Inception

Star Trek: The Original Series

by S.D. Perry, Britta Dennison

As man expands beyond explored space, the need to find a way to make inhospitable planets habitable grows greater. One young biologist, Carol Marcus, has a project that she believes can reshape planets. A young committed scientist, she dares to dream of a Federation where there is never any hunger and every world is a paradise. Her dream is shared by James Kirk, a young Starfleet officer and her lover. One of Carol’s more enthusiastic team members is botanist Leila Kalomi. Leila finds Carol’s passion contagious, and sparks the interest of the Enterprise’s science officer, Spock, who convinces her to join Inception.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Space, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera, Star Trek Original Series

305 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 4, 2010

About the author

SD Perry (Stephani Danelle, by the way, though she prefers SD or Danelle) has been writing novelizations and tie-ins for most of her adult life. Best known for her work in the shared multiverses of Resident Evil, Star Trek, and Aliens, SD is a horror nerd and an introvert. Her father is acclaimed science fiction author Steve Perry. SD lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very character driven narrative that focuses on the budding relationship between a young James Kirk and Carol Marcus alongside with Spock meeting Leila Kalomi, as both women are working on a scientific project on Mars.

Even though the environment story line wasn’t the most gripping, it was nice to see the exploits of younger familiar characters whilst needing to hit certain plot points felt natural.

A great addition to The Original Series.

[Brayden Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's Good, Less good/sad and the interesting in this story. Kirk is good why wouldn't he be? Seeing a young Commander Kirk making a name for himself was enjoyable and as fun as I expected it to be. Then there's the battle of the leftist progressives! Carol Marcus and her team that wants to eradicate hunger in the UFP and Kent + Redpeace and the radical Whole Earth! Environmental leftists who want to preserve nature. This is exactly what I'd expect from the UFP not necessarily the "left eating itself" but debates and ideological entanglements coming from a progressive and Noble position, as opposed to the economic neoliberalism and conservatism that constrain and hinder us today. But god is this book also depressing, you just know the end result of the relationships portrayed, both Leila + Spock, Kirk and Carol, it all HAS to end in a bad or sad way and while the author does an excellent job conveying these emotions I just found it more depressing than the hopeful tone that Trek typically embodies.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly gentle and poignant set of character pieces that offer a different look at life in the Federation of the 23rd century. They also offer a unique view of Kirk and Spock at slightly earlier points in their lives than most of us are familiar with. Not at all what I was expecting, and all the better for it.

[Jimyanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book purports to tell the story of the ending of Jim Kirk's romance with Carol Marcus, as well as the first encounters between Spock and Leila Kalomi and the inspiration to her later training on Vulcan. These stories are set against a backdrop of an experiment that Carol Marcus was running which seems to be a precursor to Project Genesis, and the resistance of several environmental protest groups to the project and others like it.

It's not a badly-told story, although it is nothing to write home about. The characterizations are passable, particularly in the scenes dealing with Dr. Marcus and her decision not to tell Kirk that she was pregnant before breaking things off with him; the scenes involving Ms. Kalomi and Mr. Spock are rather too much like a fairly well-written fan-fiction for my taste and I'm guessing that they were written, or at least plotted, by Britta Dennison as they do not seem to be in the style that I've come to expect from Ms. Perry. Still, they were, as I said, reminiscent of WELL-WRITTEN fan fiction, so it could have been a lot worse. And the plot points that dealt with the conflict between scientific research and environmental concerns seemed to me to be fair and balanced. All told, this was an enjoyable quick read with a bit of a serious side, if far from a top-notch effort. Better than average, worth the read, but hardly in the top 30 or so Star Trek novels. Probably not in the top 50.

[Ann Feutz · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 Stars

This book takes place before Captain Kirk ever took over the Enterprise. Instead, we see some of his early moments with Carol Marcus. We see their romance. We see how Starfleet affected their ability to maintain a relationship long-term. We see "Inception," which appears to be a precursor to "Genesis."We even find out about Carol's pregnancy and her rationale for not telling Kirk about it.

