Dave GalanterCritiques

Enjoyed this. Without spoiling, my few niggles are that it went over something already established in the tv series, and they need to treat Tilly a bit more maturely, as I don't think she's THAT insecure. But that's my opinion ymmv. That said I enjoyed having Ephraim show up and the fleshing out of that character, and the storyline is interesting.

ETA: The narrator does an excellent job with this.

This is one of the weaker Star Trek novels I've read.

There are editing problems- at one point there are 700 incoming missiles and then a few paragraphs later it is 200; Nurse Chapel gets named checked as being off screen doing something (quite plausible given the situation) with M'Benga and then a few pages later the person assisting him has a different name.

The space battles are not consistent with TOS cannon nor with themselves.

McCoy, in the first chapter or two, acts in a way that would actively sabotage the active diplomacy.

Spock's nonconsential mind melding with the aliens is inconsistent with the character.

On the plus side, the two alien species (and their characterization) are interesting and characters like Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas get some screen time.

Very strong book with some of my favourite Discovery crew members, Stamets and Culber. It's set a little before S02.E05 and focuses a lot on Hugh's experience in the mycelial network. There are times, my heart broke knowing how the two characters care for one another. As far as I can tell, there were no disruptions from established canon despite the fact I originally thought there were then realized what was going on.

I had some sense at what was going to happen at a few key points, but that is because I knew how it would play out having seen Discovery.

A clever direction - philosophical and mysterious and more!

Galanter gives us the USS Discovery ... but one with CAPTAIN Burnham. A Paul Stamets meeting Hugh Culber ... but not his Hugh. And there's a talking (sort-of) tardigrade. It's a very trippy story - but one that leverages off of ideas and events within the Discovery series in an interesting and engaging way.

This is the story of Culber when he is lost in the mycelial jungle. Honestly, the spore drive and the mycelial jungle were never anything I could accept in Discovery so this book is making an uphill climb with me. The characters are portrayed well and the relationship between Culber and Stamets is developed in an interesting way. The parts in the jungle are plodding and repetitious.
read 1/9/2023½

This was sort of a classic "well, that sure was an action story" situation. I didn't have any emotional involvement and didn't find the heavy-handed Klingons Vs. Random Alien Race plot very sensible.

Who needs slash when you get lovely romance like this in canon? (Me. I also need slash. But still.)

This is the first Discovery book to substantively take place on Discovery, though not all is as it seems at first. I enjoyed the puzzle of trying to figure out where this book takes place, but the real delight of the book is Galanter's keen grasp of the characters, particularly Stamets and Culber, for whom this is an important turning point in their relationship. We get real insight into what brings them together. It's also a neat adventure of the Star Trekkian ship's-crew-prevents-a-crisis-through-diplomacy-and-openness type, with a convincing streak of optimism. I really enjoyed it-- probably my favorite Discovery novel thus far aside from The Way to the Stars and maybe The Enterprise War.

More engineering adventures. These are a quick read.

Dave Galanter takes pride of place in my command chair of TOS novels - Troublesome Minds wins bonus points for bringing back the horta, but Crisis of Consciousness is another enjoyable outing for the original crew. Spock does his mind meld thing again, this time with another alien race that are distant relations of Vulcans, and Kirk gets the Enterprise battered, again, while hunting a common foe. Bones is irascible during a crisis, Uhura showcases her brains away from the bridge, and Scotty bonds with Carolyn Palamas, the blonde from Who Mourns From Adonais? (and I didn't throw up because he stops short of flirting). I just love how Galanter knows the original series characters so well that he doesn't have to exclude/punish Kirk in order to focus on Spock or Uhura - everyone gets to play a role. His own creations are just as believable (love the space pirates that Kirk runs into).

The story is also cleverly written, drawing on the ethics of mind melding and Spock's decision to undertake Kolinahr, but also putting Kirk through his paces during an attack on the ship. The peaceful Maabas and the 'multividual' Kinisians face war over possession of an archaic WMD, with the Federation caught in the middle. Spock is held hostage, and Kirk must figure out how to get his first officer back and avert the destruction of the Enterprise and perhaps the galaxy at the same time. Another action-filled, authentic and absorbing 'extra episode' from one of my favourite TOS authors.

I've read a few Star Trek novels now, so if nothing else, I know what I like - and Dave Galanter's novel ticks every last box. Gripping story - finished in an afternoon, because I couldn't find a natural place to stop reading - intriguing aliens, and skilful characterisation of the Enterprise crew. This could almost be a 'lost' episode of the original series.

Captain Kirk intervenes to save a life, and finds himself and his crew - especially Spock - caught in the middle of two warring factions, the Isitri and the Odib. The Isitri are telepathic, but fear the presence among their kind of a 'troublesome mind', one with stronger mental powers who enslaves the will of others. Berlis, an outcast saved from death by Kirk, is one such 'troublesome mind' - and the Isitri want him dead, to prevent war with the Odib. When Spock mind-melds with Berlis, Kirk is forced to choose between the following the Prime Directive and saving his friend's life (which is no choice at all with Kirk).

