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Star Trek: Legacies #1
Captain to Captain
An epic new trilogy begins—a tie-in for the milestone fiftieth anniversary of Star The Original Series —that stretches from the earliest voyages of the Starship Enterprise to Captain Kirk’s historic five-year-mission…and from one universe to another!Hidden aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise is a secret that has been passed from captain to captain, from Robert April to Christopher Pike to James T. Kirk. Now the return of the enigmatic woman once known as Number One has brought that secret to light, and Kirk and his crew must risk everything to finish a mission that began with April so many years ago…Nearly two decades earlier, April and his crew first visited the planet Usilde, where they found both tragedy and a thorny moral dilemma. Today, the legacy of that fateful occasion will compel Kirk to embark on a risky voyage back to that forbidden world—which is now deep in territory claimed by the Klingon Empire!, , & 2016 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 205 reviews
August 11, 2016
The 50th Anniversary event begins!
This novel is the first book in a trilogy event to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of “Star Trek”
THE WOMAN OF MANY NAMES
…the Prime Directive exists to prevent us from rushing in and playing God where we don’t belong.
Number One is a mysterious Starfleet Officer who appeared in the celebrated non-aired first pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series, which later its footage was used as part of the TV episode “The Menagerie” Parts 1 & 2. (Oh, by the way! She was played by Majel Barret-Roddenberry (wife of Gene Roddenberry, creator of the series))
Since then, the imagination of many writers have been captured by her enigmatic charm, trying to figure out her history, but also…
…her name!
She was called “Number One” in the non-aired pilot, mainly because she was First Officer of the USS Enterprise (a custom that a generation later, Captain Picard would also use as his nickname for his first officers: Riker (in TV & Films) and Worf (in the expanded universe books).
However, obviously “Number One” wasn’t her name, and since then, everybody has his/her own theory…
…she has been “Robbins” in Star Trek: Early Voyages comic book series, she may or not being “Morgan Primus” in Star Trek: New Frontier prose book series, and now she is “Una” in this trilogy event.
And then again, “Una” isn’t her name, since nowadays she is an alien from Illyrian world (before she was considered human (see, how messy is this?!) and her real name can’t be pronounced by people out of her planet (sneaky writers!).
Una is now a captain, in command of the USS Yorktown, but since the starship is under a refitting work, she is visiting her “old vessel”, the USS Enterprise, but…
…with a secret agenda!
A SECRET KEPT BY MORE THAN ONE ISN’T A SECRET
…there are times that the whole truth can do more harm than good…
The USS Enterprise, the flagship of the Federation, with best crew,…
…it has a secret (maybe even more than one)…
…and that secret has been shared by captains and first officers since the times of Captain Robert April.
A secret kept hidden from Starfleet and the Federation…
…for their own good.
Something too dangerous to be known by this universe.
However, a secret that it’s kept by more than one person…
…hardly is really a secret.
Captain Kirk and Mister Spock will be put in opposite sides against Captain Una (formerly known as the mysterious Number One).
In an early mission when Una was still a rookie lieutenant, something went wrong, very wrong, and since then she vowed (in secret) to find a way to amend that terrible mistake…
…however the path to Hell is paved of good intentions…
…and maybe this reckless attempt to set things right…
…can set things even worse!
Trusts will be broken (more than once) in an Enterprise with too many dark secrets.
And this is only the beginning of the trilogy!!!
This novel is the first book in a trilogy event to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of “Star Trek”
THE WOMAN OF MANY NAMES
…the Prime Directive exists to prevent us from rushing in and playing God where we don’t belong.
Number One is a mysterious Starfleet Officer who appeared in the celebrated non-aired first pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series, which later its footage was used as part of the TV episode “The Menagerie” Parts 1 & 2. (Oh, by the way! She was played by Majel Barret-Roddenberry (wife of Gene Roddenberry, creator of the series))
Since then, the imagination of many writers have been captured by her enigmatic charm, trying to figure out her history, but also…
…her name!
She was called “Number One” in the non-aired pilot, mainly because she was First Officer of the USS Enterprise (a custom that a generation later, Captain Picard would also use as his nickname for his first officers: Riker (in TV & Films) and Worf (in the expanded universe books).
However, obviously “Number One” wasn’t her name, and since then, everybody has his/her own theory…
…she has been “Robbins” in Star Trek: Early Voyages comic book series, she may or not being “Morgan Primus” in Star Trek: New Frontier prose book series, and now she is “Una” in this trilogy event.
And then again, “Una” isn’t her name, since nowadays she is an alien from Illyrian world (before she was considered human (see, how messy is this?!) and her real name can’t be pronounced by people out of her planet (sneaky writers!).
Una is now a captain, in command of the USS Yorktown, but since the starship is under a refitting work, she is visiting her “old vessel”, the USS Enterprise, but…
…with a secret agenda!
A SECRET KEPT BY MORE THAN ONE ISN’T A SECRET
…there are times that the whole truth can do more harm than good…
The USS Enterprise, the flagship of the Federation, with best crew,…
…it has a secret (maybe even more than one)…
…and that secret has been shared by captains and first officers since the times of Captain Robert April.
A secret kept hidden from Starfleet and the Federation…
…for their own good.
Something too dangerous to be known by this universe.
However, a secret that it’s kept by more than one person…
…hardly is really a secret.
Captain Kirk and Mister Spock will be put in opposite sides against Captain Una (formerly known as the mysterious Number One).
In an early mission when Una was still a rookie lieutenant, something went wrong, very wrong, and since then she vowed (in secret) to find a way to amend that terrible mistake…
…however the path to Hell is paved of good intentions…
…and maybe this reckless attempt to set things right…
…can set things even worse!
Trusts will be broken (more than once) in an Enterprise with too many dark secrets.
