Tie-in novels can walk a fine line between genuinely finding loose threads to tie together or stretching a few threads so thin that they seem threadbare.
Unfortunately, the latter is the case with the new “Trek” tie-in novel, “Inception.”
Set at a time when a young Commander Kirk is courting Carol Marcus and Spock has just run across a woman named Leila Kalomi, the novel speculates on a what if these two women were part of the same team working on an early stage of the Genesis project. Throw in a couple of radical environmental terrorists and you’ve got this story, which is a light read but nothing more.
The novel wants to deal with the issue of technology and its impact, but unfortunately sees things too much as one side or the other without really attempting to find much middle ground. Also, the plot device of having Carol and Leila meet, both at significant crossroads in their careers and their relationships with Kirk and Spock really stretches willing suspension of disbelief to the n-th degree. Also, if you’re a classic “Trek” fan you know where certain things are headed before the first page is turned and S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison don’t really plow any new ground or come up with anything interesting or different along the old familiar ground.
Nashville Book Worm 