Book review
Edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Pocket Books paperback
Release date 4 April 2009

The travails of the planet Mestiko as it intersects with the career of James T. Kirk...

Originally published as a series of e-books to celebrate Trek's 40th anniversary, the omnibus version arrives in time for the new original series era movie.

The six stories begin before Kirk's first episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before, and end in the immediate aftermath of his death in Star Trek Generations. The various stories play to the writers' strengths, and none ever gets a chance to outstay its welcome.

As well as an exercise in world building, these stories also chart the maturing of Kirk as a man, from the bold and sometimes brash Starship captain, through the more thoughtful Admiral, to the universe-weary figure weighed down with grief over the death of his son in the period leading up to Star Trek VI.

Each author illuminates Kirk through the actions and reactions of others – particularly the Mestikan Raya – even in the final story, where Kirk may not be physically present, but is an overwhelming force. Peter Quentin

VERDICT: 8/10
Some Trek novels set within the timeframe of the various TV series have felt like intrusions into the continuity; this collection adds to it in many positive ways.

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