Spock, Messiah! (Theodore R. Cogswell & Charles A. Spano, Jr., 1976)

It seems I was mistaken a few days ago when I wrote that I never read Spock, Messiah! Upon checking my Kindle and finding a digital copy in there, I thumbed through a few pages, and yes, I do remember reading it about two years back. Vague images returned to me, images of Kirk swathed in veils and traveling between small rural villages on some shithole planet or other, disguising himself as a wandering merchant of sorts.

It surprises me somewhat to find how harshly the novel is condemned - its status as the first original Star Trek novel for adults has led to its being singled out for how bad it is - and yeah, it is pretty offensive at times, but as a work of fiction, it definitely exceeds the two-and-a-half books I read by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath; to each, his own, I suppose.

I do remember thinking how silly it all seemed - if I really wanted to read a book that takes place basically in the past (the planet, Kyros, is very primitive) and doesn't have much in the way of an original plot, why would I be reading a Star Trek book? It amazes me sometimes to find what certain authors chose to write about when presented with the opportunity to write a Trek novel. "Spaceships, Klingons and strange stellar phenomena? Who cares about that crap? Let's get Kirk and the rest of the gang down on a rural planet with no technology!" Seriously dude, just write a fantasy novel; at least that way, your racial stereotyping and islamophobia will fit in a little better.

That's really all I have to say about this one. It's hard, trying to remember details of books you read two years ago, especially when so many of the thirty-odd Trek novels I've read so far are quite similar in many ways. The ones that stood out will receive better treatment, but it won't be until my blogging catches up with my reading in about 25 posts or so that these reviews will get really detailed again.

But is Spock, Messiah! a waste of time? Yeah, pretty much, even though it's not super bad; just not very good, either. Not worth the trouble, in my opinion. See you next time for 1977's Planet Of Judgment, written by none other than Joe Haldeman, who set the bar for military sci-fi with his 1974 classic The Forever War.