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By BWilliams / 15:16, 27 September 2006 / Reviews - Books
Synopsis: Who is Christopher Pike?
Review: For 40 years many fans have speculated about the life of Christopher Pike, the first known captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. We've only known very little about him based on the original pilot "The Cage" - his birth in Mojave, California; his love for horses; his need for perfection and high demands for himself and his crew; and his resistance to the Talosians. We also know of the tragic fate that befell him in "The Menagerie", leaving him scarred, crippled, confined to a wheelchair, unable to move or even speak. Since that time fans and writers have tried to fill in some of the gaps with more of Pike's adventures in print and comics forms, from novels such as VULCAN'S GLORY, THE RIFT, and WHERE SEA MEETS SKY, to several of the DC Comics tales and the all-too-brief Marvel/Paramount comic series STAR TREK: THE EARLY VOYAGES. But none of them has given us any further glimpse into Pike's life. In BURNING DREAMS, the latest novel from Margaret Wander Bonanno, we now learn who Christopher Pike is and what made him the ideal Starfleet captain for future generations.
Eschewing the traditional narrative approach, Bonanno jumps back and forth through time to give us a rich, full tale of a man obsessed with high standards and demands for perfection and the ultimate price he paid for such dreams. Spanning the decades between the 23rd and 24th centuries, we are witness to Pike's less than normal beginnings; his father's abandonment at his birth; his departure from Earth; and the life he, his mother, and stepfather carved out on the Elysium colony. It is there on Elysium that young Christopher Pike goes through the first fiery trial of his life, one that echoes in his heart through the years and affects his every decision.
From his youth to his blossoming career in Starfleet, Pike's life endured, as Bonanno reveals his trial by fire aboard the starship Aldrin that nearly led to the end of his Starfleet career before it began. Of course, she brings everything back into familiar territory, taking readers back to where it all began for Pike, on Talos IV and his encounter with the mysterious Talosians and the equally mysterious Vina, the woman who left an indelible mark on Pike's heart. This time, however, we not only learn of Pike's motivations but also of Vina's backstory as well, revealing her equally heartbreaking origins and near-death odyssey to Talos IV. Bonanno fleshes out "The Cage" by vividly counterbalancing Pike's dreams with Vina's. Of course, there's a third major player involved in BURNING DREAMS - the one man whose loyalty he has sworn to Christopher Pike: Spock. Through the novel we learn more of the great lengths Spock undertook to stand alongside his former captain, and the final mission Spock undertakes for Pike.
All the while we read BURNING DREAMS, we know of Pike's untimely fate. Similarly, we know of the equally tragic circumstances that robbed us of both Christopher Pike and of Jeffrey Hunter, the talented actor who brought Pike to life in "The Cage". As Bonanno points out, we wish for a better fate for both men. though we know that's never going to happen.
It's never easy to tell a tale by continually jumping back and forth through time. Seldom, if ever, do many stories succeed with this non-traditional approach. Yet Margaret Wander Bonanno is one of those few storytellers who, like Orson Welles with CITIZEN KANE and Christopher Nolan with MEMENTO, have successfully balanced present and past events throughout the pages of her narrative. BURNING DREAMS is a masterful blend of character insight and background, of one man's journey through the fires that forged him into the model captain for future generations to follow. It is no less than an instant classic and a true benchmark in STAR TREK literature.
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