And this is only the beginning of the trilogy!!!
April 9, 2024
A great start to the series. Certainly not the first "caught between your duty to Star Fleet vs loyalty to your crew" type story, it's nonetheless effective for its solid character portrayals, a focus on the Captain April era Enterprise (particularly Una/Number One) and some very uniquely imagined extra dimensional aliens that are more than a bit off-putting, to put it mildly. Cox really excels building the strange world these aliens have invaded, with their bizarre technology and terraforming techniques and a race of primitive humanoids they're exploiting, setting up quite a thrilling and unique first contact experience that sparks the imagination and is fraught with some hairy prime directive related moral dilemmas. Moving right on to book two!
April 30, 2018
“Legacies: Book 1: Captain to Captain (Star Trek: Legacies)” is what happens when an occasionally nerdy lesbian goes on a road-trip with occasionally nerdy straight friends. No, not the book itself, but the selection of the audiobook to play to a group.
Initially, we were all laughing and enjoying the audiobook. The 1960s original Star Trek series was often very campy, and the personalities and interactions of the purposely diverse crew are well known. The narrator of “Captain to Captain” did a great job voicing many of the characters, and the campiness was very true to the original series.
But, the repeated repetitiveness, and the constant references to other episodes quickly became tiresome. If we weren’t in a car, we could have made a fun drinking game out of the phrases “18 years ago”, “nearly two decades ago” and “long ago”. Boy, would we have been drunk! Perhaps the author was. Perhaps a true Trekkie would love all the tie-ins to other episodes, but it quickly went from interesting trivia to tiresome for our group. At this point, I’m not sure that there are anymore original series episodes left for the author to link to in books #2 and #3 of this trilogy.
When I announced that we were at the 46% completion mark, there was a groan from the back seat and a voice chimed in with “I was hoping we were at 96%!”. As the book dragged on, I was even authorized to put on a lesbian audiobook if we could DNF “Captain to Captain”. Soooo tempting, but I hate DNFing books, so we continued our self-appointed mission.
Speaking of missions, this book focuses on two missions by Una, the “Number One” from the original pilot of Star Trek, later aired as the two-part “Menagerie”. One mission takes place in the “current time” of the 23rd century, and the other mission is related as a flashback to her first landing party mission…wait for it…18 years ago, aka nearly two decades ago, aka long ago. In the current time, Captain Una is regarded as a Star Fleet legend, and rumors are that she is due to be promoted to Admiral.
There are two problems with both missions: (1) Una makes incredibly bad decisions; (2) the audiobook is far too long for these missions, and much of the book feels like filler. A television episode is what, 45-50 minutes long for an hour show with commercials? “Captain to Captain”, with it’s now and back then two stories, is very similar to “the Menagerie”, which aired as two episodes, which would total perhaps 90-100 minutes. But this audiobook is 9 ½ hours long…570 minutes. Yeah…we definitely felt that excessive 470 minutes!!!
Well, as with most books that are first in a trilogy, there is an intriguing cliffhanger that tempts toward book #2. One day, when I’m old and grey and have listened to virtually every other audiobook ever published, I may listen to it. I may. 4* for the narrator’s voice of most Star Fleet characters, 3* for his voice of aliens, and 2* for the story. The unanimous verdict of our intrepid road-trip crew is that overall, the book is 2* - not recommended for anyone who doesn’t wear pointy ears to Star Trek conventions.
By the way, this is the second book I’ve recently listened to that featured using pronouns and adjectives for a non-binary sexual orientated individual. The other book used “they” and “their”, which sort of worked, but felt too plural when directed toward a person. This book uses “he’er” and “she’im” which works much better. I wonder whether that’s unique to this series or if that nomenclature is common.
Initially, we were all laughing and enjoying the audiobook. The 1960s original Star Trek series was often very campy, and the personalities and interactions of the purposely diverse crew are well known. The narrator of “Captain to Captain” did a great job voicing many of the characters, and the campiness was very true to the original series.
But, the repeated repetitiveness, and the constant references to other episodes quickly became tiresome. If we weren’t in a car, we could have made a fun drinking game out of the phrases “18 years ago”, “nearly two decades ago” and “long ago”. Boy, would we have been drunk! Perhaps the author was. Perhaps a true Trekkie would love all the tie-ins to other episodes, but it quickly went from interesting trivia to tiresome for our group. At this point, I’m not sure that there are anymore original series episodes left for the author to link to in books #2 and #3 of this trilogy.
When I announced that we were at the 46% completion mark, there was a groan from the back seat and a voice chimed in with “I was hoping we were at 96%!”. As the book dragged on, I was even authorized to put on a lesbian audiobook if we could DNF “Captain to Captain”. Soooo tempting, but I hate DNFing books, so we continued our self-appointed mission.
Speaking of missions, this book focuses on two missions by Una, the “Number One” from the original pilot of Star Trek, later aired as the two-part “Menagerie”. One mission takes place in the “current time” of the 23rd century, and the other mission is related as a flashback to her first landing party mission…wait for it…18 years ago, aka nearly two decades ago, aka long ago. In the current time, Captain Una is regarded as a Star Fleet legend, and rumors are that she is due to be promoted to Admiral.
There are two problems with both missions: (1) Una makes incredibly bad decisions; (2) the audiobook is far too long for these missions, and much of the book feels like filler. A television episode is what, 45-50 minutes long for an hour show with commercials? “Captain to Captain”, with it’s now and back then two stories, is very similar to “the Menagerie”, which aired as two episodes, which would total perhaps 90-100 minutes. But this audiobook is 9 ½ hours long…570 minutes. Yeah…we definitely felt that excessive 470 minutes!!!
