Robert Sheckley: The Laertian Gamble (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #12)

Verlag: Pocket Books
Taschenbuch
Seitenzahl: 273
Veröffentlicht im: September 1995
Preis: 5,99 $
ISBN: 0-671-88690-8
Mehr Infos und Möglichkeit zum Downloaden des eBooks: Link zur Verlagswebsite

Quelle: simonandschuster.com

Ein **-Buch

Reading this book was the first time I ever got in touch witch Star Trek. I've never managed to watch it on TV somehow and I put my hands on one of the books. So, my first impression is that of having travelled to an interesting universe that doesn't differ so much from other big sci-fi series. And that was the part I really liked: the planets, the people and the life on the space station.

The story is about the humans and non-humans living on the Deep Space Nine, a space station located near the whormholes that allow you to travel to other far away planets very quickly. So there are lots of different aliens to be met on that station. One of them is Allura, a Laertian that has big plans for her planet and also big plans in winning at gambling. The gambling goes far out of control then and the Commander Sisko has to think about saving his station, life on other planets and peace in the whole universe. So his two Majors Kira and Dax are sent to the exotic planet Laertes where everyone has a latent psychic ability, where the Complexity Theory works better than in other parts of the universe and where there is an election campaign going on between the Lampusans and Kendos...

To put it all together I really liked the description of the different aliens, the planet Laertes and all the things that are different there. Besides that the story wasn't so special - the same is to say about the writing style. I really can't understand how an author can forget that one of the important characters was introduced as a Kendo just to let him explain some pages later that he's a Lampusan, which is the competing race to the Kendos on the planet Laertes. This makes a big difference! Plus, the reader gets the feeling that some of the characters aren't so bright but very lucky to find coincidentally the right ways and decisions. The Laertian Gamble is a very light sci-fi book, which was an easy read and entertaining (partly in a humourous tone that reminded me of Terry Pratchett...maybe I have to tell you that I don't like Pratchett so much), but unfortunately nothing more. I think I need to read another Star Trek book to find out if I'm a Trekkie or not ;) And there's already one at hand...