Star Trek #21: My Enemy, My Ally
              Author Diane Duane - Titan Books

My friend Jean Gee, a fellow morning dog-walker, is a great Star
Trek fan. I was very impressed to walk into her lounge and see two
massive bookcases filled with SF. If she hasn't got all the Star
Trek books, I'll be surprised! She loaned me two earlier this year
which she reckoned were her favourites from all the ones she's
read. This was the first.

The Romulans and Vulcans have been enemies for a long time, but
the Romulans even offend some of their own race when they start
kidnapping Vulcans and extracting material from their brains.
Their aim is to genetically obtain the mind power that Vulcans
have, by neural tissue grafts and injections of DNA and RNA
extracted from the Vulcans' brains.

One Romulan in particular, Ael t'Rlailiiu, a noble and commander
of the space ship Bloodwing, decides that something must be done.
She tries taking a direct route at home, but all she does is make
herself unpopular with the Senate and with hot-blooded Romulans
who want to gain an advantage over their enemies. She is taken
from Bloodwing and put in command of another ship, Cuirass, but
her power is restricted by the many members of the crew who are in
the pay of her enemies. It's time for a drastic step, which she
takes by escaping from the ship, destroying Cuirass, and
contacting an old enemy of hers, James Kirk, who happens to be in
the neighbourhood. Maybe between them, they can stop this awful
traffic in genetic material.

I'll start by saying that I'm not a great fan of the original
series. But as Jean had recommended My Enemy, My Ally I decided to
give it a go. I must admit that it took me a while to get into the
story. But once I did, I enjoyed it immensely. Ael is a good
character, very strong and determined to do what she feels is
right. Kirk is - well - Kirk. What more can be said? Some new crew
members are introduced who are so alien that they couldn't have
been realistically portrayed in the TV series but on paper, they
come over very well. The pace of the story flags a bit midway, but
picks up again nicely to a neat conclusion.

I'll check out Jean's other favourite soon - The first Enterprise
Adventure.

                                                     Sue














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