Customer Reviews
Set Phasers to Dull - By: Sam, 02 Sep 2008 
The original Star Trek's quest was to boldly go were no-one has gone before, but over countless episodes & hundreds of books the different variations of Trek have pretty much been every where. The New Earth series tried to alter this by sending Kirk & company to an uncharted area of Space with a mission to populate a new planet. In book 2 of the series `Belle Terre' they have arrived only to discover that their new paradise if under threat from an exploding moon. Can Spock come up with a plan to release the pressure before the moon is destroyed taking the planet with it? They only have just over a week to save everyone & added to this pressure is a group of children going missing on the planet's surface.
I was not too impressed with `Belle Terre' due to the repetitive nature of the story. The wider arc of populating a new planet proved intriguing, the issue was with this particular story. Over & over again the various space ships try to use tractor beams to alter the moon. After the third or fourth time this happens you seriously begin to get bored with the story. Kirk & co. are alll present, but none of them are given anything particularly new or interesting to do. If the book had not been such a short length I would have given up before finishing. As it is I was glad it finished & I hope that the rest in the series fulfils the potential that is obviously there.
fantastic - By: peter, 15 Jan 2004 
this book goes to show how brave & hounourable starfleet reallly is,there is a lot of sacrafice in this book ,its compelling reading.
Good story, fast pace but leaves a loose end. - By: ajsutherland@compuserve.com, 27 Aug 2000 
This book sorts out some of the confusing character profiles given in book 1 & starts into the plot very quickly. Spock seems to be the only person that has problem solving skills but he keeps coming up with ideas & scotty miraculously keeps the ships running. There is a large detour in the plot concerning a character named Sunn, his crew & ship. The detour is gripping & is a mini story in itself about his exploration of another planet, however Sunn gets himself into some difficulty... This is disappointing, I feel sure that Kirk could manage to save a planet at the same time as one more little ship. I have read books 3 & 4 & there is no further mention of Sunn I hope someone rectifys this before the end of the series.
Solid Trek adventure without the usual clichés - By: , 15 Aug 2000 
Pocket's Star Trek publishing program seems to have shifted in focus over the past several months: rather than publishing stand-alone novels, we've seen a number of multi-book series ranging from the excellent ("Millennium" for Deep Space Nine) to the, mmm, not-quite so-excellent (not mentioning any names!). I'll frequently pick up a Trek book based on the author ("Millennium" was written by the always-entertaining Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens), but in the case of "Belle Terre" I bought it mainly because of the intriguing concept of this multi-book series: Kirk & company are assigned to escort a group of colonists to a deep-space planet for colonization. I haven't had a chance yet to pick up the first book in the series "Wagon Train to the Stars" (I will, because it's written by another of my fave Trek authors, Diane Carey), but #2, "Belle Terre", is a fun read & intriguing enough to make me look at the rest in the series as well. When the idyllic world the colonists land on threatens to be destroyed, Kirk & the Enterprise crew must race against time & exceptionallly long odds to save the planet. Characterization is dead-on, always a plus when dealing with characters based on real actors (the grumpy, argumentative, but humanist McCoy is so authentic you can hear the late De Kelley in your head as you read). I've also got to commend Smith & Carey for the character of the colony's governor...it's a long-running Trek cliché that colony governors are thick-skulled, selfish diplomats, butting heads with Kirk & endangering themselves & others. This character rises above that cliché with a much more interesting personality--he's an individual with different ideas & goals than Starfleet, but he's willing to do everything to help Kirk & Spock's dangerous plan to stop the planet's moon from exploding. In short, a decent Trek novel, nothing exceptional, but very good suspense, characterization, & an intriguing plot that's different enough from the usual Trek storylines to make me check out "Star Trek: New Earth #3: Rough Trails" next month.
