first) and this one was a much better read.
James Blish transcribed all of the original Star Trek episodes for those poor souls from the past who didn't have VHS/DVD/Blu-ray/Netflix, so I was quite curious to see what an original story from someone who should know the characters inside and out was like. It felt like more of a hard sci-fi than Star Trek usually was, but I like hard SF, so I had a lot of fun.
Some of the characters do seem a little off in the way they speak. Spock and Kirk, however, seem pretty close and he has a solid grasp on McCoy. My only complaint was I couldn't make heads or tails out of what Scotty was saying. Also, Kirk kept calling McCoy 'Doc', which probably had more to do with the copy-editor than it did with Blish.
All-in-all, a fun and brisk Star Trek read. And the only Star Trek book from the 70s that I would currently recommend.
James Blish transcribed all of the original Star Trek episodes for those poor souls from the past who didn't have VHS/DVD/Blu-ray/Netflix, so I was quite curious to see what an original story from someone who should know the characters inside and out was like. It felt like more of a hard sci-fi than Star Trek usually was, but I like hard SF, so I had a lot of fun.
Some of the characters do seem a little off in the way they speak. Spock and Kirk, however, seem pretty close and he has a solid grasp on McCoy. My only complaint was I couldn't make heads or tails out of what Scotty was saying. Also, Kirk kept calling McCoy 'Doc', which probably had more to do with the copy-editor than it did with Blish.
All-in-all, a fun and brisk Star Trek read. And the only Star Trek book from the 70s that I would currently recommend.
February 7, 2017
Spock must die! Say it isn’t so. But it is. In James Blish’s 1970 novel, Spock Must Die!, the crew of the Enterprise is confronted with a dilemma that can only be solved by Spock’s death. This is a more intellectual, science-heavy novel, and suspense builds as you try to solve the Spock problem along with the rest of the crew.
The novel opens with a philosophical discussion between Scotty and Dr. McCoy that Captain Kirk is (unwittingly) pulled into. McCoy (as fans know) has no love for the transporter or being transported. He complains incessantly about his atoms being “scrambled.” In his discussion with Scotty, he goes one step further and says that the transporter essentially murders people and the “transported” duplicate is merely a ghost of the original transported person. “I am a construct made by a machine after the image of a dead man,” McCoy claims (5). Scotty snorts in disgust, but McCoy is worried that his soul has been destroyed in the process of transporting. This discussion is about to be tested. The ship’s mission is to patrol an area near the Klingon Empire and map out a navigation grid for this area of space, but then they receive reports that the Klingons are attacking Federation outposts. This is a direct violation of the Organian Peace Treaty (episode “Errand of Mercy”), but the Organians have failed to intervene. This is puzzling because the Organians are beings of pure thought with a lot of power. Because Captain Kirk cannot contact Starfleet Command without giving away the location of the Enterprise, he orders them to Organia. While en route, Scotty tells him that he and Spock have engineered a way of using tachyons to extend the transporter’s range. Instead of having to go all the way to Organia to find out what’s wrong, it is possible to send someone from their current location. This method also solves McCoy’s “lost soul” problem as the tachyon-modified transporter will duplicate a person on the ship, in the transporter bay, then send only the duplicate to Organia. Upon returning, the tachyon-created duplicate will report its findings and then dissolve when Scotty essentially shuts off the tachyon field. Mr. Spock, being familiar with the Organians, is assigned this mission. Unfortunately, the tachyon field somehow makes two Mr. Spocks—and one must die!
This is a very short novel (under 120 pages) but it’s fairly technical. I don’t know if it’s real physics technical or fake physics technical, but once I got a basic understanding of the sentence, I skimmed over all the blah blah technical blah. This is less “cowboys in space” and more “nerds in space.” A lot of energy goes into trying to decide which Spock is the original: Spock One or Spock Two? They have to know because it soon becomes apparent that one of the Spocks is not their friend and is engaged in espionage. I knew, not because I made any brilliant deductions, but because I remembered how they figured it out from when I last read the book (about ten years ago). This novel isn’t heavy on character development or even character interactions—mostly it’s an intellectual puzzle: which Spock is the original? What happened to the Organians? Why are the Klingons so confident they can take over the Federation? It’s enjoyable though and the end is weird with all those hallucinations. It’s like the Spocks, Scotty and Kirk were on acid trips.
The dialogue isn’t as well-written as it could be, especially from Star Trek veteran James Blish. Spock doesn’t always speak with usual logical precision; Blish has him starting a sentence with: “Why not go…” and I thought, no, Spock wouldn’t say that. Kirk consistently calls Dr. McCoy “Doc,” which is odd. In the tv show, Kirk calls him “Bones” or “McCoy” but rarely “Doc.” McCoy being cranky about the transporter is a funny character trait that’s often used for laughs but I rolled my eyes at the whole “the transporter killed my soul” bit. First, this is an advanced, highly technological/scientific civilization. I’m not saying religion won’t exist in the twenty-third or whatever century or that McCoy isn’t religious, but it’s an odd discussion. I agree with Scotty: if you have a soul, it’s immaterial, it’s immortal. I think it would survive multiple trips through a transporter, no matter how much your atoms got scrambled.
Spock Must Die! by James Blish is an interesting and fun trip into 1970s Star Trek-based fiction.
The novel opens with a philosophical discussion between Scotty and Dr. McCoy that Captain Kirk is (unwittingly) pulled into. McCoy (as fans know) has no love for the transporter or being transported. He complains incessantly about his atoms being “scrambled.” In his discussion with Scotty, he goes one step further and says that the transporter essentially murders people and the “transported” duplicate is merely a ghost of the original transported person. “I am a construct made by a machine after the image of a dead man,” McCoy claims (5). Scotty snorts in disgust, but McCoy is worried that his soul has been destroyed in the process of transporting. This discussion is about to be tested. The ship’s mission is to patrol an area near the Klingon Empire and map out a navigation grid for this area of space, but then they receive reports that the Klingons are attacking Federation outposts. This is a direct violation of the Organian Peace Treaty (episode “Errand of Mercy”), but the Organians have failed to intervene. This is puzzling because the Organians are beings of pure thought with a lot of power. Because Captain Kirk cannot contact Starfleet Command without giving away the location of the Enterprise, he orders them to Organia. While en route, Scotty tells him that he and Spock have engineered a way of using tachyons to extend the transporter’s range. Instead of having to go all the way to Organia to find out what’s wrong, it is possible to send someone from their current location. This method also solves McCoy’s “lost soul” problem as the tachyon-modified transporter will duplicate a person on the ship, in the transporter bay, then send only the duplicate to Organia. Upon returning, the tachyon-created duplicate will report its findings and then dissolve when Scotty essentially shuts off the tachyon field. Mr. Spock, being familiar with the Organians, is assigned this mission. Unfortunately, the tachyon field somehow makes two Mr. Spocks—and one must die!
This is a very short novel (under 120 pages) but it’s fairly technical. I don’t know if it’s real physics technical or fake physics technical, but once I got a basic understanding of the sentence, I skimmed over all the blah blah technical blah. This is less “cowboys in space” and more “nerds in space.” A lot of energy goes into trying to decide which Spock is the original: Spock One or Spock Two? They have to know because it soon becomes apparent that one of the Spocks is not their friend and is engaged in espionage. I knew, not because I made any brilliant deductions, but because I remembered how they figured it out from when I last read the book (about ten years ago). This novel isn’t heavy on character development or even character interactions—mostly it’s an intellectual puzzle: which Spock is the original? What happened to the Organians? Why are the Klingons so confident they can take over the Federation? It’s enjoyable though and the end is weird with all those hallucinations. It’s like the Spocks, Scotty and Kirk were on acid trips.
The dialogue isn’t as well-written as it could be, especially from Star Trek veteran James Blish. Spock doesn’t always speak with usual logical precision; Blish has him starting a sentence with: “Why not go…” and I thought, no, Spock wouldn’t say that. Kirk consistently calls Dr. McCoy “Doc,” which is odd. In the tv show, Kirk calls him “Bones” or “McCoy” but rarely “Doc.” McCoy being cranky about the transporter is a funny character trait that’s often used for laughs but I rolled my eyes at the whole “the transporter killed my soul” bit. First, this is an advanced, highly technological/scientific civilization. I’m not saying religion won’t exist in the twenty-third or whatever century or that McCoy isn’t religious, but it’s an odd discussion. I agree with Scotty: if you have a soul, it’s immaterial, it’s immortal. I think it would survive multiple trips through a transporter, no matter how much your atoms got scrambled.
