Mission to Horatius

Star Trek: The Original Series

by Mack Reynolds

A mission to a primitive planet suffering raids from its high-tech neighbors leads Captain Kirk to investigate its inhabitants, who are split into two kinds: real people and clones with no civil rights.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek Original Series, Ebooks

210 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Clark Collins, Mark Mallory, Guy McCord, Dallas Ross and Maxine Reynolds. Many of his stories were published in "Galaxy Magazine" and "Worlds of If Magazine". He was quite popular in the 1960s, but most of his work subsequently went out of print.

He was an active supporter of the Socialist Labor Party; his father, Verne Reynolds, was twice the SLP's Presidential candidate, in 1928 and 1932. Many of MR's stories use SLP jargon such as 'Industrial Feudalism' and most deal with economic issues in some way

Many of Reynolds' stories took place in Utopian societies, and many of which fulfilled L. L. Zamenhof's dream of Esperanto used worldwide as a universal second language. His novels predicted much that has come to pass, including pocket computers and a world-wide computer network with information available at one's fingertips.

Many of his novels were written within the context of a highly mobile society in which few people maintained a fixed residence, leading to "mobile voting" laws which allowed someone living out of the equivalent of a motor home to vote when and where they chose.

Reviews

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, lots of folks were stingy with the stars on this one! I just let myself enjoy it for what it was.... Star Trek fiction written a hell of a long time ago, with wonderful cheesy illustrations and a wonderfully terrible plotline. (Make sure you check out the introduction... some great 1960's-til-Kirk predicted history!) I stumbled across this in an antique store on vacation, and enjoyed it as nerdy Trek beach reading. Was thrilled to find out later that I now have an original printing of a collector's item. Yay!

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

got this super vintage trek at an antique store and read it in a day. stefan voice: this book has everything. cavemen, lsd, off brand nazis, clones, a rat, and a weirdly buff illustration of spock in a gladiator outfit. would not read again but it was a chill way to spend a quiet afternoon

[reherrma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieses Buch ist von überragender Bedeutung, es ist die Übersetzung des ersten Star Trek Romans überhaupt und die erste Übersetzung ins Deutsche und das 2 Jahre bevor die Serie "Raumschiff Enterprise" im Jahre 1972 auf die deutschen Mattscheiben erschien...
Das Buch erschien 1970 im Franz Schneider Verlag, diese "Schneiderbücher" waren Kinderbücher, deshalb war es auch klar, dass der Orginalroman gekürzt und "kindergerecht" übersetzt wurde, da 2 Jahre vor der Erstausstrahlung kaum jemand in Deutschland von Star Trek gehört hatte (ich vermute, dass auch die Übersetzerin und der Verlag nichts von der beginnenden SF-Revolution im Fernsehen geahnt haben), wurde die ganze Star Trek Terminologie bestenfalls ignoriert oder völlig falsch wiedergegeben.
Die optische Gestaltung des Buches hat mit Star Trek überhaupt nichts zu tun, das Raumschiff auf dem Cover ist der Gestaltung von Raumpatrouille Orion nachgebildet.
Ich weiß nicht, ob es an der Übersetzung lag, jedenfalls ist der Inhalt der Geschichte etwas wirr... Die Enterprise kommt ins Horatio-System, wo gleiche drei Planeten von Menschen besiedelt wurden, um einen Notruf nachzugehen. Auf dem ersten Planeten schützen sich Höhlenbewohner vor Raumpiraten, auf dem 2. existiert eine drogenabhängige mittelalterliche Gesellschaft, die die Enterprise Crew ablehnt und auf dem 3. Planeten regiert eine diktatorische Gesellschaft, die von "Top-Menschen" besiedelt wurden. Es stellt sich heraus, dass die Tochter des Dikators den Notruf abgesetzt hat, um Dissidenten zu retten...
Durch meine Recherchen wurde klar, dass es sich bei den "Top-Menschen" um die Herrenrasse handelt, im Orginal wurde die Gesellschaft des dritten Planeten ganz klar als nationalsozialistisch beschrieben und auch ganz klar auf Deutschland gedeutet, diese Referenzen wurden in dieser Ausgabe vollständig entfernt (es gibt eine Neuübersetzung des Romans vom Heel-Verlag, in dem diese Referenzen nicht entfernt wurden).
Da man Kindern in den 70er Jahren offenbar nicht zumuten wollte auf die nationalsozialistische deutsche Vergangenheit in einem Kinderbuch einzugehen, kann diese Verstümmelung nachvollzogen werden, inwieweit dies aber auch gebilligt werden kann, sei dahingestellt.
Wie oben bereits gesagt, der Roman hat eine überragende historische Bedeutung, der Inhalt jedoch ist beliebig, aber interessant...

