William Shatner Book:

Editorial Review:
A lethal virus threatens the entire Federation with starvation and dissolution. Captain James T. Kirk, long believed dead, embarks on a desperate quest to discover its true source and, elsewhere in the galaxy, Spock begins an investigation which leads him to re-union with his long-lost friend.

Avenger (Star Trek (Unnumbered Hardcover)) Reviews:
Not a book review - but
2009-01-06 - Just wanted to say that I received this book in very good condition and that it came very quickly. I appreciated that and the low cost. As for the contents of the book - I am sure those who like Star Trek will find it interesting since it contains quite a bit of connection to older stories. Of course, it is part of a series - so the best thing would be to read them all.

Maybe 2 1/2 Stars... Great ideas but this book didn't do it for me.
2008-05-14 - First of all, I would like to say for the record that Captain Kirk is my favorite character and that I am still overall very happy that Kirk is still alive and kicking (in the Shatnerverse anyway). However, this is the fourth Shatner book I have read and this was easily the most disappointing. Ashes to Eden and Collision Course were very good. Shatner's ego was.. um... pretty well in check. However The Return while a great novel and great ideas I had an issue with just how much Shatner wrote the original cast(him specifically)over TNG. Avenger was a pretty similar in that aspect to the Return. Kirk, Spock and McCoy were the big heroes and TNG basically sat back and watched in amazement. The major issue that I had with this book that took this from a 3 star book to a 2 star book was the idea of The Avenger itself. Kirk was the Avenger and he avenged Sarek's death. Why did he avenge Sarek death? Answer because according to this book they had been like father and son all these years. This is the scenario, Kirk stopped Spock from killing the individual who murdered Sarek. Then a few pages later Kirk had killed the guy. Two questions, number one, when did Kirk and Sarek become so close. I realize Kirk discovered that he had a mind meld with Sarek when he was thirteen years old on Tarsus IV. However, Picard had a mind meld with Sarek too and he didn't feel like he had avenge Sarek's death. Kirk even used the reasoning that it was an vulcan custom, which is strange because vulcans are not exactly the violent type, but even if they were Kirk isn't vulcan. Question number two he stopped Spock from avenging his fathers death... just so he could do it. He didn't feel that it was Spock's place to avenge his father's death? Just that part of the book along with the fact that Shatner still doesn't respect TNG characters to even put them anywhere near the level of TOS characters are really brought my opinion of this book down.
However, the other main story was well done. There was a ban of Vulcans called the Symmetrists that unleased a virus called virogen that killed plant and animal life and it was up to the familar heroes of the starship Enterprise to stop virus from destroying all the planets within the federation. Kirk, Spock and few others followed the clues from Vulcan while Picard and the Enterprise were following events that lead to Picard and Crusher actually getting effected themselves.

Shatner and Co did an excellent job with the characters of the both generations of the Enterprise. One thing I find as a weakness in The Return was Shatner's lack of being able to bring the crew TNG to life. That is something he did a lot better in this book.

This book did not change my mind about Captain Kirk or William Shatner as a writer. I still say if you are a fan of TOS or a Captain Kirk/William Shatner fan you will love this novel. If you are a fan of both TOS and TNG like I am you will probably rate this book somewhere in the middle. There are readers out there that say "Of course Kirk, Spock and McCoy are the heroes it is Shatner writing the novels". However, I am sure that most of the writers of Star Trek have a favorite character but they still keep it pretty balanced in the long run of the books they write. Shatner just doesn't do that. Anyway, I have heard good things about Spectre but I am going to take a break from the Shatnerverse and read the classic Yesterday's Son. I saw the episode All Our Yesterdays again the other day and can't wait to read that book.

Grade: C




Shatner and company do it again!
2007-02-12 - Avenger ties the Odyssey Trilogy together brilliantly. Kirk and Picard, as we saw in Generations, make a fantastic team. One of my favorite parts of Star Trek novels is expanding on a single piece of Trek lore and getting a whole novel that doesn't bore you out of it. Amazing!

Part III of the Kirk Saga. Great ending to the first trilogy.
2006-10-13 - With Captain James T. Kirk fully alive and well in this chapter of the Kirk Saga, we get a great story full of plot twists surrounding the death of Sarek. What makes this novel so good is that Shatner does an excellent job on his homework intermixing the book with the history surrounding the episode in which Sarek dies from the Next Generation series.

All in all, this is a great conclusion to the first trilogy and sets up well for the next trilogy involving the mirror universe. 10/10

Star Trek Avenger - A great conclusion to the first trilogy!
2004-05-03 - Star Trek "Avenger" is a good conclusion to William Shatner and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens first Star Trek trilogy that spans well over a century of "Star Trek" time. The first two, "The Ashes of Eden" and "The Return" were absolutely phenomenal in so much as telling a good story about Captain Kirk just before the events of Star Trek "Generations" and after the events of that movie with his return from the dead in "The Return" bringing this compelling character back to Star Trek readers if not moviegoers.

The one unfortunate aspect of "Avenger" is that while it is a very good novel it doesn't quite live up to its two predecessors. The story in and of itself is a pretty good one, it just reaches into some areas of Star Trek that leaves one wondering where the authors were going; by that I mean in the areas where the dialogue more or less puts Captain Kirk in such a glorious light and in doing so demeaning such STNG icons as Captain Picard and Commander Riker. That being said, the overall story is still a very good one where all three authors deftly put together a truly good story that is in good fashion in Gene Roddenberry's universe. The pacing of the novel is exceptional and the overall plot set up and execution is well on the mark.

The cover art for "Avenger" is pretty much more of the same bland stuff that was very typical of Star Trek novels at the time of its publishing.

The Premise:

In true Star Trek style and fashion, William Shatner and the Stevens brought together a story that clearly ties up many of the loose ends set up in the first two novels and set up a reunion between Captain Kirk and Spock. The two storied heroes eventually come together when Captain Kirk, long thought to be dead, sets out to discover the source of a lethal virus that is destroying crops all over the Federation causing famine throughout the Federation with the situation worsened by over population. At the same time, Spock returns home to Vulcan to investigate whether his father died of natural causes or could there have been foul play involved. Both investigations lead them into a long awaited reunion that is told extremely well...

What follows is an exceptionally well written novel with only few technical errors that aren't too difficult to overcome. Overall, I would highly recommend this and the first two novels in this, the first Shatner/Stevens trilogy to any and all fans of good Star Trek fiction! {ssintrepid}