The Great Starship Race

Star Trek: The Original Series #67

by Diane Carey

When a friendly, alien people called Rey make contact with the Federation, they are thrilled to learn the galaxy has a large number of intelligent races. To bring the myriad cultures to their world, the Rey host a celebration - inviting spacefaring peoples to send representative ships to complete against one another and the Great Starship Race is born.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek Original Series, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy, Media Tie In

314 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Diane Carey also wrote the Distress Call 911 young adult series under the name D.L. Carey.

Diane Carey is primarily a science fiction author best known for her work in the Star Trek franchise. She has been the lead-off writer for two Star Trek spin-off book series: Star Trek The Next Generation with Star Trek: Ghost Ship, and the novelization of the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, Broken Bow.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Carey

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I don't care how good it is, objectively speaking. I liked it. Of course, we know from the prologue what the main characters don't figure out until near the end, and all the foreshadowing gets annoying. And the sexism is problematic. But mostly it's a fun read for fans of the series. That is to say, genre fiction at its most comforting.

One thing really bothers me, though, I guess I have to admit. In the beginning we're introduced to many of the other participants in the race, and we even see a copy of the list of entries. But knowing who's who never matters again... even though some of those individuals seemed very interesting....

I wonder if it would be a better read if the first two sections (the prologue and the race prep) were skipped, and the reader had to piece together the backstory at the same time the characters were doing so....

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Different than usual, but still not all that great.

[W · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found quite a few Star Trek novels in an old bookshop.I was rather happy,but soon I found that it was hard work trying to read those.

There are so many authors who have written Star Trek fiction,and most of them are not all that good.This book was very badly written.So much so that I threw it away,and stopped buying Star Trek fiction in bulk.

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually don't write reviews but I'm going to try now that I'm getting back into reading again.

First of all I've got to say that this book was published in 1993 and I found it kind of weirdly racist and uncomfortable at times, mostly because acceptable terms have changed. Uhura's eyes are described as "exotic" and Sulu as "Oriental" which is not cool in 2018. The Ransom Castle crew made me pretty uncomfortable as well since they fly the confederate flag in the future and their captain is described as not being certain the confederacy lost the Civil War. Oh boy. That sets warning klaxons blaring in my head. They don't act super racist but there is a comment about how they don't allow any aliens in their crew that kind of felt like a hint that maybe they're kinda racist (or at least xenophobic). That uncomfortable sidenote I rambled too long on aside...

I enjoyed reading this book overall.

The Great Starship Race is the story of the titular race held to celebrate the induction of the Rey people from planet Gullrey into the United Federation of Planets. Everything is good times until a Romulan warship shows up to crash the party and its commander demands to be allowed to enter the race so he can secretly confirm a theory based on an encounter he had years ago and destroy Gullrey. Of course it is up the the Enterprise to stop them so everyone can enjoy this momentous occasion, but first Kirk has to figure out what the Romulans even want with the mild-mannered humanaboo (like a weeaboo but about all human culture) Rey people while sharing many knowing glances with his Vulcan first officer for reassurance. There are thrills! Spills! And the mystery of what secret power the Rey have is so easy to figure out it's tense watching Kirk find out in time to save them. (Romulans really need to just chill. They would have been fine if they were less... them.)

All of the main bridge crew gets to do something. Scotty seriously deserves a raise though.

All of the original characters made up to flesh out the story beyond our beloved crew are varied and interesting. There are so many different ships and captains participating in the race even other Starfleet ships. I'm really glad that the Romulans got plenty of development in the story so we could see their motivations and how they are shaped by their culture but still individuals who interpret things differently. I'm a little confused about the Starfleet Vulcans characterizations because they don't seem very Vulcan, but hey, what do I know.

There is one other thing that bothered me besides the mild racism and weird confederate worship. Why the hell doesn't the Enterprise have safety belts or harnesses of any kind? I get that it's cinematic but part of the tension of this story was that there was some turbulence that threw everyone around and gave Kirk a mild concussion maybe. I feel like there should be some kind of safety standards in place to make sure nobody gets taken out falling on the floor. I mean, I tripped on uneven sidewalk once and got a mild concussion and I was nauseous and disoriented and didn't want to stand up afterwards for hours. I couldn't imagine running a ship like that in a high pressure situation. Seems like it would save everyone a lot of trouble (and the medical staff a lot of work) to implement some health and safety standards is all I'm saying.

