Black Fire
Sonnie Cooper
Book Description (jacket text):
There is sabotage aboard the Enterprise, and Spock's investigation leads him into defiance of the Federation and a bizarre alliance with the Romulan and Klingon Empires against the bloodthirsty Tomarii -- a savage race for whom war and battle are life itself.
Now Spock has been declared a traitor and condemned to the shame of the Federation's highest security prison. And now Captain James Kirk must face the toughest decision of his command, while a lifelong friendship and the destiny of the free universe hang in the balance!
Opinion:
"Black Fire" is a Star Trek novel written in he 80th, passing the gap between the end of TOS and the first movie.
Reviewing it is not easy since it is not a typical Star Trek book. It is extremely exciting and changes the status quo a lot. Practically nothing remains as it used to be. The Enterprise is destroyed nearly completely in the very first scene only to be rebuilt in the style of "Star Trek - The Motion Picture". Spock undergoes an astounding transformation whereby the role as the pirate "Black Fire" is one of the more harmless versions. It is
Spock who is in the centre of this book (whereby Scotty thankfully has a larger share of the action than usual).
Considering the idea and the realization the novel is brilliant but there is also the fact that the author put a great deal of strain on the fans.
It is fascinating that Sonni Cooper gets all the characters well but that she doesn't show them on their
best behaviour anyway. Instead she produces situations which don't know any winners.
While Spock is forced by sheer logic to separate himself from his Enterprise friends, Scotty is thankful
under the given circumstances to be allowed to stay in Starfleet, "only" losing his post as chief engineer of the Enterprise. The loss of his beloved "bairns", the engines, seems to be less important. Kirk must deal with two new officers covering Spock's positions, behaving towards them neither competent nor fair.
Even though every of these behaviour patterns is well explained by the story itself.
Despite a length of 220 pages only, the book is very complex and answers all questions although I am of the opinion
that the fate of Desus should have deserved a few more words.
To receive a top ranking there is finally some of the typical Trek atmosphere missing, although not taking that into account it would have been justified.
Additionally, the book must deal with inconsistencies regarding the "official history" (canon), very common for novels written in the
80s (and before) but not so clearly visible than in others. Here it is mainly the gap between series and movie which is filled by this novel (what, by the way, several other books are trying, too and therefore knocking themselves on the head). Also contradictory is the
overproportional role of the Tomarii which are here quite important but not part of the history.
In all that general problem here is not that severe. Also, it should not influence the rating
since it cannot be expected from any author to be a fortune teller but I wanted to mention it for integrity.
In all the novel is highly recommended, especially, like "Ishmael", for Spock fans, although it is quite unusual. Unfortunately (till now) the only novel by Sonni Cooper.
MC approved
