Comments on: Just an old country doctor… http://www.wordbits.net/2007/01/20/just-an-old-country-doctor/ Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:31:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: kgagne http://www.wordbits.net/2007/01/20/just-an-old-country-doctor/comment-page-1/#comment-77 kgagne Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:51:50 +0000 http://www.wordbits.net/2007/01/20/just-an-old-country-doctor/#comment-77 I finished this book a week or two ago. Its chapters alternate between the lives of two different Leonard McCoys, diverging in the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever": one who was rescued from 1930s New York City, and one who never was -- the timeline in which Edith Keeler survived. For the next 28 years in each the 20th and 23rd centuries, the lives of this one man unfold. Perhaps that is why <em>Crucible</em> is twice as long as most <em>Trek</em> books, and why the payoff is so long in coming. When the two storylines eventually weave together, it's somewhat improbable, though satisfying in a non-scientific way. The book tries to adhere to established continuity, but when necessary, it disregards other precepts, especially non-canonical ones. For example, it acknowledges the use of the Guardian of Forever in the animated series, but permanently precludes any appearance of the device in any future stories, even though many such tales have been told. <em>Crucible</em> also novelizes snippets of many <em>TOS</em> episodes, as well as the second, third, fourth, and sixth movies. It was a bit boring to be reading events I'd already seen so often -- but for the story to truly span 28 years of Bones' life, these vignettes could not be ignored. Overall, <em>Crucible</em> was a good book with a great concept; I'm just not sure it had to take so long to say what it had to say. I finished this book a week or two ago. Its chapters alternate between the lives of two different Leonard McCoys, diverging in the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever": one who was rescued from 1930s New York City, and one who never was — the timeline in which Edith Keeler survived. For the next 28 years in each the 20th and 23rd centuries, the lives of this one man unfold.

Perhaps that is why Crucible is twice as long as most Trek books, and why the payoff is so long in coming. When the two storylines eventually weave together, it's somewhat improbable, though satisfying in a non-scientific way.

The book tries to adhere to established continuity, but when necessary, it disregards other precepts, especially non-canonical ones. For example, it acknowledges the use of the Guardian of Forever in the animated series, but permanently precludes any appearance of the device in any future stories, even though many such tales have been told.

Crucible also novelizes snippets of many TOS episodes, as well as the second, third, fourth, and sixth movies. It was a bit boring to be reading events I'd already seen so often — but for the story to truly span 28 years of Bones' life, these vignettes could not be ignored.

Overall, Crucible was a good book with a great concept; I'm just not sure it had to take so long to say what it had to say.

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