STAR TREK - INCEPTION

Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Written by S.D. Perry & Brittra Dennison

Copyright © 2010 by CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In STAR TREK - Inception, written by S.D. Perry & Brittra Dennison, Dr. Carol Marcus assembles a terraforming project on Mars and brings on botanist Leila Kalomi onto her team. The project gets sabotaged by extreme environmentalists trying to protect rocky Mars natural climate. Kirk and Spock help Carol and Leila search for a way to control the sabotage.

It seemed a natural subject for Carol Marcus and Leila Kalomi to be paired up in a novel. Their relationships with Kirk and Spock are so similar, and the women themselves are so similar, that it makes perfect sense - although Leila's relationship with Spock is not as mature as Carol's relationship with Kirk. Unfortunately, neither of the women's relationships works out. While the initial intentions of the environmentalists are admirable, the sabotage of the project has dire consequences to Mars.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

AREA 51 - THE TRUTH

Dell Publishing

Written by Robert Doherty

Copyright 2003 by Robert Doherty

Through the Area 51 series, witten by Robert Doherty, it has been discovered that all of the world's secret unexplained mysteries - were as a result of alien interference, similar to the TV series Dark Skies. Now everything comes to a head as the aliens get control of a space satellite system which is linked into all the nuclear missile codes - and the aliens are about to blow up the Earth.

In the process, Area 51 commander Mike Turcotte must search for his abducted former lady love - Lisa Duncan, who is not quite human and more mature than she appears to be, to help him stop the aliens that have been controlling Earth's population for several millennium. Ever since Lisa was brought back to life, and discovered to be not totally human in a previous novel - all of Lisa's characterization has been removed from this book and I, as the reader, had lost all empathy for her. This was sad for me as Lisa has become just a body in the book and not a person. Even when they do give Lisa back her charactization, I did not have quite the same empathy for her. The final face-to-face showdown with the enemy alien leader is not as satisfying as I would have liked to have seen. The showdown is almost anti-climatic as it was not much of a showdown. It was also a little disconcerting to me to find out "the truth" about the human race, but "the truth" did makes sense in the context of the series.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Boundary

A Baen Book/Baen Publishing Enterprises

Written by Eric Flint & Ryk E. Spoor
Copyright 2006

Boundary is a fun punny book where paleontologists unearth an alien on the boundary of the time of the disappearance of the dinosaurs. After a probe discovers a base and the remains of another alien on a Martian moon - an international team of scientists is assembled and a manned expedition is sent to Mars to search for more alien remains. Were the aliens responsible for killing the dinosaurs?

The book has strong women characters, so much so that they are mostly the most interesting characters in the book, even more interesting than the enthusiastic geek A.J. It is interesting to note the academic jealousies of paleontology as well as the political issues concerning the discovery of aliens.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.