Spock Must Die! by James Blish is an interesting and fun trip into 1970s Star Trek-based fiction.
October 15, 2018
Nice, quick read that could as well have been an episode of the original series.
I liked the format of every chapter beginning as a captain's log, the writing style was a good fit for the story and the plot was quite intriguing. I was positively surprised that the conversation from the beginning not only had impact on the plot but also came back at the end.
It was of course not perfect: Spocks unnatural behavior had to be explained away at the end and I don't know how realistic the whole thing is, but I don't mind that.
It was short and enjoyable and an interesting edition to the star trek franchise.
I liked the format of every chapter beginning as a captain's log, the writing style was a good fit for the story and the plot was quite intriguing. I was positively surprised that the conversation from the beginning not only had impact on the plot but also came back at the end.
It was of course not perfect: Spocks unnatural behavior had to be explained away at the end and I don't know how realistic the whole thing is, but I don't mind that.
It was short and enjoyable and an interesting edition to the star trek franchise.
September 5, 2022
Spock Must Die!
Star Trek Adventures # what? Number one, that's right. This novel is very interesting to me because it is quite the artifact. My copy is of the first paperback printing and it is one I randomly found in a free library box in Portland years ago. Already beaten up I didn’t feel any need to protect it. I was interested as it is the first Star Trek written for adults, the only novel that predates it is the strange ‘Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds which was published by Gold Key comics.
These two original novels are the only ones written while Star Trek was on the air. I was interested in part because most Star Trek novels have been written with years of episodes, movies, and books to inform the characters and canon.
I am already a James Blish fan. A Case of Conscience won the 1958 Hugo and in many ways makes an interesting pairing with The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Which is considered high art, that the author doesn’t consider genre. Blish’s novel is the true SF spin on the concept. His glorious novel Cities in Flight is one I pay serious homage to in my SF novel Goddamn Killing Machines.
James Blish was an OG in Science Fiction, who was a part of the same Futurians crew that included Pohl, Asimov, Judith Merrill, Kornbluth, and Wollheim. Apparently, Merrill and Blish were known for debating political issues, and what I wouldn’t give to be a fly on those walls.
In 1964 Blish’s second marriage to artist J.A. Lawrence got him a new home in England. At a gig that gave him some stability that his own novels never gave him. At a time when home video didn’t exist, it was smart world-building business for Roddenberry and crew to create books based on the Star Trek universe.
Gene Roddenberry and his team all grew up reading Astounding and Amazing Stories. They knew the pulps so it is interesting to me that he hired James Blish to do all these. He was a smart choice, as Blish took the science seriously enough, keep in mind he is known for coining the term Gas Giant. At the same time, he wasn’t above flights of fantasy like cities turned into spaceships.
In the late 30s and 40s John W. Campbell had a stable of writers who kept employed Like Heinlein, Hubbard, Kuttner/Moore, and Asimov. In the 50s Wollheim had his Ace authors Brackett, Brunner and PKD were that stable of authors. In the late 60s, Roddenberry was positioning himself to do the same in TV, if Star Trek had been a bigger success out of the gate that was the plan.
Blish knew this. He wrote about it in a journal entry… 26 July 66 An apparent opportunity has arisen to do a book of 8 short stories derived from scripts of the forthcoming TV series Star Trek for a flat fee of $2000. This creates a dilemma. I need the money and could do the work quickly. On the other hand I don't like this kind of work and it's bad for the reputation to get involved in that sort of hacking.
I suppose the best out is to do it under a pen name- and bear in mind that it might help to work for the show directly- especially since the producer will be at the Tricon [1966 World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland]."
Roddenberry screened a 35 MM black and white print in Cleveland and by all reports had to tell Issac Asimov to shut as the screening started. Blish was just some of the SF royalty at that screening. Frank Herbert, John Brunner, Harlan Ellison, and Norman Spinrad to name a few. Roddenberry was pitching writers at the convention this turned into a slew of treatments that the producers at Star Trek got from many legends like AE Van Vogt and newcomers like Spinrad and Sheckley.
James Blish however got the gig for writing the Star Trek books based on early treatments (and some scripts) but The Cage was the only episode he had seen since they didn’t air in England when he started. Spock Must Die was the first novel for adults written based on Star Trek. It was the first written while the show was still on and even more odd Blish was envisioning this while he had never seen Kirk and McCoy on screen. Amazing to think he was building this based on treatments and early scripts.
He received an advance of $3,000 for this book (Spock Must Die!)- $1,000 more than the sum he was paid for each of the Star Trek collections. According to Blish: "...no serious Blish student...should take anything in Spock Must Die! seriously. It was a potboiler, and to keep myself interested I threw into it at random anything that occurred to me whether it made sense or not."
Well, I will take it seriously for a bit. It is not exactly one of the finest moments for this Hugo award-winning author. It is also not a super great example of a Star Trek novel as they evolved in quality over the decades that followed. That said it is the neat artifact I was hoping for.
Blish beat the show to serial storytelling by building his novel off the events of a story that happened before in the timeline, something Trek really wasn’t doing yet. Blish included * that would direct readers to his adaptations of episodes that gave break ground to moments he was writing about.
This episode is a sequel to the episode Errand of Mercy, that one was about war with the Klingons that was stopped by an advanced race of aliens called the Organians. Spock Must Die has smart use of A and B storylines. The peace with Klingons forced by the Organians has ended and the Enterprise believes this means the powerful beings of thought must be gone. Kirk wants to investigate but in a bit of Blish plotting as a true SF author, they are months away in another sector.
Scotty comes up with an idea using tachyons (wow 1969 Blish) he thinks he can beam Spock across the sector but it is a dangerous experimental trick. In contrast to Star Trek Into Darkness had Khan beaming across the quadrant with no consequences as to what that would mean. What results is similar to Star Trek Voyager’s still debated episode Tuvix.
The experiment doesn’t work and they end up with two Spocks. At first, they look identical but over time it is revealed minor differences, and one of the Spock’s maybe up to something. This storyline kinda sorta doesn’t work but hey I was entertained.
There are things I liked. Blish gives depth to the crew beyond the leads, now that I have read the DC Fontana papers it is a battle she had with Gene Coon and Bob Justman. Blish makes sure Sulu, Scotty, and Uhura are damn good at their jobs. It is a little detail but I like when ST takes space seriously. Like the captain’s log on page 40 when Kirk drops that they have been sneaking around Klingon space for three months because that was the fastest route.
Blish takes science into account, one of the clues about the fake Spock is that he can’t process food, did we need to know how he breaks down amino acids, while McCoy figured it out and gave us details because he is a Starfleet doctor.
As far as canon goes there are attempts to match it to the scripts. Kor and Koloth are involved, the latter still stinging from the Sherman’s planet biz and ending up with a ship full of Tribbles. At the same time Blish with only the stuff in scripts to work with talks in the last chapter about the Grand senate of the Klingon Empire.
There are better Blish novels, Cities in Flight and A Case of Conscience is where I suggest readers start. There are hundreds of better Spock or Star Trek novels. But this is an interesting artifact.
Star Trek Adventures # what? Number one, that's right. This novel is very interesting to me because it is quite the artifact. My copy is of the first paperback printing and it is one I randomly found in a free library box in Portland years ago. Already beaten up I didn’t feel any need to protect it. I was interested as it is the first Star Trek written for adults, the only novel that predates it is the strange ‘Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds which was published by Gold Key comics.
These two original novels are the only ones written while Star Trek was on the air. I was interested in part because most Star Trek novels have been written with years of episodes, movies, and books to inform the characters and canon.
I am already a James Blish fan. A Case of Conscience won the 1958 Hugo and in many ways makes an interesting pairing with The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Which is considered high art, that the author doesn’t consider genre. Blish’s novel is the true SF spin on the concept. His glorious novel Cities in Flight is one I pay serious homage to in my SF novel Goddamn Killing Machines.
James Blish was an OG in Science Fiction, who was a part of the same Futurians crew that included Pohl, Asimov, Judith Merrill, Kornbluth, and Wollheim. Apparently, Merrill and Blish were known for debating political issues, and what I wouldn’t give to be a fly on those walls.
In 1964 Blish’s second marriage to artist J.A. Lawrence got him a new home in England. At a gig that gave him some stability that his own novels never gave him. At a time when home video didn’t exist, it was smart world-building business for Roddenberry and crew to create books based on the Star Trek universe.
Gene Roddenberry and his team all grew up reading Astounding and Amazing Stories. They knew the pulps so it is interesting to me that he hired James Blish to do all these. He was a smart choice, as Blish took the science seriously enough, keep in mind he is known for coining the term Gas Giant. At the same time, he wasn’t above flights of fantasy like cities turned into spaceships.
