markk

During a shift in which the crew is training a group of cadets an explosion suddenly tears through the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Though weakened and suffering from a shard of shrapnel lodged next to his spine, Spock refuses medical treatment as he launches an investigation into the cause of the blast. Enlisting Commander Scott's help, Spock traces a missing yeoman to a barren planet, where the two men encounter small parties of Romulans and Klingons before the three groups are captured by an previously unknown aggressive species. In the months that follow Spock undergoes arrest, imprisonment, and a succession of exploits that will end on the bridge of a Romulan warship as it prepares to destroy the Enterprise and his former crewmates.

Sonni Cooper's book starts off with a bang and never lets up, as she races her readers through a series of twists and turns, burning through plot enough for three novels in the hands of other authors. The pacing is so rapid that it is easy to overlook the problems with Cooper's story and the lack of development of the secondary characters, many of whom are distinguished more by their names and physical descriptions than by anything distinctive that they bring to the narrative. In the end this is very much Spock's novel, and fans of his character likely will enjoy the many adventures on which the author sends him.