Taking us into the first of the new Seekers series is our newest scribe, Thomas Marsland...!
As my first book review, I wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. An avid fan of Star Trek though, I was very happy when I received my book in the mail from Simon and Schuster, complete with a personalized note from the person who packaged it for me.
Star Trek: Seekers: Second Nature is set in The Original Series timeframe; the era of Trek I was least familiar with. But it was exciting. David Mack does an excellent job of describing a Starfleet still being founded more on the traditions of the current US Navy than later eras in Star Trek. With somewhat of a focus on the enlisted side of Star Trek, the USS Sagittarius has a Master Chief for a Chief of Engineering and plenty of enlisted crew throughout the story. This lends towards a realism not seen on the big screen.
The Seekers series tells the story of the USS Sagittarius, an Archer-class scout. A tiny little thing with a crew of 14, the Sagittarius is sent on a mission to investigate an area known as the Taurus Reach. On the planet Nereus II, where they arrive due to picking up some strange energy readings, they discover the Tomol - a species whose members all commit a ritualistic suicide just as they reach the cusp of adulthood.
Enter the Klingons, hell-bent on capturing one of these Tomol and figuring out a way to weaponize their abilities; a strange energy transformation that takes place if they don’t commit that ritual suicide, turning them mad. David Mack does an excellent job of integrating the captaincy of Clark Terrell into the story of the Sagittarius - the same Captain Terrell we see in The Wrath of Khan, turning his own phaser on himself after Khan ordered him to kill Admiral Kirk.
This is a crazy story, one packed with adventure. We never really get to see the story on the screen of the small Starfleet, the Federation-behind-the-scenes, so to speak, so reading about the story of the small scout ship, capable of planetary landings, with all of a couple decks and a tiny crew, makes us feel as if we’re on the frontier, and we are!
Complete with a battle between the Klingons and Starfleet in orbit around Nereus II, asteroid-dodging and all, as well as tons of excitement on the surface, the Seekers saga is one that I would gladly keep reading. We learn quite a bit about the Tomol as a species in this book, but I’m left wanting more. I’m satisfied with what I was given, but like I said, I must have more! It’s hard to strike that balance when writing a series, and David Mack does a wonderful job of it.
It’s an exciting book, and one that left me a bit upset - upset that I won’t be reviewing the second installment of the Seekers series, as that gets to be left to Clive. I’ll have to convince him to send it over when he gets done with it, if he’ll oblige me.
Thanks for tuning in to our reviews here on Some Kind of Star Trek, and stay tuned for more!
So what were your thoughts about this new novel series? Did Mack do a good job and did you want to get book two?
Our review of Seekers Two will be up shortly but until then, why not drop onto one of our social media sites!
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