Captain’s Blood
By William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens; Read by William Shatner
2 Cassettes or 3 CD’s – 3 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0743533593 (Cassette), 0743533607 (CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Star Trek / Romulans / Genetic engineering /
Ever since The Return, the audio of which I consider one of the best Star Trek experiences out there (it would have made an excellent movie), I’ve eagerly listened to all of the Shatner Star Trek novels. The novels are both good and bad. The bad? I tired of the “Captain Kirk, you’re the only one who can do this…” line, with all its variations, back in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The good? All of Star Trek is woven into these stories. In this novel, for example, characters from the Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager play roles in the plot, and attention is paid to the history of those shows.
The story takes place soon after the events in the Star Trek: Nemesis film. James T. Kirk is alive and well due to events that occur in earlier Shatner Star Trek novels. He is retired and has a 5 year-old son who is a mixture of many races – also due to events in earlier novels. The story opens with the apparent death of Ambassador Spock during a public peace rally on Romulus. News of this gets to the Federation, who contacts Kirk and asks him to go to Romulus to find out what happened. Inexplicably, he brings his 5 year-old on the dangerous mission. The plot reveals what really happened to Mr. Spock, as well as some secrets regarding Kirk’s son.
Shatner’s reading is very Kirk-like, and sound and music are used throughout to excellent effect. The Star Trek audiobooks have a consistently high production quality.
This story, though, just misses. It seems forced, unimportant, and at times just plain implausible. The ending is open for another novel – maybe that one will approach the high standard set by The Return.
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