The Autobiography of Mr Spock by Una McCormick

"The Autobiography of Mr. Spock" tells the story of one of Starfleet's finest officers, and one the Federations most celebrated citizens. Half human and half Vulcan, the book, written in Spock's own words, follows his difficult childhood on the planet Vulcan; his controversial enrollment at Starfleet Academy; his adventures with Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise; his diplomatic triumphs with the Klingons and Romulans; and his death and amazing resurrection on the Genesis Planet. We meet the friends he's made, the women he loved, and experience the triumphs and tragedies of a life and career that spanned a century. Despite his alien blood, his struggle to find his place in the universe is one we can all relate to.

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I don't remember ever not being a Trekkie. First run Next Gen and, later, Voyager were always my shows...I was too young for TOS and too easily bored for DS9, although I later went back to, and enjoyed very much, both of them. Like a lot of people, the outsider characters Data, Odo and Spock were the ones who fascinated me, and I jumped at the chance to read this autobiography of Spock.

This isn't a book for someone who's not at least vaguely familiar with the original series, the movies, and Discovery, one of the newer series. It references all of those, but only in passing, so if you don't already know the background, you're likely to be very confused. You should also be at least a little familiar with the first of the three most recent movies, as this is written just before that and makes reference to it.

I did love the touch of this being written to Captain Picard, the man who probably now knows Spock better than anyone else alive. It's so clever and perfect, although it did lead to a couple of "As you know, (explanation of something Picard knows but we the readers don't)" moments. I can forgive that, though, because it's such an inspired idea overall. (Also for the image of Spock and Picard sitting in the vineyard at La Barre, which I adore.)

The tone is firmly Spockian throughout, not surprising as this is an older Spock looking back, not an accumulation of then-current writings. I was surprised that he mentioned Jim Kirk so very little, but Jim does better than most of the other original crew. Only McCoy is mentioned in any kind of detail, and I was a little sad about that. However, from Spock's perspective, those were crewmates for a very small portion of his life, so I can understand it a bit.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this; it's clever, it's fun, and it gave Saavik an ending to her story, which I thought was fantastic. I'm off to look for more from the same series now!

The Autobiography of Mr Spock publishes on the 7th or 14th, unclear, of September, 2021. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.