The iconic Star Trek character’s lifestory appears for the first time in his own words; perfect for fans of the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Words. One of Starfleet’s finest officers and the Federation’s most celebrated citizens reveals his life story. Mr Spock explores his difficult childhood on Vulcan with Michael Burnham, his controversial enrolment at Starfleet Academy, his time on the … controversial enrolment at Starfleet Academy, his time on the Enterprise with both Kirk and Pike, and his moves to his diplomatic and ambassadorial roles, including his clandestine mission to Romulus.
Brand-new details of his life on Vulcan and the Enterprise are revealed, along with never-before-seen insights into Spock’s relationships with the most important figures in his life, including Sarek, Michael Burnham, Christopher Pike, Kirk, McCoy and more, all told in his own distinctive voice.
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4.5/5
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. SPOCK by Una McCormack is going to be something that I suspect will be controversial and yet rewarding for all of those audience members who choose to enjoy it. It is a book that is heavily tied to STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and if you have not experienced all three seasons of that show then you will miss out on a large number of details that may or may not make maximum sense.
This includes the attempts on Sarek’s life by “Logic Extremists”, the ‘Red Angel’ plotline, and the ultimate fate of the Romulans and Vulcans as revealed in the episode “Unification III.” The “Romulan Warrior Nuns” from Picard (forgive me, I’m terrible with Trek names) also play an exceptional role. Those who restrict themselves to only TOS and the TNG era will find much of the book mystifying. Given that I am a die-hard DISCO and NuTrek fan, I have little problem here and think one of the best Star Trek books of all time was STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: THE WAY TO THE STARS by the same author.
The premise is that Mr. Spock is writing his memoirs (using a Vulcan word for them) in the last days before he takes off in the Jellyfish to attempt his plan to save Romulus from a destructive supernova. The result of this event was detailed in the also-controversial (but very popular) Star Trek (2009). Basically, this is a book that homages and celebrates the past two decades as much as the previous thirty before that.
As I’ve mentioned before, I think Una McCormack is someone who is able to provide depth and context to characters as well as situations that might otherwise lack it. THE LAST BEST HOPE is something that I have repeatedly said should have been the first two episodes or pilot of Picard. Here, she provides a fascinating (no pun intended) look at Spock’s childhood relationship with Michael Burnham and even incorporates the much-maligned Sybok into the narrative in a way that is organic to making the universe’s most famous Vulcan into the man he became.
Much of this book is devoted to Spock’s childhood on Vulcan and his unhappy relationship with his father Sarek that provides much of the narrative. I suspect this will provide most old school Trek fans their favorite parts of the story as well. In simple terms, Spock never gets on with his dad and even when they make up, they never make it last.
One of the funniest in a black comedy sort of way scenes is where Spock talks at great length of how making peace with Cardassia was a fool’s errand, that they were a brutal dictatorship, and they would never honor any treaties. His father was disgusted and it became the second great fight of their lives. This despite the fact that Spock was working on his Reunification movement (with Sarek’s disapproval) and both of them had worked to make a lasting peace with the Klingons.
Another thing to note is that this novel retcons the retcon of The Autobiography of James T. Kirk that postulated Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was an in-universe movie created by the people of the Roman planet in “Bread and Circuses.” Here, the events of the film obviously happened and, furthermore, Una McCormack is able to salvage a coherent (even tragic) narrative from the underdeveloped Sybok’s story.
In simple terms, Spock and his elder “know him in a Vulcan Christmas Card sort of way” half-brother were both outcasts unfulfilled by Vulcan society. Whereas Spock was psychically contacted by V’Ger and developed a profound insight into the nature of the unievrse, Sybok ended up making contact with the “God” entity who misused his trust and led him down a dark path that resulted in his death. I’ve always believed TFF was a bunch of good ideas executed badly and the author shows how they might have played them.
I do think there’s some areas that could have gotten much attention like what happened to T’Prynn after the events of “Amock Time” and the fact that Spock is portrayed as never marrying despite the fact Picard met Sarek at his son’s wedding (and Sybok presumably died on Sha’Ka’Ree). Still, she manages to fill in a lot of narrative holes. I was particularly impressed by her incorporation of Saavik’s backstory as well as expansion on the character of Valeris. The latter isn’t sympathetic at all but impressive in displaying all the nastiness that Spock admits underlies the Vulcan character.
In conclusion, this is a great book but if you’re not up on DISCOVERY and PICARD then you will miss out on a lot. Fans of the old-school Trek will possibly even think that Captain Kirk and McCoy were short changed as the book glosses over the TOS period. I don’t think that’s the case and we have massive amounts of information on their relationship from other sources but those looking for that may leave disappointed. I, however, salute her ability to tie classic Trek in with the new.