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, does this bring back some memories!

I believe that I may have read this after picking it up in a used book store some 25 years or so ago.

I fully admit to being the Star Trek nerd and enjoying Star Trek novels. There's something very comfortable in reading books with characters who are so incredibly familiar to me.

The plot is paper thin and the characters less well developed than the average television episode. Some characters seemed to be named just for the sake of making sure to include them, but had no real role to play, and even their little moments were moderately out of character.

It was like reading exactly what it was ... a television-show-based book, by someone with only passing knowledge of the characters, using a stock plot.

It won't get a very high rating from me, but as a Star Trek nerd, I'm glad I read it.

[Tony Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story that is very much in tune with the feel of the original series of Star Trek. While not based on any pf the episodes of TOS, it would have worked as an episode. The main characters in the story, particularly Kirk, Spock and Bones, are very well portrayed and their dialogue rings true to their on-screen personas.

The story, which was written in 1968, and so is contemporaneous with the TV show, feels authentic and, like many of the better episodes, is more than just an adventure story. This story examines an issue which may well turn out to be a problem in long-distance space travel - boredom.

Overall, well worth reading for original series Trek fans.

[Fey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain Kirk recieves a secret mission for the enterprise; to investigate the origin of a federation distress call issued from a planetary system outside federation space. This system far out has 3 habitable planets, which where actually populated by people whose beliefs and way of life fell outside of federation norms and wanted to live outside federation jurisdiction.

When they arrive at the system, they investigate each planet in turn to find the source of the transmission. On the first they find a tribal society of nomads that shun technology, but give some reports of raiders from the sky. On the second they find a deeply religious society, whose priests live in relative luxury and their 'churls' (who are clearly on some kind of medication) are also being raided by other ships. The third planet is technologically developed, and like the others reject any interference from fedaration officers, but it's quite obvious that theres only once place left to look, so down goes the away party. And soon they're finding themselves in a nazi-like society that breeds clones for slaves.

The storyline was somewhat predictable, before they'd even got to the 3rd planet it was fairly obvious what was going on. But then this was the very first novelisation, so I wasn't expecting a masterpiece.

The varied reasons for which people would live outside the federation is certainly thought provoking. The federation may be hyped as the perfect communist society, but it doesn't always know best, and it certainly doesn't cater for everyone.

See my other reviews of Star Trek novels:
[Star Trek episode novelisations] | Star Trek 1 →

[Christiana Rendon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down this was my first star trek book and I loved it I was able to really follow along and build an image in my head. I loved the characters and I can hear thier individual voices in my head. I enjoyed this so much I let my son read it as well and he loved it just as much as me. I 100% recommend this book even if your not a Trek fan or seen any thing as in shows or read any other books. This is a good one to jump into.

[Wetdryvac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting for the history. Couldn't *stand* the writing style.

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first ever original novel based on Star Trek; published between James Blish’s episode novelizations Star Trek 1 (1967) and Star Trek 2 (1968). It was written and submitted for Roddenberry’s review/approval prior to the writing of the Season 2 episode “Bread and Circuses”, so it’s likely the similarities in the episode were lifted from Reynolds’ manuscript. Reynolds did a good job, in my subjective opinion, and gets the characters’ voices right for the most part as they were circa Season 2 of TOS.

The main plot summary: the crew is going stir crazy from a deep space voyage while having been a year since their last significant shore leave. They’re in desperate need of some R&R. Meanwhile, the ship answers a distress call from an Earth colony on the edge of explored space.

