By Christopher L. Bennett

Gallery Books, out now

As he settles in to his new mission as Captain of the USS Enterprise, James Kirk has cause to reflect on his path to the Constitution-class centre seat…

There have been various novels over the years that have charted Jim Kirk’s early years prior to the events we see in the original series – Enterprise: The First Adventure being just the most obvious – and of course there’s been the ‘official’ biography of Kirk from David Goodman. Although in places, Christopher Bennett’s novel acknowledges some of these, he’s drawn primarily on the information given to us in the TV series, and in so doing presents a picture of a Jim Kirk that may feel slightly at odds with the one we expect. (It certainly is at odds with the Kelvin-verse Kirk, as portrayed by Chris Pine in the 2009 movie.) Readers with a long memory may recall that over a decade ago I commissioned a piece for the official Star Trek magazine that looked at the evidence, rather than the hype, about Kirk – and Bennett’s portrayal is much closer to the version from that.

Bennett avoids the obvious parts – the creature that Kirk encounters during his mission with the USS Farragut, for example – and shows us how Kirk developed his command style, learning from both his and others’ successes and failures. There are some interesting cameos, as well as a great scene between him and Christopher Pike (which I’m sure I’m not the only person who heard the lines read by Anson Mount), alongside Kirk’s growing relationship with his new first officer in the ‘contemporary’ sequences aboard the Enterprise.

Verdict: With a good mix of action and character development, Bennett gives us a strong portrait of a Captain in making. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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