Product Description

One year after the end of the Dominion War, the Romulan Star Empire comes under attack by a mysterious and alarmingly powerful enemy calling itself the Watraii, a species with a long-standing vendetta against the Romulans. Yet though they remain tenuously allied, the Federation, the Romulans, and the Klingons are unready to become embroiled in another sustained conflict, forcing Ambassador Spock, Admiral Uhura, Admiral Chekov, Captain Saavik, and some unexpected allies to defy their governments in order to meet the new threat head-on. But the first blood drawn may prove to be among the dearest of all.

Unknown to the defenders, the secret behind the Watraii's attack is buried in Vulcan's violent ancient past, during the time of Surak himself, when the proto-Romulans -- staunch opponents of Surak's reforms -- were compelled to take their chances among the cold and distant stars. Now Spock must begin the first leg of a long and dangerous road to learn the truth...before his hopes for the future become ashes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244668 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
"Exodus leaves you wanting more."

-- Jackie Bundy, treknation.com

"If you enjoyed Spock's World, you'll thrill to this new vision of Trek legend."

-- Kilian Melloy, wigglefish.com

"...A tale rich in folklore and history, revealing to us that there's more to Spock's home planet than meets the eye. And if you think you know all there is to the planet Vulcan...think again."

-- Bill Williams, trekweb.com

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

History is the intellectual form in which a culture decides for itself the meaning of its past.

-- JOHAN HUIZINGA

None of the Vulcan, Romulan, human, Cardassian, and Klingon diplomats assembled had notified their governments officially of this meeting in the center of the Romulan Neutral Zone. Easier by far, thought Ambassador Spock, to get forgiveness than permission. Humans might have invented that saying, but its applications were universal.

The only problem was that Spock was not totally certain that forgiveness, in this case, would be all that easy to attain. Not for this meeting.

He suspected that various presidents, praetors, legates, chancellors, and a host of other titles would disapprove even more strenuously of where he and his colleagues had chosen to meet. Scans indicated that the echoing, circular chamber located approximately 300.58 meters beneath the jagged surface of an airless asteroid had begun its existence as a bubble in molten rock approximately 3.2 billion Earth years ago. Those same scans had also proved that the desolate chunk of rock had once been part of a planet, shattered by some catastrophe and flung free.

The symbolism was explicit. Those who did not learn from history were destined to repeat it. That was a maxim Spock had found both in Surak's Analects and in human philosophy.

Would old enemies prove apt students of histories not their own?

Spock found it difficult to assess that probability. For now, at least, the assembled diplomats, aides, warriors, and covert operatives eyed one another with a sensible caution, but no rage. At least, not yet.

To some extent, wariness was only to be expected. For Vulcans, rage was illogical. For Romulans, it was counterproductive. For Klingons, Cardassians, and humans, however -- well, Spock not only assumed that the weapons scanners each side had insisted on bringing in were the best available and working effectively, he had checked their effectiveness himself.

But even the efficacy of the weapons scanners installed on this chunk of rock did not matter: What need had the participants in this conference of physical weapons when they had thoughts and words, the deadliest weapons of all?

Gathered around a black stone table that had been ancient before their ancestors had ever walked upright, let alone fought each other, the members of this shadow council all seemed willing to tolerate their enemies' presence. At least for now, they were willing to listen.

Spock's eyes met those of his own longtime personal antagonist. His father, Sarek, might have chosen never to meld minds with him, but Spock thought that, for once, they were in perfect understanding. It was logical to exploit the willingness of these participants in a most secret conference to talk and to listen, but that willingness was fragile. One wrong word, one false step, even a misunderstood glance could destroy it.

Sarek raised his eyebrow minutely at his son. Now it begins. Rising from his black stone chair, Vulcan's senior ambassador held up his hand with its fingers parted in formal Vulcan greeting. Instantly, he gained the attention of every diplomat -- and every guard -- in the room. Even more than his son, Sarek was legendary for the just, wily, and occasionally ruthless methods he had employed lifelong to win his diplomatic battles. Even the Romulans, knowing he was no friend of theirs, had conceded that Sarek, as eldest of the participants, was the logical representative to make the opening statement.

"We come to serve," Sarek began, pitching his voice to carry throughout the echoing stone bubble. Instantly, attentive, wary eyes targeted the august old Vulcan.

"Let the site of our meeting serve as a warning and an inspiration to us," Sarek told the men and women assembled around the stone table.

Reinforcing the symbolism, Spock thought. Well done, Father.

Spock had seen the geologic assays of this asteroid. They showed minute traces of types of radiation indicating that the cataclysm that had destroyed the planet had been deliberate. Thus far, however, no one had been able to learn whether it had been destroyed by its enemies or its own inhabitants. Even now, some radiation remained in the desolate rock. It would not prove harmful, Spock knew, if this clandestine meeting with Romulan negotiators was kept brief. That knowledge was shared by every one of the diplomats, officers, and scientists present. But even if concern about radiation levels had not been a considerable incentive for concluding these talks quickly, the destruction of bases on both sides of the Neutral Zone made speed a necessity.

