SciFi Book Review: Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness by Alan Dean Foster

Synopsis:
Months after the dramatic events seen in the 2009 blockbuster film Star Trek, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise—including Captain James T. Kirk, First Officer Spock, Doctor Leonard McCoy, Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, and Ensign Pavel Chekov—is called back home. But an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has declared all-out war on Starfleet and everything it stands for, leaving Earth in a state of crisis. Now with a personal score to settle as a result, Kirk must lead a covert manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction. As these valiant heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Captain Kirk has left: his crew.

Review:
Having seen the film twice now, I was able to appreciate just how much this tie-in novel follows the original script. It’s mostly word for word with a few areas of more explanation, like why Dr. Carol has a British accent and her father doesn’t. I actually would have like even more of this, but I’m not sure how much leeway Foster had to expand on the characters and dialog.

Fans of the film will certainly appreciate this translation to novel as I did. I loved the story. And the author did a great job bringing all of the drama, suspense, and intrigue to the book. The actions scenes weren’t as long since reading it doesn’t have the same effect as seeing it. Whereas, with the novel we get to experience more of the character depth. As one who loves both movies and books, I appreciate both mediums. And Foster is certainly talented at translating film to novel.

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