Uhura's Song

Rating 2.5I picked this book up after I watched a round table discussion of Urban Fantasy writers that included Jim Butcher One of the authors, I can t remember who now, mentioned this book in response to a question about enjoyable debut novels for authors they loved now I had never read any Star Trek extended universe novels, so I figured it would be fun And it was Reading characters you know so well from the TV Series was a lot fun, I could hear Dr McCoy, Spock, and Checov s voices in my head [...]

Anthropological sci fi is often excellent, and Uhura s Song is no exception Solid, real characters and a fascinating imaginary culture studied in a deep probing way Janet Kagan has managed to capture the characters in an innovative and extremely complex story that she manages to hold together only by uniquely talented writing and insightful characterization.The premise of the story is simple enough the planet Eeiauo is devastated by a plaque that hits its feline inhabitants once every few decade [...]

So Janet Kagan s a cat person, then I had not read any Star Trek books in a while, so I picked up where I left off with this Despite the overwhelming goofiness of this book, it did not make me regret my decision to read it or get back into Star Trek books The book is a great example of the freedom and, again, goofiness of the early 80s numbered series era, in which authors could create new characters and do bizarre things provided they didn t change the status quo of the Star Trek universe Why t [...]

In the opening three chapters of this Star Trek novel author Janet Kagan achieves quite a lot She sets up the plot even moves it along at a cracking pace In addition to this she quickly establishes Star Trek characters we know love entertains us with some wonderfully fun dialogue that ranks with the best in the TV series.I wondered what else she could do after cramming so much into just a few chapters Sadly, the answer is not much There are still some good things along the way, but it does lose [...]

I don t think anyone who has watched The Original Series can forget the moment in Charlie X when Uhura is singing in the rec room while accompanied by Spock on the Vulcan lyrette Her voice and songs are a reminder of beauty in an environment built for functionality and protocol It is no surprise then, that a tie in novel focuses on the power of Uhura s songs and features worlds and aliens of equal power and beauty.The Enterprise is orbiting Eeiauo I pronounce this in my head like meow minus the [...]

My rating for this book was tricky to settle on On the one hand, this book has so many great qualities that outnumber my complaints On the other hand, my complaints hold emotional and logical I d say weight First, the good stuff The places they boldly go Kagan writes wonderful anthropologic world building of Eeiauo and Sivoa Oh, how I adore these cat people Sivoan culture takes center stage most of the novel, and it s delightful seeing Uhura successfully making first, significant contact thanks [...]

I absolutely adore Hellspark and Mirabile by Janet Kagan I picked up Uhura s Song simply because it was by Kagan, but never read it until now because I am not much into Trek any But recently I was reminded how much I love Kagan s work and decided it was time to read this book.I loved it Loved I d forgotten how it can be so nice to already know the characters and the universe and just get down to the story I see a lot of Hellspark in this book, with the meeting and communication with a new cultur [...]

Undoubtedly my favorite star trek book I have re read it many times I wish Kagan had written books, because she had a.way of putting you into the story The characters are fun and ones I d want to be friends with The story himself reminded me of the beginnings of the AIDS crises in the 80 s when I worked at a hospice.

I m having a hard time with this review I m still not sure how I feel about this book I was really looking forward to an Uhura centric story, and I absolutely loved her in this, on her own right and also in her interactions with Spock By comparison, I found the human OC kind of annoying She was a little toomething And I enjoyed how thoroughly the author created her world, with a complex culture and interesting philosophical points but I agree with the other reviewer that it got a little bit LOLC [...]

Um, it has cat people and serious Mary Sue problem It also has some nifty world building and anthropology going on, which TOS novels tend to kind of ignore That being said, the author flails around a lot when it comes to lingustics we have a universal translator But that s a really stupid idea So umm it doesn t always work Except when it does Which doesn t necessarily have to do with how linguistically complicated a given thing is Also, Uhura gets to do stuff although it s annoying as hell that [...]

Basically, this book is about Uhura interacting with a race of singing cat people aliens, whose culture and planet get laid out in elaborate worldbuilding detail during a long, traveling through jungles action adventure story, also starring Spock and other members of the crew If that doesn t appeal to you, we might be from different planets or something It s one of my very favorite Star Trek novels.

3.5 stars wish the book didn t end with unanswered questions but mostly enjoyable

I read this book once before, 25 years ago, when I was a sopho in high school I remembered it as a decent story, and with it, one girl in my history class who saw the cover when the book fell out of my book bag as I was pulling out my notebook and pen, and classmate laughing at the cover Reading it through this time, though, with adult eyes I m impressed with the detailed world building contained therein I understand much of the science presented in the text I appreciate the felinoid alien race [...]

