"There were no enemies here. Only mysteries."
Review
This book was a great read -- slower than Doctor's Orders, but not in a slogging way, just in that way that things get when the stakes are so much heavier that it takes more attention to process everything, and that's Good. The plot of this book was Fantastic, not only a Good Story, but one of those plots that is so masterfully crafted that reaching the end just kind of makes you want to read the whole thing a second time.
I really love the Format of the plot most of all, I think. The book is split into three main sections -- After the Talin IV incident, a flash back to The Events of the Talin IV incident, and then re-meeting where we left off After the aftermath of the Talin IV incident. It's an extremely effective way to introduce you to the stakes right away -- even though the first section makes it clear that none of the Enterprise crew consider Kirk's decisions to be a major factor in what happened on Talin IV, there's still enough ambiguity for you as the Reader to be left wondering. Or at the very least, desperate to find out the minutae of what occurred so that you can make your own decisions about the whole thing. After reading through all of the fallout of what happened, it makes the stakes of actually getting to See the events of the incident that much higher. Every little thing that seems unexpected or goes wrong during the mission grabs you by the throat as you wonder "Is this that final breaking point?"; left me on the edge of my seat in the Best way.
I also love the eventual reveal of what really caused the events on Talin IV. I love conceptually strange and horrifying creatures, especially ones that exist right on that border of being completely incomprehensible. The growing suspicion and anticipation of a Big Enemy crashes down so beautifully as it's knee-capped by the revelation that hardly anything even acted On Purpose, and I love that so much. Being left with the acceptance that there's nothing to Fight, and the uncertainty of what you could even Do to act in response to what has actually occurred, only Really knowing for certain that the only thing you really Can do is just clean up in the aftermath of it? *Chef's kiss* I love it so much.
The plot of this book takes up a lot of brain space, but delightfully there are some Wonderful crew interactions threaded throughout this book as well. I loved both Uhura and Spock's courtroom scenes, and the sheer amount of McCoy-Spock bickering scenes we get scattered through the plot. Getting to spend a bit of time with the characters in different locations and groupings (Scotty on his own, Kirk on his own, Uhura and McCoy working together, Chekov and Sulu working together, and Spock working with a group of various characters specific to this novel) was a lot of fun, and led to a lot of great little moments. I almost bounced right out of my seat when Uhura and McCoy reuinted with Chekov and Sulu, to say nothing of my delight when all of the crew finally reunites as one group again.
Can't figure out how to thread these into a larger paragraph, so here's just a handful of my favorite quotes and interactions from this book:
"Give me a dog any day, Kirk thought. But still, he knew that one of the secrets of getting along with others was to take an interest in their interests. What made the approach so easy for Kirk was that he genuinely was interested in just about everything. Even, on a slow day, cats."
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"Palamas was not up to debating Spock. In fact, Kirk decided, there was no one onboard who was. The only reason McCoy kept trying was because he didn't know any better."
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"Faith, Spock? Doesn't that smack of... emotions?"
Spock's face became completely blank, a reaction which Kirk had long since recognized as the half-human, half-Vulcan's response to minor embarrassment.
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"He had decided he would go back to Talin on his own because he couldn't force any of the others to share the hardships and the risks of the journey with him. Yet they had all come to the same conclusion and set out for the same goals on their own anyway. Even when we're apart, he thought, we're a team.
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"Spock could just see past the other towers of the student housing complex and catch a glimpse of clear sky over San Francisco. He looked into his human half for some connection with what he saw, but the blue of Earth's skies was still alien to him. He found it intriguing that he responded to the red skies of Vulcan in the same way -- neither world held the skies of home for him.
... For now, he decided that the true color of his sky was black. His home was space. He was confident he would return there soon.
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McCoy's smile was so wide his face seemed to expand. "Spock, you underestimated me! I'm not going to let you forget this for months! For years!"
"I know, Doctor. Which is why I am not pleased to see you."