The Captain's Oath

By: Christopher L. Bennett

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

An all-new Star Trek adventure set during The Original Series era and featuring James T. Kirk!

The saga of James T. Kirk’s historic command of the U.S.S. Enterprise is known throughout the galaxy. But one part of the legend has barely been touched upon until now: the story of Kirk’s first starship command and the remarkable achievements by which Starfleet’s youngest captain earned the right to succeed Christopher Pike as the commander of the famous Enterprise. From his early battles with the Klingons to the rescue of endangered civilizations, Kirk grapples with difficult questions: Is he a warrior or a peacemaker? Should he obey regulations or trust his instincts? This thrilling novel illustrates the events and choices that would shape James T. Kirk into one of the most renowned captains in Starfleet history.

Very piercing look into the human condition

I remember looking at the reviews of this book and being amused at the Trump supporters who felt that this novel was a rehash of liberal indictment against right-wing values. What they don't remember is that Star Trek has always been a boundary pusher for what might be considered liberal values. The Vulcan IDIC concept, infinite diversity in infinite combination, is one of the Federation's key tenets, and is represented by the many alien races that comprise it. Humans, Vulcans, Caitians, Rigelians, Andorians, Tellarites, and many more races working together to create a civilization more than the sum of its parts. The acceptance of refugees into Federation space is a key factor in this story, as well as the utterly alien nature of these refugees as well as the need for understanding to bring about peace. There is no blatant indictment of right wing values in these concepts, and if you as a reader think there is, then that speaks volumes about you as a human being, and the kind of values you hold dear and furthermore, if you feel criticized by this story or this writer, it might behoove you to reflect upon what we as sci fi fans want for the future. Ask yourself why you were sensitive to the topic, or offended.

A great adventure

It was read very well that it wasn't very hard to picture the Star Trek crew. I would listen to it again

Review of The Captain's Oath: Star Trek

Great set of Star Trek stories connecting characters from 2 separate commands of Captain Kirk. The same good comforting feelings were experienced as when watching episodes of the original series. Very good narration that kept the characters distinct from each other without trying to imitate the original actor's voices.

Not just an origin story

While some may feel that Trek prequels are being run into the ground, this is a notable highlight amongst them all while still being its own independent story. There are two intertwined A and B stories (more like two segments in the timeline) that come together to create a nice history of Kirk and the gang just before and just after he becomes captain of the enterprise. Yes, you can probably guess the ending to everything fairly easily, and there is yet another eye roll worthy attempt to have a Trump character inserted at one point, but this is none the less one of the most entertaining Star Trek books to come out in the past year or two, and Robert Petkoff is once again brilliant as he always is.

best star trek novel I've read

first book I have personally read, where I feel the actually got Kirk right. The stories in the book could have been two seperate books.