An enjoyable new entry to the ever-expanding Vampire mythos, flavored with elements of plague and zombie themes to flesh it out. There's an interesting mix of attempts to incorporate scientific explanations for the common vampire traits (the bloodsucking, longevity, etc.) and a reliance on simple "it's magic" situations (mirrors, silver, etc.) that makes me curious if there will be later attempts to science-ify the remaining unexplained aspects. Really, the biggest downside to the book is simply that it's quite obviously the first in a series, and while it wraps up this "chapter" without simply screaming to a sudden stop, it definitely doesn't stand on its own.

A strong sequel to [b:Yesterday's Son|216700|Yesterday's Son (Star Trek, No 11)|A.C. Crispin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172784973s/216700.jpg|1591026], continuing the story of Zar in the distant past of Sarpeidion. Crispin creates an entertaining blend of Trek continuity and medieval adventure, and further fleshes out her exploration of the Guardian of Forever. The explanation and resolution of the Guardian's malfunctioning was the sole downside of the book, falling into yet another Kirk-talks-all-powerful-beings-into-behaving trap, but as this is a relatively minor portion of the story, it's not an unforgivable lapse.

Not a perfect Trek book, but certainly above average. A touch of Captain Pike and a lot of musings as to the changes in the characters over the years. Aside from a mind meld that seems to me to go against Vulcan ethics, not to mention Spock's own (not that this is entirely rare or even non-canon, given a similar mind meld in Star Trek VI), Peter David handles the crew with obvious affection and a good dose of humor.

One of the least interesting of the many old Trek novels that I've read so far. It really does feel like the author wanted to write a swashbuckling fantasy adventure, but could only get it published by shoehorning in a few trek characters. Unimpressive.

Nothing terribly groundbreaking (in terms of sci-fi or religious satire), but worked well as a vacation book.

Notable far more for having been written from the original shooting script, and therefore containing oddities such as an R2D2 frequently described as walking, references to C3P0's facial expressions, a human Jabba, and obvious hints at a very un-sibling interest between Luke and Leia. A serviceable novelization, but not much more than that.

A light but enjoyable sequel to [b:Bimbos of the Death Sun|471512|Bimbos of the Death Sun (Jay Omega, #1)|Sharyn McCrumb|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1288223342s/471512.jpg|459808], picking up a few years later as Jay Omega and girlfriend Marion join a professor friend and former SF author on a trip to a reunion of a storied group of Golden Age SF authors. Where Bimbos used a SF/F con as its setting, Zombies uses the reunion to evoke much of early SF fandom and how it changed over the next few decades. More sedate than Bimbos, Zombies has less of the fandom snark and less humor, but is certainly not without occasional doses of both.