Guest Ktrek Posted April 14, 2003 I bought and read Surak's Soul this weekend and was wondering if anyone else has read this book? Click for Spoiler: I thought the premise of this book makes for an interesting discussion. That is: Is it ever right to kill and under what circumstances. In this book we find T'Pol making a decision that ends the life of one of the last survivors of the planet Oan. Although it was an accident, she had the gun set to stun and not kill, it sets T'Pol rethinking her decision about wearing a weapon. She actually tells Archer that she will not kill even if given a direct order and the ship and crew were in danger. It investigates a little the philosophy of the Vulcan teacher Surak and makes comparisons to Earth's Ghandi and his passive resistance movement. Meanwhile an alien entity has been invited aboard Enterprise and now crew members are suffering the same fate as the people of Oan, starting with Dr. Phlox. I found this a VERY quick read. At only 218 pages it takes an average reader, like myself, just a few hours. One thing I did notice was that the book, compared to other franchise series books, seemed on a very low reading level. What is this about? I would venture to say it's about 8th grade level. Not that the story was bad but for a somewhat famous author like, J.M. Dilliard, it seemed below par. Anyone else think so? Are all the Enterprise novels like this? If so, is it because they feel the main audience for these books are teenagers? Anyway, on a scale of 1-10 I would rate this story at about a 6. Opinions anyone? Ktrek Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A l t e r E g o 9 Posted April 14, 2003 I haven’t read the book yet but I do have a theory about it's "short Read". All S.T. authors (if they are really good one's) want their novel's to withstand the test of time and one day be considered by the fans to be an important part of the saga even if it is never considered True Canon material. ENT is young and a lot of True Canon material has not yet been created for the author(S) to draw ideas from and expand on. I think that is the reason for the issues with the novel you bring up, the author wanted to do a story (obviously it is based on the episode The Seventh) but at the same time did not want to go to far out on the limb and write into areas which could someday be contradicted by future episodes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuraksSoul 0 Posted April 17, 2003 Hmm...I guess I'll comment on this. Seems fitting and all. I happen to work at a bookstore (yes..that very large chain bookstore). I picked this book up and read it in 4 hours. Even though it was not the smoothest read ever, I did like the themes, you mentioned, in it. It was very elementary writing...you're right! If you liked this book, you should read "What Price Honor." if you have not already. Good book too. I rate Surak's Soul a 6 out of 10 on the book list. :blink: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Theunicornhunter 2 Posted June 28, 2003 I just read this and I thought it better than some of the others but that wasn't a high bar to reach. I am glad to hear some other ST novels have higher reading levels because I was wondering. I haven't read any before reading What Price Honor and Enterprise. It was something to read during lunch hours (which means not too complex) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
emojams 0 Posted July 31, 2003 yep read it ,loved it ,highly recommend it :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lubak10 0 Posted August 7, 2003 I started to read it and didn't like it very much. Everyone else says it's really good though so I guess I'l pick it up and give it another try. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
