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Book Review of The Kobayashi Maru (Star Trek, Book 47)

The Kobayashi Maru (Star Trek, Book 47)
paxtonholley avatar reviewed on + 67 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3


I love the original series Star Trek and I loved the movies. I never really read any of the novels, so this was the first "original series" novel I've ever read. I got it because I really wanted to hear the story of how Kirk "beat" the famous Kobayashi-Maru. As a bonus, you are supposed to hear how Sulu, Chekov and Scotty all fared in the test also.

Overall the book was pretty good. Kirk, Bones, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty are all stranded in a shuttlecraft drifting in space. To pass the time, they each tell how they handled the Kobayashi-Maru. The Kirk story is painfully short. Awesome, but painfully short. Scotty's tale was the second best followed by Chekov and then Sulu. You really don't see much of the actual test, it's really how the test affected them. I was disappointed in how the actual test taking occured, but overall I'm satisfied with the story. The characters are fun and the story had it's moments. Honestly, not a lot really goes on so I would only recommend it to fans of Star Trek. If you are just jumping onboard, then get one of the later or more "visible" novels.

In the Star Trek movies, the Kobayashi-Maru was actually shown at the beginning of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Kirstie Alley's Saavik was taking the test.