Star Trek: The Return; A Novel

by William Shatner, Judith Reeves-Stevens, Garfield Reeves-Stevens

Book Overview

The Starship Enterprise lies in ruins, and one of the galaxy's greatest heroes rests beneath a simple cairn of rocks on a lonely hillside. As a legendary Vulcan ambassador comes at last to the grave... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671526103
• ISBN13: 9780671526108
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 371 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Fight against the Borg

Pretty quick read. Another adventure for Star Trek fans!

Shatners makes HIS return!

It is well known that King William of Shatner is desperate to get back into the Star Trek franchise and one of those tight-fitting suits, so when he writes a book mapping out Kirk's return it seems a litte fantasy-riddled. It is. And it is great! The plot comes straight after the movie Generations left it, The Enterprise-D is being scraped-up off of the surface of that stupid planet it crashed into by a small Federation recovery team led by Riker - they are attacked by The Romulan's, Kirk's freshly dug grave is unsettled (damn! Picard spent ages putting that together) and his body stolen. It soon becomes apparent that The Borg are in line with The Romulan's and that Kirk, now brought back to life with Borg implants, is going to lead the invasion forced that conquers Earth. Locutus-T-Kirk (as he likes to be called) goes head-to-head with the Enterprise in a cracking novel that will not end in the vulnerable heart of the Federation, Earth, like you would expect, but instead will end on the deadly homeworld of The Borg! Amazing!

Shatner at his best

With this book, William Shatner proves he knows as much about what makes Trek work as anyone and in fact, knows more than most. This book is a thrill a page with wonderful character moments throughout. Shatner also blends the classic characters with the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine characters extreemely well and without any of them suffering from bad characterization (at least not any that is his fault in this novel) or over shadowing characters that might normally get lost when standing next to Kirk or Spock. This is still Shatner's best Star Trek novel, though all of them are well worth the read. This is also the best Star Trek novel I have ever read and it's even better than some of the films!

Shatner's best of the five novels he has written so far

What a great read. I really thought it was a clever idea to resurrect Kirk in the way Shatner did. The story keeps you guessing the entire time and keeps you not wanting to put the book down. At the end of the story, when Kirk throws the switch, I figured that was the end, being that he was killed off anyway at the end of "Generations". Then, a year later when advertisements came out for "Avenger", I knew there had to be some way Kirk survives.A great read for any fan. You don't even have to have read "Ashes of Eden" to understand this story, but I would still recommend reading it if you want to read all five of his novels. They all tie in sooner or later.

Shatner's attempt to rebirth Kirk is imaginative...

When I heard that William Shatner wrote a "Trek" novel that brings legendary Captain Kirk back to life, my first impression was "How corny and desperate is Shatner to do this?" and I was reluctant to even digest the idea. However, being a die-hard trekkie, I admit I was quite curious to the concept. To my delight, Shatner's tale of rebirth and unification of Spock and McCoy with the Next Generation crew was not only un-corny, but very imaginative, as well. This novel combines the action and humor of both generations of "Trek" far superior than "Star Trek - Generations" did. The idea of a Borg / Romulan dissentor alliance was unique, and the way Shatner describes the re-generation tecniques is believable when put into a 24th century context. The new Starfleet equipment (starships, cloak detection devices, etc.) are very exciting, and one must wonder if the Borg are to make a return. (Their homeworld is destroyed and the remaining collective throughout the universe is in dissarray.) Can the Borg ever recover? That question may or may not be answered in the sequel, "Avenger", also written by Shatner, which I will start as soon as I finish this review. This is an excellent novel, a page-turner, and I have a new respect for Shatner the writer, and I may even sample his "Tek" series. This is for old-school trekkies such as myself...the constant references to the original "Trek" t.v. show were a delight, and the Borg / V'Ger connection was brilliant. Great work, Mr. Shatner.

This SHOULD have been the ST movie of the decade

"The Return" is not the best written book I've ever read but it is certainly one of the most enjoyable, entertaining and exciting. I've been enjoying ST for many years but prior to 'The Return' I could never really get into ST novels - for instance 'James Blish' is a great writer but the characters never seemed to me to be real. Mr Shatner brings Kirk and the other ST members to life in a way that perhaps only he could. I can't discuss this book without entering into the debate about Kirk's death in 'Generations'. Thank God, Mr Shatner found a way to plausibly(?) bring Kirk back - his death in 'Generations' while moving, was untimely, unnecessary, ill-conveived and most importantly, entirely unsatisfying. I have no objections to Kirk being killed off but its got to be done properly and I think the only writer who could do it properly is Mr Shatner.Mind you, the ending of this book is also not a fitting end for Kirk either (I'm not giving anything away as we all know of the sequel 'Avenger'). It is a great ST adventure involving the Borg and the Romuluns, and it skillfully connects TOS with TNG universe.In any genre, Kirk is a classic hero in every literary sense - he is the classic hero, invincible (but fallible), independent (but achieves most when working with his friends), stoic (but a man of extreme emotions). Kirk is the consummate 'father-figure' - an adult to whom we can pass all resposnibility to him with the full confidence that everything will now be all right. You don't kill off a classic hero or character like this lightly. I think everyone will agree that whether or not it is the time for Kirk to die, certainly "Generation" was not the right place or means of his death. "The Return" skilfully re-opens a new chapter and quite properly and correctly gives a chance for Kirk to either be killed off properly this time or to otherwise end his career (the ancient Greeks would have simply had him beamed up to Mt Olympus)Finally if anyone with de! cision-making authority at Paramount sees these comments (and those of others above) for goodness sake start shooting "The Return" - it'll be the best commercial decision you've ever made. (but you've got to quick - Kirk couldn't be played by anyone other than Mr Shatner - so you can't wait years on this one)!!