Spock Must Die! - Rambling Readers

English language

Published March 1, 1985

ISBN:: 978-0-553-24634-6

(1 review)

Spock Must Die! is an American science fiction novel written by James Blish, published February 1970 by Bantam Books. It was the first original novel based on the Star Trek television series intended for adult readers. It was preceded by a tie-in comic book line published by Gold Key and the novel Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds, all intended for younger readers.: xi Blish aimed to kill off a popular character as a way to surprise readers, and during the novel's production chose Spock, with the aid of his wife, J.A. Lawrence. Reviews of the novel have been mixed. Some reviewers have directed criticism at the structure or tone of the novel, while others have expressed no enthusiasm for the work, overall.Spock Must Die! was reprinted numerous times with different cover art, including a cover by Kazuhiko Sano. The novel was collected in an omnibus for the Science Fiction …

Spock Must Die! is an American science fiction novel written by James Blish, published February 1970 by Bantam Books. It was the first original novel based on the Star Trek television series intended for adult readers. It was preceded by a tie-in comic book line published by Gold Key and the novel Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds, all intended for younger readers.: xi Blish aimed to kill off a popular character as a way to surprise readers, and during the novel's production chose Spock, with the aid of his wife, J.A. Lawrence. Reviews of the novel have been mixed. Some reviewers have directed criticism at the structure or tone of the novel, while others have expressed no enthusiasm for the work, overall.Spock Must Die! was reprinted numerous times with different cover art, including a cover by Kazuhiko Sano. The novel was collected in an omnibus for the Science Fiction Book Club in 1978. Prior to the release of Spock Must Die!, Blish had written three collections of short stories adapting episodes of the television series. The second collection, Star Trek 2 (February 1968), included an adaptation of the episode "Errand of Mercy", which the novel directly references in the second chapter.: 8

10 editions

Arbieroo reviewed Spock Must Die! by James Blish

Review of 'Spock Must Die!' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

OK - the first Star Trek story not based on a shooting script, requested by popular demand (fan mail to the author, from readers of his script adaptations.)

What would you do with that opportunity? Let's just say I am unsurprised that Blish's story revolves round a transporter accident. The technology raises heaps of questions in the minds of anyone with the slightest philosophical bent - and any decent SF writer fits in that category. Also, at the time, most of those obvious ideas hadn't already been used three times each...

The book opens with Bones waxing metaphysical with Scotty and Kirk being surprisingly willingly dragged into the debate. Not long after, a transporter accident makes the theoretical discussion all too real, and threatens the very existence of the Federation, to boot. A good deal of care was put into developing a story that fits the characters and background of …

OK - the first Star Trek story not based on a shooting script, requested by popular demand (fan mail to the author, from readers of his script adaptations.)

What would you do with that opportunity? Let's just say I am unsurprised that Blish's story revolves round a transporter accident. The technology raises heaps of questions in the minds of anyone with the slightest philosophical bent - and any decent SF writer fits in that category. Also, at the time, most of those obvious ideas hadn't already been used three times each...

The book opens with Bones waxing metaphysical with Scotty and Kirk being surprisingly willingly dragged into the debate. Not long after, a transporter accident makes the theoretical discussion all too real, and threatens the very existence of the Federation, to boot. A good deal of care was put into developing a story that fits the characters and background of the TV show. Indeed, in an utterly non-preachy way, Blish pushes the values of equality and non-prejudice espoused by the Federation even further than the broadcasts did, by giving Uhura much more prominence and effective input.

I can't help feeling that Blish had his tongue in his cheek, affectionately, too, though: mastery of James Joyce helps in the field of practical cryptology and Scott's accent varies from barely comprehensible Glaswegian to completely neutral, depending on his stress-level, as if Blish is taking the mick out of James Doohan's portrayal...

(Anybody who knows Blish's work well will recognise that James Joyce was something of an obsession of the author.)

It's an easy, entertaining book that Blish manages to turn into a good opportunity to examine ideas that interested him and I therefore strongly recommend it to Blish fans who might feel reluctant to read a "tie-in" novel. It's not first-rate, but it's worthwhile.