In the late 30s and 40s John W. Campbell had a stable of writers who kept employed Like Heinlein, Hubbard, Kuttner/Moore, and Asimov. In the 50s Wollheim had his Ace authors Brackett, Brunner and PKD were that stable of authors. In the late 60s, Roddenberry was positioning himself to do the same in TV, if Star Trek had been a bigger success out of the gate that was the plan.
Blish knew this. He wrote about it in a journal entry… 26 July 66 An apparent opportunity has arisen to do a book of 8 short stories derived from scripts of the forthcoming TV series Star Trek for a flat fee of $2000. This creates a dilemma. I need the money and could do the work quickly. On the other hand I don't like this kind of work and it's bad for the reputation to get involved in that sort of hacking.
I suppose the best out is to do it under a pen name- and bear in mind that it might help to work for the show directly- especially since the producer will be at the Tricon [1966 World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland]."
Roddenberry screened a 35 MM black and white print in Cleveland and by all reports had to tell Issac Asimov to shut as the screening started. Blish was just some of the SF royalty at that screening. Frank Herbert, John Brunner, Harlan Ellison, and Norman Spinrad to name a few. Roddenberry was pitching writers at the convention this turned into a slew of treatments that the producers at Star Trek got from many legends like AE Van Vogt and newcomers like Spinrad and Sheckley.
James Blish however got the gig for writing the Star Trek books based on early treatments (and some scripts) but The Cage was the only episode he had seen since they didn’t air in England when he started. Spock Must Die was the first novel for adults written based on Star Trek. It was the first written while the show was still on and even more odd Blish was envisioning this while he had never seen Kirk and McCoy on screen. Amazing to think he was building this based on treatments and early scripts.
He received an advance of $3,000 for this book (Spock Must Die!)- $1,000 more than the sum he was paid for each of the Star Trek collections. According to Blish: "...no serious Blish student...should take anything in Spock Must Die! seriously. It was a potboiler, and to keep myself interested I threw into it at random anything that occurred to me whether it made sense or not."
Well, I will take it seriously for a bit. It is not exactly one of the finest moments for this Hugo award-winning author. It is also not a super great example of a Star Trek novel as they evolved in quality over the decades that followed. That said it is the neat artifact I was hoping for.
Blish beat the show to serial storytelling by building his novel off the events of a story that happened before in the timeline, something Trek really wasn’t doing yet. Blish included * that would direct readers to his adaptations of episodes that gave break ground to moments he was writing about.
This episode is a sequel to the episode Errand of Mercy, that one was about war with the Klingons that was stopped by an advanced race of aliens called the Organians. Spock Must Die has smart use of A and B storylines. The peace with Klingons forced by the Organians has ended and the Enterprise believes this means the powerful beings of thought must be gone. Kirk wants to investigate but in a bit of Blish plotting as a true SF author, they are months away in another sector.
Scotty comes up with an idea using tachyons (wow 1969 Blish) he thinks he can beam Spock across the sector but it is a dangerous experimental trick. In contrast to Star Trek Into Darkness had Khan beaming across the quadrant with no consequences as to what that would mean. What results is similar to Star Trek Voyager’s still debated episode Tuvix.
The experiment doesn’t work and they end up with two Spocks. At first, they look identical but over time it is revealed minor differences, and one of the Spock’s maybe up to something. This storyline kinda sorta doesn’t work but hey I was entertained.
There are things I liked. Blish gives depth to the crew beyond the leads, now that I have read the DC Fontana papers it is a battle she had with Gene Coon and Bob Justman. Blish makes sure Sulu, Scotty, and Uhura are damn good at their jobs. It is a little detail but I like when ST takes space seriously. Like the captain’s log on page 40 when Kirk drops that they have been sneaking around Klingon space for three months because that was the fastest route.
Blish takes science into account, one of the clues about the fake Spock is that he can’t process food, did we need to know how he breaks down amino acids, while McCoy figured it out and gave us details because he is a Starfleet doctor.
As far as canon goes there are attempts to match it to the scripts. Kor and Koloth are involved, the latter still stinging from the Sherman’s planet biz and ending up with a ship full of Tribbles. At the same time Blish with only the stuff in scripts to work with talks in the last chapter about the Grand senate of the Klingon Empire.
There are better Blish novels, Cities in Flight and A Case of Conscience is where I suggest readers start. There are hundreds of better Spock or Star Trek novels. But this is an interesting artifact.
May 4, 2009
I'm suddenly on a Star Trek kick, maybe due to the upcoming release of the new Trek movie. I really enjoyed this book a lot, and it actually had a couple of elements that surprised me. The plot was quite derivative of the original episode of "The Enemy Within," combined with the genie battle from The Arabian Nights, but it was enjoyable for all that.
July 8, 2020
This review originally published in Looking FOr a Good Book. Rated 2.5 of 5
Oh, this was absolute gold back in the early 1970's!
Going mostly off of my own memories, this was the first, professionally published Star Trek story/novel. Fan magazines (fanzines) were already being produced, but with James Blish's Spock Must Die!, fans everywhere could finally buy a brand new Star Trek story! By a professional! We were already familiar with Blish through his adaptations of the episodes, so we 'knew' that he knew these characters. And of course the success of this has prompted an entire publishing line of Star Trek novels.
But is it any good? Well....
I read this when it first came out (1970?) and really enjoyed it back then - mostly just to experience an entirely new story of my favorite tv characters. It is quite likely that at that time I had not seen every episode of the show. I would have been watching this in syndication and catching it as I could. Reading again now, I find it much less satisfying.
First, the characters seem wooden. I felt this way reading the adaptations earlier this year. Blish wasn't writing based on the television episodes - where the actors had given life to the characters - he was writing based on the advanced copies of the scripts he was sent. The friendship nuances between the main characters are not present here.
The idea of a transporter malfunction causing a duplicate Spock seems too easy a plot contrivance. Now, anyway. It feels like Blish took an early episode (The Enemy Within), changed the main character from Kirk to Spock, and tried to tie in the Organians from another first season episode (Errand of Mercy) to give the readers something 'new.' But the characters don't talk or behave the way we expect them to.
I would have been better off not re-reading this, so I could enjoy the memory of liking the book.
Looking for a good book? Spock Must Die! by James Blish has a place in the early Star Trek legend history, but as a Star Trek novel ... there are better books out there.
Oh, this was absolute gold back in the early 1970's!
Going mostly off of my own memories, this was the first, professionally published Star Trek story/novel. Fan magazines (fanzines) were already being produced, but with James Blish's Spock Must Die!, fans everywhere could finally buy a brand new Star Trek story! By a professional! We were already familiar with Blish through his adaptations of the episodes, so we 'knew' that he knew these characters. And of course the success of this has prompted an entire publishing line of Star Trek novels.
But is it any good? Well....
I read this when it first came out (1970?) and really enjoyed it back then - mostly just to experience an entirely new story of my favorite tv characters. It is quite likely that at that time I had not seen every episode of the show. I would have been watching this in syndication and catching it as I could. Reading again now, I find it much less satisfying.
First, the characters seem wooden. I felt this way reading the adaptations earlier this year. Blish wasn't writing based on the television episodes - where the actors had given life to the characters - he was writing based on the advanced copies of the scripts he was sent. The friendship nuances between the main characters are not present here.
The idea of a transporter malfunction causing a duplicate Spock seems too easy a plot contrivance. Now, anyway. It feels like Blish took an early episode (The Enemy Within), changed the main character from Kirk to Spock, and tried to tie in the Organians from another first season episode (Errand of Mercy) to give the readers something 'new.' But the characters don't talk or behave the way we expect them to.
I would have been better off not re-reading this, so I could enjoy the memory of liking the book.
Looking for a good book? Spock Must Die! by James Blish has a place in the early Star Trek legend history, but as a Star Trek novel ... there are better books out there.
February 24, 2023
Star Trek, Spock Must Die, is fan fiction written by James Blish, based on the original 1960s Star Trek TV series. It was published in 1970, so after the final third series had aired on our screens. Unlike preceding Star Trek books, this is not a mere adaptation of one of those TV episodes, but an original novel based on the characters and universe created by Gene Roddenberry. Here we find Kirk, Spock (x2), Uhura, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu and for the briefest of moments Chekov, dealing with the start of a war with the Klingons. This story builds on the TV episode “Errand of Mercy” from Season 1, with the Enterprise now trying to return to Organia. Here we found creatures that are so evolved they are in effect gods, able to disarm fleets of enemies by mere thought alone. The Organians had been maintaining peace across the galaxy since they appeared in episode twenty-six, so what explains the new aggressive acts of the Klingons!? What could possibly have happened to Organia?!
