(Copy of review posted on my Facebook page on 3/16/19.) Just finished reading "Crucible: McCoy - The Provenance of Shadows", the first in the "Star Tr(Copy of review posted on my Facebook page on 3/16/19.) Just finished reading "Crucible: McCoy - The Provenance of Shadows", the first in the "Star Trek: Crucible" trilogy of novels written by David R. George III and released in late 2006 through early 2007 as part of Pocket Books' celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the original "Star Trek" television series' debut in September 1967.
All three books in the "Crucible" trilogy (the other two being "Spock: The Fire and the Rose" and "Kirk: The Star to Every Wandering") share the common thread of tying into the classic original series television episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever", in which McCoy accidentally travels back to 1930s Depression-era New York City via a mysterious alien portal called the Guardian of Forever and rescues a woman named Edith Keeler from being killed in an automobile accident, drastically changing the course of Earth's history from that point forward (Keeler ends up leading an influential pacifist movement that keeps the United States out of World War II for decades longer than in the "correct" timeline, etc.) Back in the present time of Star Trek, Kirk, Spock, and a few others find that their ship, the Enterprise, is no longer answering their calls and is no longer in orbit around the alien planet that they have chased McCoy down to. They deduce what has occurred, and Kirk and Spock travel through the Guardian after McCoy to prevent him from changing the past and to bring him back with him to their present (our future).
That all happens in the television episode. "McCoy: Provenance of Shadows", presents two separate, parallel timelines, alternating from one to the other with each succeeding chapter.
In the first, the McCoy of the alternate timeline in which he rescued Edith Keeler lives his life in that alternate timeline with scant hope of ever returning to the 23rd century. We get to see him settling in to his life in the 1930s and on into the 1950s, and along the way discover just how different world events occurred thanks to McCoy's inadvertent change to a critical moment in history.
In the other, we follow McCoy primarily (but also Kirk and Spock, at times) over the course of the decades following their return to the 23rd century at the end of "City in the Edge of Forever", jumping from one event to another (some recapping events seen in other episodes of the television series and in the subsequent Star Trek motion pictures, others original to this novel), all relating to one of three repeating themes: 1) the discovery and decades long study of a "chronometric" particle and "chronitons" created when traveling through time as McCoy, Kirk, Spock, and the rest of their Enterprise crew did multiple times that McCoy discovers signs of immediately after the incident with the Guardian of Forever; 2) McCoy's repeated sabotaging of any long term romantic relationship he is part of, something that has happened his entire adult life but the reason for which always eludes him (until near the end of this novel); and 3) McCoy's continued close friendships with Jim Kirk and with Spock over the remaining decades of McCoy's life.
I really enjoyed this novel's separate "tracks", enough to still give it four out of five stars. My only quibbles about were that 1) the constant switching back and forth between track/plot settings one and two with each chapter quickly became annoying as just as I began to get interested again in what was happening, the story would once again shift to the other "track". By the last quarter of the book or so, it had begun to be a bit less disruptive, but initially it was very hard for me to get too interested in either storyline as each was constantly being interrupted.
And, 2) at times the repeated references to events from various episodes of the television series seemed rather forced and there just to remind you that this novel (and the entire trilogy it is just of) was done as part of a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the tv series. Again, though, by the last fourth or so of the novel, as the events made their way into those of the Star Trek movies and also things started to come together in the sub plot about the mysterious time travel particles McCoy and Spock were studying alongside these other events happening, it had become a bit less intrusive.
There are moments that are quite moving near the end of both plot "tracks" involving McCoy, especially when the "real" McCoy finally becomes aware of his "past life" that he never really lived yet at the same time discovers he had.
The next Star Trek novel on my plate (after reading a few non Trek books) will be book two in the trilogy, "Spock: The Fire and the Rose"....more
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