Bitten by Books
Here is a secret about this cranky old Southern Belle: I adore Star Trek in all of its forms — even DS9 (Deep Space 9 for those of you not in the know). I cut my teeth on the original Star Trek. With the launch of the new Star Trek movie in 2010, new frontiers were made available.Happily, Simon Spotlight (the YA arm of Simon & Schuster) has taken up the literary frontier. This series is based on the original characters and their adventures as cadets at Starfleet Academy. It seems to be filling in the missing parts of the movie where the cadets begin their studies. Think of a science fiction version of Hogwarts, if you will, but Starfleet Academy has been around for a lot longer.
In The Delta Anomaly the opener for the series, Kirk is battling books as well as the rules. Uhura is struggling to prove herself to her teacher as well as to herself. The interaction between Uhura and Commander Spock lays good groundwork for the coming romance. That is not a spoiler if you have seen the movie. Kirk has another romance, but I want to know what happened to Hannah from the first book. That makes this Southern Belle cranky.
This entry into this series captured the camaraderie of the original TV show. The villain will be familiar to those who watched the later versions with Captains Picard and Janeway. I liked that the military aspect was played up a bit more here. Barba’s writing made me feel like he could sit down next to me and play “guess the episode.”
Overall, I liked book two, The Edge, slightly better only because The Delta Anomaly did not give me enough Uhura time. Call me crazy and put a feather in my hair, but I like my communications officer. I also missed Chekov and Sulu. I hope they will show up in subsequent novels.
Book Stats:
- Age Range: 12 and up
- Grade Level: 7 and up
- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Simon Spotlight (November 2, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1442412410
- ISBN-13: 978-1442412415
Buy a print copy of The Delta Anomaly from Amazon by clicking here.
Buy a Kindle copy of The Delta Anomaly from Amazon by clicking here.
Books in the Starfleet Academy series in the order they should be read:
The Delta Anomaly
The Edge
The Gemini Agent
The Assassination Game
Review Overview
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Summary : This entry into this series captured the camaraderie of the original TV show. The villain will be familiar to those who watched the later versions with Captains Picard and Janeway. I liked that the military aspect was played up a bit more here. Barba's writing made me feel like he could sit down next to me and play "guess the episode."
