L'Enfant De Saturne

Tetrock, an ambitious young leader of the alien Tetrok, falls in love with Nyota, the human commanding officer of the starship "Dragon's Egg," but thei feelings for each other could be threatened by the mission they must accomplish.

Given the authors' backgrounds--Nichols was, of course, Lieutenant Uhura and Bonanno has written several Star Trek novels--it is hardly surprising that this engaging tale has a distinctly Trekkish flavor. Moreover, it is the relatively harmonious future presented in the original Star Trek TV series that we find here. The plot centers on Saturna, daughter of a human mother (who has a good deal in common with Lieutenant Uhura, though promoted to exalted heights) and a nonhuman father, thanks to DNA manipulation. Such conception goes against the wishes and laws of both races, and it throws Saturna into a key role in the succession crisis of the nonhuman Fazis. Nichols and Bonanno try to cram three full-size plots into a standard-size volume, and they include a few scientific details that may raise eyebrows. Their yarn is, however, full of good scenes and entertaining bits of world building, and if parts of the story seem to be missing, what is here definitely keeps you turning pages (and anyway, this is almost certainly the first book in a series). Count on demand from Trekkers and probably from other sf fans, too.