We also get to spend time with Leila, who appeared in "This Side of Paradise." We get to see her first interactions with Spock and how she tried to persuade him to get in touch with his human/emotional side. Leila definitely comes across as young and naive here.

Kirk and Spock never meet in this story, but their characterizations are passable.

We briefly see the Enterprise, which includes appearances by Number One and Dr. Boyce (for those familiar with the original pilot." I would have preferred more of the ship and the crew vs. being on Earth or Mars for much of the story.

My biggest complaint about the book is the pace. It's very slow. The "villains" are Redpeace/Whole Earth and they seem to be eco-protestors/eco-terrorists. The eco-groups posed a threat by sabotaging the experiment itself, but the stakes still never felt high enough to keep me flipping pages.

If you want a romance, this may be for you.

If you want an adventure, I'd look elsewhere.

[John]

A very good classic Trek novel, which takes place before Kirk was captain, and in fact before he had even met Spock. Unlike many Trek books, this novel focuses on women characters, specifically Carol Marcus, the mother of Kirk's son, and another woman who falls in love with Spock. It's worth noting that unlike many "early classic trek" novels, in this one Kirk and Spock never actually meet, and neither are all that essential to the overall plot.

[Kreg · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a story that fills the gap of Kirk's early career (pre-Enterprise) it isn't too bad. Naturally some contradiction with other stories is to be expected - at least Kirk and Spock don't actually meet in this one which holds with established continuity. A very nice touch is featuring Carol Marcus working on what may be the precursor to the Genesis project.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Project Inception: a unique method of accelerating terraforming by the use of a catalysing agent of immense destructive power. At its head, a young Doctor Carol Marcus, who assembles a team of the best scientists in the Federation.

When a terrorist sabotages the project, Carol must call on Commander James Kirk to liaise between the team and Starfleet Command. She makes a decision to end her relationship with Kirk when she realises that their futures are going to be completely separate.

This is a fairly shallow novel which suffers from the worst of all fallacies - "small world" syndrome. One of the members of the team is Dr Leila Kalomi, who meets and falls desperately in love with Lieutenant Commander Spock. Perhaps the worst failing of this novel is that it reduces both Marcus and Kalomi to the role of infatuated teenagers who believe that they're not good enough for the men in their lives.

[Dirk Wickenden · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay read, a lot of chick lit type writing. The ecological stance was a little heavy handed. The scientific experiment, I guess a precursor to Genesis but on a smaller scale, was a little bit hard to understand. It was interesting to get a view of humans on Mars and the Utopia Planitia shipyard orbiting the planet.

The relationship with Kirk and Carol was okay but she doesn't reveal her pregnancy in the book but in Star Trek II, Kirk knows he has a son. I was expecting the story to cover this.

The relationship between Spock and Leila is not as long lasting as This Side of Paradise had us believe.

A quick read but a bit 'ordinary'.

[A.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book for fans of the original Star Trek series, specifically movies 2-4, including the fan-favorite, "The Wrath of Khan." However, I don't think you need to be a super fan in order to get it. Casual fans will probably find the story pretty accessible.

I think the writers nailed Spock. He was perfect.

The story line with Kirk and Dr. Marcus was believable and intriguing. It was fun to finally know the background story.

Recommended to Trek fans. Watch "Wrath of Khan" first, if you haven't seen it in a while. :)

[Wesley Molt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Wrath of Khan we meet Dr. Carol Marcus, an old lover of James Kirk's and their son David, and we learn about the Marcus' project called Genesis. In Inception, we meet Carol at a time when her and Kirk are still lovers, and Carol is working on Project Inception, which will eventually grow into Genesis. It's a nice, short story with everything one would expect from a good Original Series tale.

[Elsie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as the book tries to build tension that maybe, just maybe, Spock will fall in love ...
(spoiler)






his "I am incapable of love" response is a total buzzkill. Predictable, but still.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book...but I just didn't. I don't think Carol Marcus nor Leila Kolanmi are strong enough or interesting enough characters to carry a novel. Spock barely appears, and Kirk only appears sporadically. The book was well written, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting book to read. It appeared to explain more about how Genesis got it's start from the movie The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Svår att komma in i, och jag gav faktiskt upp den vid ett tillfälle bara för att komma tillbaka, flera år senare. Men boken tog sig riktigt bra och fick även en mycket spännande upplösning.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m just not having as much fun with Star Trek books lately for some reason.