Well, as with most books that are first in a trilogy, there is an intriguing cliffhanger that tempts toward book #2. One day, when I’m old and grey and have listened to virtually every other audiobook ever published, I may listen to it. I may. 4* for the narrator’s voice of most Star Fleet characters, 3* for his voice of aliens, and 2* for the story. The unanimous verdict of our intrepid road-trip crew is that overall, the book is 2* - not recommended for anyone who doesn’t wear pointy ears to Star Trek conventions.
By the way, this is the second book I’ve recently listened to that featured using pronouns and adjectives for a non-binary sexual orientated individual. The other book used “they” and “their”, which sort of worked, but felt too plural when directed toward a person. This book uses “he’er” and “she’im” which works much better. I wonder whether that’s unique to this series or if that nomenclature is common.
January 20, 2023
I hadn’t heard of this trilogy until I found the first two books at a library sale...but, I’m glad I picked them up!
April 28, 2019
For me, this was pure and perfect reading pleasure. And it is classic, original series Star Trek experience in all aspects.
I've read few Star Trek books before, but the warmth, fun and original charm (especially classic dialogues between Kirk, Spock and your resident doctor) of this one is something special.
I'm totally exhilarated that there are books 2 and 3, not sure why are they all written by different authors though, I hope they won't spoil what Greg Cox started here :)
I've read few Star Trek books before, but the warmth, fun and original charm (especially classic dialogues between Kirk, Spock and your resident doctor) of this one is something special.
I'm totally exhilarated that there are books 2 and 3, not sure why are they all written by different authors though, I hope they won't spoil what Greg Cox started here :)
November 13, 2022
Before STRANGE NEW WORLDS brought her back, Una/Number One was a largely mysterious character and not used very often in the Star Trek Expanded Universe. Here, we find out about a mission she carried out for Captain Robert April that still haunts her decades later. I liked her interpretation but was disappointed that she and Spock didn't talk more about Captain Pike. Either way, it was an enjoyable story that got into some genuinely alien-aliens. Unfortunately, it ends on a big cliffhanger when I felt it would have been better as a standalone story.
July 23, 2016
My standard for Trek tie-in fiction is, can I hear the original actors' voices delivering the dialogue? Greg Cox always gets that right, and his plotting and prose are pretty good, too. This is the first volume of a 50th-anniversary franchise-crossing story, and I really enjoyed it.
April 14, 2020
Again, I am thoroughly amazed at how much the right author and the right story can completely change my opinion about a topic...well, I really shouldn't be now that I dwell upon it, for so many authors have been quite influential throughout my life (there are many ideals which have grown into beliefs that I hold dear whose seeds were planted by one author or another). I believe that I have previously stated in another review that I was never really much of a fan of "The Original Series" era of Star Trek; the camp, low-budget, and inconsistencies really turned me off, but so far this series of books (along with the Vanguard series) have really opened my eyes to how wonderfully refreshing this era of Trek can be. And they have undone the damage which has been done by some of the much earlier Original Series-era books I have read that have been, shall we say, quite comically farcical (e.g. Spock as a renowned pirate, sex-symbol, traitor...or a species with mid-20th century chemical rockets posing a dire threat to the entire galaxy).
I very much enjoyed the overall plot of this particular novel, what with the conflict between the Jatohr and the Usildar, the nod to environmental damage caused by the introduction of non-native invasive species (which was portrayed particularly vividly and I could visualize without too much effort), and the attempt to make the villains actually multi-dimensional. I even enjoyed the nod to the Mirror Universe, which is something that I have always particular enjoyed about Star Trek (especially as portrayed in "Dark Mirror" by Diane Duane - but not as portrayed by Deep Space Nine), and almost anything that helps fill in the pieces of that place is welcome.
Sadly, I was not much of a fan of Una, a.k.a. "Number One", a.k.a. Majel Barret's character from the original Pilot/The Cage, a character whose only flaw is that "they care too much," at least as she is portrayed in this novel. I also was not overly fond of the ending which comes across as way too "sequel bait"-like, and/or the obligatory "unexpected twist that was never established at any time, any where, by any one, but here we go"...
However, having said that, I still really enjoyed this read and look forward to continuing on to Book Two in the series. I would definitely recommend it to any Trekkers/Trekkies out there.
I very much enjoyed the overall plot of this particular novel, what with the conflict between the Jatohr and the Usildar, the nod to environmental damage caused by the introduction of non-native invasive species (which was portrayed particularly vividly and I could visualize without too much effort), and the attempt to make the villains actually multi-dimensional. I even enjoyed the nod to the Mirror Universe, which is something that I have always particular enjoyed about Star Trek (especially as portrayed in "Dark Mirror" by Diane Duane - but not as portrayed by Deep Space Nine), and almost anything that helps fill in the pieces of that place is welcome.
Sadly, I was not much of a fan of Una, a.k.a. "Number One", a.k.a. Majel Barret's character from the original Pilot/The Cage, a character whose only flaw is that "they care too much," at least as she is portrayed in this novel. I also was not overly fond of the ending which comes across as way too "sequel bait"-like, and/or the obligatory "unexpected twist that was never established at any time, any where, by any one, but here we go"...
However, having said that, I still really enjoyed this read and look forward to continuing on to Book Two in the series. I would definitely recommend it to any Trekkers/Trekkies out there.
May 6, 2025
This would have been four stars but the first two thirds of it were really droning on and un-engaging. It wasn't holding my attention for a long time and that's saying something because I love Star Trek. But the last third of the book (along with a twist at the end that I never saw coming) has me intrigued to check out the rest of this trilogy.
July 12, 2023
I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the amount of care the voice talent put into fitting each of the character's voices and vocal mannerisms.
The book itself was enjoyable, very true to the series' style and handled the characters we know extremely well. I do feel some of the introduction and rising action of the book could be condensed a tad.
