Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country by John Jackson Miller (ebook review).
They send the Starship Enterprise to investigate the disappearance of a civilian anthropological expedition to a new planet with a pre-warp civilization. The shuttlecraft Eratosthenes journeys there with Captain Pike, Una Chin Riley, Lieutenant Spock, and Cadet Uhura on board. Close to the planet, all systems suddenly shut down. As the Enterprise closes in to rescue them, all its systems also shut down, prompting La’an Noonien Singh to retreat.
Engineer Hemmer manages to transport his colleagues from the shuttlecraft to the planet, but the interference makes it a hazardous process, and they end up widely scattered. Spock lands in a sea. Uhura ends up in a volcanic area and barely survives. Celarius, who appears to be a wild creature himself but is actually a very important person, rescues Una Chin-Riley from a forest full of dangerous animals. Christopher Pike lands in Havenbrook, which resembles a small town in a classic western—a favorite Star Trek scenario.
The narrative viewpoint switches among the crew and a few others as they slowly discover more about the planet Epheska. A race known as the Skagarans rescues many isolated communities of humans and aliens from their own worlds, transporting them to Epheska to live long and prosper on their terms. Their philosophy is that technological development beyond a certain level leads to terrible wars, pollution, and environmental catastrophe. Everyone has to live a simple life at about the level of a decent ol’ western town. The government strictly enforces the ban on new inventions. Amish aliens!
The planet creates a phenomenon known as the Baffle, which halts the operation of electronic devices and sophisticated technology, trapping Pike and his friends on Epheska, beyond the reach of the Enterprise’s rescue efforts. Their initial task is to locate each other, a challenging task given the deliberate isolation of each community from others. Pike befriends people who rebel against the status quo and soon makes trouble. The Prime Directive, an old ‘Star Trek’ dilemma, looms over everything. The Enterprise crew honors the Prime Directive more in its breach than in its observance, constantly interfering with everything. The standard theme involves someone creating their own version of paradise, only for the Federation to intervene and judge it. There is some worthy discussion among the characters about building a good society, but there is also plenty of action. There’s also an intriguing alien life-form.
This adventure occurs between the ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ television episodes ‘The Serene Squall’ and ‘The Elysian Kingdom.’ It also relates to ‘North Star, an episode of ‘Enterprise’ (Season 3, Episode 9) in which Captain Jonathan Archer discovers a western town on another planet, which I somehow missed in my random viewing. ‘Enterprise’ is a decent series if you mute the awful theme tune.
Franchise fiction novels are nearly always decent entertainment, or the franchise wouldn’t allow them to get past the editors. ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country’ is an easy, pleasant read that provides relaxing fun for Trekkies like me, as well as fans of old westerns, if any remain. Do young people watch Westerns? The title of the book reminded me of a James Stewart film, ‘The High Country.’ Actually, it’s ‘The Far Country,’ and it’s great. Then there’s ‘Ride The High Country’ starring Randolph Scott, also terrific but not to be confused with ‘The Big Country’ starring Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston, which is pretty good. ‘Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country’ is not a western. I’ll end my rambling now to avoid anyone pointing out that the world of book reviews is not for the elderly. Sorry.
Eamonn Murphy
November 2024
(pub: Pocket Books/Star Trek/Simon & Schuster, 2023. 383 page ebook. File size: 8719kB. Price: £ 2.99 (UK). ISBN: B09V1L9QYT)
check out website: www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Star-Trek-Strange-New-Worlds-The-High-Country/John-Jackson-Miller/9781668002391