Anyway now let's talk about the most important part of the story: how was McCoy characterized? I have to say if I were rating Star Trek books on how much I enjoy the McCoy in them alone I would give this one four stars out of five simply because he was missing for a big part of the middle of the novel because he was doing his job in medbay away from all the action. He starts the story as the readers' POV sort of character to help introduce the plot of the story as the only non-captain in a meeting of the captains who will be participating in the starship race. Why is he even there being sassy and adorable? Presumably just because he's Kirk's bestie, and I love it. Later in the story he gets to go on his own solo whodunit Sherlock Bones adventure on the Ransom Castle to solve a medical mystery and prove the Romulans kidnapped a Rey woman. I loved it A+ would read a whole series of McCoy solving crimes. He was funny. He was friendly. He was by turns prickly and apologetic when he realized he'd made a wrong judgement. He was a very good McCoy.

Overall I give The Great Starship Race 3 or 3 1/2 stars out of 5 because honestly the whole confederate thing really threw me off and made me feel weird.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, since I haven't read a Star Trek novel in about 20 years, but sadly, I didn't. The writing is of the quality one might expect from a fanfic (and actually much worse than some excellent fanfics I've been lucky enough to read.)

The characters don't ring true--Kirk's default setting seems to be "capricious jerk," while Spock and the rest of the crew are reduced almost to shadows.

The story has promise (people from a newly-discovered planet want to publicize their entry into the Federation by hosting a starship race open to non-Starfleet ships), but its execution is dreadful. The Rey could have been a fascinating addition to the Star Trek universe because of their ability to affect others with the force of their emotions--a power to which Vulcans and Romulans are particularly susceptible. Instead, they are portrayed as childlike and weak, despite this unique power which allowed them to dominate their planet after having evolved from prey animals (!) and despite having discovered space travel on their own.

More troubling than this, though, is the casual racism on display. Sulu is portrayed as an inscrutable cipher who controls his emotions almost as much as Spock does, and is referred to as an "Oriental." One ship's all-human crew proudly flies the Confederate "Stars and Bars" flag without facing any censure, which is unconscionable even in this century, let alone Kirk's. And at the end, when Kirk visits the disgraced Romulan commander in hospital, he refers to the man as "not a Romulan or a Vulcan," but a different kind of being--not too far from the "one of the good ones" rhetoric often faced by people of color in our own time.

Altogether, "The Great Starship Race" is a disappointment and one which the serious fan would be well-advised to skip.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A starship race to welcome the Rey into the Federation takes a swift left turn from the plans when a Romulan vessel called 'Red Talon' enters the race at the last moment. Her commander, Valdus, appears to have prior knowledge of the Rey and seems hell bent on uncovering their secrets.

Carey has written an excellent 'Star Trek' novel which fully encapsulates the spirit of the series, allowing her story to expand beyond the limits of television without losing sight of what makes the show special.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even a solid, dependable writer like Diane Carey can't make a space race terribly exciting...though she manages it better than "Voyager" did in its final season. What salvages this novel for me are the cultural details of the Gullrey civilization, the handling of the Romulans, and the final, more-exciting-than-the-rest-of-the-book siege/assault/life-and-death chase that fills the final fifty pages. More comfort food, though it concludes with a bang.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

After centuries of hoping that they were not alone in the universe, yet almost reaching the conclusion they were, the Rey were contacted by the Federation. Overjoyed to learn that there were many intelligent species in the universe, the extremely emotional Rey welcomed the contact and applied to join the Federation.
To celebrate the event, the Rey sponsored a race between warp driven ships of various types. Rules were put in place to level the playing field and the racecourse was marked out by beacons that required complex analysis in order to avoid going wildly off course. There is some preliminary trash talking between Captain Kirk representing the Federation and some of the other captains. In typical Kirk style there is a specific interchange between Kirk and a woman from his past.
The race is about to begin when a Romulan warship suddenly appears and asks to join. Kirk is uncertain, but the Rey insist that the race must be open to all who want to participate. As Kirk and his shipmates believe, the Romulan captain has an ulterior motive. The Rey are very telepathic and project their emotions onto other intelligent creatures. While it has a strong effect on humans, it is devastating to Romulans and almost crippling to Vulcans.
The captain of the Romulan ship has experienced the power of the Rey to disable Romulans and his goal is to wipe them out. His method is to ignite a massive fusion bomb deep inside the Rey home world that would destroy the planet. With reason to believe that the Federation would use the Rey to overpower the Romulan Empire, the captain believes he is justified in his planned actions. He also must act independently so that the Romulan leadership can deny foreknowledge of his actions.
The story is a good example of the heroism and adaptiveness of the leaders of the Enterprise. Once the Rey on the Enterprise reveal their power to influence others, they understand the Romulan motives. In a pleasant reference to an episode of the original series, Dr. McCoy comes up with a method to damper down the Rey influence to manageable levels. In the episode, “The Tholian Web” the space the Enterprise is in causes them to go mad. McCoy uses a Klingon nerve agent to deaden the human emotional reaction so that they can function.
Based on traditional aspects of great power rivalry, this book is well worth reading as it combines the resourceful of Kirk, Spock and McCoy with elements of what is good old fashioned competition and trash talking between confident humans.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly impressed with this one. I was concerned that the race aspect would be a boring setting, but it turned out the opposite for me. I found the unraveling of the story enjoyable and the racing content well placed and well used.

