Confession: I tapped out on this one. I got about halfway through and couldn't bear to go on. I guess I'll have to come back to it. With whiskey. I know, I should like it - it's a sequel to one of the most hilarious, slashy Star Trek books ever - but I just...can't.

The first book in this duology was awful, but in an entertaining way. Its horrible writing was entertaining, and the overt slashiness even more so. (I love K/S, but these characters were pompous and so out of character that it could only be laughable.) And there were some interesting philosophical elements at play. So, I read the sequel, partly seeking entertainment and partly actually wanting to know how the story might carry on, what happened to Omne in the end.

Unfortunately, I did some Googling partway through, because I wanted to see what else the authors had written. I discovered that they're both staunch Objectivists, followers of Ayn Rand, and all of a sudden the books weren't much fun anymore. It's not just weird bad writing, it's that bizarre conviction that every character should be a pure elemental essence, and every conflict is a primal assessment between two unadulterated forces-as-people, and everyone just knows things by looking at each other, and everyone is a perfect specimen of something, and blah blah blah. No wonder the characters are so out of character; none of them were ever meant to be ultimate expressions of anything. Spock was never even implied to be "one of the best fighters in the galaxy," for instance, but of course he has to be because everyone here is THE BEST BAR NONE.

There were still some good elements, some sections where the writing actually got good. Some interesting stakes, and one long (literal) debate about the Prime Directive that worked really well. But it stopped being fun. ( )

I loved The Price of the Phoenix, the book this is the sequel to, in all its cheesy glory and its slashy subtext. It might have helped I was a teenage girl when I first read it, and a fan of the original series before it was reborn in film and new franchises such as Next Generation. Back then, books like this were the only sign of life, unless you were hardcore enough to send your SASE and check for mimeographed fanzines. Also, unlike most Trek fans, I'm a Kirk fan, not a Spock fan, and say what you will about Culbreath and Marshak, but they give Kirk's heroic dimensions their due. And I think it takes a Kirk fan to "give" the Romulan Commander to Kirk--or rather a Kirk to her. I loved the end of the first book with them off together to change the Romulan Empire, that basically she gives to James the challenge Jim Kirk gave the Spock of the Mirror Universe to summon the future.

So, I think you might guess the problem I had with this book if you've read it. Big time. Like another reviewer, at the end of this I wanted to give "the book a nice heave across the room" when I read the last page. And there's no third book to redeem that ending. ( )

Picks up right where The Price of the Phoenix leaves off and starts well with an exploration of what it means physically and emotionally for James to live as a "princeling" in the Romulan Empire. Then Omne shows up again, things get plotty and talky, and the thing sort of stalls. Marshak and Culbreath continue with some of the themes from Price, but with Omne, Omne's double in a body that looks like Spock, James (who still looks like Kirk but with Romulan features), a real Romulan princeling named Trevanian who sometimes poses as James, Kirk, Spock, and the Romulan Commander all running around with their own motivations and honors to uphold, things get very sticky and very tricky to keep sorted very quickly. I sometimes lost sight of who was who and who wanted what from whom and why. (And this was a reread!) All told, the first third is compelling, the last third fascinating, and the middle third confusing. The thinky bits are just as interesting as in any other Marshak and Culbreath Star Trek undertaking, though they sometimes get mired down in too much talking this time. The end is incredibly unsatisfying in that it refuses to resolve the thing (this is intentional and pointed, I'm quite sure), and I gave the book a nice heave across the room at the close of the last page (as you do). ( )

This sequel to "The Price of the Phoenix", while prey to the authors' customary wordiness and preoccupation with nobility, is every bit as fine as the original. Here our heroes must figure out how to combat a reborn Omne who is sowing immortality throughout the galaxy, while finding an honorable solution to the problem of Kirk's duplicate, James. All problems are resolved at the end by Kirk's courage and daring in defeating Omne with his own weapons - although at the end Omne pulls a coup of his own that virtually begs for a third book, although one has apparently not been forthcoming. A shame. This would have made a great trilogy. ( )