It was written for a YA audience, but a YA novel in 1968 is near-equivalent to the average adult novel in 2025 imo. As a 44-year-old Gen-Xer, I was aware that the writing was juvenile in places and kid-friendly throughout; however, that did not detract from the story for me because I tried to suspend disbelief and put myself in the mindset of a young Sci-Fi reader circa 1968. Though written for YA, the writing isn’t overly juvenile and I enjoyed the book for what it was intended to be at the time it was published: a YA introduction to the show and the characters.

The central character is obviously a nod to the YA readership. He’s a courageous young boy named Grang of the Wolf Clan on Neolithia (obviously a play on the Neolithic era, which describes life on this planet). Grang distrusts the away team at first, but then sticks his neck out for the crew and “goes to bat” for them with his tribe. I’m sure young people enjoyed this book and were sad for the series not to continue.

Given this was written in the ‘60s, McCoy’s fear that young Grang has some “far-out” disease is, in retrospect, a fun nod to the youthful slang of the time.

The crew mentions 3D movies they can watch on board the ship. I thought that was a cool forward-thinking idea for 1968. But then one of the characters - in an effort for the writer to demonstrate how bored the crew are - Lieutenant De Paul says that he’s read every book in the onboard computer tapes at least five times. In 1968, this may have made sense due to a computer’s limited capacity for memory storage, but given that the Bible states the Enterprise contains every human record since the dawn of writing systems, that would mean the crewman had read hundreds of thousands of books five times over…which is obviously absurdly impossible and not believable. It is said that a clone will simply dissolve into molecules if its computer profile is deleted - ridiculous and dumb. Additionally, Scott’s repetitive use of “mon” got tiresome and annoying. The use of Nazi-like Bavarian BBEG that were so inbred as to all look alike felt uninteresting and derivative. So, the book isn’t perfect and I’m not trying to sell it as such, but I did enjoy it for what it was nevertheless.

From the first page, you can immediately see the strong influence of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek Bible (aka “Star Trek Writers/Directors Guide”). The author seems to have made a checklist of points made in the ST Bible and checks them off as he writes this book. In fact, Mack Reynolds uses the exact ship’s heading Roddenberry gives as an example in the writer’s guide - i.e. 37 mark 211 - as the heading toward the Horatius system. I thought that was pretty cool, actually, and a nice Easter egg for true Trek’o’philes like us. (I can assume that you are a hardcore Trekker if you’ve made it this deep into a review for an obscure Star Trek novel from 60+ years ago. So thorough was Reynolds in his attempt to incorporate as much of the ST Bible as possible, he even included LSD, which is famously the last entry of the Q&A section that ends the ST Bible. Well done, Mack, well done, sir. There’s a point in the ST Bible where Gene says Kirk should always be forced to make a gut call by virtue of being in deep space and incapable of receiving a quick, convenient answer from Starfleet leadership — Reynolds makes it a point to reword this exact entry in the ST Bible while Kirk explains why he has to make just such a gut call near the middle of the book. The ST Bible declares transporters unusable when deflector shields are up and that phasers can be set to overload and explode; both of these factor in the buildup of the climax. Note: I’m not saying this detracted from the story, I just find it interesting - essentially Easter eggs for those in the know.

I was aware the Roddenberry called this book ‘boring’ and they let the book series die as a result of the negative internal reaction to the book, but I’m actually enjoying the story. The draft version of the book included racist words/descriptions of Uhura and Sulu, but those were excised before actual publication of the book and the author doesn’t seem to have disliked the characters, but was likely using racist terms common to that era. Those wording transgressions aside, Uhura’s characterization in the book is capable, young, and beautiful; and Sulu’s characterization exactly matches how Roddenberry describes the character in the ST Bible document and using his characterization, he becomes central to moving the plot forward in this story. I thought Reynolds did a nice job of utilizing Uhura and Sulu much more than some of the episodes and movies did; especially Sulu.