A plague is running rampant through the felinoid population of Eeiauo and the Federation has sent the Enterprise to aid in treatment and research along with Dr Evan Wilson to handle shipboard duties while McCoy goes planet side The virus then jumps species and a galactic pandemic is nigh but maybe there is hope as Uhura knows some old songs of the Eeiauoan people one of which tells of a disease very much like the long death but the final verses are missing When the song is investigated the Eeiau [...]

This is my go to book when I want something familiar, comforting and sweet and fun both I m rereading it right now while home with my sick son and dealing with hot flashes at night Why is this so wonderful It deals with so many of my favorite subjects cats, medicine, history and the consequences of history It doesn t really have a particularly horrible scary villain, unless a disease qualifies as such which it can read about the Bubonic Plague AKA Black Death in great detail if you want nightmar [...]

I received this book as a gift from a friend, after I mentioned to her how much I loved the original Star Trek s Lt Uhura I must say it s now one of my favorite ST novels One of the best things about the story is the author s attention to worldbuilding and culture building The Sivaoans and Eeiauoans aren t just talking cat people, they re alien in original and striking ways I relished the chance to see Uhura in the spotlight, using her musical talent to help solve the mystery of a deadly disease [...]

I understand why this one s a favorite amongst fans.It s got space cat people.It s got space ebola.It s got some neat world building and problem solving.But I gave the book 3 stars instead of 4 because of the Mary Sue that basically takes over the book, pushing Uhura right on out of her own story.Now, before I keep going, I have to say I like Mary Sue characters A cool, brilliant woman character is awesome and frankly, if she s Janet Kagan s author avatar then Janet Kagan is a pretty cool person [...]

So many Star Trek novels are about epic battles than great stories This novel is a delightful exception The story line broadens the characters of Uhura and Chekov, allows delightful Spock insights, and introduces new characters that grab attention in all the right ways When I finished this book I knew I would miss all my friends in this story I immediately went online to see if this author had penned other ST stories Alas, she did not However, it was interesting to see that many people list Uhu [...]

I dearly loved this book It has a compelling plot, great pace, equal parts adventure, drama with adorable funny moments The characterisation is remarkable, especially for the Enterprise members se get to see of I especially love how the author wrote the friendship and team work between Uhura and Spock, and Kirk and Spock The alien races are a blast If I absolutely had to complain about something, I d say the Enterprise original character took up a bit too much screen time Other than that, full [...]

Probably one of the most Mary Sue of all Star Trek novels the author even wrote in engineering terms named after her real last name, and one main character is obviously her Mary Sue counterpart and yet it s one of my favorite TOS novels of all times It s a fun adventure, it has prehensile tailed cats, and a good storyline I ve read this one several times, much to my shame.

As my first Star Trek novel, I wasn t quite sure what to expect but I found this story to be fairly entertaining and it certainly held true to the characters and plotlines that I have come to know in watching the old television series Overall, a very enjoyable read.

This was one of my favorite books in high school, and upon a mature reading of it, I still adore it Sure, you ve got to like Star Trek and cats to enjoy it, but if you do, Kagan soundly deposits you into an interesting world with your favorite ST characters Worth a read on a rainy day

Brilliant Book Read it NOW 3

Enjoyablebut not great.

I would have liked this book if Evan Wilson wasn t such a Mary Sue The mystery of the song, First Contact with a race that hates another that needs its help, learning the culture of big cats, Chekov being awesome, etc There is a lot to like in this book but for the first third it was frustrating seeing Kirk on the sidelines in favour of this character and then her having the solution to pretty much EVERY problem It did get kind of annoying and her being everyone s favourite person made the book [...]

I ve read a bunch of Star Trek novels, and it is apparent some started as stand alones that were later shoe horned into the Star Trek universe This novel feels like one of those Else the author inserted herself into the novel, the Mary Jane trope There is one new character who has to outshine all the classic Trek ones, and that takes away from the book Uhura is just a minor character here, and she s in the book title The alien culture overly described in detail is interesting, yet again it does [...]

I ve not read other Star Trek books, so I can t compare it to others As a standalone sci fi book I think it did what sci fi does best and that s bringing us just out of ourselves enough to have much needed perspective on our actions, thoughts, values and prejudices I like the voice with which the author wrote the characters Enough so that I searched around to see what else she d authored and sadly it s not much.

This wasn t the first time I ve read this book, and it won t be the last As a Star Trek fan, I appreciated that the author stayed true to the original characters and as a human being, I appreciated the message at the heart of this book With so much divisiveness and hatred in the world today, it is a must read for everyone, not just sci fi Star Trek fans.

This was like an extended episode of the Original Star Trek The writing was actually better than several of the recent books I ve read, and I actually WANTED to read the next one assuming there is one to see if they solve the mystery of Tail Kinker to Ennien

One of my favorite Star Trek books