Book Review:”Star Trek: A Contest of Principles” by Greg Cox

“With apologies to Charles Dickens, this is essentially a tale of three worlds,”

On YouTube now there is a project to explore the literature of Star Trek. This month, August, we look at the Original Series with Kirk, Spock, Bones et al. Those participating in #booktrek2021 are encouraged to read Star Trek books featuring the original characters. I’ve been watching the first season of the original series and I was surprised that I didn’t remember watching any of them. I think I started watching Star Trek when Chekov joined the crew in the second season. It is strange watching the Original Series in color, as my memories are of watching it in black and white back in the seventies. The sound effects for the automatic doors opening and closing and the transporter beam conjure up that nostalgic buzz I like to entertain.

The book I chose was A Contest of Principles by Greg Cox. I looked at the cheapest titles available on Kindle and found three titles featuring the original crew for $0.99 and of these I chose the highest rated on Goodreads. Greg Cox has written many TV and movie tie-in novels, including many in the Star Trek Universe. In this story we have the Enterprise in the fifth year of its mission heading to the planet Vok to act as observers to the election there. Kirk is determined that he and his crew will behave with integrity and not favor either side in the election. It was an interesting coincidence the book was published a the time of the US election and their were questions of voter intimidation and the election’s result called into question.

“Ambrose Bierce once defined politics as ‘a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.’ ”

Like many alien species in the Star Trek Universe, Vokites, along with Ozalorians and Bracons were largely indistinguishable from humans at first glance, but that “largely” could make a world of difference where medical issues were concerned. Bones has no interest in politics and receives a medical distress signal from the nearby planet Braco, said to be the origin planet of the Vokites and their age old enemy the Ozalorians. Beaming down Bones finds the medical distress signal was a ruse and he is abducted and taken to the planet of Ozalor to tend to the Princess and heir to the Ozalor throne. This is a story based on three planets, our three central characters, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are divided and each has their own story of which McCoy’s gets the most airtime. Spock beams down to Braco to look for McCoy and he too is abducted but by a different group, the United Bracon Front.

Greg Cox has the voices of the characters down really well, they say what we could imagine the original characters in the show would say.

Spock’s captivity reveals his thoughts about beards. He stroked his chin, which was rather bristlier than he preferred. “I could use a shave.” Chapel smiled. “You might look good with a beard.” “I experimented with one in my youth,” he confessed. “It was not universally well received.”

Spock also is amused to come across a trivet, a creature the size of a domestic cat with triangular symmetry native to Braco with an unusual copper-based organism meaning it had green blood like Spock.

The nature of the story was like it was three stories in one. I don’t think Kirk would have stayed on Vok, when first McCoy and then Spock had disappeared. Kirk’s story is the least interesting of the three, but he does maintain his impartiality. McCoy and Spock both have interesting stories, we also see more of Nurse Chapel, usually her role is merely to pass a scalpel or some such medical instrument to McCoy.

We also have familiar characters like Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and Scott in their familiar roles, Scotty even takes charge of the Enterprise whilst Kirk and Spock are occupied elsewhere.

This is the first Star Trek novel I have read, it was engaging and stimulated some nostalgia.

My rating 4 out of 5