Captain's Glory

First, a little bit about myself just so you know where I'm coming from. I'm a fairly lightweight ST fan. I've watched all the movies, but I've only watched the various TV series off and on. I can't even claim to have watched all the episodes of TOS and TNG, let alone Voyager or DS9. I've only read one (maybe two) TOS novels in the late-80s, when TNG was just starting out. And given that I barely remember what those novels were about, this book is, for all practical intents and purposes, my first ST novel. And that brings me to how I came upon this book. Prior to picking up Captain's Glory, I had absolutely no clue what has been going on in ST timeline in terms of novels. So when I saw William Shatner's name on the cover and read the introductory passage on the book's first page at a local bookstore, I was pleasantly surprised to see Kirk speaking with Janeway. I was intrigued to know how Kirk came to be in that era, hence the purchase. But after only a couple of dozen pages, it became very apparent that Kirk being in post-TNG/Voyager/DS9 era was an established fact, and further that this book was a sequel to a series of previous books. A quick search on the web revealed that this book is a part of what is unofficially known as "Shatnerverse," which began with the Odyssey (Star Trek) trilogy. Furthermore, I learned that this book was the third and final book of the "Totality" trilogy -- the first two being Captain's Peril (Star Trek) and Captain's Blood (Star Trek). I considered finding and reading those previous books first, but I decided to just keep on reading this book, as I was already hooked by its story. And now that I'm done, I can say that I've been thoroughly entertained. This is a well-written, fast-paced work of fiction. I very much enjoyed seeing Kirk, Bones, Scotty, Picard, Riker, Janeway, and other familiar faces all working together (and sometimes against each other) to save the universe once again. If I could start over, I would probably start with the first book of the Totality trilogy, Captain's Peril (Star Trek). Captain's Glory makes several references to past events covered by previous books, and by reading the final book of the trilogy first, I feel I may have irrevocably spoiled myself of the events of the first two books. Of course, you can simply read this book by itself as I did. The book does a good job of quickly summarizing the past events (with inevitable spoilers), and I can definitely attest that, while knowledge of events in prior books might be desirable, they are certainly not required for getting enjoyment out of this well-written book. Also, I must note that I do *not* feel spoiled of the events in other Shatnerverse books. On the contrary, I am actually more intrigued by the glimpses and quick references I've gotten from reading this book. In fact, I hope to be able to track down a copy of the Odyssey trilogy books (which unfortunately seemed to have gone out of print), and perhaps che

The collaberation between Will Shatner and the duo of Reeves-Stevens has been phenominal. They are by far the best novels in the Star Trek library. I really thought they painted themselves into a corner with the totality but in the end they pulled it out again. Its by the seat of your pants, roller coaster sci fi at its best. I absolutely love how they pull in happenings from old shows in all their novels. If I am not mistaken it was Reeves Stevens who wrote the best Enterprise (starring Scott Bakula)episodes that went into why the klingons once had no ridges as well as into a Vulcan conspiracy, both of which were 2-3 show story arcs that were out f'n standing. I want more. Of course I am curious how much Will contributes given his Tek War novels were solid B level work at best and this is A+ stuff.

This was the first Star Trek book I've ever read. I saw it in the store and was curious to see how Kirk interacted with Janeway and Picard. I bought it, read about 10 pages and set it aside. I'm not much of a reader and I don't have that many books. I was talking with my mother on the phone, about how bored I was, and she reminded me about reading books. I looked at this book on the floor of my room and jumped at the opportunity to read it. Instantly I was sucked into this book and I couldn't put it down. I finished it in less than 24 hours, only taking a break to get some sleep. I'm now a fan of the books and am looking into more of William Shatner's writings. I recommend this book to everyone who is a Star Trek fan.

THIS IS STAR TREK AT ITS FINEST. FULL OF ACTION FROM BEGINNING TO THE END. I READ OTHER TREK BOOKS BUT NONE OF THE COMPARE TO WILLIAM SHATNERS 9 BOOK SERIES STARTING WITH ASHES OF EDEN AND ENDING WITH THIS ONE. WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANY STAR TREK FAN

The Star Trek books by William Shatner (and Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens) have always been an entity of their own, away from the normal Trek novel continuity and featuring (sometimes to a fault) a rejuvenated James T. Kirk in the Next Generation timeline. While I didn't enjoy the Mirror Universe trilogy (I don't think I even read the last book), Captain's Blood was rather enjoyable. Perhaps that was because of the Romulans? The test of that would come with Captain's Glory, Shatner's new novel, which doesn't feature any Romulans whatsoever. Surprisingly, that didn't matter. I actually enjoyed it much more than Captain's Blood, making a winner of an ending for this particular trilogy. After helping avert a Romulan civil war and the Empire's destruction by the Totality, Kirk decides he wants to just take care of his son, Joseph. However, Admiral Janeway has given him a sweet offer, a ship of his own with a lot of hidden abilities, as long as he'll help Starfleet when he's called. Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Joseph are making the rounds of the galaxy, but strange dreams of Norinda (an agent of the Totality) and his past are still haunting him. He is determined to discover the fate of Spock, who was seemingly absorbed by Norinda into the Totality. It seems to be on the move again, and this time it's using the warp drives of starships to invade the Federation. It seems that the warp fields generated by the ships' engines open a window that they can come through, but doing so causes the drives to overload. Starship traffic is brought to a standstill, with any ships containing newer drives unable to use them. Thankfully, the Enterprise was refitted with an old one after Nemesis, so it can still run! How convenient. The remains of Starfleet High Command are forced into hiding, with the reach of the Totality everywhere, and only Captains Picard and Riker, along with a certain ego-centric 23rd century relic, can stop it. Kirk is mainly interested in saving his son, but in doing so, he may save the galaxy. One thing I love about the Shatner books is the use of continuity, tying many things from the old series together, along with the occasional new item as well. I'm normally a rabid anti-continuity person, but for some reason, Shatner's books are just fun that way. We get references to many old episodes, one of which is very important to the plot. We also get some novel continuity, with the crew of Riker's ship, the Titan, being exactly the same as that of the Titan novel series. This is actually news, as the Shatner books are generally considered "out of continuity" with the rest of the novel line (perhaps so Shatner and his co-authors don't have to keep up on all of the lines?). They're not used much, so the authors really only had to be familiar with the names themselves. They don't even have enough lines that you could say whether or not they're in character. Shatner portrays Kirk (much like Captain's Blood as weary of the dema