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Posted:
00:11:26 on March 16 2002
By: Steve Krutzler
Dept: Reviews - Books | Books BBS Forum
STAR TREK: THE EUGENICS WARS
Volume One: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh
by Greg Cox
Written for TrekWeb by Alexander Chase
520 pages plus preview chapter for Volume 2 and Pocket Books' Star Trek Fiction Catalogue
Pocket Books Paperback
$6.99 US/$9.99 Can
Even centuries later, the final decades of the twentieth century are regarded as the darkest and most perilous chapters in the history of humanity. Now, as an ancient and forbidden technology tempts mankind once more, Captain James T. Kirk must delve deep into the secrets of the past, to discover the true origins of the Eugenics Wars - and of the greatest foe he has ever faced.
From the New York times best-selling author Greg Cox comes STAR TREK: THE EUGENICS WAR, subtitled "The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh." The year is 1974 A.D. and an international consortium of the world's top scientists have conspired together to create the Chrysalis Project. The project's goal is the creation of a new, artificially improved breed of men and women, a virtual super race with enough power to take command of planet Earth.
Gary Seven, an undercover operative for an advanced alien species, is alarmed by the project's objectives and sets out to uncover Chrysalis' insidious design. Yet, Seven may already be too late for one generation of super-humans has already been conceived. As the years go by, Seven watches in apprehension as the children of Chrysalis - in particular, a brilliant youth named Khan Noonien Singh - grow to adulthood. Greg Cox's THE EUGENICS WARS: Volume One is a thriller that explores the secret history of the twentieth century and the rise of one of its darkest chapters.
Greg Cox's latest Star Trek novel, THE EUGENICS WARS: VOLUME ONE, is a pleasant, fast-paced read that most readers will find an enjoyable but ultimately flawed distraction. Cox is the author of the best-selling Q Continuum trilogy as well as other Star Trek novels such as Assignment: Eternity and Dragon's Honor.
The ultimate subject of this book series, however, is clearly the Eugenics Wars and the story of the "historical" figure Khan Noonien Singh; despite the prominent mention of Captain James T. Kirk in the above press release this first volume is really the story of the Aegis agents Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln and their attempts to guide humanity towards a more peaceful future. Seven and Lincoln were originally introduced in the 1968 Star Trek episode "Assignment: Earth", played respectively by Robert Lansing and Teri Garr.
The principal plot of the book will be very familiar to readers of Ira Levin's 1978 novel The Boys from Brazil or viewers of the 1978 film based on Levin's book as well as the 1979 James Bond film, Moonraker. Fortunately, Cox in his novel proves very adept at setting a serious tone akin to Levin's plot about multiple clones of Adolf Hitler to establish the antagonists' objectives as a vision of an idealized future for Earth (like Moonraker's Drax), rather than recreation of an idealized past (like Levin's Dr. Menegele). Cox does this using a pace of writing similar to Ian Fleming's James Bond novels without resorting to the camp associated with the Bondesque villain so commonly found in films (see DEEP SPACE NINE's Bond parody in the episode "Our Man Bashir").
However, the novel is not always successful because of the competing requirements of such an ambitious project to:
- firmly establish the story within the Trek universe as well as relate how the story is relevant to a particular incarnation of Trek;
- flesh out the considerable back story of Khan's origins and early steps towards global predominance;
- create sympathetic and believable protagonists (Seven and Lincoln) as a counter to the prerequisite extraordinary intelligence of the antagonists, first Khan's 'mother' - the brilliant but fanatical Dr. Sarina Kaur - and then later the super-human Khan himself; and,
- weave the story of Khan (as well as Seven and Lincoln) into the established history of the late 20th century (in this volume principally between 1974 and 1989) in an uncontrived manner while still respecting the continuity issues of Trek own particular (and often contradictory) history.
Indeed, the novel would have benefited greatly from editing out the material associated with Kirk and the application for Federation membership of a "lost" human colony, which has evolved using genetic manipulation causing the Federation Council to cautiously reappraise the ban on genetic manipulation in light of Klingon aggression. Perhaps even excising this material for a novel set solely in the 24th century as an epilogue to the current book series would have been a worthwhile exercise. This strand of the novel (thankfully brief) adds nothing to - and even distracts from the pacing of - the principal story about Seven, Lincoln and Khan set in the late 20th century. On its own, the story of Khan's origins in the Chrysalis project and the Aegis agents attempts to infiltrate and destroy the project (as well as their guiding of humanity's future in subsequent events) could have earmarked the book as a 'historical re-imaging" much like Robert Harris' successful Fatherland. However, the inclusion of this 24th century material pigeonholes the novel as exclusively a Trek novel only for Trek fans.
This is not helped by an irritating tendency of Cox's to indulge in what can only be described as the continuity equivalent of name-dropping. An entity introduced in a 1967 Star Trek episode makes a brief appearance as does a character in a 1989 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. The reader also finds out that one of Gary Seven's 20th century informants is a well-known TNG character and a female Russian agent of the KGB is encountered who forms the template for a holographic character introduced in the DEEP SPACE NINE episode "Our Man Bashir." In none of these cases is Cox's use of an established Trek character either relevant or crucial to the story in the slightest way; these characters could have been anybody. Many readers will find this flighty use of established characters grating, as did this reviewer, since it seems so casual as to be flippant. The writing and pacing of Cox's novel is good enough that he doesn't have to resort to these cheap 'nod and wink' continuity tricks and it actually stretches believability that all these events and disparate characters could be connected in the same time period.
The real strength of THE EUGENICS WARS: VOLUME ONE lies in the characters of Aegis agents Roberta Lincoln and Gary Seven. Cox wisely decides not to expand on much of Gary Seven's back story, maintaining the aura of mystery surrounding the character first established by Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace's 1968 story. Instead, he uses his colleague Roberta Lincoln as the principal protagonist to drive the story forward as well as the primary source of character development Trek fans will enjoy. Cox proves to be particular adept at expanding the character of Roberta so that she is a believable and valued partner of the selectively bred Seven, building on the potential and intelligence of the character briefly revealed by the analysis of Seven's computer in the episode "Assignment: Earth", while still maintaining her flighty nature, usually through the use Roberta's irrelevant humor in facing the bizarre situations she finds herself. For example, Roberta has a tendency to internalize problems and situations with regards to popular television series and films of her period. Cox's writing of the Roberta Lincoln is the the real 'star" of THE EUGENICS WARS: VOLUME ONE and the character is an absolute delight to follow.
As it stands, Trek fans will probably find THE EUGENICS WARS: VOLUME ONE a worthwhile read but its 'throw everything in but the kitchen sink' modus operandi drags the novel from what it could and should have been to merely what it is.
One final warning: the preview chapter of VOLUME TWO ends with a really bad joke of the moan-out-loud variety.
TrekWeb's Rating:
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TrekWeb's Rating Scale |
 | A Must Read |
 | Recommended |
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Average |
 | Mediocre |
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Don't Bother |
|
TrekWeb's Rating Scale |
 | A Must Read |
 | Recommended |
 |
Average |
 | Mediocre |
 |
Don't Bother |
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