Furthermore, of note to hardcore Trekkers like us, Reynolds seems to know that he’s writing the first novel of any kind for Trek and goes out of his way to demonstrate or use many of the specifics given in the ST Bible. Examples include: Uhura playing and singing in the rec room. Sulu tries to collect exotic animals and excitedly discusses his new ‘hobby’ with others; this is straight out of his characterization in the ST Bible — ‘straight’…see what I did there? McCoy confronts Jim about crew safety and does so in front of the bridge crew with impunity, while also mentioning Head Nurse Chapel in a way that basically summarizes her description in the ST Bible. So, there’s a lot of little Easter eggs in this obscure, mostly forgotten YA novel.


Minor pieces of trivia that I might be the only person who cares about or noticed:

There’s an early scene where the bored crew are demonstrating how long they’ve been without R&R or extended shore leave. Uhura begins to make puns about how killing time is not murder, but suicide. This is followed by several others making death puns. A few years later, in his novelization for The Animated Series (TAS), Alan Dean Foster writes a scene very similar to this between Kirk and McCoy to the annoyance of Spock. The puns are entirely different, so it’s not plagiarism, but perhaps Alan Dean Foster is giving a nod or homage to Mack Reynolds.

To my recollection, this is the first time we get to see Kirk smacked in the face with a shillelagh.

An appearance by Janice Rand and Kirk speaking ‘softly’ to her was a nice surprise and a wink to fans who missed her after Season 1!

Sulu says the word “queer”, which is a fun piece of trivia given George Takei’s importance to the queer community. (I know, I know, this is a stretch, but I smirked when I saw it, so I’m just pointing it out.)


Mild spoilers ahead:

Given that this is the first original novel for a show based on naval tradition, Reynolds takes the opportunity to have a B-plot that involves rats and the potential spread of a plague aboard ship with those rats.

One of the more glaring examples of plot stupidity and failure to be believable is when Kirk leaves a device of destructive power - that caused all the problems that brought the Enterprise here in the first place - in the hands of a local they barely know and says, “here’s a phaser. Use it to destroy these devices after we beam out.” That’s so dumb, it hurts my brain to even remember it. The book starts out fine, but then devolves into this type of stupidity towards the climax.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Self, when did Uhura write her famous ballad ‘The Saga of Mickey the Space Rat’?” Well, now you know. It was in this book.

[Brent Knorr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was the first original novel based on the Star Trek TV series and was originally published in 1968. The Enterprise is sent to the NGC 400 solar system where they open up sealed orders sending them to the Horatius system to investigate who sent a distress signal and what the emergency is. There are three planets in the system, each colonized at different times by settlers from Earth, each of whom had been unhappy with the social or political order of Earth. They are all at different levels of technology, from Stone Age, to mid-20th century to early Federation. There is also a subplot about the Enterprise crew starting to suffer from a space malady called “cafard”. This is a listlessness and boredom that can occur if a crew has been out in space for too long without shore leave.
This is an interesting book in the way it views some of the technology and capabilities of the Enterprise compared to later novels and shows. There is an emphasis on the fact that the Enterprise is running low on supplies including medical and engineering resources as well as recreational material. For example, Uhura breaks some strings on her five-string guitar and is unable to replace them because she has run out of spares.
The travel times are also much longer than those encountered in most later novels, although they are like some of the other early novels and the FASA Star Trek roleplaying game, where travel is generally measured in months rather than hours or days.
Another point is how the sensors on the Enterprise seem to be more limited in what they can detect from orbit. Kirk also seems to be more aggressive towards the people that they encounter on the planets, and there could be some interesting debates about whether some of the actions taken would violate General Order Number One, despite Kirk quoting it to members of the crew on several occasions. As a sidenote, it never gets referred to as the “Prime Directive” in the novel.
The story itself is relatively entertaining although the people/civilizations encountered are quite stereotypical.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much a product of its time. So much goes against canon, but it was written while the series was still running. Not a great trek book, but it does feel like a TOS episode.

[Maggi LeDuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

My version of a fun, summer beach read.

[Niki Zannis · Rating 3 out of 5]

this sure was a book. i dont have much to say besides characterization of the main crew was lackluster and just pulled off very basic depictions of the characters from the show. bones was pretty much irritated the whole time, jim was very high and mighty, spock was ... spock, and the rest of the characters i really dont have much to say about. although sulu's pet rat mickey i thought was really funny. a solid 3/5 and i probs wont read it again but i did have a few good laughs so im glad to begin my star trek book reading journey with this one!

