Exodus
Vulcan’s Soul, Book I

Josepha Sherman & Susan Schwartz

reviewed by Randy Landers

 

Following the events of the Dominion War, the Romulans have been attacked by a new enemy from beyond their borders, the Watraii, who claim the Romulans are genocidal murderers. The only Starfleet commander with experience with dealing with the Watraii is Admiral Pavel A. Chekov, and together with Ambassador Spock, Captain Saavik and a amalgamation of other ships from various races (including Charvanek, the Romulan commander), they embark on a mission to stop the Watraii. Secondary to this is the flashback story of Karatek, a contemporary of Surak, who becomes not a follower, but an ally. Karatek and his friends and family end up leaving Vulcan for the stars. The book ends with the apparent death of Admiral Chekov.

It’s fair to say that this book is incomplete (it’s the first third of a trilogy), but the story of Karatek and his time with Surak was quite interesting and engaging. Karatek is not a follower of Surak, but more of an ally with the same goal: if Vulcan dies from its internal conflicts, then a remnant must be saved, and the safest place for them to be is out on another world. The Vulcans are an interesting lot, and one gets a sense of how brutal and barbaric they can be as a race.

This is the sort of story fans have been telling for thirty years in various zines, and it’s interesting that Pocketbooks has decided that enough Star Trek fans would be interested in the subject matter to devote so many books to this saga. Still, it’s a good book, and one that I would recommend, especially to the fans of Romulans and Vulcans in particular.


main.gif (11611 bytes)


Free counters provided by Andale.

banner.gif (754 bytes)

Click here to return to the Star Trek novels page.
Click here to return to the Main Index Page.