Star Trek – The Lost Years

After the end of the Enterprise’s five-year mission, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy struggle to establish new lives apart from each other and the starship. The newly-promoted Admiral Kirk is placed in charge of a specially-created Starfleet division and attempts to defuse a critical hostage situation; Mr. Spock, who, in the midst of a teaching assignment on Vulcan, finds the one thing he least expected; and Dr. McCoy, whose unerring instinct for trouble lands him smack in the middle of an incident that could trigger an interstellar bloodbath.

It’s 1989. The Next Generation TV series is about to hit its stride on syndicated television, but Star Trek V: The Final Frontier threatened to kill the franchise with how bad it was and how poorly it performed at the box office, as in I will only watch it if I’m in completionist mode bad. Fortunately, there were plenty of Star Trek novels to enjoy. Enter Star Trek: The Lost Years, the first book in a series which planned to fill in the gap between the end of the Enterprise’s original 5 year mission from the original series and animated series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Some of the questions this first novel looked to answer:

• How and why did Jim Kirk get promoted to Admiral, a move which the movies made clear was a mistake?
• What led Spock to attempt to achieve Kolinahr?
• Why was McCoy retired from Starfleet?

I originally read this book years ago, long enough that I couldn’t remember a lot of the details. There was a recent sale on Star Trek eBooks which featured this book, so I was able to pick this one up for just $1.99 when I saw it.

To be honest, I found myself disappointed when I re-read this book. There is just something about the idea of Tarot cards having power in the Star Trek universe that feels shoe horned, especially when the Vulcan characters appear to take it seriously, as well. In a lot of ways, I felt like I was reading a story which had more 20th century elements than 22nd century. I ended up reading the book purely to finish it and I doubt I’ll read it again, nor do I feel that I can recommend this book as worth reading.