Star Trek: Mere Anarchy

Star Trek: Mere Anarchy #1-6

by Keith R.A. DeCandido (Editor/Introduction), Mike W. Barr, Christopher L. Bennett

Mestiko: a world on the brink of interstellar travel -- and one that is closely and discreetly monitored by the Federation. But when a rogue pulsar sweeps through the star system, threatening to destroy all life on their planet, Starfleet must mount a desperate effort to protect the planet from annihilation.

Under the command of James T. Kirk, the Starship Enterprise™ is able to mitigate some of the damage -- but the world's surface is still devastated with appalling loss of life. Over the next three decades, the Enterprise and its crew revisit Mestiko -- whether to keep them from falling prey to the machinations of the Klingon Empire or to deliver a new method of replenishing the planet's ozone -- through trials and tribulations, hardship and strife, love and death.

Originally published as six ebooks, Mere Anarchy is the saga of one crew's career-long relationship to one world, and the ties that bound them inextricably together.

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

565 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[rivka · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of the individual books are better than others, as a whole the collection gets 4 stars. Partly because the collaborative nature is clear, and the jarring discontinuities sometimes found in shared-world collections are almost completely absent.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published as a series of six novellas to celebrate the original series' 40th anniversary, "Mere Anarchy" is now collected as a single-volume, trade paperback release in anticipation of the upcoming reboot on the big screen. The six stories take place across the entire run of classic "Star Trek," from the early days of the original series to the movie-era continuity.

As I read the short novellas, I will offer up my thoughts on each one and then do one big "wrap-up" review once I've read the entire 500 plus page story.

Book One: "Things Fall Apart" by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore
A pre-"Where No Man Has Gone Before" story about the earliest days of Kirk's command of the Enterprise. The planet Mestiko is one being observed by undercover teams of Federation scientists to determine if the planet is ready for first contact. While there, it's discovered that a giant pulsar will pass close to the planet and while it won't collide with Metisko, it will irradiate the planet, causing environmental hazards and virtually destroying all life on the planet. The Enterprise is assigned to deploy a series of satellites that will create a shield for the planet and avert all of this damage.

"Things Fall Apart" showcases an era we don't know much about in "Trek" history--that of the time before McCoy joined the crew and Gary Mitchell hadn't yet had his accident. It's nice to see the Enterprise crew slowly gelling into what it will become in later episodes and the movies and it's nice to see the Kirk and Spock friendship before it's really established. Of course, since there are five more chapters in the saga and we know the writers wanted a reason for the Enterprise to return to Mestiko, it's not easy to figure that things won't go according to plan when it comes to deploying the satellites. But despite being somewhat predictable if you've read a good deal of "Trek" fiction, the story works because we see a young Kirk facing the challenges of his command and accepting the burden when things don't go exactly according to plan--even though the failure isn't the fault of Kirk or anyone else really. The story also does a nice job of world-building for Mestiko, giving us a glimpse of the society and seeing the reaction to the potential catastrophic destruction coming.

"The Center Cannot Hold" by Michael Barr
Set during the original series run (early season two, I'd estimate) the story finds Kirk and company returning to Mestiko with a series of satellites that could clean up the atmosphere. Of course this being classic "Trek" at its height, the Klingons are also on hand, competing with the Federation for control.

Of the six stories in the book, this is the most straight forward. It puts elements into play that will pay off later in the series, including a thread about the mistrust of the Federation by certain factions on the planet. It's probably the shortest of the novellas contained here.

"Shadows of the Indignant" by Dave Galanter
Set in the "lost era" between the end of the original five year mission and the start of "The Motion Picture," Galanter's entry finds Kirk teaming with McCoy to head back to Mestiko on a covert mission. Early on the story is intriguing as we get some nice interaction between Kirk and McCoy, but overall I found this one of the more disappointing segments of the story.

"The Darkness Drops Again" by Christopher L. Bennett
The longest of the novellas and the most entertaining. Set after "TMP," Bennett shows why he's one of the best classic "Trek" writers currently working. A lot of that may be that the story isn't limited to a short number of days or weeks, but unfolds over a longer periods. The mood on Mestiko has changed and led to turmoil and a general distrust of the Federation by certain political factions who come to power. One scene I really liked sees the planet's people wondering why the Federation couldn't scramble to save their world as efficiently as they did when it came to V'Ger threatening Earth.

