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List Price: $6.99 | | Publisher: Star Trek
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Editorial Review:
The Dominion War is over. The Federation is at peace. What better time for two legendary starship captains to set aside the demands of duty and simply take some well-deserved time off?
But when James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard arrive on Bajor to dive among the ruins of an ancient sunken city, conditions are far from what they had planned. The small group of scientists the captains have joined suddenly find their equipment sabotaged -- isolating them from Deep Space Nine™ and any hope of rescue -- as one by one, a murderer stalks them.
Cut off from the people and technology on which they have always depended, Kirk and Picard must rely more than ever on their own skills and abilities, and their growing friendship, to solve the mysterious deaths and protect one of Bajor's greatest living treasures.
At the same time, Kirk finds the events he and Picard struggle with are similar to one of the first challenges he faced as the new captain of the Starship Enterprise™, less than six months into his first five-year mission.
Now, with time running out for a dying child trapped in the scientists' camp, and Picard missing after a diving disaster, Kirk must search his memories of the past to relive one of his earliest adventures, propelling him into a harrowing personal journey that reveals the beginning of his path from young Starfleet officer to renowned legend, and the existence of a new and completely unsuspected threat to the existence of all life in the universe.
Captain's Peril (Star Trek) Reviews:
Good promise... 
2008-07-03 - This book, by Shatner, is somewhat keeping in the mood of self-praise that Kirk has become eponymous for. However, "Captain's Peril" is a good read, if for nothing else then for the two sub-plots of the book, and the intrigue that runs underneath the primary plot of the book.
The book begins off with a prologue, in which the Cardassians are fighing the Bajorans on the latter's home planet for control. Suddenly, chapter one begins some fifteen years later, with the two most celebrated Starfleet Captains taking a well-earned vacation, by planet-diving (diving from outer space, entering the planet's atmosphere in a pod, and later on, using the more orthodox (!) means of a parachute to land). This planet happens to be Bajor, still rebuilding after the Cardassian occupation ceased more than a decade ago, and where the natives are by nature suspicious of out-worlders.
Kirk, and Picard equally so, like to be in the middle of things, but not this literally when they find themselves first in the midst of the Bajor desert (with no means of communicating anyone, more so because they are not expected at their welcome site for another two days!) and later in the midst of a murderer's multiple attacks on the unsuspecting excavation camp inhabitants.
When Picard is deemed dead in the middle of things by 'something' which even Kirk can't explain, things begin to get murky and from there on, the story becomes dark and focused.
Shatner has tried the tactic of inter-mixing two plots in a single book, by alternating a couple of chapters from the present (at Bajor) and then putting in a few from some of Kirk's earliest command days on the Enterprise. While the two stories are interesting by themselves, sincerely speaking, I found a connect in the two missing. Agreed that the point of change-over is made almost seamless at times, but in the bigger scheme of things, the two stories simply don't gel together.
[Note: I understand that this book is the beginning of the Totatility trilogy. If that's the case, this was a rather lame attempt of introducing the concept.]
But as I said, the two plots by themselves are pretty good and well written. Also, adding to what I said at the beginning of this review, this book is perhaps 'not' so full of Kirk as some of the other ST:TOS books I've read so far.
Of the two captains, Kirk is the clear hero of the book. No prize for guessing that, though!
Overall score: 3.5 / 5 (benefit of prejudice --> 4 / 5)
Great story
2008-04-27 - This book is the first in a trilogy, and as such does a wonderful job introducing the reader to the Totality. The story is well written, and really fleshes out Kirk's character. Sadly, most other characters (including Picard) aren't given the same treatment. All and all the story is great with lots of action. This book is a fun read.
Very good reading
2007-09-08 - Anyone who enjoys Startrek books will enjoy this book by THE Captain himself. I recommend all three books by William Shatner.
Part VII of the Kirk Saga. Beginning of the end. 
2006-10-13 - This is the first chapter of the Captain's trilogy that leads into what's in my opinion an excellent conclusion to the Kirk Saga. After a couple of year break in between the Mirror Universe trilogy and this trilogy I had lost some interest in Star Trek. Even all of William Shatner's novels have been excellent, I had started college when this book came out (Summer 2001) and just didn't read it. This year (2006) I regreted that decision greatly after reading Captain's Blood and Captain's Glory (which I just finished Captain's Glory last week. Highly highly recommended).
Anyway, for me Captain's Peril acted almost like a prequel because I read parts 2 and 3 first. Let me tell you I really wish I had read Captain's Peril when it came out. It introduces the Totality, tells a great early adventure of James T. Kirk on his first Enterprise NCC-1701, and a great "bonding" adventure between Kirk and Picard that hasn't been in any of the previous novels. This novel is excellent and I would highly recommend you don't do what I did and read all three books in the totality trilogy in order. This book is a little slower than the ones in the past but still a very enjoyable and entertaining read. Highly recommended. 9/10.
May be the best by Shatner yet.
2005-05-06 - Shatner's previous novels, while interesting and fun, had a bit too much of the tendancy to make "his character", James T. Kirk, into a superhero/demigod. This tendancy is hardly unique to Shatner, but it's even more unbecoming when coming from a mature man who clearly identifies with the character (for the rather obvious reason that he played it on TV and the movies) than it is when coming from an immature hero-worshiping fan. This book largely avoided that problem, and if some fans of "The Next Generation" will feel that Picard came off looking rather pale by comparison to Kirk, that was more because Picard was given somewhat short shrift than because Kirk was made to look too good. And it isn't entirely unfair to make Picard come across as stodgy and dull by comparison to Kirk; he IS.
There are really two stories here; one is set on post-Dominion war Bajor, where Kirk and Picard are "vacationing". The other is a flashback, told mostly by Kirk to Picard (although not in his own voice; we get it in standard third-person narrative while Picard is hearing it directly from Kirk), a story of his first real adventure on the Enterprise, many years ago. The transitions between stories weren't always entirely seamless, and some of the excuses used for returning to the flashback story when Kirk WASN'T telling the story to Picard were somewhat weak, but the story itself was extremely good, showing some of the tensions between Kirk and his crew (particularly Spock) before they became acquainted well enough to trust each other's style and judgement. We also see a cameo of Uhura's first taste of bridge action, which was handled very well.
The other story, the "current" one, wasn't quite as good, in fact started quite slowly, but actually picked up quite well by the end. By itself, I probably wouldn't have given it more than three stars, but it would have been a high three stars, almost good enough for four. I suppose it isn't surprising that Shatner continues to have a much better feel for the original series characters and settings than the later ones.
