#235 The Eugenics Wars: Volume Two (2002)

Author: Greg Cox
Title: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (Volume Two)
Genre: Science Fiction
Year: 2002
Pages: 330
Origin: read on the good old Kindle
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5

 

Having read the first volume to this story, the Worm decided to return for more. Not out of particular desire for enjoyment, but rather because the Worm hates to leave a read unfinished. Volume One (reviewed here) outlined a plot that combined elements of one of Star Trek’s premier villains – Khan – alongside minor characters from an episode in the Original Series in the late 1960s. It ended with Khan a free man who attempts to bring about World War Three and the supreme rule of the genetic supermen. The people to stop him? Gary Seven and his sidekick Roberta Lincoln.

Weaving in real life events with his fictional story, Greg Cox does an intriguing job. The reader finds another interpretation of the Balkans crisis and the destabilisation of India. Furthermore, the threat of the ozone layer – involved in Khan’s planning of Earth’s destruction – is threaded throughout. At the end of this volume the author includes a ‘Historical Notes’ section, emphasising the expansion of research for the writing of the book. However, fiction clearly triumphs over fact. There was opportunity for Cox to go further, by bringing in more real events and thereby creating a sterner rod in which to support his clearly outlandish plot.

Other annoyances include the character of Khan; the reader will find it hard to match up this youthful portrayal with the one famously played by Ricardo Montalban. Whilst Gary Seven’s sanctimonious personality wears incredibly thin incredibly fast.

In the end, Seven and Roberta are successful in bringing down Khan’s plan for domination. Khan’s own raging and egocentric personality – traits of his creation – are seen as flaws that are beaten by the humans. He is caught and sentenced to a prison-stasis on board a space-ship, all of which nicely ties-up the character’s appearance in the Original Series episode Space Seed in which he is found by a young William Shatner.

Cox’s novel fills in the blanks of Khan’s creation and origins. And ultimately, that is all that his two volume series is. As stated in the review for Volume One, the plot is far too integrated within the Star Trek world that it is off-putting to the casual reader. However, thankfully for that proud race known as Trekkers (or Trekkies), the universe of Star Trek will continue to be expanded, written and read, for many years to come. The Worm just isn’t sure if he will be one of them.

 

Read the review for Volume One here 

Read more about the author here