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did a quick reread of this because I'm going to give this book to Good Will soon and couldn't remember much about it. The following is a slightly revised update of my prior review.

This was the first original Star Trek story that was not simply a retelling of a television series episode. Mack Reynolds has good writing ability and a good handle on the characters. He writes them in a way that's true to the series and does not make the common mistake many early authors do of exaggerating their features to the point of caricature. The Enterprise embarks on a mission to trace a distress signal in order to render aid. It could have come from any one of three inhabited worlds circling a far-off sun and the Enterprise crew has trouble discovering which of the three it was.

The story is decent, characterizations accurate, the writing solid. If the book had stuck to the above story idea alone, I could have given it three stars. The plot suffers from slightly simplistic writing and the fact that not much seems ever at stake. The problem of the main plot, such as it was, is overcome suddenly and with ease. But the book goes on. The appended conclusion is an even bigger letdown, but it takes a while to figure out why. Subplots that weren't important are resolved in place of where the main plot's climax and denoument should have been. It's sloppy structuring.

Another problem was the invention of a menace called cafard, basically boredom or deadly crew-wide ennui caused by mission fatigue. It's a unique invention of the author's, and an improbable one never mentioned anywhere else in the Star Trek universe. I get that the author is writing just before real space travel existed and is thus imagining hazards that might have but never turned out to be real. But honestly, there isn't that big a difference psychologically speaking in a spaceship voyage or a submarine voyage. The author should have known better than to think cafard could have been a viable menace.

If you read some reviews of the book it will say this is a story written for children. I grant that a pre-teen can read it for enjoyment much more easily than most other Star Trek novels, but to say it is a children's book is as much of a mischaracterization as to say Ender's Game or any Harry Potter book is a kid's book. The novel (it's 210 pages long) can be enjoyed by adults too, to the extent it can be enjoyed at all, which for me was only slightly, and only at points.

All in all, it was an interesting try for an early Trek novel. That it's the first original Trek novel, the only one written before the series was completed and off the air, gives it some historical interest. I'm glad to have read it.

[Matt Randall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mission to Horatius was the first Trek novel ever, which makes it an interesting piece of history. Pocket republished the book for their 20th anniversary of Trek novels. It's...well, not good. Reportedly, Gene Roddenberry said the first draft was so horrible he wouldn't allow it to be published. The rewrite isn't great, but it is a passable Trek story. The characters don't feel right at all. Kirk's dialogue in particular seemed pretty horrible. The illustrations aren't bad. Spock is described as having "satanic" features a few times, which was amusing.

Overall, this book is definitely a product of its time. I'm not sure how exactly to rate it because of that. It's an interesting read if nothing else, similar to Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye. If you're interested in seeing how far Trek novels have come, it's a quick read. Otherwise, probably skip it.

[Rick Lee Lee James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first Star Trek novel as I understand it. Reading it really made me feel like I was within a classic episode of Star Trek TOS. Gladiatorial fights, debates about religion, and a rat named Mickey all in the backdrop of a strange space virus that makes crew members go crazy and become violent toward each other. An easy but highly entertaining read. If I have one complaint, it’s that Kirk seems just a bit out of character, perhaps a little too grumpy and the Enterprise crew is too sullen. In spite of that, it’s a good read if you can find a copy. As far as I know it has never had a second printing since it’s original publishing date in 1968.

[Christopher Obert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the very first Star Trek book in my science fiction collection. For some reason I never got around to reading it until now. It was an interesting read. The book came out in 1968, so that means that it was written very early in the history of Star Trek. For example, there is a fight scene in the book where Spock punches and battles his opponents rather than giving them a neck pinch. That is because the story was created before the TV episode where the neck pinch was aired. The book is a simpler story and is written for a young audience. The story is complemented with a few drawings.

