Degrees of Affection

I am seriously beating myself up for not reading these before now! I'm dying to go back and reread the entire series! Maybe when I purchase the Khan (I can't wait until May 20th...Birthday present!!!). Another great volume that leaves me begging for the next one to come out! Here are my reviews for the previous volumes: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, and Volume 5.

Unfortunately, this is not one of those volumes you can pick up with a basic understanding of the movies. this thing pulls from all over the place, some I haven't even seen. The story picks up right after Into Darkness and immediately brings in a character from the prequel comic book, Countdown to Darkness (do check out my review of this, I do hint at some things this volume also brings up). We learn he was working with Admiral Marcus and things may not be over yet. We also see the Klingons know about Kirk's presence on their planet...and they won't be shrugging that off.

But the crew has other things to worry about, namely Spock's Pon Farr. Seriously, can these guys not catch a break? As one might suspect, the loss of their planet has caused issues and Spock is caught in the middle. But the crew aren't going to give up on him and this bunch of geniuses manage to pull together another miracle. On a tangent, T'Pring with short hair is awesome!

The short story at the end references the Star Trek video game where the re-visioned Gorn make an appearance. I've heard the cut scenes are amazing (the actor's did the voices for their characters) but the game is suppose to be almost unplayable. I'm still on the fence because I want to play it but...I guess I'll give it a go at some point. However, if you want to know what happened (as several elements of the plot are touched on during this volume), I might suggest finding someone's play-through. For all this though, the story was quite good; reminiscent of TOS and the ideas behind the episodes. It also shows Kirk as human and dealing with the fears and issues that would arise from the unknown.

So another great volume, albeit not one to jump into the series with. If you haven't been following the AOS (Alternate Original Series), you might want to cheat with Wikipedia or a fan site. Still, I can't wait for the next volume; looks like I'm caught up with the series and am ready to see them 'boldly go where no one has gone before.'