"I am not here," Sarek continued, "to make resounding speeches about historic moments. We are not here for that. Instead, I urge the representatives assembled today to choose the logical path. We must reason together to prevent our own homeworlds from being shattered on the forge where this planet's culture perished."

Sarek's reflection in the gleaming black walls was only slightly distorted by the ancient inscriptions that no one had ever been able to decipher. His heavy white robes of office, gleaming with iridescent cabochon gems of white, the red of Vulcan's soil, and the green of its children's blood, seemed simultaneously to weigh him down and sustain him.

For an instant, the image in the shining stone seemed to waver. Spock tensed in case Sarek needed assistance. His father was barely two hundred. When had his shoulders become so thin?

That was one of many questions Spock asked himself.

Another question was whether it had been smugglers, war refugees, or Romulan archeologists turned tacticians who discovered the hollow beneath this asteroid's barren surface. How many cultures -- over how many years -- had spent their time polishing the jagged rock into some semblance of civilization?

At this moment, not even scientific inquiry matters, Spock cautioned himself. It is illogical to multitask now. More: It is unacceptably hazardous. Your duty is to focus on Sarek's words and how they are being received.

Frail or not, Sarek had lost none of his shrewdness. He had made his opening remarks brief and was now bringing them to a close.

"We regard the shared knowledge of this place and the shared willingness to meet within it as evidence of a motivation to wage peace that I find highly satisfactory. And, may I add, profoundly logical."

The old Vulcan bowed to the senators, warriors, and diplomats assembled, then to the keen-eyed observers before he seated himself once more.

The Klingon observer, Kaghvahr son of Kyrosh, pounded his gauntleted fist on the table.

"Wage peace, son of Vulcan? It would be more logical," he growled out the word, "if you showed us our enemy! To destroy the honorless creatures who have turned planets into fragments -- now, that would be truly glorious!"

Romulan Commander Toreth of the Khazara, a small woman of around Spock's age, eyed the Klingon as if he were on the same evolutionary level as the targ that crouched beside Kaghvahr's chair.

Again, Spock traded glances with his father. For the second time that day and the third time since Senator Pardek of Romulus had informed Spock that powers in the Romulan Star Empire favored a meeting (always provided that the Praetor did not have to take official note of it), father and son were in agreement.

Illogical of me to have been surprised that Sarek accepted the suggestion -- even if it does turn out to be pretext for a battle. My father is, after all, a true disciple of Surak: if a chance for peace exists, he acts upon it. Fascinating: He wages peace with the zeal of a Klingon warrior or the cunning of a Romulan senator.

Because Sarek was regarded as less partisan -- and certainly less inflammatory -- than Spock, whose advocacy for Vulcan-Romulan unification had earned him opposition from the less logical, Sarek had been the choice to carry the request for a meeting to select officials in the Federation.

Admiral Uhura herself had suggested this asteroid as a suitable meeting place for "you and your opposite numbers." Her opposite numbers had accepted the suggestion without a show of outrage or even much surprise, which led Spock to believe that the "powers" that Pardek mentioned included members of the Romulan Senate.

Spock surmised that Uhura's comment about his "opposite numbers" was as metaphorical as many other of the intelligence officer's observations over the years. For many years now, Spock had had associates in the Romulan Star Empire as well as in the Federation. However, the representatives now seated across from him had violently replaced most of the Romulans Spock had fought alongside and came very close to regarding as friends, even if their governments were hostile. Now other Romulan officers, politicians, and spies faced him, servants of the people who had replaced his...former associates in power. A human or Klingon could not have sat across from them without comment. A Romulan would have declared feud. As a Vulcan, Spock had no trouble treating them with the courtesy required by a diplomatic mission. Even though, as a sapient being who had lost...colleagues, he knew the costs of trusting them, the risks of not trusting them might prove to be even greater.

In pursuing this meeting, Spock had put his credibility "on the table," as Uhura probably had already said someplace where Spock had not heard her. Also on the actual or metaphorical table, however, was Sarek's reputation. Both had been sufficient -- just barely -- to bring Romulan and Klingon ships, cloaked not just to conceal their presence but to prevent them from firing immediately on each other, into orbit around this asteroid, while Starfleet gave it a wide berth.

It was highly unfortunate that the Treaty of Algeron, which had emerged from the Tomed debacle of 2311, barred the Federation from developing its own cloaking technology: the Federation was now in the uncomfortable position of being in...

Customer Reviews

Good, But Won't Stand On Its Own
Kicking off a trilogy of novels, Vulcan's Soul: Exodus documents a new conflict in the post-Dominion War years between the Romulans and a mysterious species called the Watraii. At the same time, it delves into the past to tell about an exodus of Vulcans from the war-torn planet during the time of Surak.

On the whole, the novel was a pleasant diversion, but acted more as a teaser for the next two books telling two separate stories instead of really standing on its own. Right off the top, something felt odd. I couldn't really put my finger on it. It might have been expectations, but then again I can't say that I really had any. All I had known beforehand was that it involved some new race attacking the Romulans, so I was got increasingly confused by the amount of time was spent in Vulcan's past.

