Far better than the movie. That's not saying much, but at least it's readable? ( )

Turns into Science Fiction for reals.....

I'm now on a quest to read the novelizations through Nemesis at least. I've always liked these because the author has the liberty to fill in the cracks, provide motivations and even add details not in the movie. I've got the movie (at least in my head) for the visuals, but the characters and story are better served by putting it in print. For me, the general rule "the book was better," applies not ONLY for book-into-movie, but movie-into book. Thanks, Ms. Dillard!

( )

Novelization of the movie. Dillard adds some background for the Valeris character and stirs in a somewhat pointless reconciliation between Kirk and Carol Marcus, but there's not much to be done to improve what was essentially a mediocre Trek film. ( )

Definitely an amusing little tale.
Strains your belief at times but hey, this is science fiction, right? It's SUPPOSED to be out there, to make you think, wonder and dream. ( )

This review assumes that you have either seen the movie, read the book or both (I don't like to summarize plot).

This is an adaptation of the movie by the same name. I generally like novelizations of movies because they add depth that you just can't have on the screen. You tell stories differently on the page that you do on the screen.

That said, ST-IV adds very little in the way of depth to seen that you see on the screen. There is a bit about the Klingons attacking a couple of Federation colonies with the bird of prey that could fire while cloaked. Kirk's lover, Carol Marcus was badly injured in one of these attacks, but as extra motivation for Kirk's hatred of the Klingons,, it seemed superfluous.

The main letdown I felt was that we didn't learn anything from being inside anyone's head. The story is told by an omnipotent narrator and the POV changes pretty much as it does in the film, but in spite of getting additional back story of Valeris, we gain no insight into why she betrays Spock and the Federation, We get no inner dialog when she is placed in charge of the search for the magnetic boots. We get no indication that it is she who orders Burke and Samno to prepare for their parts in the conspiracy to kill Gorkon (were they recruited before the mission or on route, or after they made the rude comments about the Klingons when they, the Klingons beamed aboard?). We get no idea of the inner turmoil Valeris must have been going through. That alone knocked a star off my rating.

This was an OK, easy read that (I hope) will help me reach my goal this year, but it was not the best Star Trek book I've ever read. The novelization of ST:The Motion Picture was better. ( )