For the sake of best practice, I make a policy of watching a movie immediately prior to reading its respective novelization. Naturally, this causes me to feel an acute apprehension about redundancy. I just watched the movie, I think. Is this really necessary? One of the more surprising benefits and pleasures of running this little website has been not only realizing that that worry is misplaced, but seeing it gleefully dashed against the rocks, and The Search for Spock represents the most thorough obliteration yet.
When I bought this book from the used bookstore where I often buy my Star Trek paperbacks, the clerk offhandedly said “Oh, cool, Greg Bear” like I’m supposed to know who that is. In fact, Greg Bear has, at that same bookstore, an entire row of a shelf in the science fiction section filled solely with books written by him, so there’s no doubt he’s a highly prolific author who’s probably done something cool. This, however, is his only Star Trek novel. Is there a reason for that? Usually, there is.
The Trellisane Confrontation? More like The Hella Insane Confrontation! (I originally wasn’t going to use this joke, but then the way the book played out made me think I actually should.)
I read my first Star Trek novel—Doctor’s Orders by Diane Duane—in 1995, at the age of 10. I didn’t have much experience with TOS at the time, and I didn’t know anything about canon and non-canon—I just knew I wanted more adventures with those characters. As Star Trek novels go, I still think I could hardly have made a better first choice, especially for a standalone story, and for a long time, through fluctuating levels of interest in expanded universes, it remained my favorite.