It got to the point that it started to overshadow the present day story and of the two, I preferred the more modern story. I started to figure that this Exodus either became the Watraii or the Romulans, although if it were the latter, it wasn't at all as I had imagined or thought had been established about how they left. Something tells me this was some previously unknown and earlier migration of Vulcans into space.

The most developed character ends up being Karatek, the Vulcan scientist in the past who takes in Surak as a guest and ends up getting way more than he bargained for. He hardens up during his ordeal going through the Forge and will only be tested with his new mission. No one else really gets as much attention, although Spock and Saavik are at the center of the 24th century storyline. Other characters from Sherman/Schwartz novels also appear and we get some nice updates about what they're doing. The use of Chekov is dubious. Of the original crew, he was certainly the youngest, but I also wish they'd just let the whole TOS bunch fade away instead of dragging them out and dusting them off for one more adventure. The needless jokes referencing "nuclear wessels" were just groan-inducing.

There are however several little details that do work well, especially the opening setting of a hidden meeting place deep in the Neutral Zone where the super-powers can get together. That is a place that I really hope gets used again in a future novel. The amassing of Saavik's fleet and its confrontation with the Watraii was decent. More about the other Federation starships would be nice. It did seem that several Starfleet vessels were willing to go against orders at the drop of a hat. Rebellion against orders is pretty run-of-the-mill anymore, so maybe it's just as well that they didn't go too indepth about it anyway.

Other things don't work so well. The plot relies on a couple of contrivances that just didn't feel necessary, such as a memorial service being interrupted by a broadcast of a Watraii attack that never really established who sent it or how. I was also a bit bewildered at how Saavik's fleet just happened upon the Watraii fleet in the middle of nowhere. I think a few more scenes, especially in the 24th century storyline, could have avoided those contrivances and only added more weight to the novel.

The book ends on a cliffhanger that didn't ring true. I really couldn't believe that Spock would proclaim someone dead on so little evidence. I really don't get much of a sense of how the Vulcan's Soul trilogy will all play out with Exodus. I hear that this trilogy will also get into the origins of the Remans, but at this point I'm not seeing it (or why it didn't play more into all the Romulan stories post-Nemesis). This is a light and entertaining first entry. Here's hoping the next installment gives us more depth.

Not worth it!
Thumbs down. Don't buy this one. What I want to know is "Where are the editors on this? Weren't they doing their jobs?" This collective work doesn't hold a candle to that of A.C. Crispin or Diane Duane. Besides being dull and boring, here's why I didn't care for this:

* Whoever wrote the "Memory" chapters about the Vulcan sundering and the founding of the Romulan Star Empire has a terrible writing style. The sentence structure was complex and cumbersome and littered with too many adverbs. What the author was trying to say in instances was hard to fathom even after re-reading passages several times.
* The plot for the "present day" part was thin and predictable. The storyline was not helped by all the cameo appearances of various Star Trek characters; they were an annoyance. The details concerning "present day" characters on Romulus has me scratching my head; what is the relevance? Is there another sequel coming?
* After re-reading the first chapter of "Exodus" after completing the entire 3 volume work, I still can't understand the intent or the necessity of this chapter. In addition, there were characters introduced here (this chapter) in detail who played no role in the rest of the novels. What a waste of my time to try and decode!
* The scene selection and the detail in which they were presented in the "Memory" chapters is questionable. There was material presented, although somewhat interesting, that added little value to the story line. The reason for Karatek's (and his family's) exile to Remus was more tell than show. Why wasn't this developed more fully?
* Some of the books used regular dates; the middle book used star dates. Confusing.
* I think those who follow Star Trek understand that this is basically fantasy. However, there is still a certain amount of fundamental physics that you need to get right. When you have an explosion in deep space (i.e., vacuum), you can't have a shock wave because a traditional shock wave can only be propagated with continuous media like an atmosphere or an ocean. But, you can have ejecta!

There are more faults that I could find with this work. Do yourself a favor and read something by Timothy Zahn or Tom Clancy.

Nice beginning, but important technical details ignored
This book is a good beginning to this trilogy and gives us a glimpse of the time of Surak just before and during the Sundering.

However, in the 24th century subplot...certain technical details got ignored. Such as...how did they beam Spock on board the Watraii ship without punching through its shields? Suddenly shields don't exist anymore? Or Starfleet transporters can now beam through shields? I would have expected some minimal explanation of them finding a breach in the shields of the Watraii or somehow turning it off for a microsecond.

As if above mistake wasn't enough...they repeat it. Right after above a Watraii beams into the Alliance to retrieve the device Spock stole. Once again no mention of punching through or finding a breach in the Alliance's shields to allow the Watraii to beam through.

It's really lazy of them to just ignore the established fact in Trek lore that YOU CANNOT BEAM THROUGH SHIELDS...unless there were certain things done to breach it, punch through it, or somehow get it turned off for a quick bit to sneak in a transporter beam.