I'd enjoy seeing an adaptation of this story in the future.
The book itself was enjoyable, very true to the series' style and handled the characters we know extremely well. I do feel some of the introduction and rising action of the book could be condensed a tad.
I'd enjoy seeing an adaptation of this story in the future.
November 6, 2016
It's a good premise for Trekkies to develop a story about Number One. But why is she so annoyingly stupid all the time?
With a few minutes left to save the entire Universe, she's bothering the only guy who can do it with irrelevant questions so that he has to tell her to shut up. And this is after she got her whole landing party eliminated because of her incompetence. Why didn't she beam up before getting captured? She has time to run all around the compound and knock on doors and ask people to let her in, and to shoot at things, and to chat with the aliens, but she can't call the ship. All this is particularly annoying because we get told 100 times that she is a Mary Sue as brilliant and self-disciplined as Spock. Oh and she apparently hasn't learned much because 20 years later she manages to put the entire Universe in danger again with her poorly executed, reckless escapades.
Also, why does the author have to repeatedly use "proverbial" incorrectly?
With a few minutes left to save the entire Universe, she's bothering the only guy who can do it with irrelevant questions so that he has to tell her to shut up. And this is after she got her whole landing party eliminated because of her incompetence. Why didn't she beam up before getting captured? She has time to run all around the compound and knock on doors and ask people to let her in, and to shoot at things, and to chat with the aliens, but she can't call the ship. All this is particularly annoying because we get told 100 times that she is a Mary Sue as brilliant and self-disciplined as Spock. Oh and she apparently hasn't learned much because 20 years later she manages to put the entire Universe in danger again with her poorly executed, reckless escapades.
Also, why does the author have to repeatedly use "proverbial" incorrectly?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2016
Solid start to what I hope will be a great trilogy. I've always liked & have been interested in the No.1 character & I'm glad to see her character explored. I've always thought ST lit should do a series centered on Capt. Pike's crew & it's adventures. The vast majority of this book is set in the time period in which Robert April was Capt of the Enterprise, & focuses on the first away mission No.1led as a young Lt. I think Greg Cox did a great job of setting the stage for this trilogy, not to mention the fact that it was a good story & Cox always writes the characters true to themselves. The twist at the end was a nice touch, even though I should've seen it coming i didnt which made it more fun anyway. Looking forward to the next installment with great enthusiasm.
September 14, 2016
Oh, yeah. Now I remember why I stopped reading professionally published TOS fiction. For every gem like Sarek or Doctor’s Orders, we get a dozen like this forgettable beginning to a trilogy I will never finish. I disliked the premise. If the fate of her crewmates was weighing on her so heavily, why did Una wait 18 years to attempt a rescue? I disliked the fact that three fourths of the book does not include any Enterprise regulars. I disliked the name Una, which brought to mind Unseen University’s Librarian ("Ook!") and an old tire commercial (Uni, Roy, and Al). I found the writing flat, the plot unengaging, and Una’s skills in a first contact situation lacking.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2017
The final chapters were intriguing but the bulk of the story was a bit dull. Had to force my way through some parts. The narrator for the audiobook did a great job though.
October 18, 2021
Fun af adventure
July 21, 2016
Holy shit! What a damn good book! Edge. Of. My. Seat!
August 10, 2021
Loved this trilogy
December 18, 2016
I found this a somewhat enjoyable fling with parts of the Trek universe that you don't usually see -- and bringing back Number One after The Cage was pretty awesome, but I'm not sure about naming her, since that may cause some issues. I was concerned that this book flies against canon, but surprisingly it checks out. The climax turned up a little late, didn't do much, and there wasn't much resolution at all, but this is the first book in a series, so to be expected.
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May 14, 2025loved this book. It was good to see the character from the cage episode come back and I also liked the parts of the book that went back to when Robert April commanded the enterprise. I liked finding out a bit more about him. and the twist which I won't reveal. Greg Cox has done it again with this book and what better way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with the first book of the legacies trilogy. looking forward to reading book 2
June 25, 2018
An intriguing beginning to this 50th anniversary trilogy. I found Una's return to Libros a bit of an extra-adventure too much (enough with the jungle chases), but it was satisfying to have another adventure with Captain April and his crew (with continuity to Diane Carey's novels an extra bonus). I wasn't expecting the twist at the end, but that's the kind of successful tactic that makes a reader want to proceed to book two...
February 19, 2019
I was in the mood for a light read, so I figured the simple but compelling setting of The Original Series was worth a try on an Audible daily deal. Unfortunately, there was just too much styrofoam scenery here for me, and the big slug aliens were way too human. Even though it ended on a cliffhanger, I couldn't bring myself to read the next one.
July 5, 2016
2.5 Stars
April 15, 2018
2,5 Sterne, weil Robert Petkoff sehr gut war.
Ich weiß nicht, ob ich mit der Trilogie fortfahren werde oder nicht.
Mir gefiel, dass ich mehr über Aprils Schiff und über Una - später Nummer 1 unter Pike - erfahren habe. Ich mochte auch viele Aspekte dieser Mission auf Usildar, gerade auch den Kontakt mit den Bewohnern, ich mochte die Szenen auf der Enterprise, die Entwicklung im letzten Kapitel, die vielen kleinen Gimmicks, die Greg Cox für die Fans einbrachte und die hervorragende Arbeit, die Robert Petkoff geleistet hat.
Auf der anderen Seite steht Una als Charakter, insbesondere als Captain, und alle die mit ihr verbundenen späteren Ereignisse, wobei ich hier dann auch noch Kirk und Spock einbeziehen muss. Zu Captain Una kann ich nicht sagen, inwieweit sie in Charakter agiert, da ich sie über das Franchise nur aus einer TV-Folge kenne, aber ihr Verhalten hat mich die Augenbrauen hochziehen und den Kopf schütteln lassen - und wie Kirk und Spock dann mit ihr agieren auch. Ich empfand das Verhalten der letzteren auch charakterfremd.
