Reviews

The Captain's Oath by Christopher L. Bennett

thomwallacern's review against another edition

4.0

This read was, generally, okay. The idea of getting more backstory on Captain Kirk is intriguing and enticing, but the writing here could be at times as dry as a cracker. I found myself skimming over big sections of fluff just to get to the meat of the story.

And, personally, I didn't care for how the story jumped around in time periods. It was unnecessary. If the two periods of time had more of a connection, it would've been so much neater. But they didn't. It didn't even feel like the earlier time period story was being told as reminiscent. It just felt choppy.

All in all, I liked it for the Star Trek. I just didn't like the way the story was crafted.

bookenjoyer555's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

 

I loved this! There's a lovely warmth throughout this whole book, a sense of hope that's really refreshing-  problems are solved through diplomacy and empathy, wrongs are forgiven, people grow and learn mistakes and try to be better. It really highlights so much of what I love about Star Trek. 

 And it's clear Bennet loves the ST universe and its characters too- in this series of loosely connected vignettes, Bennet takes advantage of the boundless possibilities of the novel form- without the practical and budgetary restraints of the TV show, we are free to explore the galaxy and all its lifeforms at a much broader scope. 

 

Apart from the addition of cool aliens TOS didn't have the budget for, Bennet also makes an effort  to correct the lack of diversity in terms of gender, race, sexuality and disability, fitting right in with the inclusive and optimistic spirit of the book. 

 

I've seen some reviews complaining about characterisation of Kirk- but personally I felt like Bennet really nailed both him and all the other Star Trek characters who appear. None of them are reduced to stereotypes- Spock logical, McCoy brash, Kirk brave, but instead are written with actual depth and struggles. 

 All in all, this was a really fun read and def worth checking out if you're a fan of Kirk (which I certainly am!) If I have a complaint, it's that the nonlinear storyline at times was a little confusing, but it sorted itself pretty quickly so wasn't a massive drawback.

eliendriel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ellagordonkhen's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring

4.25

frakalot's review against another edition

5.0

This collection of events is told wonderfully and gives an apt background to the Kirk we met in TOS. There are some uniquely interesting events and plenty of very satisfying connection to canon

After reading a few of Christopher Bennett's stories he has become my favourite trek author. I believe he knows trek very well and he does an amazing job at adding quality to familiar characters in a way that respects what we already know about them.

Robert Petkoff reads masterfully as alway.

birdmanseven's review against another edition

2.0

While I appreciate the idea of looking at Kirk's time just before assuming command of the Enterprise, the non-linear storytelling did not pay off. There was a lot of good character work, but I found the book cumbersome to read.

We covered some of my favorite Trek books in an early episode of The All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-48-all-the-books-beyond