Garth of Izar
Star Trek TOS
By Pamela Sargent & George Zebrowski 

     One of the episodes in the original Star Trek series featured the legendary Captain Garth, one of Kirk's heroes during his academy days, but he was transformed into a raving lunatic following essential medical treatment on the mysterious planet Antos IV. This book, by two respected SF writers, jumps forward a few years to when a miracle drug has cured Garth and other asylum inmates of their madness and Garth is once again acting captain and on a mission, but under the watchful eyes of Kirk and his crew. Their mission is to return to Antos IV and attempt to diffuse the crisis which is threatening to erupt into a civil war, as the shape shifting Antosians are divided on whether to lose their now-useless skill in order to better serve as a member of the Federation or to keep their heritage intact. But the vital question is whether Garth is sane, or whether he is in fact the criminally insane "Lord Garth" of Kirk's former misadventure…

     You can't lose if you choose to base a book on any of the episodes of this seminal TV series and there is much to applaud in here as the impressively tragic creation of Garth comes to life again, with Star Trek plausibility rather than theatrical pathos and melodrama. The story twists and turns as the crew tries to keep their eyes on their wayward charge and keep up with what the Antosians are up to: unmasking traitors, trying to keep the peace and avert fatalities. At times I felt that the story and character of Garth demanded a bit of Shakespearean tragedy, but the authors had obviously thought hard about what was most likely to happen if the situation had been real, and when I put the book down I felt that their decision had been for the best. An enjoyable story which would have made a good two-part episode.