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refusetoshine's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
4.5
birdmanseven's review against another edition
4.0
This was a book club selection for my Sci-Fi book club. Three of us listened to the abridged audiobook narrated by Gates McFadden, and the fourth read the full book in print. Those of us listened loved the story. We found the thriller vibe to be a lot of fun and felt the story was exciting and intriguing. The fourth who read it in print found it confusing and bloated. It made for an interesting discussion.
Bottom line: I recommend the audiobook.
We discussed this book a little more for the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-252-fantasy-isthmus
Bottom line: I recommend the audiobook.
We discussed this book a little more for the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-252-fantasy-isthmus
sadie_slater's review against another edition
4.0
It's a long time since I've read any Star Trek tie-ins (though I keep buying interesting-sounding ones* in kindle editions), but a couple of weeks ago I was on a train back from London after visiting my father in hospital, surrounded by football fans and generally feeling too fragile and distracted to concentrate on a boook, so instead I thought I'd knit and listen to a podcast. The podcast I chose was an episode of the delightful Star Trek podcast Antimatter Pod** in which the podcasters discussed their favourite tie-in novels of their formative years, and The Devil's Heart sounded such fun that I couldn't resist hitting up Amazon Marketplace and had ordered a copy before I got to Oxford Parkway.
When the Enterprise is ordered to respond to a distress call from a Vulcan archaeological mission (much to the annoyance of the crew, as it prevents their attendance at the Starfleet poker tournament), Captain Picard finds himself in possession of the Devil's Heart or Ko N'ya, an ancient and reputedly cursed artefact which appears in the legends of many spacefaring races. The Ko N'ya exerts a powerful fascination over its owner and grants visions of the lives of the previous owners, causing Picard to behave increasingly oddly, while its discovery draws members of all of the races which have previously possessed it, desperate to retrieve it and use it to further their aims.
The Devil's Heart was a fun read; possibly there were slightly too many subthreads to the plot and dispensing with a couple of them would have made the book a bit more focused without really sacrificing anything in terms of the overal plot, but I enjoyed it despite that, and remembered that, actually, the thing I really like about tie-ins isn't the plot, but the way they offer a chance to spend more time with familiar characters and get an insight into their thoughts that isn't possible with TV and film depictions***. And The Devil's Heart does that brilliantly; I loved seeing Picard's senior officers becoming increasingly concerned and frustrated by his odd behaviour, and getting more a sense of their relationships and feelings toward each other, and there were also some interesting original characters (I particularly liked the starbase commander Miyakawa and the group of academics who hijack a starship in the most typically academic way ever). It's not deep or serious literature, but it's great entertainment.
*fvo of "interesting-sounding" which largely translate to "by Una McCormack"
**if discussions of fashion, feminism, subtext and subspace are something that float your boat too, go and check it out!
***I would probably not be a Star Trek fan if I hadn't found Vonda N McIntyre's novelisations of the second, third and fourth films in the late 80s, which gave so much more depth to the characters. (I would also probably not be a Doctor Who fan without the Target novelisations, and suspect that if I'd encountered Star Wars novelisations and tie-ins instead of just the films I'd be much more of a fan of that.)
When the Enterprise is ordered to respond to a distress call from a Vulcan archaeological mission (much to the annoyance of the crew, as it prevents their attendance at the Starfleet poker tournament), Captain Picard finds himself in possession of the Devil's Heart or Ko N'ya, an ancient and reputedly cursed artefact which appears in the legends of many spacefaring races. The Ko N'ya exerts a powerful fascination over its owner and grants visions of the lives of the previous owners, causing Picard to behave increasingly oddly, while its discovery draws members of all of the races which have previously possessed it, desperate to retrieve it and use it to further their aims.
The Devil's Heart was a fun read; possibly there were slightly too many subthreads to the plot and dispensing with a couple of them would have made the book a bit more focused without really sacrificing anything in terms of the overal plot, but I enjoyed it despite that, and remembered that, actually, the thing I really like about tie-ins isn't the plot, but the way they offer a chance to spend more time with familiar characters and get an insight into their thoughts that isn't possible with TV and film depictions***. And The Devil's Heart does that brilliantly; I loved seeing Picard's senior officers becoming increasingly concerned and frustrated by his odd behaviour, and getting more a sense of their relationships and feelings toward each other, and there were also some interesting original characters (I particularly liked the starbase commander Miyakawa and the group of academics who hijack a starship in the most typically academic way ever). It's not deep or serious literature, but it's great entertainment.
*fvo of "interesting-sounding" which largely translate to "by Una McCormack"
**if discussions of fashion, feminism, subtext and subspace are something that float your boat too, go and check it out!
***I would probably not be a Star Trek fan if I hadn't found Vonda N McIntyre's novelisations of the second, third and fourth films in the late 80s, which gave so much more depth to the characters. (I would also probably not be a Doctor Who fan without the Target novelisations, and suspect that if I'd encountered Star Wars novelisations and tie-ins instead of just the films I'd be much more of a fan of that.)