One star is too generous. This is genuinely dreadful, on a level that I don't expect from Star Trek. I know that every franchise has their stinkers, but this book is so contrary to the humanism and principles of the series that I can't believe it ever got published. I'm not talking about the low-level annoyances here: the sexism, the piss-poor editing (in one place, it's stated it'll take the ship 100+ years at Warp 2 to get back to Federation space, a few pages later it's suddenly "several years" away at the same rate). I'm not even talking about the asininely stupid world-building, in which a civilisation capable of developing transporter technology on a par with that of the Federation has no concept of time and has only managed weapons technology sufficient for a gun which would be antique even by our standards. No, I'm talking about how Kirk and crew (because none of them ever object) bulldoze the Prime Directive into the ground with not one iota of self-awareness, rather an abundance of hypocrisy, violence, and absolute obnoxiousness. Kirk destroys the culture of a planet (and very nearly the entire planet itself) purely for his own benefit, and doesn't even have the decency to be honest about it. It's your choice, we won't use force! he says, having kidnapped, phasered, and otherwise browbeaten and threatened the people of this world to get his own way. He's an absolute disgrace, not within ten million light years of the Kirk I know, and I can only hope in some horrible mirror universe, which this can only be, the real Kirk appears and kicks his disgusting arse.

I sincerely hope this was the only Star Trek book this author ever wrote.