Home Is the Hunter

Dana Kramer-Rolls

reviewed by Carolyn Kaberline

A confrontation of Enterprise and Klingon forces on the planet Cragon V has resulted in the deaths of Lieutenant Garrovick and a native child as well as the disappearance of Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov. Each of the three Enterprise crewmen soon finds himself relieving an episode from the history of his native country—an episode of history where he is sure to die—as part of the punishment arranged by the powerful being Weyland, who looks upon the inhabitants of Cragon V as his people.

In addition, the Enterprise soon finds its orbit around the planet decaying while the Klingon leader finds the same is true for his ship. With all this, the time is ripe for an overthrow of the Klingon Commander Kral by his second in command. When Kral and a female officer loyal to him are forced out of ship’s airlock, they are rescued by the Enterprise and treated as guests. It soon becomes apparent that if Kirk and Kral are going to save their ships they will have to put their enmity aside long enough to confront Weyland as allies.

While this book has an intriguing story line, its multiple plots are often hard to follow due to the continual shifts between them. Three of those plots revolve around the missing Enterprise crewmen: Scotty, who finds himself in the Scotland of 1746 in the events leading up to a key battle between English and Scottish forces; Sulu, who’s on the losing side of a battle between warlords in the Japan of 1600, and Chekov, a Russian soldier in World War II, who finds himself a prisoner of the Germans and who meets a John C. Kirk—someone who suspiciously resembles the Kirk that he knows. The fourth plot involves Kirk’s attempt to save his ship and hopefully his missing men, and there’s even a subplot that involves the intrigue on the Klingon ship.

While each plot line is captivating and the author has clearly designated the changes in focus, it seems that the reader just gets interested in one plot line when he/she is forced to switch to another. And when returning to a former plot line, it’s often necessary to back track to the earlier events for clarity—definitely a drawback.

On the very positive side, the timelines arranged for each of the missing Enterprise crewmen bring new depth to their characters as they attempt to find ways to survive their situations and yet retain their honor in doing so. In fact, it’s rather refreshing to find a novel where the supporting characters have a chance to take center stage. The character of Weyland is also fascinating in many ways. He reminds one of the Organians to an extent, and although he shows a bit of a sinister side, he is fiercely protective of his planet and its inhabitants.

Overall, this was an interesting book, but one that doesn’t allow many distractions if the reader is going to keep things straight.

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