Present Tense: Janus Gate Book One

Here's part one of three now if i have the other two janus gate books i'll be surprise. Love them Star Trek books. Rondall Banks

But maybe I am a bit biased since I am a Star Trek Original Series fan from way back and a Star Trek fan in general. Not to mention a fan of all classic and soon-to-be classic sci-fi space operas such as: "Childhood's End", "I,Robot", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", "Advent of the Corps", and so forth.

I am a big trek fan and loved this book. The premis of this trilogy is to tell a story from the perspective of Kirk's crew. This is touted as being unusual in the Star Trek original series library. I don't agree with this. Ishmael,Home is the Hunter,Ice Trap and Fire storm are similar, the latter two also by LA Graf.The story is complicated but the continuity is excellent. I have read over one hundred of the original series books and LA Graf is obviously very familiar with all the characters. The story is set before Sulu, Uhura and Chekov become friends, during the first five year mission. LA Graf beautifully reveals the personalities we already know. It does spoil the suspense a little since we already know who lives and dies.However we are given so many references to stories already known I don't think a new reader would follow the plot,(or see the point of it all)Me, I LOVED IT!One strange point was that the synopsis on the back cover bore no resemblence to the story inside the book. Go figure!

Star Trek: The Original Series, The Janus Gate - Present Tense by L.A. Graf is interesting. This book is about the early crew of the Enterprise NCC-1701 and the focus is on Pavel Chekov as he is just new to the Enterprise and her crew. This is book number one of a three part trilogy, so don't get in a hurry to finish this series, as book three won't be out till the end of June 2002. This book is interesting in that we see Chekov as an eager ensign on the fast trak to the bridge crew, but along the way we see that his character is full of self-doubts and eagerness to please and to the right things. A lot of thought goes through Chekov's mind in this book.I've noticed that the theme of this years crop of Star Trek books has a lot to do with character developement and fill-in and fleshing out of the characters. This book is along those same lines and is told through the crew members of the Enterprise. Yes, book one has action and adventure, along with Kirk and Spock, but the main focal point of the storytelling is through the crew members eyes.Kirk and crew are sent to Psi-2000 to get there before it blew up. They had to cold start the engines, which threw the Enterprise and crew back 3 days in times. We read about Sulu and his sword fighting and Kevin Riley's singing all from the TOS televison series where the crew caught a virus and was affecting the judgement of the crew and they were doing strange things. Now, the Enterprise is on its way to Tlaoli 4 to recover a survey team and run into the main adventure of this book.Spelunking, gravity wells, alien transport, sink holes, limestone out cropings are all part and parcel in this adventure. Also, we find that part of the crew being caught in this adventure are found in older and younger versions of their original selves. You have to pay attention when you read this book to follow what is happening, otherwise you'll become confused. I hate to give away too much of this book, but there are alternate time lines and makes for an interestingly intriguing read.Now on to the second book in the series, as see through all-new eyes, an interesting concept.

This new set of books set in the original series era are centered around the crew of the Enterpise that does not make up the original crew. We get to see the original series episodes from the viewpoint of the real working people on board the big E.I'd have to say these are the people that really made the ship work. The ordinary ones who struggle to get through the day. It's the unrecognized people who make the ship survive the five year missions.