Ich kann die ursprüngliche Motivlage der drei nachvollziehen, aber nicht mehr, dass die Aktionen so durchgeführt werden. Möglicherweise wird in den folgenden Teilen auch auf diesen Aspekt, der mich hier störte eingegangen, ggf. aber auch nicht und die weiteren Bücher konzentrieren sich ggf. nur auf ... den Aufhänger der Story. Ich weiß noch nicht, ob ich dann "meinen" Problemkreis ausklammern kann, um die "verbleibende" Story "genießen" zu können. Ich muss darüber noch nachdenken.
Ich weiß nicht, ob ich mit der Trilogie fortfahren werde oder nicht.
Mir gefiel, dass ich mehr über Aprils Schiff und über Una - später Nummer 1 unter Pike - erfahren habe. Ich mochte auch viele Aspekte dieser Mission auf Usildar, gerade auch den Kontakt mit den Bewohnern, ich mochte die Szenen auf der Enterprise, die Entwicklung im letzten Kapitel, die vielen kleinen Gimmicks, die Greg Cox für die Fans einbrachte und die hervorragende Arbeit, die Robert Petkoff geleistet hat.
Auf der anderen Seite steht Una als Charakter, insbesondere als Captain, und alle die mit ihr verbundenen späteren Ereignisse, wobei ich hier dann auch noch Kirk und Spock einbeziehen muss. Zu Captain Una kann ich nicht sagen, inwieweit sie in Charakter agiert, da ich sie über das Franchise nur aus einer TV-Folge kenne, aber ihr Verhalten hat mich die Augenbrauen hochziehen und den Kopf schütteln lassen - und wie Kirk und Spock dann mit ihr agieren auch. Ich empfand das Verhalten der letzteren auch charakterfremd.
Ich kann die ursprüngliche Motivlage der drei nachvollziehen, aber nicht mehr, dass die Aktionen so durchgeführt werden. Möglicherweise wird in den folgenden Teilen auch auf diesen Aspekt, der mich hier störte eingegangen, ggf. aber auch nicht und die weiteren Bücher konzentrieren sich ggf. nur auf ... den Aufhänger der Story. Ich weiß noch nicht, ob ich dann "meinen" Problemkreis ausklammern kann, um die "verbleibende" Story "genießen" zu können. Ich muss darüber noch nachdenken.
April 7, 2017
Greg Cox penned an intriguing start to the Legacies Trilogy, which is Pocket Books' 50th anniversary celebration of the Star Trek franchise. As usual, he starts off with a strong concept, backing that up with spot on characterizations of the Enterprise crew and the use of an encyclopedic knowledge of the franchise as a whole to give further depth to the story. As a bonus, we have an extensive flashback to the very first crew of the USS Enterprise under the command of Capt. Robert April, where we witness the first landing party command of Lt. Una, who most fans know as "Number One," Capt. Christopher Pikes first officer.
Mostly I really liked the book, especially the focus on Number One (and I think there should at least be individual trilogies focusing on both April's crew as a whole and the life and career of Number One), but it had a two big drawbacks. The first is after the first encounter with the slug-like Jatohr, April was able to keep their Transfer technology a secret, even from Starfleet itself, which I have trouble buying. I can see it if were just the landing party crew that were affected by Transfer, but several bridge crew were also whisked away by that process, never to return. To keep it a secret would require not only finding ways to stop 200-300+ Enterprise crew from letting anything slip over the next 18 years but the falsification of a lot of records including but not limited to professional logs and security monitoring protocols. The disappearances seem like too big an incident to keep under wraps for long. The other thing would be the encounter with the Klingons near the end of the novel. They seemed tacked on to pad the novel a bit and seemed dumbed down enough so they would be easily escaped from. The shuttle craft Shimizu should have never been able to leave the atmosphere of the planet Usilde let alone escape the solar system with THREE Klingon cruisers in orbit. It should have been no problem for the Klingons to either destroy the shuttle or wear down it's shields to capture Kirk and Spock.
However the twist ending was very nice and made up for the above issues. I won't give that away here, even though this review is hidden, but trust me, it's good. I can't wait to read the next volume.
Mostly I really liked the book, especially the focus on Number One (and I think there should at least be individual trilogies focusing on both April's crew as a whole and the life and career of Number One), but it had a two big drawbacks. The first is after the first encounter with the slug-like Jatohr, April was able to keep their Transfer technology a secret, even from Starfleet itself, which I have trouble buying. I can see it if were just the landing party crew that were affected by Transfer, but several bridge crew were also whisked away by that process, never to return. To keep it a secret would require not only finding ways to stop 200-300+ Enterprise crew from letting anything slip over the next 18 years but the falsification of a lot of records including but not limited to professional logs and security monitoring protocols. The disappearances seem like too big an incident to keep under wraps for long. The other thing would be the encounter with the Klingons near the end of the novel. They seemed tacked on to pad the novel a bit and seemed dumbed down enough so they would be easily escaped from. The shuttle craft Shimizu should have never been able to leave the atmosphere of the planet Usilde let alone escape the solar system with THREE Klingon cruisers in orbit. It should have been no problem for the Klingons to either destroy the shuttle or wear down it's shields to capture Kirk and Spock.