Our heroes decide the best course of action is to modify the transporter, increase its range exponentially, and send Spock, using tachyons of course, ahead almost instantaneously to Organia. The only slight problem being that this will create a duplicate Spock, but don’t worry, the plan is straightforward, when the duplicate returns, they will simply kill him. I can’t see anything wrong with such a plan, can you? Well, things go very wrong indeed. Without giving any spoilers away, they lose track of which Spock is which, and so they spend the whole book agonising on how to find out who is the original, so that they can eradicate the poor duplicate! This might surprise you, but some of the science, especially in how they deduce who is who, is just incorrect. I gave the book only three stars because as a physicist these errors annoyed me, and I was a little shocked at how completely at ease everyone was at killing the wrong Spock. But what do I know? I must have really enjoyed the book, as I’ve ordered the next in the series, Star Trek Spock Messiah.
Our heroes decide the best course of action is to modify the transporter, increase its range exponentially, and send Spock, using tachyons of course, ahead almost instantaneously to Organia. The only slight problem being that this will create a duplicate Spock, but don’t worry, the plan is straightforward, when the duplicate returns, they will simply kill him. I can’t see anything wrong with such a plan, can you? Well, things go very wrong indeed. Without giving any spoilers away, they lose track of which Spock is which, and so they spend the whole book agonising on how to find out who is the original, so that they can eradicate the poor duplicate! This might surprise you, but some of the science, especially in how they deduce who is who, is just incorrect. I gave the book only three stars because as a physicist these errors annoyed me, and I was a little shocked at how completely at ease everyone was at killing the wrong Spock. But what do I know? I must have really enjoyed the book, as I’ve ordered the next in the series, Star Trek Spock Messiah.
May 24, 2023
Kept this in my jacket pocket for a few months and read a page or two every time I was waiting for something. This may be neither the best or worst way to consume this era of Trek novel, but it worked for me:
Two spocks. Too many spocks. One spock gets kirk's ring, other spock is spock two, is true spock, but first spock is true spock too. Also klingons.
Two spocks. Too many spocks. One spock gets kirk's ring, other spock is spock two, is true spock, but first spock is true spock too. Also klingons.
April 16, 2023
This was a lot of fun. These books always take me back to my youth. Watching the tv show On weekend night after the news. So much fun!
June 4, 2020
Black Easter/The Day After Judgement are two of my favorite novels. Outside of those two, however, I can’t say that I enjoy reading Blish. It’s not that his ideas aren’t interesting (A Case of Conscience, Cities in Flight) but he’s not a good enough writer to make those ideas come to life in a work of fiction.
A good example is Spock Must Die!. Soon after the original Star Trek was canceled Blish was commissioned to adapt the series episodes in a collection of Star Trek Readers. He wasn’t using the final scripts that made it to the screen and he freely injected his own interpretation of the characters but, overall, he did a decent job (much better, IMO, than Alan Dean Foster’s adaptations of the animated shows). Once that task was completed, he tried his hand at a full length, original novel that built upon the events of “Errand of Mercy” and some philosophical themes regarding the transporter first explored in “The Enemy Within” (TNG toyed with it as well in “Second Chances”).
Quick recap: The book opens with Enterprise on a benchmarking survey on the far side of the galaxy. Word comes that Organia has been cut off from the rest of the universe and the Klingons have launched an invasion of the Federation. Kirk decides to take the ship to Organia and find out what’s happened. Either the Klingons have discovered a weapon that could take the Organians out or the Organians have decided to remove themselves entirely from the galactic conversation. Whatever the case, the journey to Organia is going to take three months through hostile space. Spock and Scotty, though, think they’ve come up with a way to get around that using the transporter and tachyon particle theory. They’re going to beam a duplicate of someone to Organia. The duplicate will assess the situation and then report back to the ship. Something goes wrong and the transporter beam is reflected back to Enterprise resulting in two Spocks. Kirk is at a loss as to what to do, especially as both versions counsel him to destroy the other one post haste. [If I’m reading the author correctly, if things had gone as planned, the duplicate Spock would have dissolved into tachyon particles once they had shut down the modified transporter, so the moral dilemma of what to do with a doppelgänger wouldn’t have come up.] Eventually, Spock One barricades himself in a laboratory and refuses to come out unless Kirk kills Spock Two. Spock Two is allowed to fulfill his duties as CSO but is under surveillance and not quite trusted by Kirk. Eventually Enterprise reaches Organia and finds it shielded by some sort of field. There are confrontations with the Klingons, confrontations between Kirk and his Spocks (where one does die! – hopefully, that’s not a spoiler), and a resolution of the Organian situation. I’m not going to spoil the ending except to say that if this first Star Trek novel had been accepted as canon, it would have made a truly fundamental change to the ST universe.
As I mentioned, Blish’s prose is so wooden and awkward, the story reads much like my synopsis – no nuance, no passion, no life.
That said, I would recommend this novel (and the adaptations) to Star Trek fans. Blish’s Federation is not that of canon’s, written – as it was – in those halcyon days when Paramount didn’t monopolize the IP and authors could present myriad interpretations. For all his faults as a writer, Blish does take care to present a believable science fantasy, emphasizing the science, and remain true to Roddenberry’s vision (unlike certain, more recent, curators of his legacy). A word of warning: Though Roddenberry’s vision of the future was very progressive and hopeful, TOS is notoriously dated in its depictions of men and women & Blish often suffers from the same “disease,” so don’t be surprised when he describes Uhura at one point as “the Bantu girl,” among other less-than-politic phrases.
A good example is Spock Must Die!. Soon after the original Star Trek was canceled Blish was commissioned to adapt the series episodes in a collection of Star Trek Readers. He wasn’t using the final scripts that made it to the screen and he freely injected his own interpretation of the characters but, overall, he did a decent job (much better, IMO, than Alan Dean Foster’s adaptations of the animated shows). Once that task was completed, he tried his hand at a full length, original novel that built upon the events of “Errand of Mercy” and some philosophical themes regarding the transporter first explored in “The Enemy Within” (TNG toyed with it as well in “Second Chances”).
Quick recap: The book opens with Enterprise on a benchmarking survey on the far side of the galaxy. Word comes that Organia has been cut off from the rest of the universe and the Klingons have launched an invasion of the Federation. Kirk decides to take the ship to Organia and find out what’s happened. Either the Klingons have discovered a weapon that could take the Organians out or the Organians have decided to remove themselves entirely from the galactic conversation. Whatever the case, the journey to Organia is going to take three months through hostile space. Spock and Scotty, though, think they’ve come up with a way to get around that using the transporter and tachyon particle theory. They’re going to beam a duplicate of someone to Organia. The duplicate will assess the situation and then report back to the ship. Something goes wrong and the transporter beam is reflected back to Enterprise resulting in two Spocks. Kirk is at a loss as to what to do, especially as both versions counsel him to destroy the other one post haste. [If I’m reading the author correctly, if things had gone as planned, the duplicate Spock would have dissolved into tachyon particles once they had shut down the modified transporter, so the moral dilemma of what to do with a doppelgänger wouldn’t have come up.] Eventually, Spock One barricades himself in a laboratory and refuses to come out unless Kirk kills Spock Two. Spock Two is allowed to fulfill his duties as CSO but is under surveillance and not quite trusted by Kirk. Eventually Enterprise reaches Organia and finds it shielded by some sort of field. There are confrontations with the Klingons, confrontations between Kirk and his Spocks (where one does die! – hopefully, that’s not a spoiler), and a resolution of the Organian situation. I’m not going to spoil the ending except to say that if this first Star Trek novel had been accepted as canon, it would have made a truly fundamental change to the ST universe.
As I mentioned, Blish’s prose is so wooden and awkward, the story reads much like my synopsis – no nuance, no passion, no life.
That said, I would recommend this novel (and the adaptations) to Star Trek fans. Blish’s Federation is not that of canon’s, written – as it was – in those halcyon days when Paramount didn’t monopolize the IP and authors could present myriad interpretations. For all his faults as a writer, Blish does take care to present a believable science fantasy, emphasizing the science, and remain true to Roddenberry’s vision (unlike certain, more recent, curators of his legacy). A word of warning: Though Roddenberry’s vision of the future was very progressive and hopeful, TOS is notoriously dated in its depictions of men and women & Blish often suffers from the same “disease,” so don’t be surprised when he describes Uhura at one point as “the Bantu girl,” among other less-than-politic phrases.