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Jessika Caruso · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone whose favorite episode of The Original Series is probably "This Side of Paradise" (but who can really choose a favorite?) and whose favorite Trek movie is "Wrath of Kahn," I was thrilled to hear about and pick up this book. That said, I had extremely high expectations for this novel. I wanted to find out how and where Spock and Leila Kalomi met on Earth, as Leila says in the episode. I also wanted the book to explore Kirk and Carol's relationship and the reason behind why Kirk was not told about his son, David. And all of this needed to be done while portraying the characters accurately, as if you were watching them on-screen.

The book delivers all of this and more. Everyone is in-character and this prequel novel perfectly sets us up for what happened in the subsequent episode and film. I enjoyed the creativity of making Leila a botanist working for Carol, and especially enjoyed how the two became confidants. The reason I enjoyed Spock's "romance" (if you can call it that, as he is not capable of reciprocating her love) with Leila is because I love stories about people not having/being able to do something and then overcoming that. For example, a baby receiving glasses and seeing his mother for the first time. The same is true for Spock. This book shows how he was completely incapable of loving someone because of the way Vulcans are raised and conditioned. This was extremely difficult for Leila to accept and truly broke her heart. But, the authors made it clear that he enjoyed Leila's company and greatly respected her inquisitiveness, occupation as a scientist, and intelligence. Then, in "This Side of Paradise" we see Spock movingly being able to declare his love for Leila for the first time. After the influence of the spore wore off, he says that "for the first time in my life, I was happy." This novel shows beautifully how Leila and Spock had a past together, and she is not just some woman he just met.

As far as Kirk and Carol Marcus' story, I believe these two are written very in-character. They are in love with each other, but unwilling to compromise their career paths. It is the impossible love story of a Starfleet officer and a scientist. We see their love for one another and dedication to their positions and passions. We root for their relationship to work out, even though we known how it ends. Carol recognizes that Kirk belongs in command. The reason behind not telling him about David is written as the struggle that it should have been.

Although the romance is the main plot, there is also an engaging subplot that moves the story along and thought-provoking in its own right. Without giving too much away, I never thought about the environmental effects of science on other planets. Wildlife conservation is one of my real-life passions, so this helped me identify with the leader of a Greenpeace-type organization on Mars. No part of this book ever got boring; I was anxiously flipping each page.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Inception.' The characters were quite accurately written and the book was exciting and intriguing, even for a backstory novel of which we know the outcome. This was definitely due to the fast, thoughtful subplot. My only gripe is that I would have liked the origins and nuances of Carol and Kirk's romance to be explored more, like Leila and Spock's was. Nonetheless, this book deserves an easy 5 stars.

[David King · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Inception” by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison is a Star Trek novel that I wasn’t sure about due to the focus seemingly being on the previous romantic liaisons of both Kirk and Spock. I suppose, I am just not the biggest fan of romance novels, especially when the outcome of the relationships are known anyway due to what we have seen on TV & film.

Anyway, the plot itself is set in a time when Kirk is courting Carol Marcus and Spock has just met a young woman named Leila Kalomi. Both of these women are working on a scientific project on Mars which appears to be an early stage of the Genesis project. However, things get out of hand when some environmental groups decide they don’t appreciate the scientific work being conducted on Mars. Carol and Lelia soon require the assistance of the men they have fallen in love with to help them avert a potential disaster.

The first observation I had with the novel was that writing is very competent and well-structured which ensured I found the book very easy to read and finish. In addition, I felt that the authors had captured the voices of Kirk and Spock to the point that I could easily imagine the delivery of various lines being made by the actors who portrayed them. It was also quite interesting to witness some sort of attempt at exploring the relationship between Kirk and Marcus.

However, there are quite a few niggles I had with the book, the main one being that it wasn’t that exciting. The environmental plot just didn’t really keep me excited or interested as it seemed to be secondary to the overall romantic elements of the plot. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the romantic elements of the story had been deep, complex and really explored how the characters felt about each other.