Bennett's story is the strongest on the characters and really the turning point of the set of novellas.

"The Blood-Dimmed Tide" by Howard Weinstein
It's been far too long since we were treated to a "Trek" story from Howard Weinstein. Back in the day, his books were those to be looked forward to and he certainly seems to have not lost his edge here. All the elements introduced in the first four installments come to a head in this story and Weinstein really delivers the goods. A fast-paced, exciting entry.

"Its Hour Come Round" by Margaret Wander Bonano
And then, there's the epilogue. Set after the death of Kirk, this is a character-driven coda to the story. It's nice to see Bonano back and writing for "Trek" again, but I wish this had been a stronger story along the lines of her Captain Pike novel released around the same time.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A global catastrophe on Mestiko, a non-aligned world on the Klingon border, causes the Federation to offer the assistance of Captain Kirk and the 'U.S.S. Enterprise'. The disaster will take an entire career to resolve.

This "modular novel" or collection of six interlinked novellas to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of 'Star Trek' holds together well and shows the frustratingly slow progress of a true catastrophe. Each of the novellas takes place in a distinct part of James Kirk's career and shows how attitudes change and mature over the course of thirty years.

[Kristina Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the initial story is set out much like an episode, each subsequent story builds on what has gone before to give everything greater depth and realism. They cover myriad plot lines and involve different combinations of characters at different stages of their lives. It makes for fascinating stories.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

uggh. why did i spend more than a week reading this drivel. To quote Bamber Gascoyne 'I've started so I'll finish' but it was painful. 2 stars.

[Andy Stjohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Trek: Mere Anarchy by various

This was an ok read. Basically for TOS’s 40th anniversary, a bunch of authors got together (including the likes of Dayton Ward, Howard Weinstein and Maraget Wander Bonanno) and wrote 6 ebooks about the crew of the Enterprise dealing with Mestiko, a planet struck by a rogue pulsar. It goes over 30 years of Trek history and the crew comes back many times over the intervening years to help heal the planet. For the release of Trek ‘09, they released in print.

This was an ok to decent read. It was a cool gimmick how it was set over 30 years of history and you get to see the planet and crew evolve. But the book didn’t outright wow me. This feels like something I would read if I had read every single TOS book out there and I was desperate to read something. That doesn’t mean this was a bad book, it just didn’t wow me. Probably the best one was by Bonanno, who has written some of the best Trek books imo (Burning Dreams was my second favourite for last year). It felt a little disconnected and with how the ebooks are structured, I wish they could have gone more into detail and the climax of each book was a little too fast for me.

But the repairing of the planet and the world of Mestiko was great. Overall I would rate this 6.5/10

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of 7 authors, only 1 was a woman, and she's the only one to give the female character Uhura any real "screen time." I don't believe anyone involved in this anthology purposely tried to be misogynistic, but that absence of intent might actually make it worse. (As with so many of the TOS episodes, alien women get more lines and backstory than the human women, like Uhura and Chapel.)

Anyway, as for the work itself: I've read over 300 Star Trek books, and this does not stand out as one of the best. (Though Bonanno's work is a glowing meditation on how we deal with death.) However, in an almost prescient manner, this collection seems to have foreshadowed the ongoing climate change crisis, as well as--I kid you not--the danger of the Trump presidency.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fantastic. Half a dozen different writers, all combining to produce one epic across decades, full of excitement, adventure, and emotional investment. This is what is possible when fanwank meshes with the skill of authors at top of their genre-writing game. This is also just the thing to give to a "Star Trek" rookie, in order to explain to them the magic of the series. Exceptional archetypal goodness.

[John Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool idea, 6 novellas charting the progress of a planet after it has a natural disaster and ways the Enterprise helps. Each novella (in theory) is supposed to focus on a different Enterprise crew member, but Kirk kind of sucks up the majority of the focus in all but the last one (which takes place after his death so yeah). Overall I enjoyed it, tho some of the stories were better than others.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good series!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wished this book had been longer.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published as a series of e-books, this omnibus edition is a collection of Star Trek novellas tied together by missions of the Enterprise crew to a single disaster-ravaged planet named Mestiko. This also allows for a series of recurring "guest star" characters.

Because of the structure, I knew the book would have an uneven tone, and tried to mitigate that fact for myself by reading it in chunks, as originally published. Nevertheless, I found the shift in tones and styles somewhat distracting. I wonder if reading it all at once would have actually been better?

