The Kobayashi Maru
                   Novel by Julia Ecklar
              Audio tape read by James Doohan
            Also available in paperback/hardback

When their shuttlecraft is damaged by a gravidic mine and drifts
helplessly in space with Kirk and Sulu injured, Scotty and Chekov
try to repair the ship and get help while McCoy tends to the
injured parties. But Kirk's memory goes back to another ship
damaged by a mine - the Kobyashi Maru. This vessel was at the
centre of a no-win scenario devised by Starfleet to test
candidates' reactions to losing and how they dealt with it told
the officers a lot about the cadets' personalities.

This quiet spell turns into an opportunity for storytelling to
pass the time as first Kirk then the others tell their stories of
how they dealt with the scenario. Each had his own way of handling
it ... one, as Star Trek fans already know, managed to beat it
against all the odds! Sulu tells the background to his story, his
relationship with his grandfather, while Chekov and Scotty's
stories show them in very different lights. Like the Starfleet
officers, we readers also learn a lot about these regular and
well-loved characters by the end of the novel.

The audio tape is well read by James Doohan who doesn't attempt to
sound like his fellow Star Trek actors, but aims for a general
impression of each character. The only one which is a bit shaky is
Chekov - merely swapping Ws for Vs doesn't quite give the right
effect ... 'Wessel' indeed! The sound effects are subtle but
effective and the 90 minutes that the tape takes goes surprisingly
quickly.
                                                 Sue







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