Star Trek: Exodus - The Vulcan's Soul Trilogy, Book 1 (Adapted)

I bought this trilogy a couple of years ago and never got around to reading it, primarily because I have issues with Spock marrying Saavik. For me they had a father/daughter relationship and them marrying was icky, but I had to set that opinion aside to read the true meat of the story.Spock's World is my all time favorite Trek novel, and this one climbs right up there to lean beside it. The historical sections are vivid, and they fill us in on so much about Surak and how horrible life was on war-torn Vulcan. Radiation sickness from constant nuclear weapons use, rival warring factions, and then the conflict between logic and emotion.I've started the 2nd this morning, and hopefully it won't be too long before I can post about it.

It is a great perspective into the history of Vulcan's Surak logic mindset. A fun read. Some folks won't like constantly jumping back and forth between the present and past from chapter to chapter, something the authors do exceptionally well ... but fortunately not as confusingly as Cloud Atlas. I gave it 4 starts as some won't be able to maintain the trail of two stories, but for me its perfect as the two stories correspond brilliantly. A great writing technique these authors have mastered.

There are some issues with the editing. The character name not correct (Sarek when it should be Surak), and the writing can be stilted even when you keep in mind there are Vulcans involved. It was not compelling enough to finish it in one sitting, but good enough that I read it over a couple of days.The book tends to jump back and forth too much between "Now" and "Then", in my opinion. However, it takes the premise of Romulans being the same as Vulcans and connects the historical separation to a "current" event.

Lowest rating ever for Star Trek Novel. Plot is confusing. Jumping from one time frame to another I just lost and confused and must re-read last part of the other chapter I just read to deal with the confusion.Very hard plot to follow.I keep saying I am not reading the rest but a month or so later I try again.

Unfortunately, while the actual writing itself is reasonably well-done, the pacing is a bit off and the plot is a bit disjointed. The attempts to blend the two halves of the story, the flashbacks to Surak's time and the "current" Star Trek story, fail pretty thoroughly. There is very little feel of connection between the two. Further, the authors make use of the very common but no less unacceptable device of writing a story in multiple installments none of which constitute an even marginally complete story in themselves, so the book ends on a cliffhanger. (Two cliffhangers, actually, one for each half of the story.) This was, perhaps, acceptable in 1950s movie serials, but is no way to write a novel.

I like the idea of learning more about Surak and the early days of Vulcan, but I'm not sure this is doing it for me. We learn little if nothing about how Surak developed his philosophy - the story just starts with him a known troublemaker and the reason for the exile ships that eventually lead us to Romulans doesn't seem to jibe with earlier stories. I thought these people were supposed to be those opposed to Surak, wanting to keep using their emotions - now here it appears they are his followers? The present day story seems a bit contrived - now not only has Scotty survived into the TNG era (time is a year after the Dominion War), but so have Uhura and Chekov, and they're still active Admirals! Hopefully the next two books will enrich the Vulcan history and make the present day story more enticing. And note to authors: please, please, we know Vulcan's are precise, but do they have to quote odds to the third decimal place on every other page!

Good read

A missed opportunity by Star Trek writers to adapt into a series.