All of our familiars don't really develop much over the story but I did think they were good representations of the characters as we know them. I particularly liked the way Spock was written. A lot of books have him as stern and impassive as he was when he first rejoins Enterprise during TMP. But I think Spock was a bit more realistic in this, with his human side showing subtle reminders of his fondness for his experience with this crew.

And I really liked the way the Valdus/Romar relationship was portrayed.

I was mostly annoyed at the Rey throughout and especially when it was revealed that they knew about their affects all along and had not been upfront about it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was well written, the characters were mostly believable and the story was interesting.

[Andy Stjohn · Rating 1 out of 5]

TOS #67: the Great Starship Race by Diane Carey

This book infuriated me. I rarely ever get mad reading a book, but there’s one line in this that defends the Conferdates and admires them. I’m not talking about some alien civilization but like the actual Civil War ones. It just really irked that these type of beliefs will still exist in the universe of Star Trek. This was another problem I had with the first New Earth book as it contained people who were basically from the 20th century still acting like into the 23rd century. It just irked me.

This book has all the making of a good Star Trek novel like a good villain in Valdus, an interesting concept of a literal starship race and much more. But it felt too folksy and whimsical for Star Trek, particularly in the form of Ransom. Carey did a good job of characterizing the main cast and she did a particularly good job with Kirk and McCoy in my opinion, but this book just left a bad taste in my mouth with the confederate thing.

1/10

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't exactly expect a literary masterpiece when I pick up a Star Trek novel but I do expect Kirk, Spock and McCoy to sound like themselves.

Up from 1.5 because the storyline was actually pretty good and very Trek, it just didn't feel at all as if it was really the Star Trek characters in it.

[Amelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book mostly because I loved the idea of it, the aliens, the villains, and the starship race. But it just fell flat on the execution. The beginning scene was better than the rest of the book.

[Judith Paterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once I got into it I liked it, but it seemed to take a while. The story got more interesting as it went on
Diane Carey is a keen sailor and peppers her stories with nautical and sailing terms, which can be tedious if you don't know what they are about!

[Paxton Holley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. The story premise is solid, an intergalactic race between starships from all over the galaxy, but the book is boring. I didn't like the way it was written. It felt like I was reading this book for a month.

[Katrina Veerkamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book begins rushing to an exciting ending! The last pages you feel like you’re there trying to stop the explosion. I really liked this one! Hard to determine what the Romulans we’re trying to do….and when Kirk and the crew figure it out the action goes crazy! Get ready for quite a ride!

[marcia dominiack · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!

What an excellent, fast paced read! I could hardly put this book down! All of the Enterprise crew was spot on with the characters I've loved for decades. I even liked and admired the Romulan commander.
A must read for every die hard Star Trek fan!!!

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is good. A nice, fun TOS romp. Feels like a good grasp of McCoy and Kirk. But as other reviews note, the racial language regarding Sulu and Uhura is cringe at best and idk what to make of the Confederates in Space.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and fast

Diane Carey uses her knowledge of sailing and seamanship to great success in this fun Trek take that also hits all of the right characterization notes.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of my favourite Trek novels. Great story, great plot and good use of the characters.

[Michelle Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this one, was very intresting and full of action.

[Eric Hersh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book. Plenty of action and some twists that were not predictable.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rey a previously unknown race have contacted the Federation. Hoping to join they are hosting a Starship race,but then the Romulans turn up, with Kirk suspects a different agenda.
An enjoyable re-read

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A relaxing enjoyable read that will have you thinking again about the Romulans.

[Reesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so fun!

It was easy to read and interesting, though it was a weird sensation reading this story after having seen the Voyager episode that aired years later about the same concept (this book, 1993, that episode, Drive, 2000). I wonder if anything was taken from this novel for that episode...?

Either way, I think this novel was much better than the Voyager episode. It would have made for an excellent TOS episode back in the day, if they'd had the budget for it.

