The Most Human: 6 Star Trek Books to Remember Spock

Spock’s World, by Diane Duane
The planet Vulcan may be inhabited by the most logical beings in the galaxy, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their fair share of problems. Spock’s World exposes some of the culture’s most heavily guarded secrets, going back millions of years to their early days as warmongering savages. Those struggles are beginning to resurface in modern society, creating rebellious factions who wish to secede from the Federation and return to the ancient ways. Spock and his father Sarek find themselves torn between their home and their Federation loyalties, forcing them to make impossible choices that threaten to throw logic right out the window.

Star Trek: Legacy, by Michael Jan Friedman
It’s a classic Star Trek tale of excitement where everything that can go wrong, does. First, Mr. Spock beams down to a planet and is immediately poisoned by a crazy tentacled creature. Next, Kirk and several crewmembers get trapped underground. Then, Mr. Scott is ordered to take the Enterprise to investigate a distress call from a nearby mining planet, leaving his captain behind. Spock manages to save the day by transcending the toxin using that Vulcan brain of his, taking control of the rescue mission while Kirk and cohorts struggle for freedom. In another classic Star Trek twist, that toxin wasn’t just a dab of poison—it seems Mr. Spock may be pregnant with an alien tentacle baby.

Vulcan’s Glory, by D.C. Fontana
D.C. Fontana’s history with Star Trek stretches back to the original series, for which she penned several episodes, but Vulcan’s Glory was her only foray into the world of novels. It tells the tale of Mr. Spock’s first mission aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, starting with an interlude on Vulcan where he struggles with the human emotions of leaving behind his betrothed, T’Pring. The Enterprise soon pulls him away to help investigate Vulcan’s Glory, a historical artifact that disappeared centuries earlier. It may have been found, but in order to get it back, the crew will have to deal with a interplanetary lovers’ quarrel. Spock, too, finds himself struggling with amorous emotions as he starts to fall for his Vulcan co-worker T’Pris. Oh, and newly minted chief of engineering Montgomery Scott brews up some engine room moonshine. It has nothing to do with Spock, but totally worth mentioning.

Vulcan’s Soul: Exodus, by Josepha Sherman, Susan Shwartz
A followup to the authors’ previous Vulcan-centric releases, Vulcan’s Forge and Vulcan’s Heart, the Vulcan’s Soul trilogy jumps ahead a few years to follow Mr. Spock’s adventures after his time aboard the Enterprise. One year after the end of the Dominion War, the Romulan Empire is under attack by a mysterious enemy known as the Watraii. The species really has it in for the Romulans, and might be powerful enough to utterly destroy them. The Federation has refused assistance (can you blame them?), but Ambassador Spock isn’t so quick to dismiss a former ally. Along with some of his Enterprise-era co-workers, he defies the Federation to offer aid to a people in desperate need. As he soon finds out, the Watraii might have more in common with Vulcans than anyone is prepared to believe. Even pointy-eared logicians have skeletons in their closets.

Troublesome Minds, by Dave Galanter
With a plot as classic as the series itself, Troublesome Minds takes the Enterprise to a remote location in response to a distress call. The discover the marooned Berlis, a member of a telepathic species, who says his people want him dead, though he claims not to know why. Captain Kirk can’t just leave the man here to die. Once rescued, it turns out Berlis’ telepathic powers are so strong that he unwittingly overrides the will of everyone around him, effectively controlling their minds. This created havoc on his homeworld, and Kirk and crew feel the effects as well. Even the composed Mr. Spock is falling to Berlis’ powers, and if he can’t wrangle control over his own mind, the Enterprise might be turned into a ship of war. Troublesome Minds isn’t strictly a Spock story, but sometimes a little “Vulcans gone mad” is just good entertainment.

Star Trek Crucible: Spock: The Fire and the Rose, by David R. George III
Set during Star Trek: The Original Series, the Crucible chronicles devote one book each to the show’s biggest stars: Spock, McCoy, and Kirk. Spock starts things off with The Fire and the Rose. The Vulcan finds himself displaced in time, stuck in a single moment where lives are simultaneously destroyed and created. He advised his closest friend, Kirk, to let the love of his life die in order to preserve Earth’s history, a choice that has haunted him ever since. As he moves to the present, Spock decides to challenge his logical half, willfully altering the past in the hopes that he and his allies can live without those regrets. It’s the perfect story vehicle for Spock’s struggle to reconcile his emotional and logical sides.
Live long and prosper.