James Blish sollte lieber wissenschaftliche Artikel schreiben. Auf gerade mal 118 Seiten Fließtext hat er Konstruktivismus, Ernährungsbiologie, Astrophysik und die philosophische Frage nach der Unsterblichkeit der Seele in epischer Breite diskutiert und die Handlung auf ein Minimum gekürzt.

Nice, quick read that could as well have been an episode of the original series. I liked the format of every chapter beginning as a captain's log, the writing style was a good fit for the story and the plot was quite intriguing. I was positively surprised that the conversation from the beginning not only had impact on the plot but also came back at the end. It was of course not perfect: Spocks unnatural behavior had to be explained away at the end and I don't know how realistic the whole thing is, but I don't mind that. It was short and enjoyable and an interesting edition to the star trek franchise.