"How delightful to be so different from something; how wonderful that there should be creatures so huge in the world, so strange!"
Review
When I first started looking into Star Trek books, I heard more than once that Diane Duane was one of the best writers who had worked on the projects, and I can certainly see why! This is the second of her books that I've read so far, and I found Spock's World just as delightful as I found Doctor's Orders; I'm looking forward to reading more of her writing!
Spock's World was incredible, full of wonderful character moments and absolutely spectacular worldbuilding. I loved the details of Vulcan culture that are woven throughout the book -- some ruminated on and described in detail and others thrown in almost casually in a way that only serves to deepen the understanding of the world the characters exist in. It's equally interesting to read Sarek give an in-depth explanation of cthia (The Vulcan word that is often translated to logic, although that is correct only in a loose sense) to Kirk and McCoy as it is to see a one-off line from Spock's POV that when visiting another's house, accepting an offered drink is the only socially acceptable answer, and that drinking it all at once is the appropriate way to consume it if you are at the house for nothing more than a brief business-like encounter.
(Particularly interesting to me was the depiction of Cthia and the ways different Vulcans interface with the concept. Although it's said that the word is often translated as 'Logic', it's elaborated on that this is somewhat of an inaccuracy - that a better translation would be something closer to 'Reality-Truth'. Not some innate biology -- the way many people depict Vulcans, as genuinely lacking in emotion or as looking down on Spock because his human heritage makes him somehow biologically incapable of fulfilling this tenet -- but as a choice that is made on an individual level. Similar in spirit, although not necessarily in definition, to Jewish Halakha -- every individual who follows halakha does so slightly differently and to different extents and understandings and the same is true for Vulcans and their relationship to cthia. I prefer this depiction immensely over that biological interpretation, not least because it grants a kind of relatable beauty to Spock's Choice to uphold this tenet despite the occasional difficulty involved in doing so.)
Sometimes I struggle with narratives that utilize the 'cut back and forth' narrative style (most of the chapters in this book alternate between the series of events that take place regarding the debate on whether Vulcan should leave the Federation, and the progressive timeline of Vulcan's evolution and history throughout the centuries; the narrative cuts between the two every other chapter), but it felt well-utilized in this novel. It didn't feel confusing nor did it interfere with the pace of the story; the information revealed about Vulcan's evolving biology and culture was interesting and contributed to the understanding of the debate happening in the 'present', both in how and why the debate itself occurred and in how different characters took stances and actions around it.
Of the historical chapters, the ones about Sarek and T'Thelaih were my favorites, although the one about Surak was also extremely interesting. In particular, as a big fan of the Spones ship, it was very fun to note how many bonded romances included throughout this book utilized Argument as a form of borderline flirtation. Both T'Thelaih and Mahak as well as Sarek and Amanda had their bickering arguments highlighted as significant in the developments of their relationships:
The arguments started early and ended late; it was almost improper. After about three days of this, T'Thelaih realized that she was going to have to be bound to this man, just to have the leisure to argue with him properly.
They frequently quarreled. The quarrels were genteel -- he kept them that way, since mostly he was right -- but when Amanda became annoyed over what she perceived as his smugness about being right, her eyes would flash and she would become spendidly irritating, usually in bizarre Anglish idiom that Sarek found as refreshing as it was annoying.
It's fun! I also love the detail that Amanda is frequently responsible for making Sarek laugh out loud, even - according to one segment - for over an hour, which is very cute to me. It's compelling how often the Vulcans depicted in this novel are described as 'laughing'; I appreciate the deviation from many popular interpretations of Vulcans scorning emotion and emotional displays entirely. What's also intriguing to me is the depiction of Spock's gestation and birth, the fact that Amanda and Sarek and a further host of geneticists took a lot of care in his creation and were satisfied when he made it through birth successfully. I know the books and their status as 'canon' tends to be shaky at best, but it is interesting to contrast this knowledge to the depiction of Spock's birth shown in Sybok's vision in 'The Final Frontier' -- the scene that displays Sarek's understated disappointment in Spock's genetics. Spock's unruffled demeanor regarding the vision almost does make it feel as if this could have been an insecure hypothesis he'd had when he was younger, disproved not only by his own internal self-acceptance but also a reveal at some point that Sarek had been not only willing but eager to have a child with Amanda that would be half-vulcan and half-human.
Anyway, overall a very good book. I'm almost compelled to create a separate section just for the notes about Vulcan history and culture that I took while reading; it's absolutely fascinating stuff. Would definitely recommend to any fans of Spock or Vulcans in general :) some very good McCoy moments as well. I'll leave you with one of my favorites:
Sarek looked up with something like hope in his eyes. "I must say," he said, "I am impressed. You are quite a detective, Doctor."
"All doctors are detectives. All the ones worth their salt, anyway..."
"I will get you as much salt as you want, Doctor,"