December 4, 2014
This review also appears on my blog.
In 1968, James Blish wrote in the introduction to Star Trek 3 that he would be writing an original Star Trek novel, the popularity of the television series warranting such an effort. By the time that book was published, in April 1969, Star Trek had already been cancelled, with only its final episode, "Turnabout Intruder", yet to air. Finally, in February 1970, Bantam published Blish's (sole) original Trek novel: Spock Must Die!
The Enterprise is mapping out a region of space near the border of the Klingon Empire, a highly routine operation. Kirk comes upon McCoy and Scotty in the rec room, having a philosophical debate: is what comes out of the other end of the transporter the same person that went into it--does the soul make the jump? If not, McCoy says, then "every time we put a man through the transporter for the first time, we commit murder."
There's no time to pursue this discussion further, for Spock interrupts to announce that the captain is needed on the bridge: the Klingons are at war with the Federation, and the Enterprise is now behind enemy lines.
It should be impossible for the Klingons to break the peace treaty, but Organia (the home of the beings that instituted the treaty in "Errand of Mercy") seems to have been destroyed, so they are unhindered--and having great success. Unable to get into contact with Starfleet Command without giving themselves away, Kirk decides to head for Organia, a journey of several months, in hopes that the Organians have not been destroyed, and might be able to stop the war.
Inspired by his conversation with McCoy, Scotty invents a new kind of transporter which will make a temporary duplicate of a person and sent them away at great speeds and over enormous distances, with which he proposes to transport someone directly to Organia to investigate. Spock volunteers, and so the experiment begins.
Unfortunately, things do not go as planned. After the attempted transport, they find two Spocks on the transporter pad, each claiming to be the original, and each apparently identical. The balance of the book concerns the efforts to distinguish which Spock is the duplicate (and must therefore be destroyed) and to reach Organia undetected.
Spock Must Die! is similar in style to Blish's adaptations, writ large. Blish liked to slip literary references into those short stories, and the novel takes it further, with references to works as varied as Othello, Narnia, and Finnegans Wake (the last of which forms a substantial plot point).
Blish does take advantage of the freedom afforded by the increased length. The philosophical debate outlined above is not the only one in the novel, and if they are perhaps a bit overwrought, they are welcome reminders that science fiction can be about ideas, and not merely action set in space. The general increase in detail is beneficial, as well; the adaptations often seem too brief.
Sadly, I found the book's ending unsatisfying; the resolution of the plot is too straightforward. The Enterprise set out to find a deus ex machina to end the war, and they succeed in their search. There's no twist, no meaningful new complication. A technobabble explanation aside, there's little that couldn't have been predicted a dozen pages in.
Spock Must Die! isn't a bad book, and it's particularly interesting as a contrast to later Trek books. Blish's treatment of the characters is somewhat unique, and he certainly has no concern for maintaining the status quo. You could do worse than to spend a couple of hours reading this one.
In 1968, James Blish wrote in the introduction to Star Trek 3 that he would be writing an original Star Trek novel, the popularity of the television series warranting such an effort. By the time that book was published, in April 1969, Star Trek had already been cancelled, with only its final episode, "Turnabout Intruder", yet to air. Finally, in February 1970, Bantam published Blish's (sole) original Trek novel: Spock Must Die!
The Enterprise is mapping out a region of space near the border of the Klingon Empire, a highly routine operation. Kirk comes upon McCoy and Scotty in the rec room, having a philosophical debate: is what comes out of the other end of the transporter the same person that went into it--does the soul make the jump? If not, McCoy says, then "every time we put a man through the transporter for the first time, we commit murder."
There's no time to pursue this discussion further, for Spock interrupts to announce that the captain is needed on the bridge: the Klingons are at war with the Federation, and the Enterprise is now behind enemy lines.
It should be impossible for the Klingons to break the peace treaty, but Organia (the home of the beings that instituted the treaty in "Errand of Mercy") seems to have been destroyed, so they are unhindered--and having great success. Unable to get into contact with Starfleet Command without giving themselves away, Kirk decides to head for Organia, a journey of several months, in hopes that the Organians have not been destroyed, and might be able to stop the war.
Inspired by his conversation with McCoy, Scotty invents a new kind of transporter which will make a temporary duplicate of a person and sent them away at great speeds and over enormous distances, with which he proposes to transport someone directly to Organia to investigate. Spock volunteers, and so the experiment begins.
Unfortunately, things do not go as planned. After the attempted transport, they find two Spocks on the transporter pad, each claiming to be the original, and each apparently identical. The balance of the book concerns the efforts to distinguish which Spock is the duplicate (and must therefore be destroyed) and to reach Organia undetected.
Spock Must Die! is similar in style to Blish's adaptations, writ large. Blish liked to slip literary references into those short stories, and the novel takes it further, with references to works as varied as Othello, Narnia, and Finnegans Wake (the last of which forms a substantial plot point).
Blish does take advantage of the freedom afforded by the increased length. The philosophical debate outlined above is not the only one in the novel, and if they are perhaps a bit overwrought, they are welcome reminders that science fiction can be about ideas, and not merely action set in space. The general increase in detail is beneficial, as well; the adaptations often seem too brief.
Sadly, I found the book's ending unsatisfying; the resolution of the plot is too straightforward. The Enterprise set out to find a deus ex machina to end the war, and they succeed in their search. There's no twist, no meaningful new complication. A technobabble explanation aside, there's little that couldn't have been predicted a dozen pages in.
Spock Must Die! isn't a bad book, and it's particularly interesting as a contrast to later Trek books. Blish's treatment of the characters is somewhat unique, and he certainly has no concern for maintaining the status quo. You could do worse than to spend a couple of hours reading this one.
January 2, 2017
I read Spock Must Die! for basically one reason: That it is the first standalone Star Trek novel. Most of the reviews are basically neutral; indeed it seems that there are a lot of 3-star ho-hum reviews. I was a bit surprised then at how much I enjoyed this short novel. the story is heavy on dialogue, which may have turned some readers off. It is also short and to the point. The focal characters are Kirk, Spock (obviously), Scotty, and McCoy. And that's good.
I was hooked from the start when McCoy & Scotty discuss the repercussions of being transported. Since molecules are broken down and rebuilt in another place, is the original still alive? Since the recreated person would have all of the memories of the original, would you even be able to tell? What effect does this have on the life and soul of the person being transported? These types of questions fascinate me, so Spock Must Die! started off on a good note.
The story basically has two converging plot lines. First, through some manipulation by Mr. Scott, Spock is duplicated and they both claim they are the original Spock. One, of course, is lying. This causes a myriad of problems aboard the Enterprise and it causes a personal crisis for Kirk, who wants to find out which is his first officer and which is a saboteur in Spock's clothing. The problem is, the imposter Spock has all of Spock's reasoning skills, memories, and abilities. Well, mostly. What is Kirk to do when he recognizes that neither of the two are acting like the Spock he knows?
The other story line is that the Enterprise is in Klingon territory and cut off from contacting Starfleet. There is a planet with non-sentient beings and something weird is going on there. On top of that, the Klingons are waging war.
This novel plays out like a mystery short story. A bit like a Sherlock Holmes short story, except Sherlock is sort of the villain.
It only took a couple hours (of constant interruption from my Borg-sympathizing children) to read, and that was worth the time. Now I can not only say I have read the original stand-alone Star Trek novel, but that it was well worth the effort.
I was hooked from the start when McCoy & Scotty discuss the repercussions of being transported. Since molecules are broken down and rebuilt in another place, is the original still alive? Since the recreated person would have all of the memories of the original, would you even be able to tell? What effect does this have on the life and soul of the person being transported? These types of questions fascinate me, so Spock Must Die! started off on a good note.
The story basically has two converging plot lines. First, through some manipulation by Mr. Scott, Spock is duplicated and they both claim they are the original Spock. One, of course, is lying. This causes a myriad of problems aboard the Enterprise and it causes a personal crisis for Kirk, who wants to find out which is his first officer and which is a saboteur in Spock's clothing. The problem is, the imposter Spock has all of Spock's reasoning skills, memories, and abilities. Well, mostly. What is Kirk to do when he recognizes that neither of the two are acting like the Spock he knows?
The other story line is that the Enterprise is in Klingon territory and cut off from contacting Starfleet. There is a planet with non-sentient beings and something weird is going on there. On top of that, the Klingons are waging war.
This novel plays out like a mystery short story. A bit like a Sherlock Holmes short story, except Sherlock is sort of the villain.
