World Without End ~Joe Haldeman
–published February 1979
–Bantam Books
–148 pages
–6/10
Day one of vacation down and one book read! Yee-haw! (Now where in the world did that come from?)*
As I combed through the basement stacks looking for inspiration on what books I might choose to take along on our annual anniversary vacation (I always take far too many), my eyes lit upon this novel based on the original Star Trek television series. Haldeman is an author I have read and enjoyed before, and as a bonus he is one of the authors I had picked to read for the Grand Master Reading Challenge. It was a good choice.
In Haldeman’s second Star Trek novel he demonstrates a deft touch in capturing the essence of these characters while crafting an adventure more complex than what Roddenberry and company could manage in a one hour television show. The novel stumbles at times, mostly due to the attempt to combine intricacy in plot and brevity in novel length, but overall it is an entertaining volume in the lore of Captain Kirk and the starship Enterprise.
After a month of benchmark tests Captain James T. Kirk is bored. He laments the lack of “action”, something the crew of the Enterprise silently disagrees with. But, as things are wont to happen in the Star Trek universe, Kirk soon gets the action he seeks in the form of an ancient generation ship, a Bussard ramjet-powered vessel in the shape of a large planet. Scans indicate that roughly a million lifeforms live within this spherical planet that has been traveling for roughly 3,000 years. The Enterprise crew also discovers that the ship is in its braking phase and will eventually end up in a location that could not have originally been planned, for it will cost everyone on board their lives. So what is a Federation crew to do? Why beam down into the planet, of course!
After a test to ensure that the transporters will function properly, Captain Kirk, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, and a small team beam inside the planet only to discover that the metal which encases this ship will not allow them to beam back out. With the use of their language translator they soon make contact with the natives, a roughly humanoid species with membranous wings that can fly. This race, the Chatalia, have no knowledge that they are inside any kind of ship, label Kirk and crew as ‘magicians’ and ‘blasphemers’, taking them captive while allowing them to remain in contact with the ship. Circumstances mount upon circumstances and the crew within this world as well as those remaining in the Enterprise soon find themselves in a race against time for their very survival. For the Chatalia have met human-like beings before, beings who arrived in violence and murdered many Chatalia before finally being subdued. And it just so happens that the Federation crew is very familiar with the people the Chatalia believe them to be a part of…the Klingon Empire.
Throughout the novel there is evidence of Haldeman’s strengths as an author. First off he wastes no time “introducing” these characters. By 1979 the cast of the original Star Trek series were well known to fans. Instead he reveals his solid knowledge of who these characters are by their actions and dialogue which are spot on, especially for Kirk, Spock and McCoy. One of the treats of the original series is the banter between Spock and McCoy and here it is done to perfection. The humor is wry and present in just the right measure to entertain without any degree of overkill. Haldeman avoids many of the things that are now cliche in Star Trek stories, including the inevitable demise of any “redshirt” crew members. Much of the focus is on the caste system of the Chatalian peoples, including a very interesting custom in which members of different classes speak different languages and only communicate with other classes by means of an interpreter. Haldeman builds a complex world system, works in ideas of cloning and advanced intelligence, and throws in a measure of “science”.
Where the novel stumbles is in its attempt to do too much in too little space, something that I actually give Haldeman credit for trying to pull off. In the end the length of the novel (148 pages) inhibits some of the storytelling because situations have to be resolved quickly. In that respect it actually has some of the same structural flaws as trying to fit a complex adventure into an hour television block (less when factoring in commercials). That does not keep the novel from being entertaining. Three simultaneous storylines: the crew in the planet, the crew on the Enterprise, and a crew of Klingon warriors make for an exciting story, coupled with Haldeman’s skill in rendering characters that are beloved to many make for a novel worth reading.
It isn’t a “must read”, but it is a novel I would recommend adding to the list for those of you fond of novels set in the Star Trek universe. I’ve read better Star Trek stories to be sure, better in part because they were more than double the length, allowing the author a large enough canvas to paint a more complete picture. But with what he is given, Haldeman does a really nice job of crafting a Star Trek story that entertains**.
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*I realized as I was typing this that I had heard yesterday morning that George Lindsey, who played Goober on The Andy Griffith Show and was a long-time member of Hee-Haw, had passed away. I think my exclamation was born from that bit of trivia.
**Speaking of “entertaining”, there is a great nod to Heinlein’s story, The Menace From Earth, near the end of this novel. That alone put a big smile on my face.
Okay, you had me at Spock and McCoy banter done to perfection. 🙂 I’ve read otherwise decent Trek books with no banter at all and it’s been an insurmountable failing. Add to that an intriguing alien culture, and I think I’ll have to hunt this one down…
If you like the banter you’ll enjoy this one. There isn’t a ton of it, though in a 150 page book there isn’t a ton of ANYTHING, but what is there is really fun, and McCoy’s snarky wit is present often, even when Spock is not in the picture.
Spock & McCoy— “go team”! love them together.
