Mission to Horatius

by Mack Reynolds and Sparky Moore

Book Overview

Captain Kirk investigates a planet whose inhabitants are split into two kinds: real people and clones with no civil rights. Out of print for over 30 years, the first Star Trek novel is back--in an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067102812X
• ISBN13: 9780671028121
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Back again after all these years...

This is a reprint of the very first Star Trek book I ever bought, and it thrills me to see it back in print. I was about 11 when I bought the book and was mezmerized by the story. It is a wonderfully worthwhile book, worth reading at any age. Let it do for you what it did for me, which was take me into space for the first time and kept me going back for more. The only thing that would've made the book better is if there had been more of them.

Yes, It's Kids Book, But.............

When I saw that this book was again in print I had a feeling of both gladness and nostalgia. I still have my original copy purchased many years ago. I agree with one other reviewer who stated that the author must have been in the military as it surely does show in this book. And if you stop to think about it, the idea of cloning as far as a science fiction topic has been around a lot longer than some realize as this work clearly shows. This work also presents some very "adult" ideas. One of it's very obvious messages is the ugliness of political divisivness combined with a statement aganst racial oppresion. If this is "only" a kid's book then I am glad that I as a kid read (and enjoyed) it and would like my kids (and now my grandkids) to read it as well. Lessons about moral courage and being true to one's convictions are sorely needed and this work presents these ideals very well.

Reynolds trusts his young audience, and it pays off

First, let's get one thing straight. Mission To Horatius _is_ a children's book. As such, it must be reviewed and discussed in that context - to criticize it for not appealing to adults is simply unfair.I don't know any children who have read the book recently - I do remember that my own reactions, back in 1970 at the age of 7, were quite positive. The book has a well developed plot, and Reynolds was smart enough to realize that he could throw in some good subplots without losing his young readers. The main situation is plausible enough within the world of the original Star Trek: the Federation has received a distress call from a solar system in an unexplored part of the galaxy, and the Enterprise goes there to find out what is going on. Along the way, the captain and crew encounter three different cultures, various perils and dangers, etc.Some sacrifices must be made when writing a children's tale, and characterization suffers somewhat here. Readers will search in vain here for any explorations of Spock's Vulcan heritage, Kirk's legendary love life, as well as more fundamental aspects of Trek culture (Klingons, Romulans, etc). I don't know what Reynolds' personal background is, but I suspect that he was in the armed forces at some point - the characters act considerably more "military" than in the TV series (e.g., Kirk's manner toward junior officers).Adults may find parts of the book unintentionally hilarious - the idea of using LSD as a tranquilizer, for instance. On the other hand, there are parts which are clever even by adult standards - the perilous situation in which the chief shaman places the crew is particularly so.Which brings up another point - Reynolds, even though writing for children, is not afraid to use words like "shaman", "Teutonic", "theocracy", etc. He trusts his readers to either know what these mean, or to get a dictionary or ask an adult, or to simply figure out their meaning from the context. He's right to do so, of course.If you're an adult considering reading Mission To Horatius, you'll probably find it a pleasant enough trip down memory lane, if you were a fan of the original Trek series as I was; but in all honesty, you probably won't get terribly excited about the book unless you read it already as a child and want to revisit it. If you haven't figured it out yet, though, I'd highly recommend this book for kids.