[Rob Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable little Star Trek adventure, originally published in 1968. The main story features the crew visiting three planets to ascertain the source of a distress call, the tale is simple and the resolution to each plot element is dealt with swiftly and in some cases 'off screen'. I particularly liked the sections featuring the lower ranked members of the crew, reminiscent of the earlier episodes of the show.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant read it you enjoyed the original tv series, as I did many years ago. Well written by Mack Reynolds. It is probably aimed at young readers, but I enjoyed it because it was very reminiscent of the series Gene Roddenberry created. Enjoy!

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a bit dated and if Kirk said "Comments, gentleman?" one more time I might have smashed my kindle but it was an ok quick read

[Letande D'Argon · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, now this is an interesting book to talk about. See, back in the days, it was the first Star Trek novel I've read after the official TOS novelizations by James Blish (published by Bantam Books). And after Mr. Blish's shortened, dry and shallow approach, Mack Reynolds' novel felt... Pretty cool, really. Well, at least at the beginning.

Some people here, on Goodreads, complained about the writing, but the thing is, after what we had in Mr. Blish's works, Mission to Horatius felt like a breath of a fresh air. Mack Reynolds paid better attention to the lore (or maybe he just had better access to the official data, that I do not know), there were somewhat colorful descriptions, characters felt natural and all in all, it felt a lot like a real deal. Like a proper novel based on Star Trek show. But.

Yeah, you've guessed it. There's going to be one heck of a “but” here. See, the actual story here... Kinda sucks. USS Enterprise will visit two pretty generic planets (like, seriously? Yet another primitive civilization?) and then face its ultimate enemy – the space Nazis. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm not trying to look at the story from modern perspective, which makes it look stupid. It's not like there's something wrong with the idea per se. I mean, the motif was pretty popular after the WWII and even Star Wars movie that became a huge hit in 1977 (this novel was originally published in 1968) was all about that – space Nazi.

It's just the way Mack Reynolds did it... It's pretty cheap. I know, I know, comparing Star Trek with Star Wars is always a bad idea. Two absolutely different things, should never be compared, but in this exact case? It's hard to avoid that. Because it's one of those very rare cases, in which Star Wars (which was always all about the satisfying show and juicy presentation) actually had more depth (while covering the same exact topic) than Star Trek. Which was supposed to be all about it.

Seriously, this novel? It's laughably dull and straightforward. Space Nazi here? They're just that. The space Nazi. I mean, their leader is literally called “Nummer Ein”. And he uses German terms. Because reasons. Even the illustrations here depict our typical Wehrmacht soldiers from WWII. In their usual uniforms. With their usual weapons. Like... what? Seriously, the illustrations even show the bloody gas mask container! You know, that metal cylinder that German soldiers had on their backs back in the days. Like, seriously, Whitman? Seriously? What's wrong with you? Did you, guys, really think that Nazism can only exist in Germany? Did anyone even bother to tell Sparky Moore that the story takes place in the future? That bloody gas mask container... Good grief...

Anyway, as the result, the book that initially gave me quite a lot of hope (again, to truly understand that, you should read some novelizations by James Blish first) ended up being a cringeworthy disaster. Even more so since the original show was too classy for such a direct approach. It covered a lot of similar topics in stories like Let That Be Your Last Battlefield and The Cloud Minders, but even when it did show the actual Nazis in Patterns of Force, it was still way, way dipper than what we had in here.

Kinda funny how thanks to Mack Reynolds, Star Trek had clone troopers long before Star Wars, but honestly, it's just that – a funny fact. Far from being an excuse for all the disaster. Which even comes with some direct contradictions. Believe it or not. Seriously, did this book even have an editor? Because some contradictions are, like, only two page away from each other. And it's impossible not to notice them. Did anyone even try to check?

So... Yeah. Pretty big disappointment here. I did find those comic relief parts that included Mickey, “the space rat” rather amusing, though. Sure, those were pretty cheap, but the conclusion we've got at the very end of the book didn't feel bad at all. Matched Bones' character perfectly too. So, at least it's something. Still, even though it felt better than we had in Bantam Books' publications, it still wasn't a Star Trek novel I hoped for.