However the twist ending was very nice and made up for the above issues. I won't give that away here, even though this review is hidden, but trust me, it's good. I can't wait to read the next volume.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 25, 2022This was my first voyage into contemporary Trek fiction and I’d have to say that for the most part I liked it. I see in many reviews that people seem let down that this isn’t centered around the classical characters of Trek but I was fine with it. It isn’t like there is a shortage of Kirk stories out there and I think considering that this is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary, it makes sense to go back to a character that was there in the beginning, not to mention how great it is to pay respect to Majel Barrett’s massive contributions to the franchise.
The other thing to consider here is that even though the primary TOS characters aren’t at the center, they aren’t absent either. This book is absolutely steeped in the universe of the original series. There are a ton of references here, in particular to The Cage/Menagerie. And unless I’m misremembering, there’s even an appearance from Kevin Riley who is basically the Reginald Barclay of the novelized universe.
The story isn’t my favorite by any means and I won’t say it’s without issues. It drags a little in the middle and probably could have been tightened up a smidge. I thought that Number One’s ultimate plan which she ends up revealing seems a little far fetched in its conception and I found it odd that she would wait so long before putting it into motion. None of that presents a critical blow to the book, though.
One criticism I would have would be that the story utilizes a bizarre pronoun throughout the book and the only reason why I bring that up is that it makes the audiobook difficult to understand at times. I’m still not entirely sure what the word was he was saying and I actually spent some time reading through other reviews to see if anyone explained it. It was just a bit distracting from the story.
I realize this book, like all others, isn’t going to be for everyone but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with the tone of some of the reviews here. Obviously we are in a new era of Star Trek and not everyone is going to be a fan. I get it and respect that. But with some of these reviews you get the feeling that they came into the room with arms crossed and looking for reasons to not like it. There’s plenty of Trek out there for all of us. Enjoy what you like and leave the rest behind. For me, this book was a good one and I’m looking forward to trying the rest of the trilogy.
The other thing to consider here is that even though the primary TOS characters aren’t at the center, they aren’t absent either. This book is absolutely steeped in the universe of the original series. There are a ton of references here, in particular to The Cage/Menagerie. And unless I’m misremembering, there’s even an appearance from Kevin Riley who is basically the Reginald Barclay of the novelized universe.
The story isn’t my favorite by any means and I won’t say it’s without issues. It drags a little in the middle and probably could have been tightened up a smidge. I thought that Number One’s ultimate plan which she ends up revealing seems a little far fetched in its conception and I found it odd that she would wait so long before putting it into motion. None of that presents a critical blow to the book, though.
One criticism I would have would be that the story utilizes a bizarre pronoun throughout the book and the only reason why I bring that up is that it makes the audiobook difficult to understand at times. I’m still not entirely sure what the word was he was saying and I actually spent some time reading through other reviews to see if anyone explained it. It was just a bit distracting from the story.
I realize this book, like all others, isn’t going to be for everyone but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with the tone of some of the reviews here. Obviously we are in a new era of Star Trek and not everyone is going to be a fan. I get it and respect that. But with some of these reviews you get the feeling that they came into the room with arms crossed and looking for reasons to not like it. There’s plenty of Trek out there for all of us. Enjoy what you like and leave the rest behind. For me, this book was a good one and I’m looking forward to trying the rest of the trilogy.
August 20, 2022
One of the biggest shames of my book collection is that I have not read very many Star Trek novels for quite a long time, this is despite owning quite a few of them. I’ve picked up discounted ones online and also digital copies of a few of them through sales on Amazon, and yet a lot of them still sit there. As to avoid the sort of burnout that could happen if I predominantly read nothing but the entire series of Star Wars books, which is what it seems like I was doing lately, I’ve decided to dip my toe into reading some of my numerous Star Trek novels that I’ve had for a long time and have not opened.
For this review I decided to read Star Trek Legacies – Captain to Captain seeing that the premise of the book highlights a character that I feel has been largely overlooked in Star trek fandom up until recently. That character is none other than Captain Una Chin-Riley, commonly known professionally as “Number One.” The character actually only appeared in a single solitary episode of Star Trek- The Original Series called “The Cage” that was a repurposed version of the original pilot episode of the show that was later scrapped. Originally portrayed by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the character has received a bit of a resurgence with the advent of the new show Star Trek – Strange New Worlds. Due to the portrayal of the character by Rebecca Romjin I now have a keen interest on learning more about the character and a book like this jumped out at me as a perfect opportunity.
“An epic new trilogy begins – a tie-in for the milestone 50th anniversary ofStar Trek: The Original Series – that stretches from the earliest voyages of the starship Enterprise to Captain Kirk’s historic five-year mission and from one universe to another! Hidden aboard the USS Enterprise is a secret that has been passed from captain to captain, from Robert April to Christopher Pike to James T. Kirk. Now the return of the enigmatic woman once known as Number One has brought that secret to light, and Kirk and his crew must risk everything to finish a mission that began with April so many years ago. Nearly two decades earlier, April and his crew first visited the planet Usilde, where they found both tragedy and a thorny moral dilemma. Today the legacy of that fateful occasion will compel Kirk to embark on a risky voyage back to that forbidden world – which is now deep in territory claimed by the Klingon Empire!”
On paper, this book seems to be a recipe for boredom – a book that pushes aside a lot of the big action set pieces that make up modern science fiction, all replaced with an entire story built around exploration and cultural differences of numerous alien races, as well as what it means to observe The Prime Directive in situations where it may not be the best idea. Surprisingly, I was on the proverbial edge of my seat the entire time, and could not wait to read more anytime I had to put the book down.
The book revels in world-building, especially with establishing the political spheres of two alien races that are completely at odds with each other. On one hand, you have the primitive Usildar, a race of arboreal tribal creatures that are frequently compared to some sort of apes. These are the original inhabitants of the contested planet that Una finds herself on, and recently have been forced to live in fear of a race of interlopers. Next, you have the race referred to as the Jatohr, creatures that somewhat resemble gigantic slugs and really push the boundaries of how “alien” an alien can be in Star Trek. Normally, most creatures in the world created by Gene Roddenberry nearly 60 years ago, are varying sizes of humanoids with some sort of forehead or nose prosthetic in order to tell them apart (or as my favorite Star Trek podcast refers to it – “loaf”).
