The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane

The Wounded Sky
by Diane Duane

In the early years of professionally-published Star Trek fiction, I read every Trek novel published by Bantam in the 1970s, and most of the first 100 or more of the “classic Trek” novels put out by Pocket Books starting in the 1980s. Once the Star Trek spin-off series — Star Trek the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise — came on the scene, the number of novels being published across the franchise by Pocket Books became far more than I could keep up with — check out our Star Trek: The Reading List booklist to see how many there were! None-the-less, over the 50-year history of Star Trek, I have read probably 250 to 300 of the Star Trek novels, and I will have to say this is one of my top ten favorites. In my opinion, Diane Duane is perhaps one of the two best Star Trek fiction writers (overall) around, alongside Peter David. This novel was written in an era when authors could take chances with the established principle characters, as well as create original “new” crew members who could share the limelight. Not too many years after this was published, the powers-that-be put much stricter guidelines on what could be written for officially published Star Trek. But The Wounded Sky benefitted from coming out during an era of greater freedom for authors. Duane nails the characterization of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the well-known crew perfectly, but it is her original characters, including K’t’lk, a crystalline spider-like scientist whose experimental new drive system the Enterprise is testing, that she creates something unforgettable. I can’t recommend this Star Trek novel highly enough!

Interesting note: The plot of this novel was modified dramatically, in order to adapt it into an early first-season episode of Star Trek the Next Generation — “Where No One Has Gone Before”.

[If you enjoy this, then I also strongly recommend that you try Diane Duane’s other Star Trek novels, including Doctor’s Orders, Spock’s World, Dark Mirror, and the novels in her Romulan series, including My Enemy, My Ally, The Romulan Way (which features a terrific inclusion of a Horta crewperson!), Swordhunt, Honor Blade and The Empty Chair.]

[ The Wounded Sky page on Memory Alpha — the Star Trek wiki ] | [ official Diane Duane web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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