Star Trek: The Antares Maelstrom by Greg Cox
Audiobook, 304 pages
Published August 2019 by Simon Schuster Audio
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
Length: 11 hrs and 34
The way I consume books has pretty much prevented me from using audiobooks. I can't sit and just listen to them. Often I listen to them when I am walking the dog, or to and from work. The thing is that means that I do better listening to books that exist in franchises that I know well, with characters and settings established. So I have been getting Audiobooks from the Libby app through the library. Star Wars and Star Trek books are perfect because I know them.
For the first Star Trek book, I wanted to listen to a Greg Cox book as a friend of my podcast(listen to the Richard Matheson tribute episode we did). This is not the title I would have chosen of Greg's to start with but I am glad it was the one they had. I am a Wrath of Khan fan and if anyone could build a whole novel out of one line of dialogue in Wrath it is Greg.
This is an Original Series Enterprise story and what makes The Antares Maelstrom fun and special is the variety of storylines the novel is built around. There is an A, B, C, and D storyline. The way the novel is structured there is Sulu getting command of the special security detail on a space station, Spock and Chekov investigating a prime directive violation, Scotty trying to save an old starship being used as a colony power planet, and Kirk trying to get a gold rush style colony to join the Federation.
This planet is on the far side of The Antares Maelstrom, a part of space impossible to pass, but now a rare mineral has been found on a colony world on the other side everyone wants a shortcut, one that might risk many lives. The Spock and Sulu storylines were my favorite but really made this novel cool was the way each story gave the various characters their own moments to shine.
Hats off to Robert Petoff who really nailed the voices, Sulu and Scotty most of all. Sulu was impressive because Takei's voice is subtle. Greg Cox is so great at writing original series, and you can feel his love for the source material the whole time. Super fun.
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