The Jatohr are bizarre creatures that are completely devoid of any sort of human anatomy, move on the ground via slime on one large mollusk-like foot, communicate through a series of gargles that are translated via an external machine on their behalf, and have small robotic arms that allow the creatures to pick up and manipulate things. Even something as innocuous as the gender of these creatures is completely different to that of humans and other humanoids as it is shown that they exist in one hermaphroditic gender. truthfully, these are the sort of aliens I would love to see in the show now that they have computer generated effects and the money to use it.
Aside from solid worldbuilding and the creation of some interesting alien races, this book does a great job of chronicling the history of the Starship Enterprise throughout the eighteen or so years that the particular model of the ship was in service that we see in the classic show. the book jumps around through numerous points in time including the main time frame, the captainship of James T Kirk, references to Una’s time as the first officer for Captain Christopher Pike, and finally flashbacks to her time as a rookie Starfleet officer under the leadership of Captain Robert April, a character that is so sparsely used in the classic material that there was not even a canon depiction of his likeness until recently (yes I’m aware of the cartoon). Showing scenes from this period was really cool and did a great job fleshing out some things that I did not know about the history of the ship and Number One’s past.
The reason the book does this is that the entire plot hinges on the fact that on one solitary away mission, Number One’s first one ever as leader, a horrible accident happened resulting in the disappearance of numerous members of Starfleet due to her run-in with the Jahtor. This is obviously a haunted Una for the better part of two decades to a degree that she feels that she would rather put her job in jeopardy then allow her former friends to rot away for the rest of their lives and what could very well be an alternate universe. Faced with the possibility that the Klingons are about to gain access to the star system that the planet exists in, thus removing any possibility of rescue, she knows that this is possibly the last time she can even attempt to save her friends.
By the end of Captain to Captain, I was so eager to read more of the story to see where some of the characters end up that I immediately purchased the next book in the series. This one ends on such a cliffhanger that I absolutely did not want to miss any time seeing where the plot goes. What I would estimate to be somewhere around a 10-to-11-hour book felt like it flew by, and I was able to power through it very quickly due to how engrossing it was. For one of my first forays back into reading Star Trek novels, I couldn’t have asked for a better choice than this book. This series was actually created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise and I truthfully can’t think of anything better than highlighting characters that may have been overlooked in the series prior. If the quality of most modern Star Trek books is like this, I think I might slowly start incorporating more of these into my reading very soon.
For this review I decided to read Star Trek Legacies – Captain to Captain seeing that the premise of the book highlights a character that I feel has been largely overlooked in Star trek fandom up until recently. That character is none other than Captain Una Chin-Riley, commonly known professionally as “Number One.” The character actually only appeared in a single solitary episode of Star Trek- The Original Series called “The Cage” that was a repurposed version of the original pilot episode of the show that was later scrapped. Originally portrayed by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the character has received a bit of a resurgence with the advent of the new show Star Trek – Strange New Worlds. Due to the portrayal of the character by Rebecca Romjin I now have a keen interest on learning more about the character and a book like this jumped out at me as a perfect opportunity.
“An epic new trilogy begins – a tie-in for the milestone 50th anniversary ofStar Trek: The Original Series – that stretches from the earliest voyages of the starship Enterprise to Captain Kirk’s historic five-year mission and from one universe to another! Hidden aboard the USS Enterprise is a secret that has been passed from captain to captain, from Robert April to Christopher Pike to James T. Kirk. Now the return of the enigmatic woman once known as Number One has brought that secret to light, and Kirk and his crew must risk everything to finish a mission that began with April so many years ago. Nearly two decades earlier, April and his crew first visited the planet Usilde, where they found both tragedy and a thorny moral dilemma. Today the legacy of that fateful occasion will compel Kirk to embark on a risky voyage back to that forbidden world – which is now deep in territory claimed by the Klingon Empire!”
On paper, this book seems to be a recipe for boredom – a book that pushes aside a lot of the big action set pieces that make up modern science fiction, all replaced with an entire story built around exploration and cultural differences of numerous alien races, as well as what it means to observe The Prime Directive in situations where it may not be the best idea. Surprisingly, I was on the proverbial edge of my seat the entire time, and could not wait to read more anytime I had to put the book down.
The book revels in world-building, especially with establishing the political spheres of two alien races that are completely at odds with each other. On one hand, you have the primitive Usildar, a race of arboreal tribal creatures that are frequently compared to some sort of apes. These are the original inhabitants of the contested planet that Una finds herself on, and recently have been forced to live in fear of a race of interlopers. Next, you have the race referred to as the Jatohr, creatures that somewhat resemble gigantic slugs and really push the boundaries of how “alien” an alien can be in Star Trek. Normally, most creatures in the world created by Gene Roddenberry nearly 60 years ago, are varying sizes of humanoids with some sort of forehead or nose prosthetic in order to tell them apart (or as my favorite Star Trek podcast refers to it – “loaf”).
The Jatohr are bizarre creatures that are completely devoid of any sort of human anatomy, move on the ground via slime on one large mollusk-like foot, communicate through a series of gargles that are translated via an external machine on their behalf, and have small robotic arms that allow the creatures to pick up and manipulate things. Even something as innocuous as the gender of these creatures is completely different to that of humans and other humanoids as it is shown that they exist in one hermaphroditic gender. truthfully, these are the sort of aliens I would love to see in the show now that they have computer generated effects and the money to use it.
