Before box sets and on-demand TV, tie-in novels filled a void when our favourite series weren’t being shown. Admittedly, quality often varied, but they gave fans a regular fix of their favourite shows and, in some cases, the popularity of the written universe allowed the TV series to make a comeback, bigger and bolder than ever. So, now that almost everything we want to watch is available at our fingertips, is their still a place for these stories?
If In The Heart Of Chaos – the third in the trilogy of Star Trek Prometheus novels – is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding yes. This story hits the ground running and continues at the same pace until the final denouement; being the third novel in the series, it reads like a third act should, with heroes and villains playing their final cards in all or nothing gambits. It is peppered with references from the Star Trek universe – all of which add to the story, rather than make the reader pause – which in turn places the crew firmly within that shared universe. Anyone who has read the first two will be chomping at the bit to find out what’s going to happen and surely won’t be disappointed, while those new to the Prometheus crew wouldn’t be disappointed to start here, as it can be read in isolation as an episode in its own right.
There’s much to be had from Star Trek novels, concepts that would possibly be difficult to sell on TV, and in this case it was a pleasure to find that Captain Adams and his crew were far from carbon copies of characters we’ve already seen on screen, the writers imbuing them with distinct personalities and attributes of their own and placing them in a scenario that gripped on a level comparable with some of the best-selling thrillers. We hope to see more from writers Bernd Perplies and Christian Humberg in the future – and we’re sure that, after this, readers will want to seek out more of the Star Trek fiction that’s out there.
STAR TREK PROMETHEUS – IN THE HEART OF CHAOS / AUTHOR: CHRISTIAN HUMBERG, BERND PERPLIES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
