Star Trek: Burning Dreams is a sci fi novel which follows on from the Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) episodes 'Menagerie' and 'Menagerie pt II'. The novel follows the life of Christopher Pike, the Captain of the USS Enterprise before James T Kirk, after he is taken to Talos IV following his crippling by delta rays.
I should probably give you context for the story as you may not be a Trek fan and therefor unfamiliar with the story of Captain Pike. When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek he cast Jeffrey Hunter as the Captain of the USS Enterprise, the aforementioned Christopher Pike. In the pilot episode, entitled 'The Cage', the Enterprise encounters a race known as the Talosians who live on Talos IV. The Talosians have phenomenal telepathic abilities and they trick Pike into believing several different realities before he manages to escape. There is also a love story involving a beautiful blonde woman on the surface on the planet who is not all that she seems which is standard TOS fare. When the pilot episode was rejected the actor Jeffrey Hunter decided to move on from the project and William Shatner was cast as the new Captain. However during the first series Roddenberry decided to revisit the pilot and wrote a story which saw a now disabled Captain Pike returned to Talos IV so he can live a relatively normal life.
The novel picks up this thread nearly one hundred years after the events of 'Menagerie' parts 1 and 2 with Ambassador Spock heading to Talos IV after a telepathic summons from the Talosian leader. It then goes through the incidents that led Captain Pike to Talos IV the first time and then his final visit. It covers several very good Star Trek adventures and introduces us to the reptilian monster aliens known as the Kan'ess before concluding the overall story in a satisfactory manner.
As a child the only Star Trek video we owned was a VHS copy of 'The Cage' so I watched it hundreds of times, although I religiously watched Star Trek every time it was shown on BBC 2, and always wanted to know what had happened to Captain Pike. This book answered those questions and opened up new avenues in the ever growing area of Star Trek fiction. When there is a huge fan base that is emotionally invested, and Trekkie's are some of the most emotionally invested fans, in the world occupied by the book subject there is always a chance that the book will cause offence or be written off as rubbish. There are many awful Star Trek books/stories out there but I think this one really shines through as a great slice of science fiction. It is well written and is easily accessible for a wide range of readers, I would suggest it is suitable for YA and up. As with most science fiction it mixes horror, drama and humour well into its story and these are the elements which generally lifts the whole Star Trek universe above other sci fi creations. Bonanno has created a story which stays true to the facts presented in TOS, there seems to be no embellishment or changing of facts, and builds a back story that fills in all the blanks that fans may have wanted to know about. I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to any Star Trek fan who is looking for some back story on Spock and Pike. Its ending also leaves a question hanging over the future of Talos IV and opens up the possibilties of more novels about this fascinating world.
Would I read this again? Probably not.
Did I enjoy reading it? Yes.
Would I recommend it? Yes
So what is the rating for this book? 3/5
