Best Destiny (Star Trek)

I received this book as a gift years ago, and it sat on my shelf until this year when I said, "I need to read this."

Best Destiny is one of many Star Trek books written by Diane Carey ... this one published in 1992.

Toward the end of Captain Jim Kirk's career, he meets an old enemy, triggering memories of when he was a teenager. In fact, most of the book is a flashback. Young Jim hates space, hates his Starfleet father, who's never around, and hates ... well ... everything. George, the father, decides to take his son up to space in one last-ditch attempt to impress him and try to win him over, but as you would guess in these books, it goes terribly wrong.

Overall it was an enjoyable read ... a typical pulp fiction type of book -- lots of action, multiple uses of cliches, and lots of fun twists. However, it's also the type of plot that's easy to forget. In fact, I felt that I had read it before a long time ago -- maybe I did and forgot to finish? I may have finished it, and have actually read it twice.

What worked ... Diane is very good at describing the scenes -- I had no questions as to what was going on, and it was very imaginative. She pulled me in, and there were times I had difficulty stopping. It was also much darker than one might expect from a Star Trek story, such that it was difficult to predict what came next, and no character, except Jim, himself, was safe. So, don't get attached to any good guys or bad guys. Oh -- and the villains are believable (if you ignore all the cliches and stereotypes). It was always clear what their motives were.

What didn't work ... maybe it's just me, but whiny stubborn teenager doesn't interest me much. He didn't really seem like how I would picture a teenage Jim. And a big chunk of the beginning was all about rebellious Jim and his struggling father. I suppose some of you would eat this up, but give me all the exciting stuff that comes later. And while I'm on the subject, it seems that the whole teenage Jim thing was just one big corny setup for the "Best Destiny" punchline at the end of the book. That really irritated me. I get the whole Jim teenager and his opposite bad guy teenager thing, and their separate upbringings and choices in life afterward. But man ... it was a big stretch int he end and I groaned ... and there wasn't much left in the book after that to redeem itself.

It's still perfect for when you want something light, you like Star Trek, and you want some fun action. It also offers some insight into young Jim and how he first decided to join Starfleet. So, give it a try.