Jean felt herself lowered suddenly, plunged into the dark. She was totally disorientated. The krelk released her into someone's arms. "Jean!" The whisper was Aernath's. She clung to him convulsingly.
... Convulsingly?
It was about half way through Pawns and Symbols that I turned to my long suffering partner and said 'By God, I've found one, I've found a Mary Sue!'. He laughed then, and we got into a discussion about the origin of the Mary Sue (he didn't realise that the term has its origin in Star Trek fanfiction) and whether this actually was a Mary Sue representation or not. This soon spiralled into a mini -ongoing - research project, which then sidestepped into why 2009 Uhura is a poor representation of Uhura and a step backwards for female representation in Star Trek - ongoing project no. 2 - and then lept to the defense of slash ST fans everywhere.
... Convulsingly?
It was about half way through Pawns and Symbols that I turned to my long suffering partner and said 'By God, I've found one, I've found a Mary Sue!'. He laughed then, and we got into a discussion about the origin of the Mary Sue (he didn't realise that the term has its origin in Star Trek fanfiction) and whether this actually was a Mary Sue representation or not. This soon spiralled into a mini -ongoing - research project, which then sidestepped into why 2009 Uhura is a poor representation of Uhura and a step backwards for female representation in Star Trek - ongoing project no. 2 - and then lept to the defense of slash ST fans everywhere.
And that was only half way through the book.
Pawns and Symbols (#26 Pocket, Giant #4 Titan) (1985) by Majliss Larson really has to be read to be believed. There were many times when I realised my mouth was agape, stunned by what I had just read, others where I had to screw up my face to try to release my muscles from a near constant smirk. I gave a running commentary to my partner, complete with predictions of what I thought would happen next (it wasn't hard), and proclaimed loudly that I had found 'Twilight in Space'. How about 'Wrath of Mary Sue'? No? OK.
Firstly, I'm going to get this out the way. It's definitely a woman writing, and I think the name 'Majliss Larson' is a pseudonym. I've looked in my usual places and she doesn't appear to have an online presence or any other reference to her aside from Pawns and Symbols. To be fair, if I was wrote Pawns and Symbols under my own name, I probably would have legally changed it by now, or invoked something like 'right to be forgotten'!
I have to be fair though, it isn't the worst Star Trek novel I've read (and that pool is increasing), but it is the most blatant Mary Sue / Author Proxy / Self Indulging one so far. About 90% of the book is taken up by misadventures of Jean Czerny - young, botanist, amnesiac, genius, Klingon whisperer, super attractive to Klingons, can beat a Klingon in a knife fight... need I go on? Her ridiculous romances with out of character Klingons are set within the theme of 'stranger in a strange land'. Jean has to adapt to life as a captive in hostile territories and in the process exposes the political machinations and mentalities of Klingon society...
...While banging Kang. Whilst falling in love with the most gentle Klingon ever with blue eyes (later they are described as amethyst as Larson forgets what she wrote earlier in the novel). You know what? I'm not even really spoiling it if I tell you that by the end of the novel after smexing Kang one final time, she gets with the pretty Klingon. Why am I not spoiling it? Because Jean is a Mary Sue, loud, proud and (probably) unashamed, and if you rouse your inner teenage fangirl she will inform you what the next 'plot twist' will be.
The tag line for the novel is deceptive:
I actually believed that I was going to get a clever story this time! A battle of wits! Perhaps I was going to be treated to Kang and Kirk butting heads, out maneuvering each other with a grudging respect. The title Pawns and Symbols sounds exciting and the cover, Kirk, Kang and a chess board, complete with 'chess piece' Jean, wheat, and the Enterprise was intriguing. There is no battle of wits between Kirk & Kang, because Kirk gets barely any story time, the original crew get barely any story time! There is one section where the Enterprise rescues a Romulan woman, but this feels like filler, almost as if Larson was told 'look here, this in a Star Trek story, you need to actually put the Enterprise Crew in it!'... And she does but... it's not so much shoehorned in as crowbarred in. Spock does have a slightly larger role in a strange episode while posing as a Romulan on a Klingon planet...
Essentially, Pawns and Symbols paints a sympathetic picture of the Klingons, and that they are are essentially a good, kind people who war with an aggressive nature. Also they are seemingly muslims who treat women as chattel and in some areas are forced to wear clothing very similar to the burka. Women are also written as second class citizens, forced into a subservient attitude - I'm kind of glad that TNG didn't go down this route with female Klingons!
In this story, the Klingons are in a position of desperate need. They have caused famine on their planets with alteration of their grain strains but do not wish to seek help because they do not want to bargain from a position of weakness. This is why they keep Jean Czerny as a hostage, as both a bargaining chip and a resource. Afterall, she is a genius botanist and will be able to help them use a new resistant type of grain succeed on the various affected planets. Jean is held captive out of necessity for about 6 months, and in that time, makes enemies, becomes Krang's consort, falls in love with Aernath, adopts a Klingon orphan...
Memorable(?) moments:
- Kang cutting her clothes off her the first time they met.
- The 'I'm too scared to write fallacio so this will have to do scene'.
- The it's not rape, it's coerced sex scene.
- 'I'm screwing Kang, but I sure do hope Aernath is jealous' moments.
- Jean seriously scolding herself in the shower and Kang coming to the rescue.
- All the times we didn't have to know Jean needed to go / went to the toilet.
- Mara (Kangs estranged / now not estranged) wife being totally cool and sisterly about Kang screwing Jean. Surprised she didn't suggest a menage a trois, all the other Klingons love her.