You would love McCoy in this one, and there are plenty of lines where you can just hear DeForest Kelley coming through loud and clear.
have you ever read any Fanzines? When I used to follow De around to his conventions there were always a LOT of “zines” that fans wrote for sale in the merchandise rooms. Some were excellent! And much of the fan artwork was outstanding too. Just wondered if you ever read any.
Speaking of DeForest coming thru loud and clear: I am so looking forward to Karl Urban in the next Trek movie. I don’t know if he made an effort to be like DeForest or not but at times his voice just blew me away.
Not really. I’ve read Star Trek magazines, but not really anything written by fans except blog versions. I imagine there is some really cool stuff out there that I am missing out on.
I bet that Karl Urban did a lot of study of Kelley as McCoy because he did such a good job mimicking his cadence and inflections as well as his facial expressions. He was a stand out in that show, which of course you know I think is excellent. Can’t wait to see him be McCoy again.
I would have guessed the “yee-=haw!” came from Andy Devine.
Another time maybe, but it was definitely a residual effect of hearing something about Hee-Haw the day before. That show (which I did enjoy watching growing up…and probably still would today) was flitting in and out of my mind.
Excellent review. You have me considering a novel based on a television series which I would never consider reading normally. I have a Joe Halderman novel on my TBR shelf just waiting for my own vacation to come along.
Ah, what Haldeman book do you have? This certainly wasn’t the one I was planning on reading for the challenge, but given that the challenge is being hosted by Worlds Without End it seemed like a really fun choice. I’m wanting to read his latest series (Marsbound, Earthbound, Starbound) but, like everyone else, have too much to read. And given that every so often I feel the urge to re-read something, that makes it even harder to get to stuff.
Sometimes a short read is just the ticket, but I know what you mean about reading a book that, in essence has too much in too little space…sounds like my house…lol I also enjoyed Hee-Haw growing up, aside from being funny, they had some awfully pretty ladies on that show 😉
It is. I enjoy being able to pick up a classic that is less than 200 pages long. Bigger is not always better. In this case I think he had too much to do in the space given, but I am still of the opinion that it is a good thing that he tried. I’d rather have a more complex story crammed into a small space than one that felt like filler.
Hee-Haw was definitely an adolescent male fantasy show, which is probably why I enjoyed watching it as a pre-teen/teen. I would appreciate the humor more know I think. And I’m not averse to a pretty lady. 🙂
I really do enjoy your reviews and this one has me convinced that my first Star Trek book should be this one. And it helps that I liked the three Haldeman books I’ve read, most especially The Forever War.
Thank you Sarah! If you like Haldeman this probably would be a good place to start. My very favorite original Star Trek novel is Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens so that is the one I always recommend, but given the brevity of this one and the Haldeman connection I would say ‘go for it’.
Books about outer space, space travel, space technology, other planets and so on are not really my cup of tea, but I would read this one because the characters would be familiar from the times spent watching Star Trek on television. I’ve read a number of horror and fantasy anthologies, and I seem to remember Haldeman as being the author of some stories in them. I did enjoy the movie Star Wars too.
Sorry to hear about George Lindsey. I wonder if you’re aware that Simon Marsden passed away in January of this year. I know you admired his work, as did I. Evidently, he had heart problems. What a loss.
No, I didn’t realize he passed away. That is sad, he wasn’t very old. Very talented photographer. Thanks for letting me know.
Oh, I didn’t know Haldeman wrote Star Trek novels! I’ll have to see if I can find this second-hand somewhere. I love me some Spock and McCoy banter, always a highlight and a treat. I’ve been looking for a copy of The Forever War for the World Without End challenge 🙂 So I really enjoyed reading your review of this novel by him for that reason also. Excellent recap, Carl!
Happy anniverary trip, too 🙂
I’ve got to go dig around in my basement to see if I have the other one he wrote, if not I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.
I haven’t read The Forever War, but I’ve read a few of his more contemporary works and really enjoyed them. The Old Twentieth has a real Star Trek feel to it.
anniversary, I mean. sorry for the typo!
And thank you!
I’ve read a few STAR TREK novels and they’ve been a mixed bag. I’ll look for WORLD WITHOUT END by Haldeman and give it try. Your balanced review pointed out the good aspects and the bad, but the good seemed to have out-weighed the bad.
They always are a mixed bag. I’ve enjoyed some of the ones I’ve read and just felt ‘blah’ about others. With this one I think the good outweighed the bad because:
a) I love these characters
b) I’ve enjoyed Haldeman’s writing in the past
c) As one of the earlier Star Trek works it has a nice feel of nostalgia to it.
Just don’t go into it expecting too much. 🙂
Sounds like a fun read! I’ll have to check it sometime. Thanks for the heads up on this one. 🙂
No problem, anytime you want to borrow it you know where to find it.
While these early Trek tie-in novels could be hit or miss, you had to admire the calibre of writers they brought in. Early on, you had David Gerrold, Haldeman and Greg Bear writing in the Trek universe.
Don’t get me wrong–I love some of the writers who I’ve found in the Trek universe of tie-ins of late…Peter David comes to mind, of course and to some extend Michael Jan Friedman. But in the early days, there was far less input from Paramount editorially and that was both a good and a bad thing for Trek fiction.