Yesterday's Son

I really loved this book, probably far out of proportion to its goodness. ( )

This book was better than I thought it would be. The characters seemed true to the series and there was a decent amount of action. The plot is very thin so read this one if you want a fun read. ( )

Two years after the U.S.S. Enterprise's visit to the dying planet Sarpedion, a young crew member finds evidence that, when transported to the past during his time there, Spock fathered a son. Determined to rescue the boy and his mother, Spock, Kirk, and McCoy use the Guardian of Forever to journey to the planet's prehistory, where they meet Zar, Spock's son, and bring him back to their time. Though Zar acclimates quickly to his new surroundings, bonding with his father proves difficult until an incursion by the Romulans forces the two to work together — and Zar to confront his future.

A.C. Crispin's novel was one of the first of the Star Trek Pocket Books series that I read, and one of the ones I remembered most fondly. I was a little worried that revisiting it would cheapen my recollection; instead it only deepened my appreciation of what the author achieved with it. Crispin manages to achieve an ideal balance between the original series (integrating details and characters from five episodes) and her own creations for the book. Foremost among the latter, of course, is Spock's son Zar; while not an original idea (with the introduction of Kirk's son in the movie Wrath of Khan predating this book by a year), he is introduced in a way that is extremely faithful to the series. Yet the strongest element of the book is Zar's relationship with his father, which manages the difficult trick of being emotionally moving while remaining true to the depiction of Vulcans. Taken together, it makes for a model of what a Star Trek novel should be, setting a high bar for the many works that followed. ( )

My copy a Timescape" imprint. ?áGreat classic fun. ?áOf course, this is genre pulp... not well-written, not subtle, and not really all that memorable or satisfying, either. ?áBut it is one of the more worthy entries. ?áIt's really neat to see Spock have to think about what it means to be a father, what it means to someone else to be part human/part Vulcan, what it means to attempt to adopt Vulcan moires.... ?áI do have Time for Yesterday, the much longer sequel, written several years later, by the same author, and will read it immediately. ?áAfter all, like any self-respecting female fan, I do find Spock... fascinating...." ( )

This novel was one of several Star Trek books I have picked up this past year with an intention of enjoying some light entertainment now and then. There are a lot of Star Trek novels and this was one of the earliest and more highly regarded ones and was sitting on the top of my "read soon" pile. Is this great literature? No, but it is a well written book that did an excellent job of developing a new story that began with the next to last episode of the original Star Trek series. In this novel Spock discovers that he has fathered a child and sets out to find and rescue him, 5000 years in the past. Kirk and McCoy accompany him. I thought the author did an excellent job of capturing the characters and the settings in a believable way. Kirk comes across as a bit nicer then I recall, and Spock a bit stiffer, although there are extenuating circumstances at play. McCoy seemed to be captured perfectly. I liked Kirk in this novel a lot. The ending rather surprised me. There is a sequel to this book which I am going to keep a watch for. This frankly put me in the mood to read more Star Trek novels.

Ann Crispin, the author of this story died earlier this month. That makes me rather sad after reading this. ( )