It has some problems, of course, as so many of the novels from this era do... A starship flying a Confederate flag? Good lord. I just tried to tune it out and thought of the people as Deep Southern, because yikes. And, of course, the sexism. Always the sexism.

I really thought the race was going to be boring, but the writing was so good, it kept me engaged even during space movements. Plus, the two main Romulans were so well developed - real people, not caricatures as it so often is with these novels.

The new alien species was really interesting, as well. I would have liked them to show up in just about any series to get to know them better.

4.5 stars.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun romp. Nothing earth shattering, but a nice read that could have been a TOS episode.

A quiet race, in an empty sector of space, want to join the Federation.
So, they sponsor a starship race to celebrate their joining the rest of the galaxy.
Then, the Romulons show up...

Everyone sounds right, is solidly written and gets something to do, our main villian has a bit more nuance and personality and the new alien race is interesting.
Most of the other racers get very little to do, but otherwise this was a nice read.

[The Fizza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again Diane Carey gives us a story which reads like anepisode of TOS in terms of plot and characters:

A goodwill mission, a race between an assortment of ships from across the Federation, meant to be fun for both the ship’s crew and spectators turns into something much more when a Romulan ship enters the race.... Why are they there and what have they to do with the host planet, Gullrey, for whom the race is a prelude to their joining the Federation?

There are some issues; like the flatness of the main story, the shallowness of the prominent female character (Nancy Ransom) and how, while the Kirk and Company are characterized correctly none are giving any depth. We learn nothing new, old or interesting about the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. They just service the plot... but that's because this books doesn't try to be anything more than a fun Original Trek romp.

Taking place in 2269 (the third season of the original Trek series run), there are some aspects of The Great Starship Race which stand out; like the cultural details of the Gullrey civilization who are joining the UFP, the dynamics between Romulan Commander Valdus and his Sub-commander, as well as the more exciting than the rest climax/falling action sections.

I'd give this book 2.5 ★★ and would recommend it to any TOS fan looking for something light but fun!

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Great Starship Race" was everything I expected it to be: a shallow story, based on a bad premise. Even the Romulans, who usually are a saving factor, couldn't help the book that is all about racing with spaceships with a weak plot in there somewhere. Rather low brow for Star Trek.

The characters are left shallow and the story goes nowhere, and when you combine this to an ending that is about as bad as it could have been...

Well, it was written well and had many exellent scenes concentrating around the dynamics of the characters of the Romulan Commander and his Subcommander so it wasn't a total failure. And the Romulans still were refreshing, even if they weren't nearly at their best.

And I have to mention that unlike so many Carey books, we actually get a prominent female guest-star, even though she is shallow and suffers from the characterization flaw many female sci-fi characters share: the HPS (Hidden Penis Syndrome).

Ms. Carey revealed in a recent interwiev that she had to rewrite almost the entire book, so maybe that is the cause of the utter flatness and naiveté of "The Great Starship Race".

[Adam]

I mostly enjoyed most of the book. Kirk is a strong protagonist, and Carey is an excellent Star Trek novelist. However, I didn't need yet another novel wherein the antagonist is an outlier member of the Klingon or Romulan Empires. Not everyone needs to be this noble, yet conflicted member of a Federation counterpart who doesn't quite fit in with the politics of their home world. That trope can get old quickly.

Also, there were several instances where anachronistic language rears its head - specifically in describing Sulu as "Oriental." Additionally, one of the ships in the race is a human ship comprised solely of people from the American South, and the first mate talks approvingly of his captain sporting the "Stars and Bars" on the hull. In the 23rd Century. This book came out in 1993, so I don't think we can hand-wave it away that "it was written so long ago and times have changed."

[Christopher Obert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a curious Star Trek story revolving around a race between an assortment of ships from across the Federation. This goodwill mission is meant to be fun for both the ship’s crew and spectators. But everything changes when a Romulan ship wants to enter the race. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise know it in their bones that the Romulans do not come to race for fun and goodwill but have ulterior motives. Can the crew of the Enterprise run a race while keeping an eye on that new and possibly deadly entry?

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't read trashy romantic fiction when I'm on vacation -- I read classic Star Trek novels. This was an old paperback picked up at a garage sale, with yellowing pages and a brittle cover that fell off while I was reading it. I loved every bit of it. Visiting old friends is so comforting and so much fun. And Diane Carey is my favorite Star Trek writer. I might have read this years ago, long before Goodreads existed, and I didn't have a list of what I've read. But I don't mind reading it every ten years or so if Im relaxing in a comfortable chair. Live long and prosper.