1087. Trek to MadworldPUBLICATION: Bantam Books, January 1979
CREATORS: Stephen Goldin
STARDATE: 6191.8 (after Vulcan!)
PLOT: The Enterprise is to ferry Kirk's childhood hero and his daughter Matika to the struggling colony of Epsilon Delta 4, but his illness takes a turn for the worst and it is revealed that the colony's environment is poisonous. The ship races to Epsilon Delta 4, planning a mass evacuation which would mean taxing the Enterprise's living conditions. Before they get there, they are caught in a bubble universe run by an insane Organian called Enowil along with a Klingon and a Romulan ship. They are given the task to figure out what's missing in Enowil's magical world that makes him so unfulfilled. In exchange, he'll grant them a wish. Faced with the possibility of an enemy power getting some strategic advantage, Kirk agrees to try. Enowil seems to have everything they can think of, however. The Klingon captain manipulates Matika into beaming to the Romulan ship and planting a bomb, taking one player out of the competition, but Enowil transports both her and a Romulan guard back to the planet where they face various monsters together and fall in love. When the Klingon captain realizes his plan has failed, he beams to the Enterprise to try the same thing, but is stopped by Kirk. When Kirk returns to the Madworld, he finds the solution: Enowil is missing an audience to show his creations to. Having won, Kirk's wish is granted. The Epsilon Delta 4 colonists will be moved to the Madworld healed and free to move to and from Enowil's bubble universe. Matika and the Romulan will be its first citizens.
CONTINUITY: The trip starts at Babel (Journey to Babel). Enowil is a rogue Organian (Errand of Mercy). The Madworld has tribbles (The Trouble with Tribbles). There are also passing (but noticeable) references to The Conscience of the King and The Squire of Gothos.
DIVERGENCES: The Enterprise is called a Constellation-class ship.
SCREENSHOT OF THE WEEK
REVIEW: Disappointing for a large number of reasons. Most importantly, I think, the book seems to change premise a third into it. The idea of fitting an extra 700 people aboard the Enterprise had promise, and Goldin is particularly adept at having his characters work out problems logically (until the end, that is). Alas, none of this is relevant, because we're whisked into a surreal "comedy" universe at the mercy of a Trelane wannabe. Though meant to be comedy, Goldin's dry style in the opening third (his prose sometimes reads like D&D room descriptions) is a cross-purposes with the rest of the novel's tone. It never becomes funny. Best it can do is whimsy. Just as the opening chapters turn out to be irrelevant, there's a lot more padding to come. Even Kirk is heard to say Enowil's myriad demonstrations become boring after a while, and there's a huge epic starring a non-descript Hero at one point that goes on for pages and pages of who cares. Matika's attempt at sabotage leads her on a side-thread that is just as colorful and irrelevant, especially since her unconvincing romance with the Romulan leads no one to think Enowil is missing LOVE. It's much like her being described as a maverick debater, and then not taking part in the debate scene. Kirk's solution is ok, if not great, but his wish is what takes the cake. If Enowil can do anything, how about just making Epsilon Delta 4 habitable? A lot less convoluted than uprooting a mining colony and dropping them into a Lord of the Rings marathon. I'd still like to read that "stuff 1100 people on the Enterprise story though.Next for the SBG Book Club: A Call to Darkness (TNG), Warped (DS9), No Surrender (SCE), World Without End (TOS).
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