Of the six sections, the first ("Things Fall Apart") is good, but suffers from the necessity of excessive exposition. The second ("The Centre Cannot Hold") is not very original in that it is a typical Klingon espionage tale. It also felt very abrupt and abbreviated, almost like the old collections of James Blish adaptations of TOS episodes, which I never cared much for. The third and fourth ("Shadows of the Indignant" and "The Darkness Drops Again") earned points with me for originality. "Shadows" is almost a detective story with Kirk and McCoy as the Federation's answer to Holmes and Watson. "Darkness" moves the meta-narrative of the whole series in a much more epic direction, sending the leadership of the planet Mestiko into exile. Unfortunately, this plot point is resolved before the novella is done. The fifth story, "The Blood-Dimmed Tide," is much like one of the movie scripts, with stolen technology, rebels and space battles. Since the novella is set in the era of the movies, that worked for me. The final story, "Its Hour Come Around," is ultimately shorter and smaller in scope, focusing on McCoy trying to solve one last medical mystery. For whatever reason, that reduction of focus really worked for me.

Ultimately, I would have liked this book a bit more if there had been a sense that the larger narrative was driving across all of the stories. I would have liked more specific unfinished business from one story to the next. As presented, it's a pleasant and entertaining series of Star Trek stories, set in a common locale, with common characters.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's taken me a little bit to get through (due to time constraints, not because the book is hard) but it was a well worth trip. Mere Anarchy takes six eBooks collected into one volume. Each novel takes place during a different time period in Star Trek history (from one of Kirk's first missions on the Enterprise to the first mission of his friends without him) and follows the saga of one planet. In this case Mestiko, which is quite close to the Klingons.

Mestiko is originally just a mission of Kirk's to stop a terrible, planet devastating event. They are only partly successful in this goal but Mestiko and the Federation (namely Kirk) continue having to check in with the planet and its people and deal with any brushfires that come up. It's a neat way to commemorate the franchise's 40th anniversary.

My favourite ones have to be the ones that take place during those gaps in between films. The one before the Motion Picture ("Shadows of the Indignant"), where Kirk uses his clout as an Admiral to get McCoy to help him run a covert mission. I loved the look at how fractured everyone is before the reunion in TMP. "The Blood Dimmed Tide" (set 18 months before "The Undiscovered Country" and featuring Spock in a role that maybe should have given his shipmates a clue) and "Its Hour Come Round" (In which, fresh after Kirk's death, Ambassador Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Uhura attend a Summit as to whether or not Mestiko will join the Federation and some grieving takes place or doesn't). That one felt the rawest to me and most in character. Case and point: Neither Uhura or McCoy are needed in the mission but Spock asks for their presence anyway but will not deal with his own grief anyway but privately.

The best one of the lot is probably the multi-year spanning "The Darkness Drops Again"

It's a long book/collection but well worth it to see the ages pass with Kirk and company and see how much and how little has changed in many ways as the story goes on.

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I doubt I will bother finishing this sucker, so I'll go ahead & post reviews for the parts I read:

"Things Fall Apart" by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore - dull & repetitive. We get what the story is like ... four times in here. 'A pulsar is coming. Starfleet totally screws up, and the pulsar harms the planet.' There, done. Not terrible, but nearly skippable.

"The Center Cannot Hold" by Michael Barr. Much more entertaining, not bad, but there was no real "hook," I guess, and I found it baffling why the Klingons would even care about this world. Is it just to spit in the Federation's eye? What warlike advantage could this ravaged wasteland offer them?

"Shadows of the Indignant" by Dave Galanter. Just awesome. Really a pleasure through & through, 99% of which is because Bones is showcased at his best here. Sad the ending was essentially the same as the last story (gasp! The Klingons!).

