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The Laertian Gamble Star Trek Deep Space Nine No 12 Robert Scheckley 9780671886905 Books

Download As PDF : The Laertian Gamble Star Trek Deep Space Nine No 12 Robert Scheckley 9780671886905 Books

The Laertian Gamble Star Trek Deep Space Nine No 12 Robert Scheckley 9780671886905 Books

This is, without a doubt, the WORST Star Trek novel ever.

There's no character development, and the plot is just plain stupid. The setting is inconsistent with the Star Trek universe. Sheckley stages arguments between Dax and Kira in which, partway through, the two inexplicably switch sides--without acknowledgement of any kind, leaving the impression that the author simply forgot which character had voiced which opinion. There's no real surprise there, though, as he didn't portrayed Dax and Kira as nearly identical characters rather than as distince individuals with rich and unique backgrounds. By the last few pages, I really expected Bashir to wake up and inform the readers that the whole unbelievable, awkward plot had been just a dream--a lame literary device, to be sure, but one that would have been far better than leaving the reader irritated with the author's utter inability to write Star Trek characters in a Star Trek universe.

So why did I even finish it? The book only took a couple hours to read (about twice as long as watching an episode on commercial television), and halfway through I felt I'd rather see it through than lay it down unread. I didn't gain anything by that choice, though, other than demonstrating that it usually takes rather a lot for me to put a book down when I know I can finish it in another hour.

Lame, lame, lame. If I could give this zero stars and still have the rating count, I would.


Tags : The Laertian Gamble (Star Trek Deep Space Nine, No 12) [Robert Scheckley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Participating in an unusual game as a means of gaining an attractive alien's attention, Dr. Bashir is horrified when each of his plays set off a disaster somewhere in the Federation and the alien culture will not let him stop. Original.,Robert Scheckley,The Laertian Gamble (Star Trek Deep Space Nine, No 12),Star Trek,0671886908,Science Fiction - Space Opera,Science fiction.,American Science Fiction And Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction General,Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera,Science Fiction,Science Fiction - Star Trek

The Laertian Gamble Star Trek Deep Space Nine No 12 Robert Scheckley 9780671886905 Books Reviews

The only Star Trek book that is as low as this one is Vengeance, by Dafydd Ab Hugh. The idea of the story is halfway decent, but Sisko is way too bendable. Why didn't he call in Starfleet, instead of let them bully him around like that????? And Robert Sheckley must be an amataeur author, because these are some of the worst errors I've ever seen. Don't read this.
Someone once told me that this book is better the second time you read it. I have to agree. The first time I read it, it was so convoluted and I was totally confused about Complexity theory. The second time wasn't so bad. The premise is very interesting, but unfortunately it falls flat.
A big problem is how choppy the dialogue is. Either the author is trying to write at a 5th grade level or he just doesn't have a clue how to write for Star Trek. None of the characters in the book speak like they should be speaking. The entire thing seems forced.
If your a Trek completist and happen to already have the book, I'd give it another read. Otherwise, there are A LOT better Trek novels to read.
I think that this book is intended to be something of a spoof, sort of like John Ford's "How Much For Just The Planet", original series #36. If so, the fact that I'm not CERTAIN that this is true is a good indication that it failed miserably. On the other hand, if it WAS intended to be taken as a serious story, it fails even more miserably. Many of the characters (notably Kira and Sisko) are unrecognisable, simply ciphers carrying the names of the characters we know, but with none of their personality. The story is choppy, entirely composed of chapters three pages long or less. The plot (Quark is in danger of being bankrupted by a lucky gambler) has been done before, and done better. The psuedoscience bafflegab is even sketchier and less plausible than usual (and in a world where instantaeous matter transport and faster than light travel are both commonplaces, that's saying a lot). And the ending is contrived, as are several of the plot twists.

All in all, give this one a pass. It has very little to recommend it.
It is of little wonder as to why this was the one and only Star Trek title by this author, given the extremely poor characterizations and structure of this novel. "The Laertian Gamble" most certainly must be one of the titles that the publisher requested from the author and he had only the series "bible" and "maybe" an episode or two to watch. This is certainly one of those Star Trek novels that had me wondering why in the world I was reading it in the first place.
I've read novels that the basic plot required several chapters but with this novel it reaches the point of ridiculous quite quickly, 273 pages and 73 chapters, my goodness.
The cover art matches the novel quite perfectly, poorly thought out.
The premise
A mysterious alien woman from the planet Laertes convinces Dr. Bashir to gamble for her at Quark's bar and he accedes thinking it innocent enough. To everyone's surprise though, the more he wins, the more things go wrong throughout the Federation; in comes the "Complexity Theory."
When Julian attempts to stop, a Laertian fleet appears and forces him to continue. Kira and Dax find that they must go to the planet Laertes themselves to attempt to stop this madness but they soon find that they must battle through chaos and danger in order to save Deep Space Nine and the Federation itself.
The plot behind this one is a bit ridiculous and would've probably worked out a little better if it were written outside of the Star Trek genre. Overall, I would only recommend this as a collectors/completists purchase. {ssintrepid}
This is, without a doubt, the WORST Star Trek novel ever.

There's no character development, and the plot is just plain stupid. The setting is inconsistent with the Star Trek universe. Sheckley stages arguments between Dax and Kira in which, partway through, the two inexplicably switch sides--without acknowledgement of any kind, leaving the impression that the author simply forgot which character had voiced which opinion. There's no real surprise there, though, as he didn't portrayed Dax and Kira as nearly identical characters rather than as distince individuals with rich and unique backgrounds. By the last few pages, I really expected Bashir to wake up and inform the readers that the whole unbelievable, awkward plot had been just a dream--a lame literary device, to be sure, but one that would have been far better than leaving the reader irritated with the author's utter inability to write Star Trek characters in a Star Trek universe.

So why did I even finish it? The book only took a couple hours to read (about twice as long as watching an episode on commercial television), and halfway through I felt I'd rather see it through than lay it down unread. I didn't gain anything by that choice, though, other than demonstrating that it usually takes rather a lot for me to put a book down when I know I can finish it in another hour.

Lame, lame, lame. If I could give this zero stars and still have the rating count, I would.