The Ashes Of Eden is the first Star Trek novel written by William Shatner (co-written with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Steven) and is the first book in the series of Star Trek books that would chronicle the further adventures of Captain James T. Kirk after the movies. This series would be dubbed the “Shatner-verse” and was its own self-contained series that would have no baring on official Star Trek canon or even the canon of the Star Trek novels once that became a thing.
Truth be told, I’ve only read the first couple books at most and dropped off afterwards when they started diving into mirror universe bits and bobs. That, along with the fact that these books would more or less be their own self-contained continuity with no relevance towards the larger literary universe the other Trek novels of the time were establishing, meant that others were free to skip these and do their own thing, which was probably for the best considering some of the narrative choices these things go on… but this isn’t about those later books. This is about The Ashes Of Eden, the story of a James Kirk who is unhappy with the notion of retirement that when he receives the offer of one final mission from a mysterious woman, he is more than happy to accept, even if that mission puts him at odds with an ever changing Starfleet.
Whatever you want to say about William Shatner, never let it be said that he cannot spin a good yarn. And the Ashes of Eden feels like a story written by a man who clearly struggles with the idea of being passed on and will do what he can to stay relevant and active; something that he has infused into the character that he has played for a quarter century and thus should know very well. Whatever the circumstances, the character and actions of Kirk are truly believable and consistent with what we know of him from years of on-screen adventures; a man who will not allow himself to fade into obscurity and will prove he still has something to offer to this galaxy.
Sometimes, this might come at the expense of the other characters, who may come across as either bumbling idiots or ignorant fools. The rest of the cast sometimes feels true to themselves, but some actions, you feel, are out of place and are only there to instill the strength of the central Kirk character. In essence, this is the Star Trek V scenario that Shatner envisioned of a Kirk against his crew sort of deal, except there is no Nimoy or Kelley to argue that they would never go against their captain… but apparently James Doohan was around because Scotty is the only other member of the crew by Kirk’s side during this little adventure… and dare I say, he comes off slightly better here than he did in Shatner’s film debut.
All in all, The Ashes Of Eden is a tremendous book and certainly a nice little last hurrah for Jim Kirk as only William Shatner could tell it… if only it had remained at this one book…
dtm666 