Aside from solid worldbuilding and the creation of some interesting alien races, this book does a great job of chronicling the history of the Starship Enterprise throughout the eighteen or so years that the particular model of the ship was in service that we see in the classic show. the book jumps around through numerous points in time including the main time frame, the captainship of James T Kirk, references to Una’s time as the first officer for Captain Christopher Pike, and finally flashbacks to her time as a rookie Starfleet officer under the leadership of Captain Robert April, a character that is so sparsely used in the classic material that there was not even a canon depiction of his likeness until recently (yes I’m aware of the cartoon). Showing scenes from this period was really cool and did a great job fleshing out some things that I did not know about the history of the ship and Number One’s past.
The reason the book does this is that the entire plot hinges on the fact that on one solitary away mission, Number One’s first one ever as leader, a horrible accident happened resulting in the disappearance of numerous members of Starfleet due to her run-in with the Jahtor. This is obviously a haunted Una for the better part of two decades to a degree that she feels that she would rather put her job in jeopardy then allow her former friends to rot away for the rest of their lives and what could very well be an alternate universe. Faced with the possibility that the Klingons are about to gain access to the star system that the planet exists in, thus removing any possibility of rescue, she knows that this is possibly the last time she can even attempt to save her friends.
By the end of Captain to Captain, I was so eager to read more of the story to see where some of the characters end up that I immediately purchased the next book in the series. This one ends on such a cliffhanger that I absolutely did not want to miss any time seeing where the plot goes. What I would estimate to be somewhere around a 10-to-11-hour book felt like it flew by, and I was able to power through it very quickly due to how engrossing it was. For one of my first forays back into reading Star Trek novels, I couldn’t have asked for a better choice than this book. This series was actually created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise and I truthfully can’t think of anything better than highlighting characters that may have been overlooked in the series prior. If the quality of most modern Star Trek books is like this, I think I might slowly start incorporating more of these into my reading very soon.
May 13, 2021
Zum 50 Jubiläum von Star Trek wurde die Star Trek: Legacies-Trilogie geschrieben, dessen erster Band hier vorliegt. Es handelt sich um ein Geheimnis, das die Captains der ENTERPRISE von Robert April über Christopher Pike zu James T. Kirk an Bord verstecken, ein Geheimnis, von dem nicht einmal ihre Vorgesetzten in der Sternenflotte wissen. Das ganze Ganze ging von Captain Una aus, den alle Nummer 1 nannten, sie gelangte als junge Offizierin unter Captain April auf einem entlegenen Planeten in den Besitz eines Schlüssels zu einem anderen Universum, der ihr nach tagelangen Kämpfen mit einer agggressiven Spezies aus diesem Universum und dem Verlust enger Mannschaftskameraden in die Hände fiel. Da die Macht, die dieser Schlüssel bietet, eine Weitergabe an eine Macht, auch an die Förderation, verbietet, wurde er von Captain zu Captain an einem sicheren Ort in der ENTERPRISE verwahrt. Als Captain Una, nach einer großen Karriere als Captain eines Sternenflottenschiffs wieder an Bord der ENTERPRISE zu Besuch kommt, entwendete sie den Schlüssen und flog zu dem entsprechenden Planeten zurück, um ihre Kameraden, die in dem fremden Universum verschollen sind, zu retten. Spock, Kirk und Co. verfolgen sie und setzen sie fest, jedoch gelang es ihr ihrer Gefangennahme zu entgehen und in das fremde Kontinuum zu gelagen...
Eine spannende Geschichte, die offenbar aber keinen Einflus auf den weiteren Star Trek Kosmos gehabt hatte, trotzdem werde ich auch den 2. Band der Trilogie lesen...
Eine spannende Geschichte, die offenbar aber keinen Einflus auf den weiteren Star Trek Kosmos gehabt hatte, trotzdem werde ich auch den 2. Band der Trilogie lesen...
February 26, 2021
That was fun, exciting and interesting. The writing was well done and what a cliffhanger!
A captain determined to right the mistakes of the past, another determined not to start a war. An unexpected betrayal by an enemy they weren't expecting.
It's cool that we get to learn more about the mysterious Number One from the original unaired pilot episode for Star Trek: Captain Una. Who still stays mysterious in her own way by way of her actual name being "unpronouncible," Una being a self appointed nickname.
Another interesting point is that the author used "he'er" and "she'im" for pronouns for the slug aliens. Most authors I figure would use they/them, but this was interesting to read.
The narrator did a great job as well. (I know I have been listening to a lot of audio books lately, but they make work go by a lot quicker.)
A captain determined to right the mistakes of the past, another determined not to start a war. An unexpected betrayal by an enemy they weren't expecting.
It's cool that we get to learn more about the mysterious Number One from the original unaired pilot episode for Star Trek: Captain Una. Who still stays mysterious in her own way by way of her actual name being "unpronouncible," Una being a self appointed nickname.
Another interesting point is that the author used "he'er" and "she'im" for pronouns for the slug aliens. Most authors I figure would use they/them, but this was interesting to read.
The narrator did a great job as well. (I know I have been listening to a lot of audio books lately, but they make work go by a lot quicker.)
June 17, 2021
This is an entertaining story about a number of different individuals who have led the Starship Enterprise, including James Kirk and Spock. They travel through a number of dangerous regions in the galaxy and encounter weapons that challenge the characters' understanding of reality in time and space. They are also forced to deal with Klingon enemies.
February 28, 2022
If you're looking for a story involving Kirk and co. look elsewhere. Here we have one of the most obnoxious, pretentious and downright stupid characters in the main focus of the tale "Una". We're supposed to believe she became a ships captain?! If you manage to work your way though this you will discover by your horror its only book 1 of 3!
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