Unfortunately the relationships between the four main characters felt like something I would see in a school playground. The readers gets subjected to various levels of angst as Carol worries about how to tell Kirk her big news while Leila pines for Spock Leila in particular was a rather irritating character due to her childish reactions and the level of desperation that results. In simple terms, the romantic elements of the story are something I could easily expect to see in a book set in a High School and aimed at 14 years olds.

Of course, the final issue with this book is that the reader already knows where these relationships are going. This results in a severe lack of suspense as you progress through the novel. Whilst this knowledge of what is going to occur in the future isn’t something new for Star Trek novels, I think "Inception" is affected more by the fact that such a large percentage of the book is dedicated to the characters' relationships.

Overall, this book will never go down as a favourite of mine but at the same time I don’t understand some of the scathing comments I have seen around the internet. Yes it isn’t the most exciting story and the romantic elements are rather juvenile but it was still interesting to see someone try and tackle this period and it was a very easy book to read due to the author’s competent writing skills. To be honest, if there are any Star Trek fans out there who also like Young Adult styled High School romance then they will probably love this book.

[Wesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim since I just happened to stumble upon it at my local library. To be honest, I expected far more of a plot than I received. The actual plot of the experiment on Mars headed by Dr. Carol Marcus and the controversy it garnered by environmental groups such as 'Redpeace' (the Mars equivalent to 'Greenpeace') and its extremist counterparts 'Whole Earth', seems to be nothing more than a device to propagate the romance between Carol Marcus and Jim Kirk, as well as the unrequited feelings that Leila Kalomi felt for Spock.

While these relationships are written in accordance with canon, the undue focus spent on them was not particularly of interest. Everything seemed to take a backseat to Carol's issue of her accidental pregnancy (with the baby who would later grow up to be David Marcus from 'Wrath of Khan'), and Leila's obsession over Spock, a Vulcan she happened to meet in the gardens of their embassy after a bad break-up. This makes both characters feel a bit...two-dimensional, despite their obvious intelligence and expertise in their field.

As for Kirk and Spock, don't let the cover fool you. They're not the central characters of the story. They are both in a substantial amount of the text, and they do play a crucial role in the plot, they're certainly not the focus and no interaction, as this was set before Kirk had taken command of the Enterprise with Spock as his first officer. They seem to exist more as plot devices, and the reader tends to instead view them more through the eyes of Carol and Leila, giving them both a decidedly romantic air about them throughout the whole book - making the story feel more like reading about someone's fantasies about Kirk and Spock than anything else.

It was an easy read, but nothing much more than that.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel travels back in the Star Trek universe to a time before Kirk and Spock have been assigned to the Enterprise. Kirk is involved with a young scientist. Dr. Carol Marcus (later of Wrath of Khan fame) and Spock, on forced shore leave, befriends a young botanist on Dr. Marcus' research team, Leila Kalomi, later to be seen in TOS episode, This Side of Paradise.

The plot deals with industrial sabotage of a minor terraforming experiment on Mars (foreshadowing the Genesis work in the Trek movies) by radical environmentalists. Kirk and Spock must save the day, although in an interesting twist, they never actually meet face to face.

The environmental terrorism angle is a unique one, but I admit to being confused by the co-authors POV here. At times they seem sympathetic to the environmentalists, and at other times, they seem to want to defend the ways of Starfleet, the military and even government bureaucracy. Were they for or against the conservationists? Or was the inclusion of these characters merely a plea for tolerant discussion from both sides as opposed to angry, polarizing debate? If so, the point could have been made more clearly and succinctly.

However, the book spends most of its time exploring the feelings of the four major characters as they navigate their complicated romantic (?) relationships. This portion of the book is handled competently, but there is very little real suspense, as any good Star Trek fan already knows the outcome of these stories from future history.

Overall, a pleasant but unremarkable TOS novel.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tie-in novels can walk a fine line between genuinely finding loose threads to tie together or stretching a few threads so thin that they seem threadbare.

