tli@uscvax.UUCP (Tony Li) (01/14/85)
UHURA'S SONG
by Janet Kagan
Pocket Science Fiction #21
Published: Jan 1985
Micro-review: Yeah! Pretty good!
Non-spoiler review:
Well, Janet Kagan is to be commended. She's done a very good job. UHURA'S
SONG is definitely one of the better Star Trek novels. The plot is a little
bit hokey. The Enterprise is called to the planet EEiauo (What a name!) to
help cure a deadly disease there. The inhabitants are large, sentinent
cats, one of whom knows Lt. Uhura. Of course, McCoy beams down to
investigate the disease. In doing so, he and his med-team expose themselves
to the disease and do contract it, though they don't notice for a while
since the incubation period is pretty long. Anyhow, McCoy doesn't manage to
come up with a solution to the disease.
All in all, I think I really enjoyed the book. It does have its faults, but
Kagan does do a good job of creating a setting and keeping us interested.
She also does an excellent job at creating the interplay between the
characters. She does succumb to the obvious trap of painting herself as the
heroine extrodinaire, but I guess that's forgivable. Anyhow, the book did
do the job. It kept me quite interested and entertained for all 373 pages.
Live long and prosper,
Tony ;-)
--
Tony Li ;-) Usc Computer Science
Uucp: {sdcrdcf,randvax}!uscvax!tli
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Arpa: tli@usc-ecljaffe@topaz.ARPA (Saul) (01/16/85)
I have to disagree with the review recently posted on Uhura's Song. I just finished reading the book last night and so it is fairly fresh in my mind. Kagan does not seem to have a good understanding of the characters in the Star Trek Universe. She has many of the characters doing what I would consider abnormal things. Spock in particular. When I saw a book titled "Uhura's Song" I fully expected the book to be primarily about Uhura. I was delighted that in the first quarter of the book my expectations were well met. Uhura's knowledge of the alien's language and culture made her the lead figure in the story. I was very disappointed that as the book progressed, she faded into the background as usual. Why is it that male authors have the females hidden in the background and female authors tend to have everyone fade into the background *except* the female character that represents them? Spock spends most of the book trying to figure out who or what Dr. Wilson really is. Instead of trying to turn his fine mind to the solution of the problem, or trying to understand the alien culture they have been exposed to, he studies Evan. Most illogical. An even worse crime is that in one scene in the book she has Spock eating Shishkabob - meat! Totally unthinkable for any Vulcan. Jim Kirk also is very down played. The resourceful, brave leader figure seems to somehow turn into someone who has to rely on others (like Evan) to do his thinking for him. He too spends most of his time trying to *understand* Evan but in terms of another possible conquest. I was also sadly disappointed in the ending. The book seems to pace itself well until the cure for the ADF syndrome is found. At that point, Ms. Kagan rushes to get all of the loose ends tied up before the end of the book. The whole explaination about the mysterious Evan Wilson is badly done and is barely understandable. I will however give credit where credit is due. The alien society that Ms. Kagan created was very well done in my opinion. And the reader was just as mystified as the Enterprise crew about their culture and customs. Although I would have liked to ask a few baby-questions for myself. Personally, I like the work of Diane Duane much better. If you have not yet read any of her stories I suggest you read either "The Wounded Sky" or "My Enemy, My Ally" and then compare it with "Uhura's Song. I think you'll notice the difference. -- Saul Jaffe Systems Programmer Rutgers University ARPA: Jaffe@Rutgers UUCP: Jaffe@Topaz
tli@uscvax.UUCP (Tony Li) (01/19/85)
Saul Jaffe @ Rutgers (topaz) > When I saw a book titled "Uhura's Song" I fully expected > the book to be primarily about Uhura. I was delighted that in the > first quarter of the book my expectations were well met. Uhura's > knowledge of the alien's language and culture made her the lead > figure in the story. I was very disappointed that as the book > progressed, she faded into the background as usual. Why is it that > male authors have the females hidden in the background and female > authors tend to have everyone fade into the background *except* the > female character that represents them? Yea, she didn't do a great job with Uhura. And before Uhura faded out, she seemed much more mushy than usual. Generally I think of Uhura as one of the most courageous females on board (unlike Janice Rand). This is NOT a good book for Uhura fans. And that makes the title highly misleading. > Spock spends most of the book trying to figure out who or > what Dr. Wilson really is. Instead of trying to turn his fine mind > to the solution of the problem, or trying to understand the alien > culture they have been exposed to, he studies Evan. Most illogical. > An even worse crime is that in one scene in the book she has Spock > eating Shishkabob - meat! Totally unthinkable for any Vulcan. Well, I'll agree with the Shiskabob, but I don't find anything wierd about Spock studying Evan. I'd say that it's clear from the start that she's definitely pretty odd. Of course, we on the outside realize that she's only the next re-incarnation of Janet Kagan, combined with Sgt. York, and a good hunk of Superman (;-), but to Spock she must seem pretty anomalous. > Jim Kirk also is very down played. The resourceful, brave > leader figure seems to somehow turn into someone who has to rely on > others (like Evan) to do his thinking for him. He too spends most > of his time trying to *understand* Evan but in terms of another > possible conquest. Not to mention the fact that he seems really relaxed about the time pressure. He seems to be willing to invest large amounts of time to doing the Walk, partying and general carrying on, all in the midst of an epidemic. Ms. Kagan had the makings of some real tension here, but she missed it. Too bad. > I was also sadly disappointed in the ending. The book > seems to pace itself well until the cure for the ADF syndrome is > found. At that point, Ms. Kagan rushes to get all of the loose > ends tied up before the end of the book. The whole explaination > about the mysterious Evan Wilson is badly done and is barely > understandable. Quite true. In fact, things seem to break down about half-way through the Walk. > I will however give credit where credit is due. The alien > society that Ms. Kagan created was very well done in my opinion. > And the reader was just as mystified as the Enterprise crew about > their culture and customs. Although I would have liked to ask a > few baby-questions for myself. Like: Where's Papa Cat? Did you see one? I didn't. > Personally, I like the work of Diane Duane much better. > If you have not yet read any of her stories I suggest you read > either "The Wounded Sky" or "My Enemy, My Ally" and then compare > it with "Uhura's Song. I think you'll notice the difference. I have an do, and like both of the above. They're definitely excellent. I'm still not distressed with Ms. Kagan though... Cheers, Tony ;-) -- Tony Li ;-) Usc Computer Science Uucp: {sdcrdcf,randvax}!uscvax!tli Csnet: tli@usc-cse.csnet Arpa: tli@usc-ecl