It only took a couple hours (of constant interruption from my Borg-sympathizing children) to read, and that was worth the time. Now I can not only say I have read the original stand-alone Star Trek novel, but that it was well worth the effort.
July 31, 2016
This is the first original Star Trek novel - the previous Star Trek books all being novelisations based on shooting scripts.
Its actually not bad if a little clunky and science & philosophy heavy. We begin with Bones, Scotty and Kirk discussing the nature of the transporter and whether or not the reconstructed 'you' retains a soul - and we get into solipsism and logical positivism debates with no real answer. Scotty takes the matter to heart and comes up with a solution - the person being transported remains where they are (retaining their soul) and a double created out of tachyon particles is sent elsewhere - to return and disassembled after they've given their report. Hmmmm totally not convinced, but moving swiftly on....
Spock is sent to investigate a planet that has disappeared in Klingon space, but the new transporter malfunctions and instead of sending him elsewhere we suddenly get two Spocks both claiming to be the original. You'll see this transporter malfunction/double plot used in the TNG episode 'second chances' to much better effect - but you saw it here first!
One Spock is a complete mirror of the other (and kinda evil) and Kirk has the dilemma of working out which is which, avoiding the Klingon war and finding out what happened to the missing planet.
You can have such fun with a plot like this! An evil Spock - come on, that's pretty awesome and the debates between the two could be comedy gold. Sadly this novel doesn't take that route it's entirely (perhaps too) serious, and a bit dry. The one fun bit is where both Spock and McCoy's female assistants get really excited when they learn there are two Spocks, leading Kirk into a discussion on why women find Spock so attractive - a definite wink to the fan community and considering the author claims that this novel was written after over 1,000 letters of fan requests - I'm imagining quite a few were probably Spock fangirls!
The plot itself isn't bad and the characterisation's pretty good - Scotty reverts to Scottish dialect a great deal and this is handled well. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but it's not my favourite Trek novel.
Its actually not bad if a little clunky and science & philosophy heavy. We begin with Bones, Scotty and Kirk discussing the nature of the transporter and whether or not the reconstructed 'you' retains a soul - and we get into solipsism and logical positivism debates with no real answer. Scotty takes the matter to heart and comes up with a solution - the person being transported remains where they are (retaining their soul) and a double created out of tachyon particles is sent elsewhere - to return and disassembled after they've given their report. Hmmmm totally not convinced, but moving swiftly on....
Spock is sent to investigate a planet that has disappeared in Klingon space, but the new transporter malfunctions and instead of sending him elsewhere we suddenly get two Spocks both claiming to be the original. You'll see this transporter malfunction/double plot used in the TNG episode 'second chances' to much better effect - but you saw it here first!
One Spock is a complete mirror of the other (and kinda evil) and Kirk has the dilemma of working out which is which, avoiding the Klingon war and finding out what happened to the missing planet.
You can have such fun with a plot like this! An evil Spock - come on, that's pretty awesome and the debates between the two could be comedy gold. Sadly this novel doesn't take that route it's entirely (perhaps too) serious, and a bit dry. The one fun bit is where both Spock and McCoy's female assistants get really excited when they learn there are two Spocks, leading Kirk into a discussion on why women find Spock so attractive - a definite wink to the fan community and considering the author claims that this novel was written after over 1,000 letters of fan requests - I'm imagining quite a few were probably Spock fangirls!
The plot itself isn't bad and the characterisation's pretty good - Scotty reverts to Scottish dialect a great deal and this is handled well. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but it's not my favourite Trek novel.
February 14, 2016
James Blish wrote a lot for Bantam's Star Trek books, including most of the 12 collections that covered each episode of the original series. His stories went into more depth than the episode, but usually not in the direction of the character. This book, one of the first original tales published, fits that mold quite well.
McCoy doesn't like the transporter, Scotty loves to talk about the technology, and Kirk must agonize over the decisions. In this case, the decision is which Spock must die, after the first officer is duplicated in a transporter incident. The rest of the story is original, from a space battle scene with multiple Klingon corvettes to a wild conclusion on the Organian homeworld. In addition to a good story, it was a very quick read.
Later tales, including more James Blish and some of the Pocket Books stories, go into more depth and challenge for the main characters. This book is not great but not bad - right in the middle of the spectrum.
McCoy doesn't like the transporter, Scotty loves to talk about the technology, and Kirk must agonize over the decisions. In this case, the decision is which Spock must die, after the first officer is duplicated in a transporter incident. The rest of the story is original, from a space battle scene with multiple Klingon corvettes to a wild conclusion on the Organian homeworld. In addition to a good story, it was a very quick read.
Later tales, including more James Blish and some of the Pocket Books stories, go into more depth and challenge for the main characters. This book is not great but not bad - right in the middle of the spectrum.
August 9, 2013
Il romanzo non è granché, anzi, però la mia copia ha una sua storia. Lo recuperai su una bancarella al lungomare di Finale Ligure nel lontano luglio 1996, davanti agli occhi sbalorditi della mia ragazza di allora che non poteva concepire un libro acquistato di seconda mano, polveroso e nemmeno HC.
La storia si basa su un classico di ST, la duplicazione da teletrasporto. Ricordo almeno due episodi tra le varie serie dove questo avviene, entrambi pessimi. Questo romanzo non fa eccezione.
La storia si basa su un classico di ST, la duplicazione da teletrasporto. Ricordo almeno due episodi tra le varie serie dove questo avviene, entrambi pessimi. Questo romanzo non fa eccezione.
July 8, 2016
This was utterly terrible and I quite enjoyed it. ;)
March 11, 2015
This review originally appeared on my blog, Shared Universe Reviews.
Regular readers of Shared Universe Reviews will know that I’ve read and reviewed a few Star Wars books and I’ve also started an ongoing project to read more fantasy novels. That’s a lot to have on one’s plate but I don’t seem to care since I’ve started to read Star Trek novels. Why am I doing this all of a sudden? There are a few answers and one of them is simply, why not? I haven’t read any before. I like Star Trek. I don’t love it simply because I haven’t watched a whole lot of it but I do really like it. When I was a little kid my dad used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes in the evenings. I don’t remember any specifics but I do remember a Klingon (and that he was a Klingon, not just some generic mean looking alien), I remember Picard and Le Forge and the overall look of the bridge has been imprinted into my mind. When I think of the Star Trek bridge I think of the one that appears in TNG. There are a very large number of things I don’t remember at all about TNG (Data who?) but every time I’ve sampled Star Trek, be it a movie or an episode of one of the series, I always make a mental note to check out more. I just never get around to it.
Growing up Star Trek in some form or another was almost always present but for reasons unknown even to myself, I never took the plunge to immerse myself completely Star Trek. As I grow older, the urge to seek out Star Trek episodes I’ve never seen before is growing. Unlike other science fiction franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek actually has some science to it. Not only that, but Star Trek at least tries to be intelligent and it’s the particular aspect that I seem to crave more of. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Star Wars but sometimes I’m just not in the mood for it. In short, it seems that Star Trek is able to provide me with the intelligence I can’t seem to find anywhere else in my entertainment regime.
As far as I can tell, this is the
original cover for Spock Must Die!
I also like the spirit of Star Trek. The crew of the Enterprise encounters of trouble but that’s because they go looking for it. Not in the way a mischievous child goes looking for trouble, but they have a scientific curiosity or in the case of some characters, a sense of adventure that compels them to go sign up for a 5 year or a 7 years exploratory mission through the farthest reaches of space. That’s a pretty powerful theme and unlike the exploration of say, a single planet, space allows for an infinite number of discoveries to be made. There is an endless potential to Star Trek that few series that I know of can match up. Whether that potential use in each episode, movie or book is another thing all together.
That’s essentially, what pushed me to make some discoveries of my own by exploring old Star Trek media tie-in novels. I’m starting with TOS novels because that’s the series I’m most familiar with. I’ve also been rewatching TOS episodes and watching some of them for the first time. Eventually I will shift the focus to Star Trek TNG both the tv series and the novels.
There are other questions that need answering though, which Star Trek novel should I start with and why? Thankfully, that was a simply question to answer: the first one because it’s written by a veteran Star Trek author. Spock Must Die! is the first Star Trek novel intended for adult audiences (there was a previous novel published targeting younger readers). James Blish wrote short story adaptations of every (!) Star Trek: The Original Series episodes. That’s a pretty surprising feat unto itself. According to the internet, Blish decided to write an original Star Trek novel because of popular demand. Who better to write a new Star Trek story than the person who adapted the original episodes? As natural as it was for him to write the book, it’s natural for me to choose Spock Must Die! as my first Star Trek novel. To top it all off, Spock Must Die! appears on a few best Star Trek novels lists.
