First Thoughts:

Writers Diane Duane and A.C. Crispin have both written great tales of space adventure and adaptations of movies for decades. However, I found the first part of the book somewhat tedious to get through with the history of Vulcans I didn’t see as a contributive part to the overall plot. The second part was much more engaging though does require some knowledge of Star Trek lore.

Story and Plot:

The first part deals with Spock and McCoy and their handling of the planet Vulcan wanting to leave The Federation and how T’Pau and T’Pring are involved, but the story often transgresses into a history lesson of Vulcan, which I didn’t find all that necessary.

Best part of the first tale had to do with our Federation friends Kirk, Spock and McCoy giving their impassioned pleas for Vulcan to stay in the Federation. They also uncover a plot to create this division of planets due to one woman’s anger and jealousy against Spock! Wow!

The only real interest for me was the second part: Amanda and Sarek, their relationship with themselves and with Spock. Spock growing up. Spock dealing with the death of his mother and blames his father for doing his job of diplomacy lightyears from his dying wife. The revelations of Amanda’s journals is especially fascinating as it explores in greater detail a few moments between Amanda, Sarek and Spock on the TV series.

The Klingon threat is getting worse and they are being manipulated by Romulans and their long-term project of taking Vulcan children, using them to develop on Romulus and Freelan and use their mental abilities to create havoc on the Klingon home world and The Federation. And we meet Peter Kirk, who we met briefly when James Kirk’s brother was killed on that planet by flying amoebas. Remember that?? (Operation Annihilate!)

Much of the story depends somewhat on your knowledge of the original series and some films such as Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country which a few plotpoints from the film are revealed in this novel.

Final Thoughts:

Overall an enjoyable tale for the Star Trek fan!

About the Author (taken from Amazon.com)

Diane Duane is the author of The Door Into Fire, which was nominated for the World Science Fiction Society’s John W. Campbell Award for best new science fiction/fantasy writer two years in a row. Duane has also published more than thirty novels, numerous short stories, and various comics and computer games, several of which appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. She is best known for her continuing Young Wizards series of young adult fantasy novels about the New York–based teenage wizards Nita Callahan and Kit Rodriguez. The 1983 novel So You Want to Be a Wizard and its six sequels have been published in seven other languages, and are now routinely cited by librarians all over the US as “the books to read when you run out of Harry Potter.”

About A. C. Crispin

New York Times Bestselling Author A. C. (Ann) Crispin's major original science fiction undertaking was her StarBridge series

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I'm not buying any more of these two-in-one Star Trek combos, if there are any - both of these novels were dull and took far too long to get through. And Diane Duane, what happened? I can't believe this is the same author who penned one of my favourite Star Trek stories, Doctor's Orders! What a difference two years made!

Spock's World - Creative world-building, for those interested in the history of Vulcan, but I'm really not. Spock is a great character, especially when playing off Kirk and McCoy, only I think I need that combination to maintain my interest. There was too little Enterprise and too much diplomatic blather going on here. I did enjoy the first few chapters, though, with the crew returning to the ship and having a get together in the rec room.

Sarek by A.C. Crispin was even worse, cliched and badly written. The emotional family subplot was the strongest thread, promoting some 'fascinating' interaction between Sarek and Spock, but intergalactic intrigue and Peter Kirk's Klingon misadventures sadly overpower Sarek's story. And why are Kirk's relatives always so bloody wet? David Marcus was a drip, and the captain's nephew - supposedly 'developed' into adulthood by Crispin - is even worse. I thought his Klingon girlfriend Valdyr was spunky enough, but he didn't deserve her and I'm glad she chose to live her own life. Also, stop making cracks about Jim Kirk, A.C. Crispin - if handled with skill, his character should be much more than just an ageing space cowboy, and far, far more charismatic than wishy-washy Peter! ( )

This is a confusing remarketing of two ST novels--one of which I had already read. This wasn't apparent at all from the cover, which makes me wonder if this was the intention of the marketing department. It's also a bit of a strange marriage, as Spock's World was written a good twenty years before Sarek, largely because of this, the two are incongruous in terms of continuity.The first novel, Diane Duane's Spock's World is largely well-written, although the bustling, startlingly diverse Enterprise doesn't really feel like the Federation vessel we've come to know. Sure, this is largely due to the limitations of a series with human actors and budget constraints, but the universe of Trek just isn't as diverse as the one Duane presents to us. Her prose is beautifully detailed, but sometimes ponderous. While I enjoyed the interchapters that present snippets of Vulcan history, I'm not entirely sure how well they fit into the overall development of the novel.Sarek is the more human of the two novels. It was my favorite Star Trek novel during my Trekkie adolescence, and I can see why--the love story between Amanda Greyson and Sarek is really touching, and the parallel story about Peter Kirk and Valdyr (a Klingon) also holds up well. However, there were many plot threads that I'd totally forgotten about in this novel, and perhaps for good reason--the Vulcans raised on Romulus, the Keep Earth Human League--these felt extraneous and intrusive on the two central love stories, though AC Crispin tries her best to thread all of these into one cohesive plot. ( )