"The Darkness Drops Again" by Christopher L. Bennett. This is the one that made me give up. Why? Bennett is obviously a good writer, and this story takes place over like ... more than a decade, which is pretty ballsy, but I think ti really highlights the weakness of this entire experiment: Nothing can happen & nothing really goes anywhere, totally wasting the writers' time & talent. I find I just don't care about the planet in question (whose name has now escaped me). Ho hum.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that I like Star Trek just as much to read as to watch (which is to say ... meh). I got this as a cheapie book at Strand (a recurring theme for me I think), and it was a good few bucks spent. The writing is easy to read, as in probably middle school level. That made it perfect for travel reading when I was half listening for announcements or whatever. The book's size (six short books in one) made it less travel friendly, but I didn't have to worry about running out of reading material! I didn't get a lot of the references to the movies and other Star Trek things, but the story itself, written originally as e-Books and by 7 authors, was good, although with a few tangents that probably would have meant more if I were more well versed in Trekkie speak. I definitely pictured the original cast as I was reading, rather than Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot of this story was a lot like the Voyager pilot & their obligations to the Ocampa and I'm glad somebody turned the basic premise into a novel and really fleshed it out. It was a great idea in of itself, & there were a lot of interesting moral issues regarding the Prime Directive & how people felt about the decisions they had to make in positions of power. At times, the book probably put too much weight on realism in regards to the backlash from the payav against the Federations influence and that got a bit tiring and hard to deal with after 500 pages of the same thing.
It was pieced together well enough considering It was authored by 6 or so different people.

It started strong but there was a lot of unnecessary filler in the latter parts.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published in 2006-7 as ebooks as part of the forty year celebration of Star Trek, they've been collected in a trade paperback(available as a Kindle bundle as well).

The six novellas cover all the eras of The Original Series starting just before the second pilot that introduced James Kirk and finishing up after the prelude to GENERATIONS where Kirk was thought killed.

Mestikos is a planet ravaged by a passing pulsar that nearly destroyed it and all it's people, those saved only by the efforts of Kirk and company. In the intervening trips during a thirty year period, the crew encounters religious fanatics, political zealots, Klingons, Romulans, in their efforts to help the Mestikans terraform their planet back into surface level living.

[Patrick Nichol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific read for Star Trek fans, especially since it fills in the gaps during the entire 40-year history of the original crew.

Set against The U.S.S. Enterprise's connection to Mestiko, a planet devastated by a pulsar, Mere Anarchy is classic Trek at its finest.

This omnibus volume contains the entire ebook series that was launched during Star Trek's 40th anniversay in 2006.

Although the story's about Kirk and crew, the plot contains plenty to chew on.

Plot points covrer The Prime Directive, espionage, sabotage, ethics, isolationism, and reconstruction.

Highly recommended, especially with the new Trek flick coming out.

[bookwyrmemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never really thought of myself as a fan of Star Trek. In fact, I thought it was going to be very similar to Star Wars—which I do not like by the way—but I was very pleasantly surprised when I read this book. It was a lovely read and makes me very excited to see the new movie. And I must admit that the only reason why I really wanted to read it was because I've heard of this fandom through The Big Bang Theory. Which is also another favorite fandom of mine.

[John]

Excellent classic trek! A six-part epic written to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original TV show, each part of this work takes place at a different time in James T. Kirk's career, from having just assumed command of the Enterprise to shortly after the 6th and final ST film, "The Undiscovered Country". Very enjoyable reading!

[Jimyanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was originally written as a series of e-books, each a novella by a different author, linked by a background plot and taking place over a number of years, each story occurring subsequent to the previous one. All of the stories are extremely well-written, handle the characters well and have excellent pacing. Well worth the read for any fan of the original series.

[JoyfulK · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book doesn't have the depth of characterization and world-building that I've encountered in other Star Trek novels. It was disappointingly thin. Trekkies: go read something by Duane. Non-Trekkies, move on.

[Jd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this entire miniseries. Mestiko was very interesting very well developed planet, with a fascinating culture of native beings. I really enjoyed the way the authors were able to weave the stories in throughout the entire TOS history.

[Dave Tindall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. I liked the way that it spanned over decades so that you saw the planet slowly recover. the changes in the crew were really well done, it felt as if each different author knows the characters really well.

[Sue Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read the story starts in the ST original series of the five year mission and then continues over the years of the films.
Written by different authors they mesh nicely to create one long story.

[Michael Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outstanding book and well worth the time to read. A vivid story that takes place over 40 years and how the lives of the members of the Enterprise crew are affected.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically six linked novellas spanning the TOS era. drags sometimes, but no real clunkers.

[Alicia G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoy enjoyed this series.

[Judith Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea for story line - following an event and it's consequences over several decades and an aging and developing Enterprise crew.

[Elaine]

3/09