Shadow Lord by Laurence Yep

Shadow Lord by Laurence Yep
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'll admit I couldn't remember anything about this novel and in hindsight the mystery probably means it got that little bit of extra good will which earned it the third star. The story is Spock and Sulu centric which is an unusual combination given the flare of our helmsman and the reserved nature of the First officer. However the two having a life and death adventure on the world of Angira worked very well as their differences clashed nicely as well as being a counter point to this "primitive" worlds threats. Story wise we have a returning prince of the realm bringing the advantages of a Federation education to aid his father in raising his world to meet the challenges of a galactic society. The obstacles are many as the old school ways are ingrained in the social and political structure which come to the fore when the prince returns to find that the privileged are hell bent on protecting their "rights" and the everyday man and woman are far more repressed under the new "vision" than they ever where under the more feudal social model. The princes return tips the balance and violence erupts and he along with his two Starfleet advisors are forced to run for their lives to the very people who have no love for the royal family.
Shadow Lord was a fun read, not exactly Star Trek in the sense that the Enterprise and most of the crew are simply irrelevant but for fans of Spock and particularly Sulu it's worth a read.

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