Unfortunately, the latter is the case with the new "Trek" tie-in novel, "Inception."

Set at a time when a young Commander Kirk is courting Carol Marcus and Spock has just run across a woman named Leila Kalomi, the novel speculates on a what if these two women were part of the same team working on an early stage of the Genesis project. Throw in a couple of radical environmental terrorists and you've got this story, which is a light read but nothing more.

The novel wants to deal with the issue of technology and its impact, but unfortunately sees things too much as one side or the other without really attempting to find much middle ground. Also, the plot device of having Carol and Leila meet, both at significant crossroads in their careers and their relationships with Kirk and Spock really stretches willing suspension of disbelief to the n-th degree. Also, if you're a classic "Trek" fan you know where certain things are headed before the first page is turned and S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison don't really plow any new ground or come up with anything interesting or different along the old familiar ground.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely boring, about 220 pages psychology, 30 pages of action. Nothing new is learned, some known fact are elaborated on in minute detail but bring no additional value. The only goal seems to be that Kirk and Spack need to be brought together in the past with an explanation why they themselves don't know about it. That too feels completely artificial.
The scene is mostly Mars and the story contains many flashbacks. Aside from Spock and Kirk are the main characters ddoctor Marcus who discovers she is pregnant from Kirk and decides not to tell him and Leila who fallis in love with Spock and who decides to tell him.
Ecoterrorists are represented by a non-violent group and a group that commits the sabotage that almost destroys Mars. The story of the leader of the first group is told in (psychological) detail and eventually leads nowhere. From the pages i deduce that the author believes that ecoterrorism is acceptable and the blame should be put on others. Also that does not well with me.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall this story just missed the mark on several levels. Spock and Kirk were portrayed as pat, not quite believable. I hoped this would be a story of two competent and interesting women - but they weren't. Leila in particular was immature and sophomoric and really difficult to like. I loved the idea of the book but it fell short on character and the plot seemed like a device and not a story in itself. Part of the problem could be that I read this right after David Mack's fantastic "Mirror Universe Sorrows of the Empire" - maybe no TOS book can measure up. I do know if I had read this as my first Trek novel, I would give up on ever reading another.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set a few years before James T. Kirk takes command of the Enterprise, the story concerns, as subplots, the relationship of Kirk and carol Marcus and the beginnings of Spock and Leila Kolani, as well as an experiment called Inception on Mars by a group of scientists led by marcus.

Several groups are against it, one Redpeace(a future equivalent of Greenpeace and another group more violent. The violent group has a spy in Marcus's group and plan sabotage.

Kirk and Spock, without ever meeting, work with Marcus and Kolani to solve the problem and avert disaster.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was a wonderful look at the behind the scenes relationships between Carol Marcus and Jim Kirk and Leila Kalomi and Spock. Kirk and Spock don't meet in this novel. But they both have a part in solving the problems of a science experiment gone wrong on Mars.

Carol and Leila work together in Inception, a terraforming experiment that is being tested on Mars. An environmental group against such experiments messes with the experiment and causes a major problem that will spell major problems on Mars. Kirk and Spock both have a hand in the outcome of this problem.

[Hayden Trenholm · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never expect too much from Star Trek novels -- a decent read and a re-visit with some favorite characters -- but this one delivered less than usual. In some respects it read more like a romance than an actual ST novel with heavy emphasis on 'relationships' and not much on starships. The SF plot was sketchy at best with even more hand-waving than usual. It certainly didn't bear close examination. If I hadn't been flying cross country, I doubt I would have finished this one.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

My impression of this book may have been coloured by the fact that my expectations were lowered before reading it. However, I think it was a competent outing for S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison, although not particularly groundbreaking.

Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2011/04/i...

[Jeff Wetherington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good Star Trek novel that is true to the characters and the Star Trek universe. I felt the resolution of the problem and the ending were a bit rushed, but on the whole an enjoyable read and visit with some of my favorite fictional characters.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this prequel to the Genesis story. I loved Leila and her wishful longing towards a perplexed Spock and even Carol's uneasy decision on what to do about her and Jim. I really wanted the book to keep going and that's always a great trait for a book to have.