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Avg. Rating: 4
A Pleasant Afternoon Read
This book tells us how Kirk, Sulu, Checkov, and Scotty each dealt with the Kobayashi Maru test as cadets in training. Of the four scenarios, I felt that Kirk's story was the least believable, perhaps because of the lack of detail to support how he accomplihed a reprogramming of the simulator, and perhaps the method he chose to use while doing that reprogramming. Sulu's story was also difficult to believe, but given the circumstance he was dealing with at the time the story takes place, it is plausible. Checkov's story was in character, but I was left with the feeling that he didn't learn anything from it through the years. And scotty's story was definiately the funniest of the four, as well as being completely believable for his character.
It isn't great literature, but it is an easy read. That's important to someone like me, who tends to read cover-to-cover until I've finished a book. So if you're a Star Trek fan, this is one I think you will enjoy. I intend to reread it every now and again.
What doesn't kill us makes us strong
While on an away mission Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Chekhov and Sulu find themselves stranded in a nearly powerless shuttle, adrift in a debris filled area of space far from the Enterprise and with no way of calling for help. While waiting for rescue, which may or may not arrive, the crew realizes the similiarities to the no-win training scenario most of them faced while at the Academy - the Koybayashi Maru excercise that figured in THE WRATH OF KHAN. Kirk's approach to the problem had been revealed in that movie so his account only supplied some further details. Chekhov's, Sulu's and Scotty's experiences with the scenario had never been mentioned before this and each brought some quite unique to the problem.
As their current situation in the shuttle becomes more desparate the crew draws upon their various skills to once again overcome the odds.
Fans of TOS (and how else would be reading one of these tie-in novels?), will greatly enjoy the insights into the characters and backstories of four of their favorites. Most of the action that occurs is in the past though so the ends of the various subplots are rather anti-climatic. The outcome of the 'current' dilemma, (the safe return of the crew to the Enterprise) is also not really ever in doubt as well, leaving this one rather lacking in suspense.
Mixed grill of Trek
Several starfleet officers, enroute by shuttlecraft, find themselves trapped when their ship is crippled by a gravitic mine. With no way to repair their ship, and nothing on hand but time, Captain Kirk, Mr. Scott & Pavel Chekhov begin swapping stories. The fatal mine is not only a relic of an older war, it's also a painful reminder of a notorious test administered to Starfleet cadets (and made famous in "Wrath of Khan") called "Kobayshi Maru". (Cadets who take the test are given simulated command of a starship; in the test itself, they are called on to rescue a stricken cargo ship crippled by a gravitic mine, and marooned in hostile space. In flying to the rescue, cadets find themselves ambushed by Klingon battlecruisers. At the heart of the simulation is an algorithm that automatically stacks the odds towards the cadet's obliteration.) Their chances of survival looking slim, Kirk, Scott & Chekhov begin to wonder if they are experiencing a very real-life version of the "Kobayashi Maru". While the test itself is only a simulation, the bitter failure is not.
The stories our heroes swap inform much about them - Kirk who doesn't like to lose, Chekhov who can't bear that he did lose, and Scotty who thinks that there's an engineering solution for everything. Still, it's a bit shallow - we get three short stories rather than a single deeper (and more satisfying) one. If this were an episode of one of the shows, it would fall into the "ship in a bottle" variety. Meant to be a character-driven story, KM offers little about the characters that we didn't already know (Kirk will break the rules to win; Chekhov is serious; Scotty is very can-do about things.) Still, it's a solid TOS-era story that won't leave you hungry. It's never slow or dull and once you've started, you can't quite put it down.
love this one
this is another one of my faves, gives you more depth of Kirk, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov and why they are the way they are. I especially love Sulu's story, mainly the assignment they have before the Big Test. Kirk's is interesting is you get a look into what drives him and his competitive nature and just how he was able to pull off the ultimate hacking job. Chekov's is interesting in that in a way he is compeating with himself and his view of his future captain. Scotty's is funny and shows the budding of the miracle worker he would become. This is definitly one to check out
Okay, so what would YOU do about the "Kobayashi Maru"?
Julia Ecklar does two things with the Kobayashi Maru simulation that was one of the most interesting sub-plots in "Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan." The first is that she goes back and tells the story of how Jim Kirk became the only cadet at Starfleet Academy ever to beat the "no-win scenario." All we learned from the film was that the young Kirk "changed the conditions of the test" and "received a commendation for original thinking." The second is that she also tells the stories of the cadet encounters of Chekov, Sulu and Scotty with that same scenario: a fuel-carrier strikes a mine in the Organian Neutral Zone and the cadet commanding a Starfleet vessel has to decided whether or not to attempt a rescue and risk destruction and a war with the Klingon Empire to rescue the stranded crew. The framing story used by Ecklar is a freak shuttlecraft accident, which gives the four officers and Dr. McCoy nothing to do but to each tell their stories in turn.
The four stories are quite different. Kirk's story, "The No-Win Scenario," is devoid of dramatic punch since we all know the outcome, but it does establish that the Kobayashi Maru test is less about tactical decisions and more about an individual's character. Obviously young Jim Kirk is going to have all the attributes that would make him "The Captain Kirk." Chekov's chapter, "How You Play the Game," spends little time on the Kobayashi Maru test focusing more on a survival exercise on the Moon base and Pavel's desire to be just like the great James T. Kirk. In "Crane Dance," Sulu tells the rather poignant story of how he came to make the decisions he did during his taking of the test. The shortest and funniest tale is Scotty's "In Theory," which shows the engineer was not suited for command, even though he exhibited an unprecedented talent for destruction, when he could be bothered to pay attention to all those attacking Klingon war dragons.
That last story is what justifies James Doohan, who played Commander Montgomery Scott on the original "Star Trek," being the one to read this novel because when he gets to his character's story he gets to really have some fun. It is also nice to hear a familiar voice doing the reading this time around. These are an interesting set of stories, not particularly insightful but certainly true to the characters. I was surprised that the idea of the Kobayashi Maru as a standardized Star Trek Rorschach test was not repeated in the other series. After all, what Star Trek fan would not be interested in finding out what Spock, Picard, Worf, Data, Sisko, Chakotay and everybody else did when confronted with the no-win scenario? I would not be surprised if someone out there in fan fiction you can track down those stories.
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