Helpful Score: 2
This book is not a light and easy read. It required a lot of thinking on my part, and sometimes it made my head hurt, but it was quite a good book. Especially the concept of a race that communicates through their "one-mindedness" or through their sign language. The fact that this book was written by a man who teaches in sign language to deaf students made this book all the more believable in its authenticity.
Spock is really the main character in this book, along with the alien race they are dealing with. I like more character interaction and introspect with my books, and it lacked very little between Spock and the crew and more between Spock and the alien creatures. I love Spock, I just got a bit bored with the fact that the book's interactions weren't broader. Still, this book brought some decent twists and the end left me with a feeling of unfinishedness. That's why I'd really rate it a 4.5, but that wasn't an option, so I rounded it up to a five. The quality wasn't fully throughout the book, especially some plot skipping that wasn't as smooth as it could be and some minor grammar and punctuation mistakes that should have been fixed since this is a reprint, but that is not the fault of the author.
All in all, this is a good book to have on your shelf, especially for the price. And I really love the cover art. Cover art is always a bonus, and this one is great. (Based on the newer redistributed cover art, not the original.)
Spock is really the main character in this book, along with the alien race they are dealing with. I like more character interaction and introspect with my books, and it lacked very little between Spock and the crew and more between Spock and the alien creatures. I love Spock, I just got a bit bored with the fact that the book's interactions weren't broader. Still, this book brought some decent twists and the end left me with a feeling of unfinishedness. That's why I'd really rate it a 4.5, but that wasn't an option, so I rounded it up to a five. The quality wasn't fully throughout the book, especially some plot skipping that wasn't as smooth as it could be and some minor grammar and punctuation mistakes that should have been fixed since this is a reprint, but that is not the fault of the author.
All in all, this is a good book to have on your shelf, especially for the price. And I really love the cover art. Cover art is always a bonus, and this one is great. (Based on the newer redistributed cover art, not the original.)
Fantastic book that gives us insight into Spock and the thin blade he travels regarding his emotions and training. The characters are all sympathetic; their motivations are also well-explained, I think. This book really makes you think about many things, and is a nice addition to a Star Trek library.
Far better than the average Trek novel, TM makes excellent use of the established characters and introduces fully-thought-out alien ones, setting them into a moral dilemma with no way out. In fact, if there's a flaw in the novel, it's that Galanter quite efficiently paints himself into a literary corner, and its resolution is more disturbing than satisfying.
Good book