First, the concept of sign language is deftly portrayed by the Isitri, who are mute and mostly deaf. Spock is able to speak telepathically with them, but also quickly picks up their signalling. Second, I love how most of the 'action' takes place aboard the Enterprise, keeping the story character-based. But mainly, I am in raptures over how perfectly Kirk, Spock, Bones and the others - yes, Uhura even gets to sit in the big chair - are instantly recognisable from the show. I could 'hear' their voices, and there is no authorial intervention to balance the roles, like in some novels I have read. In fact, the nods and winks to the original show earn Galanter bonus points, in my view - references to The Galileo Seven and The Tholian Web, plus Kirk getting his hands dirty in engineering and Bones pestering Kirk on the bridge. Perfection.

The Riddled Past - There's a distress call from a dilithium planet's outpost and the DaVinci gets assigned to go and check out the situation. They find nearly all the outpost (except for the power station) destroyed and only two survivors. They set about trying to figure out why it was destroyed. I was happy that the linguist on board, Bart F. had a bigger role, hopefully every few books the authors/editors remember that Carol A. and Bart F. exist in the book too. A good story.

Here There Be Monsters - I really like most of what Keith R.A. DeCandido writes and this story wasn't any different. This takes place after the Star Trek novel series Gateways. I haven't read the series yet, but the story didn't give away any big unexpected twists from the novel series so I'm still on track to go back and read the original novel series still. Add to that the fact that ASL was mentioned in the story and this was a very fun story.

Ambush - This was a fast paced story. Lots of action and interesting ways to think outside the box for the crew members of the DaVinci ship. A fast read and a great read.

Some Assembly Required - That was different. There's a computer that a prospective Federation planet has acquired. But that's the usual part of the story. The interesting part is the race that bought the computer. The authors didn't just change what color blood or how many fingers, but went deep into a totally different mindset for these aliens. It was awesome!

I seem to be in a reading period where the Star Trek books I try to read are duds (i.e. Grounded). This book wasn't the worst Star Trek tome that I've read, but it was quite confusing when it came to the plot. As the novel went along the plot did smooth out, but it took awhile and never fully became clear like the books by Michael Jan Friedman or Peter David.

It also had other things in common with Peter David books. one of the subplots concerned Riker and Troi. This author tried to have the interaction have both the sexual tension that was present on the TV show as well as the camaraderie and friendship, but, in the book, it wasn't happening. At some times they seemed too snippy at each other, and then too funny for the situation. THis wasn't like "Imzadi", not by a long shot.

Also, all the characters, both the Enterprise crew, and the newly created for this story, seemed angry all the time, and then all of a sudden the anger was shut off and everyone was friends. I get why he did it, but it came off on the page as choppy. A three star story, but one that's on the low of three stars not the high.

A most wonderful Star Trek novel.
The author does a great job of accurately portraying the characters as well as presenting them with a great new challenge to overcome.
This story is engaging and quite a fun ride!

This is a fun Star Trek novel. I really enjoyed the way that Galanter wrote Kirk, Bones and Spock. He really hit the nail on the head with each character. You could almost hear each one speak the dialog. If I have one piece of constructive criticism, it would be that Galanter can improve on his physical descriptions. I had a hard time visualizing the Isitri and the Odib people. Again, the characters of these people were written very well. I just found myself stopping on occasion and really struggling to visualize what I was reading. In spite of that minor problem, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.½

I really enjoyed Galanter's previous classic Trek outing, Shadows of the Indignant in Mere Anarchy, so I was really looking forward to his full-length novel, Troublesome Minds. And it did not disappoint. The Enterprise rescues a crashing ship and as a result involves itself in a dilemma that affects not only a couple planets, but possibly the entire Federation, and definitely Spock's own mental solidity. Though Spock is on the cover and is the crux of the novel in most ways, it's Kirk's book; like the television show, almost everything is filtered through his perspective. It's fortunate, then, that Galanter gets both Kirk and Spock; there's not a problem at all with their depictions here. These are the characters we watched every week on tv in the 1960s. The guest characters are well-written, too, and the plot is nicely complicated, with no easily discernible resolution-- and no easy answers once it has resolved. A cracking, enjoyable Star Trek novel.

Stopping an unknown vessel from destroying an unarmed one, the Enterprise unknowingly puts itself in the middle of an interstellar conflict. The Enterprise has saved a man named Berlis from death by the hands of his own people. Berlis is from a telepathic race. And according to the Isitri, Berlis can control people with a thought. To make matters worse, a nearby race is ready to commit genocide against the Isitri, if they discover a "troublesome mind" like Berlis is allowed to live.

Captain James T. Kirk must choose the lesser of two evils - killing a man who claims to be innocent, or letting him live and condemning an entire planet. Kirk doesn't have much time to come up with a plan when Berlis escapes and leaves behind a confused Spock. The build of suspense paired with such a moral dilemma, makes for a wonderful installment of Star Trek. True to form, the crew of the Enterprise becomes absorbed in global conflict and face it with skill and creativity.

Galanter has come up with a new and exciting challenge for the original crew. And I was more than impressed. The characters are relatable. The predicament is thought provoking. And overall, the story was completely enjoyable. Original series fans, don't miss this latest Star Trek release.½

This had a solid storyline - very technological and militaristic. However, it did get a bit clichéd and repetitive at times.