One final reason why I chose to read this book. There are two Spocks. Aweomse! It’s also somewhat of a sequel to one of the episodes I had rewatched recently “The Enemy Within” where Kirk is split up into two separate beings, one of them good and weak and the other evil and strong. That’s not what happens to Spock in this novel, it’s something altogether more complicated and far more problematic for the crew. It’s also a sequel to “Errand of Mercy”.
The book begins with McCoy and Scotty having a discussion over the effects of teleporters on human physiology, the mind and the soul. McCoy argues that the person is physically killed and a copied is made at the selected destination. He wonders if he’s the real McCoy or just one of the many copies that have been made throughout the years. Does he have the real McCoy’s thoughts and memories in his head? Poor Bones is so worries about what teleporters have been doing to him. He’s worried about his soul and the soul of others. Scotty on the other hand thinks the teleporter is simply a machine that transfers matter from one place to another. A person’s body is converted into a form of matter than can be teleporter and it is then reconstituted at the destination. Captain Kirk was sitting in on the conversation when Spock summons him to the bridge.
Once on the bridge, Kirk learns that the planet Organia (from “Errand of Mercy”) has been destroyed by the Klingons thus putting the Federation at war with the Klingons. The Enterprise is currently on the opposite side of the Klingon Empire and the crew must travel to the other side and reach the neutral zone. They also decide to investigate what happened to Organia. Being in Klingon territory makes travel and communications rather difficult for the crew but Scotty has an idea. He’s developed a way to make modifications to the teleporter that would allow them to send a tachyon copy of a crew member to Organia to investigate. By sending a tachyon copy of someone, Scotty enables the crew member to stay on the Enterprise while his tachyon copy investigates. The result of this experiment, of course, is the creation of two Spocks. Life or death shenanigans ensue.
The other does writes a few shenanigans of his own into his work. Scotty’s accent, for example, is way over the top. It's also probably difficult to write but I guess Blish is used to it. Still, because it’s probably annoying to write, Scotty temporarily gains the ability to speak without his accent for the duration of his longest technical monologue in the book. Blish prepares for this accent-free monologue by writing: “The engineering officer’s accent faded and vanished; "his voice gets calm, his suddenly, his English was as high, white and cold as his terminology. He went on, precisely.” It’s such a strange little moment in a book filled with equally strange moments. Some of the oddities are actually quite enjoyable and endearing in their execution. Other things demonstrate just to what extent Star Trek TOS was a product of its time.
This cover tells us what the others
don't: there be Klingons in this
book!
I really liked it though. The ending is far too abrupt for my tastes but I found many TOS episodes to end equally abruptly. Unlike the first few Star Wars books I've read, this one begs me to go and read more Star Trek. I think the visual element is very important here. While visuals play an obviously important role in the Star Trek franchise, it doesn’t depend on it as much as the Star Wars franchise does. It’s not a crutch. A lot of Star Trek stories have a pretty clear focus on science or the use of the scientific method. Even the action isn’t as visual. If there is action to be found in a Star Trek Original Series episode, it’s going to be a fist fight, a quick phaser shot or a submarine battle with space ships. Even the aliens are less visual, they tend to closely resemble other humanoids. Now this might be unappealing to people who only appreciate science fiction stories in visual mediums (television, film and comics) but that’s what allows Star Trek, particularly TOS, to translate so well to novels. Not a whole lot happens in Spock Must Die! that require strong visuals other than the events of one chapter on Organia. A lot of this book is composed of the Enterprise crew members talking and debating and that’s what I enjoyed the most. I love how they think their way out of situations.
It was a fascinating and relatively quick read. The book is 118 pages long but the writing is pretty small. Still, those 118 pages pack a lot of story and strange little moments. It's short but it's a novel sized story which is why the quick ending annoyed me.
The beauty of Star Trek novels is that there is a pretty good balance between series of books and standalone books compared to other science fiction and, specifically, Star Wars book. It's probably due to the franchise being primarily a television serial. The format already allowed and encouraged shorter stories with a tighter focus on one or two stories as opposed to long, season-long stories like many shows seem fond of today. While Spock Must Die! is unarguably a strange book, it’s a very enjoyable read. Blish’s dialogue reads like a transcript for a lost episode of TOS and it’s great. I could hear the actors speaking in my head while reading. Sure, I heard more of Scotty than I ever wanted, but any fan of TOS can find something to enjoy in this little book.
Regular readers of Shared Universe Reviews will know that I’ve read and reviewed a few Star Wars books and I’ve also started an ongoing project to read more fantasy novels. That’s a lot to have on one’s plate but I don’t seem to care since I’ve started to read Star Trek novels. Why am I doing this all of a sudden? There are a few answers and one of them is simply, why not? I haven’t read any before. I like Star Trek. I don’t love it simply because I haven’t watched a whole lot of it but I do really like it. When I was a little kid my dad used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes in the evenings. I don’t remember any specifics but I do remember a Klingon (and that he was a Klingon, not just some generic mean looking alien), I remember Picard and Le Forge and the overall look of the bridge has been imprinted into my mind. When I think of the Star Trek bridge I think of the one that appears in TNG. There are a very large number of things I don’t remember at all about TNG (Data who?) but every time I’ve sampled Star Trek, be it a movie or an episode of one of the series, I always make a mental note to check out more. I just never get around to it.
Growing up Star Trek in some form or another was almost always present but for reasons unknown even to myself, I never took the plunge to immerse myself completely Star Trek. As I grow older, the urge to seek out Star Trek episodes I’ve never seen before is growing. Unlike other science fiction franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek actually has some science to it. Not only that, but Star Trek at least tries to be intelligent and it’s the particular aspect that I seem to crave more of. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Star Wars but sometimes I’m just not in the mood for it. In short, it seems that Star Trek is able to provide me with the intelligence I can’t seem to find anywhere else in my entertainment regime.
As far as I can tell, this is the
original cover for Spock Must Die!
I also like the spirit of Star Trek. The crew of the Enterprise encounters of trouble but that’s because they go looking for it. Not in the way a mischievous child goes looking for trouble, but they have a scientific curiosity or in the case of some characters, a sense of adventure that compels them to go sign up for a 5 year or a 7 years exploratory mission through the farthest reaches of space. That’s a pretty powerful theme and unlike the exploration of say, a single planet, space allows for an infinite number of discoveries to be made. There is an endless potential to Star Trek that few series that I know of can match up. Whether that potential use in each episode, movie or book is another thing all together.
That’s essentially, what pushed me to make some discoveries of my own by exploring old Star Trek media tie-in novels. I’m starting with TOS novels because that’s the series I’m most familiar with. I’ve also been rewatching TOS episodes and watching some of them for the first time. Eventually I will shift the focus to Star Trek TNG both the tv series and the novels.
There are other questions that need answering though, which Star Trek novel should I start with and why? Thankfully, that was a simply question to answer: the first one because it’s written by a veteran Star Trek author. Spock Must Die! is the first Star Trek novel intended for adult audiences (there was a previous novel published targeting younger readers). James Blish wrote short story adaptations of every (!) Star Trek: The Original Series episodes. That’s a pretty surprising feat unto itself. According to the internet, Blish decided to write an original Star Trek novel because of popular demand. Who better to write a new Star Trek story than the person who adapted the original episodes? As natural as it was for him to write the book, it’s natural for me to choose Spock Must Die! as my first Star Trek novel. To top it all off, Spock Must Die! appears on a few best Star Trek novels lists.
One final reason why I chose to read this book. There are two Spocks. Aweomse! It’s also somewhat of a sequel to one of the episodes I had rewatched recently “The Enemy Within” where Kirk is split up into two separate beings, one of them good and weak and the other evil and strong. That’s not what happens to Spock in this novel, it’s something altogether more complicated and far more problematic for the crew. It’s also a sequel to “Errand of Mercy”.
The book begins with McCoy and Scotty having a discussion over the effects of teleporters on human physiology, the mind and the soul. McCoy argues that the person is physically killed and a copied is made at the selected destination. He wonders if he’s the real McCoy or just one of the many copies that have been made throughout the years. Does he have the real McCoy’s thoughts and memories in his head? Poor Bones is so worries about what teleporters have been doing to him. He’s worried about his soul and the soul of others. Scotty on the other hand thinks the teleporter is simply a machine that transfers matter from one place to another. A person’s body is converted into a form of matter than can be teleporter and it is then reconstituted at the destination. Captain Kirk was sitting in on the conversation when Spock summons him to the bridge.