[Trevor Williamson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mack Reynolds' Mission to Horatius may be the first Star Trek original fiction, but aside from that hallowed ground, it offers very little to a modern reader. First published in 1968 for young audiences, the book takes the crew of the Enterprise to the Horatius system, where they search three separate planets in hopes of uncovering the source of a mysterious subspace distress call. The book wants to tackle a number of different ideas and dangers, including primitivism, religious extremism, Nazism, and even the dangers of deep space on a crew's psyche, but it somehow manages to do none of them well.

The problem of the book is its inability to focus on any one particular issue with any kind of real philosophical weight. The book opens and closes on a problem of "space cafard," which Bones says is a dangerous degenerative mental disease that will cause the crew to rip themselves apart. It speeds along to three separate planets, each presenting a problematic view of the human past, but the closing thoughts on the novel don't do much of anything for either characters or for the audience. The book is rife with cliché, barely ever scratching even the surface of the ways in which the book could present real philosophical questions with an actual weight.

The fact that the book never tries to do more than a surface-level read of the problems each society might present in conflict with the Federation is not its only sin, either. In its characterization of the people of Neolithia, for example, the book relies on an extraordinarily hurtful depiction drawing from stereotyped Native American culture. It presents otherwise weak criticisms of Nazism without doing much to present the terrors of actual Nazism, as well as an even more bland criticism of the Catholic Church. Neither of these two criticisms are remotely as offensive, but it's still disappointing to see the book refuse to grapple with the weight of these two systems of governance, either.

There's also the way in which the book simply ignores its own social or political repercussions for the actions of the crew. For example, the crew frequently encounter conflicting notions with regards to General Order Number One (later known as the Prime Directive), constantly fretting that they can't interfere with the societies they inhabit, yet on two occasions assist in a total overthrow of the system of governance on these colonies. These could be interesting story beats, but they're never treated with any seriousness, and the story as a result never sees the conflict come to fruition as anything more than a talking point for the plot.

Many apologists for the book will likely look to its age and suggest that its young audience, coupled with the social attitudes of the time, answer for the book's inconsistencies and its problems. But Star Trek as a program showed that progressive science fiction could be meaningful and entertaining, and the fact that this book, even if aimed at a young audience, fails to engage in meaningful dialogue about any of its problems is very frustrating.

I don't believe Star Trek fiction to be nearly so disposable or as uneven as tie-in fiction from other franchises (say, Star Wars), but this book doesn't offer much for modern readers. With such a wealth of other Star Trek fiction out there, maybe this one is better left behind.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first original STAR TREK novel, as well as TREK's first stab at the YA genre. (That being said, aside from the illustrations and Sulu's sudden interest in pets, the book fits in comfortably with the early TREK novels for adults.) MISSION TO HORATIUS mostly feels like a rehash of earlier TV episodes, but does just enough right to be moderately entertaining overall.
The story begins when the Enterprise is tasked with responding to a distress call originating from an unexplored solar system. Since the signal could've come from any planet in the system, the Enterprise must visit them one by one and investigate while always keeping in mind the Prime Directive. The process is made much more complicated by the fact that the Enterprise is running low on supplies and the crew is suffering from cabin fever, which Dr. McCoy terms "space cafard".
In the style of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, the Enterprise officers bounce from planet to planet, each of which has its own uniquely bizarre culture. On the first planet, the inhabitants are basically a war-like tribe of Native Americans, as opposed to the more peaceful ones seen in "The Paradise Syndrome". The population of the second planet suffers from a form of mass mind control that turns them into raving religious zealots, much as we saw in the episode "The Return of the Archons". And the third planet features the oft-seen sci-fi cliches of human cloning and gladiatorial combat in a Roman-style arena. The story ends with a final adventure aboard the Enterprise itself, an adventure that doesn't much relate to anything else in the plot.
The characters all behave pretty stupidly in this, whether it's Sulu hiding a rat under his shirt while on the bridge, McCoy ranting in paranoid fashion about the nonsensical dangers of space cafard, or Uhura constantly snapping the strings of her lute as though she were using it to play thrash metal. Kirk continually repeats the same stupid mistake of beaming himself and his top officers directly to places where they are easily captured or taken hostage. Chekov stupidly falls prey to the aforementioned mind control, but later shows back up on duty as though nothing ever happened. Ultimately, Spock and Scotty are the only ones who make it though the book without embarrassing themselves.
The plot has issues, too, such as the incredible coincidence of Kirk randomly beaming down to a large planet and then immediately bumping into the very people he needed to see. And the whole idea of space cafard on the Enterprise is totally laughable. Readers are expected to believe that the Enterprise crew played every game, read every book, and saw every film in the ship's library so many times that they no longer have anything to do. Give me a break. Even dumber is the notion that Kirk himself would be showing signs of cafard despite visiting multiple planets in a short period and experiencing one adventure after another.
Still, for all the book's flaws, it's still STAR TREK.
And STAR TREK, good or bad, is still STAR TREK.
And STAR TREK is awesome.

