High concept interstellar politics and space battles that just never really got me invested. Though I’ll admit, I may have been slightly put off by this particular edition having a _lot_ of typos (usually punctuation, but at least once a misnamed character that made things quite confusing for a bit). Good space opera, but doesn’t rank highly for me among Hugo winners.

Cox again indulges in an adventure heavily reliant on references to past canon, but it works better here due to focusing primarily on three distinct TOS episodes, rather than peppering “remember when…” moments throughout.

An entertaining adventure across two time periods, but sometimes I think Cox gets a little _too_ clever with the constant references to other Trek adventures. Sometimes it’s fun fan service, but sometimes it’s nice just to read a story without a wink-and-a-nudge on every other page.

Science fiction that somehow reads like fantasy (that’s not a complaint, to be clear). At times almost feels like a alternative take on Asimov’s Foundation universe, with a galaxy-spanning empire crumbling, and a repository of knowledge meant to rebuild civilization, only going in a somewhat different direction.

Set in the pre-TOS era, this explores some early relationships touched on later in the saga; one for Kirk, and one for Spock, who have yet to meet, though both end up involved in the framing story about the risks of environmental damage during technological and societal expansion.

The story of the construction of humanity’s first space elevator, tied to the history of the (semi-fictional) island that serves as its base. An easy read, concerned primarily with exploring how such an engineering feat might happen, and without any real antagonist or great interpersonal dramas.

The alien world and its creatures are interesting, as are the slowly degrading human cultures, but I had a hard time getting past the many unhealthy and frequently destructive relationships among the characters. Not a bad book, really, but not a particularly pleasant one.

One of a series of books looking at the behind-the-scenes design work for various ships in the Star Trek universe. If you’re into this sort of thing, you know. 🖖

One of a series of books looking at the behind-the-scenes design work for various ships in the Star Trek universe. If you’re into this sort of thing, you know. 🖖

One of a series of books looking at the behind-the-scenes design work for various ships in the Star Trek universe. If you’re into this sort of thing, you know. 🖖