Once on the bridge, Kirk learns that the planet Organia (from “Errand of Mercy”) has been destroyed by the Klingons thus putting the Federation at war with the Klingons. The Enterprise is currently on the opposite side of the Klingon Empire and the crew must travel to the other side and reach the neutral zone. They also decide to investigate what happened to Organia. Being in Klingon territory makes travel and communications rather difficult for the crew but Scotty has an idea. He’s developed a way to make modifications to the teleporter that would allow them to send a tachyon copy of a crew member to Organia to investigate. By sending a tachyon copy of someone, Scotty enables the crew member to stay on the Enterprise while his tachyon copy investigates. The result of this experiment, of course, is the creation of two Spocks. Life or death shenanigans ensue.
The other does writes a few shenanigans of his own into his work. Scotty’s accent, for example, is way over the top. It's also probably difficult to write but I guess Blish is used to it. Still, because it’s probably annoying to write, Scotty temporarily gains the ability to speak without his accent for the duration of his longest technical monologue in the book. Blish prepares for this accent-free monologue by writing: “The engineering officer’s accent faded and vanished; "his voice gets calm, his suddenly, his English was as high, white and cold as his terminology. He went on, precisely.” It’s such a strange little moment in a book filled with equally strange moments. Some of the oddities are actually quite enjoyable and endearing in their execution. Other things demonstrate just to what extent Star Trek TOS was a product of its time.
This cover tells us what the others
don't: there be Klingons in this
book!
I really liked it though. The ending is far too abrupt for my tastes but I found many TOS episodes to end equally abruptly. Unlike the first few Star Wars books I've read, this one begs me to go and read more Star Trek. I think the visual element is very important here. While visuals play an obviously important role in the Star Trek franchise, it doesn’t depend on it as much as the Star Wars franchise does. It’s not a crutch. A lot of Star Trek stories have a pretty clear focus on science or the use of the scientific method. Even the action isn’t as visual. If there is action to be found in a Star Trek Original Series episode, it’s going to be a fist fight, a quick phaser shot or a submarine battle with space ships. Even the aliens are less visual, they tend to closely resemble other humanoids. Now this might be unappealing to people who only appreciate science fiction stories in visual mediums (television, film and comics) but that’s what allows Star Trek, particularly TOS, to translate so well to novels. Not a whole lot happens in Spock Must Die! that require strong visuals other than the events of one chapter on Organia. A lot of this book is composed of the Enterprise crew members talking and debating and that’s what I enjoyed the most. I love how they think their way out of situations.
It was a fascinating and relatively quick read. The book is 118 pages long but the writing is pretty small. Still, those 118 pages pack a lot of story and strange little moments. It's short but it's a novel sized story which is why the quick ending annoyed me.
The beauty of Star Trek novels is that there is a pretty good balance between series of books and standalone books compared to other science fiction and, specifically, Star Wars book. It's probably due to the franchise being primarily a television serial. The format already allowed and encouraged shorter stories with a tighter focus on one or two stories as opposed to long, season-long stories like many shows seem fond of today. While Spock Must Die! is unarguably a strange book, it’s a very enjoyable read. Blish’s dialogue reads like a transcript for a lost episode of TOS and it’s great. I could hear the actors speaking in my head while reading. Sure, I heard more of Scotty than I ever wanted, but any fan of TOS can find something to enjoy in this little book.
September 9, 2023
Star Trek Day, so I read the book that was the first new creation of the Star Trek canon. I thought I’d read this as a teen but it is quite unfamiliar. And quite … not good. I think my found copy might be an original because there several editorial typos.
Blish was an early literary critic of science fiction. I wonder what he would have said about his own novella. (He seemed to misuse the word “supernally”; at least, it did not fit where he used it.) I get that it was in new territory, not having been done before (maybe there were fanfictions mimeographed and spread around). And he only had the original scripts to work from. That’s another problem - when I read his collection of adaptations 45+ years ago, I didn’t understand at the time why they were different from the shows I saw. He used the original scripts. And now I wonder if Blish watched them - of course he probably did, but the number of mistakes in here tell me he didn’t pay close attention. I may be wrong in my memory, but I thought Kirk always referred to McCoy as “Bones” and not “Doc”.
TOS was cheesy at times, yes, and this is in keeping with the tone. Scotty is way over the top. But, Blish did introduce some explanations for some of the mechanisms.
One and a half stars bumped up one (and Roy d up from that) because, Star Trek.
Blish was an early literary critic of science fiction. I wonder what he would have said about his own novella. (He seemed to misuse the word “supernally”; at least, it did not fit where he used it.) I get that it was in new territory, not having been done before (maybe there were fanfictions mimeographed and spread around). And he only had the original scripts to work from. That’s another problem - when I read his collection of adaptations 45+ years ago, I didn’t understand at the time why they were different from the shows I saw. He used the original scripts. And now I wonder if Blish watched them - of course he probably did, but the number of mistakes in here tell me he didn’t pay close attention. I may be wrong in my memory, but I thought Kirk always referred to McCoy as “Bones” and not “Doc”.
TOS was cheesy at times, yes, and this is in keeping with the tone. Scotty is way over the top. But, Blish did introduce some explanations for some of the mechanisms.
One and a half stars bumped up one (and Roy d up from that) because, Star Trek.
July 29, 2023
this book is kinda doodoo garbage straight kaka and wee wizz!!!
okay jk its not THAT BAD but it was kinda bad. ik james blish is a popular and well known sci fi author and i can see that while reading the book, but this book really was not his best work.
the plot... sure was a plot. theres an impending war with klingons, dr mccoy has an existential crisis (which is the setup for spock getting duplicated), spock gets duplicated and now has an evil doppelganger clone (ORIGINAL....), and the organians are there ?
it was dialogue heavy but the dialogue was kinda a slog when everyone except mccoy and spock were talking. the characterization was okay but bones was pretty spot on and i loved all his dialogue. SCOTTY'S DIALOGUE WAS BALLS AWFUL THO AND MADE NO SENSE THE WHOLE TIME
the ending was also... an ending i guess? idk the entire talk about the klingons and their strategy made no sense AND THEN THE ORGANIANS DELETING THE KLINGONS ??? Idk it was weird
Anyway im glad i read this but ill def not be reading it ever again
okay jk its not THAT BAD but it was kinda bad. ik james blish is a popular and well known sci fi author and i can see that while reading the book, but this book really was not his best work.
the plot... sure was a plot. theres an impending war with klingons, dr mccoy has an existential crisis (which is the setup for spock getting duplicated), spock gets duplicated and now has an evil doppelganger clone (ORIGINAL....), and the organians are there ?
it was dialogue heavy but the dialogue was kinda a slog when everyone except mccoy and spock were talking. the characterization was okay but bones was pretty spot on and i loved all his dialogue. SCOTTY'S DIALOGUE WAS BALLS AWFUL THO AND MADE NO SENSE THE WHOLE TIME
the ending was also... an ending i guess? idk the entire talk about the klingons and their strategy made no sense AND THEN THE ORGANIANS DELETING THE KLINGONS ??? Idk it was weird
Anyway im glad i read this but ill def not be reading it ever again
June 24, 2023
3.584 stars, I really liked it, and might read again
I did not have high expectations in reading a novel set in the world of Star Trek. However, it was an original story (not a TV episode novelization), and well written. Like many Star Trek stories, it provides a thought provoking environment. In this case, how to tell the difference between Spock and his mirror image.
The reference to Eurish, which is James Joyce's adaptation of Esperanto was fascinating. It brought Lt. Uhura to the forefront providing far more insight into her character and background than I ever gathered from the TV show (which seems to revolve around Kirk, McCoy, Spock, and Scotty).
Also, from the book, we get a better understanding of the galactico-political situation.
I did not have high expectations in reading a novel set in the world of Star Trek. However, it was an original story (not a TV episode novelization), and well written. Like many Star Trek stories, it provides a thought provoking environment. In this case, how to tell the difference between Spock and his mirror image.
The reference to Eurish, which is James Joyce's adaptation of Esperanto was fascinating. It brought Lt. Uhura to the forefront providing far more insight into her character and background than I ever gathered from the TV show (which seems to revolve around Kirk, McCoy, Spock, and Scotty).
Also, from the book, we get a better understanding of the galactico-political situation.
November 5, 2022
While obviously a standalone as far as continuity goes, I enjoyed this way more than I expected to based on the reviews. This original story breathed life into the Star Trek franchise when it should have been dead, and for that I'm grateful.
July 25, 2019
Enjoyable, brisk read. Some cool concepts and call backs to classic episodes.
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