[Sven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this one because it does what the TV show wouldn't be able to. Multiple different planets with tons of imagination and a shockingly good flow despite being somewhat all over the place.

That being said, its a book from the USA written at a time that was hardly defined by any real critique of colonialism, and this book shows it. The noble savage trope, the perpetuation of Federation colonial rule, its all here in droves and only analyzed critically by the villains, who are literally a bunch of space Nazis anyway so who cares what they have to say.

All things considered this isn't an awful book at all, the characters are well written and the story is interesting enough, but it does have some parts that are intensely hard to swallow in a modern context, and the villain is honestly really lazily written.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The very first original Star Trek book offers a couple hours diversion, though it's clearly written for the youth market (Spock's educational info-dumps, for example). Still, it doesn't excuse an episodic structure that reads like a bad video game script. The characters don't always sound like themselves, Kirk and Chekov in particular, nor are they smart in their decisions (why even consider the stone age planet as a source of the subspace signal, for example). Sulu and Chekov are particularly rash and stupid. But it may be that "space cafard" is causing them to make mistakes. In fact, the scenes of shipboard life aren't bad and make good points about the boredom that must accompany any long journey. The episodes are entertaining enough and usually end with a grievous breach of the Prime Directive (kind of a hoot, actually). So really, it's not as bad as I might have expected.

[Blaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The intended juvenile audience is clear, with crew taking more time to put clues together than usual, presumably to allow young readers to keep up, but it never gets insulting. Most importantly, the author seems to grasp the characters and their voices, making for a satisfying read. He even has Chekov’s character down well, which is impressive considering he was new to the show when this was written.

It should be noted that I have seen criticisms of some racially charged language. That may have been true of the original 1968 publication, but I read the 1999 reprinting which had some edits, and that language is not there.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't anything special but it is a diverting enough read and the characters pretty much sound like they supposed to do and you can imagine this as an episode of the series which is basically what it needs to do and on that front it succeeds. The plot isn't up to much it has to be said but it is written in a very straightforward manner and the pace of the book is decent enough and it is about as long as it needs to be. If it had of been any longer then it would have started to drag, but it seemed about the right length for me.

[Read Ng · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reprint of a story originally written in 1968. I understand it was in fact the first Star Trek story written post series.

The story itself is not all that interesting. It does come across as a "possible" TV script concept. The writing reminds me a lot of early science fiction classic authors' early works. There is not a lot of character in this book. The biggest oversight is that there is little sense of the characters we all love. But it is interesting to track how the series inspired a vast universe of stories, movies, and future TV series.

Have a GoodReads.

[Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally got a copy of this book after wanting it since I was a kid seeing it in the toy department of my local Five and Dime. Much better than I expected. The author clearly watched many Star Trek episodes and borrowed several of the tropes. A part later in the book appears to be pretty directly swiped from a particular episode which fans will quickly recognize. Aside from some of the dialogue not really matching the characters, this was a pretty entertaining read. I'm sure it was a great intro to Star Trek for many Boomer kids back in the day.

[Edie · Rating 3 out of 5]

like everyone else who reviewed this i read this in an afternoon. i didnt mind it, but it was very much a product of the 60s. i was going to rate it two stars but the history of this being the first star trek novel made me bump it up to three. i think its very interesting to see where star trek novels began since i just finished the first of the strange new worlds novels ! but yes, very very very 1960s in descriptions, depictions and writing.
apparently this was meant for a younger audience when it was published and you can tell because the plot was very predictable. but sometimes thats ok!