Review: The Entropy Effect by Vonda N. McIntyre (1980)
I remember this one as the very first Star Trek novel I ever read. I remember thinking that it had a nice plot and twist, with a nice science fiction trope thrown in.
It’s annoying to have Kirk killed right off, because then you know that a lot of the plot will revolve around trying to get him back, but it sort of works out eventually in this one.
I gotta confess, it’s really been a big while, and I even cracked it open again to see how much I could get, but it’s really not that good to merit a re-read. There’s few content that stuck, but what I do remember is that the plot moves at a good pace; that it really keeps your attention, even if there are some big passages of fluff; there’s not much angst and what-should-I-do texts; it’s not quite an episode, it’s not quite a novel.
I have seen some very specific details we can check in all of these novels, so I’ll try to enumerate them in each review
Cover: Nice, but generic. The cover sports a epic mustached Sulu, because yes, it’s in the story, but only as a sort of comedic relief. Look really weird!
Novel Objective: Seems to try to mirror a Star Trek episode, and nicely done too.
Characterizations: Good, without obvious efforts to overuse the characters
Writing style: Light, with much dialog, helps keep the action moving along.
Star Trek episodes references: just a few in the opening chapter and very sporadic in later ones.