- Jean being made to strip for Kang after being seriously injured.
- All the teeth grindingly terrible variations of 'speaking another language' through sex.
- Injury is this author's kink.
- A bizarrely long episode about Klingon colour blindness that has no actual bearing on the plot, except perhaps making Aernath look more fragile and adorkable.
- Tribbles.
Luckily, this whole debacle is easily written off, as much of its musings about possible Klingon culture and such is smashed a couple of years later with Next Generation in 1987. As such, Pawns and Symbols has not aged well. I feel that this book got published 'under the radar' as it were, since we know that Roddenberry (or at least his team) cracked down on the novels after being triggered by Killing Time's homosexual tendencies. Killing Time was number 24, Pawns and Symbols is number 26, there would have been only a couple of months between them, I doubt whether the editorial mess would have been cleared up in time for this book to have been filtered out or had any editing. Actually, I'd be surprised if this book had any proofreading or editing at all. There are so many typing errors and sentences that make absolutely no sense littered throughout, at times I found myself wondering what had just happened.
Frankly I found myself wondering how this book ever saw print.
I've got to give credit where it's due though. Whoever Majliss Larson is, I think she really cared for this story; I think it meant a lot to her, I think she tried hard. That doesn't change the fact it's bloody awful, but you do get a sense that it wasn't a throw away novel for her. In fairness, she tried to show more of the universe by putting a new character in a difficult situation and was able to increase the time passing in the novel as part of that - I haven't had another ST novel in which the event spanned 6 months... yet. She did try to add a quite a complex society to the Klingons, which could have worked, but her vessel - Jean 'Mary Sue' Czerny - was not the best choice. Frustratingly, I could see ways in which the narrative could have been improved, she had good ideas that if told more from the perspective of the Enterprise crew could really have worked.
Consequently, I really don't think this is a recommended read unless you're interested in strange OOC Klingon centric stories, and even then you've got to have a high Mary Sue tolerance to reach the end (I was struggling!).
1/5 - Kang bang...?
...While banging Kang. Whilst falling in love with the most gentle Klingon ever with blue eyes (later they are described as amethyst as Larson forgets what she wrote earlier in the novel). You know what? I'm not even really spoiling it if I tell you that by the end of the novel after smexing Kang one final time, she gets with the pretty Klingon. Why am I not spoiling it? Because Jean is a Mary Sue, loud, proud and (probably) unashamed, and if you rouse your inner teenage fangirl she will inform you what the next 'plot twist' will be.
The tag line for the novel is deceptive:
THE KLINGONS ARE HUNGRY FOR WAR -
AND KIRK IS CAUGHT IN A BRUTAL BATTLE OF WITS!
I actually believed that I was going to get a clever story this time! A battle of wits! Perhaps I was going to be treated to Kang and Kirk butting heads, out maneuvering each other with a grudging respect. The title Pawns and Symbols sounds exciting and the cover, Kirk, Kang and a chess board, complete with 'chess piece' Jean, wheat, and the Enterprise was intriguing. There is no battle of wits between Kirk & Kang, because Kirk gets barely any story time, the original crew get barely any story time! There is one section where the Enterprise rescues a Romulan woman, but this feels like filler, almost as if Larson was told 'look here, this in a Star Trek story, you need to actually put the Enterprise Crew in it!'... And she does but... it's not so much shoehorned in as crowbarred in. Spock does have a slightly larger role in a strange episode while posing as a Romulan on a Klingon planet...
Essentially, Pawns and Symbols paints a sympathetic picture of the Klingons, and that they are are essentially a good, kind people who war with an aggressive nature. Also they are seemingly muslims who treat women as chattel and in some areas are forced to wear clothing very similar to the burka. Women are also written as second class citizens, forced into a subservient attitude - I'm kind of glad that TNG didn't go down this route with female Klingons!
In this story, the Klingons are in a position of desperate need. They have caused famine on their planets with alteration of their grain strains but do not wish to seek help because they do not want to bargain from a position of weakness. This is why they keep Jean Czerny as a hostage, as both a bargaining chip and a resource. Afterall, she is a genius botanist and will be able to help them use a new resistant type of grain succeed on the various affected planets. Jean is held captive out of necessity for about 6 months, and in that time, makes enemies, becomes Krang's consort, falls in love with Aernath, adopts a Klingon orphan...
Memorable(?) moments:
- Kang cutting her clothes off her the first time they met.
- The 'I'm too scared to write fallacio so this will have to do scene'.
- The it's not rape, it's coerced sex scene.
- 'I'm screwing Kang, but I sure do hope Aernath is jealous' moments.
- Jean seriously scolding herself in the shower and Kang coming to the rescue.
- All the times we didn't have to know Jean needed to go / went to the toilet.
- Mara (Kangs estranged / now not estranged) wife being totally cool and sisterly about Kang screwing Jean. Surprised she didn't suggest a menage a trois, all the other Klingons love her.
- Jean being made to strip for Kang after being seriously injured.
- All the teeth grindingly terrible variations of 'speaking another language' through sex.
- Injury is this author's kink.
- A bizarrely long episode about Klingon colour blindness that has no actual bearing on the plot, except perhaps making Aernath look more fragile and adorkable.
- Tribbles.
Luckily, this whole debacle is easily written off, as much of its musings about possible Klingon culture and such is smashed a couple of years later with Next Generation in 1987. As such, Pawns and Symbols has not aged well. I feel that this book got published 'under the radar' as it were, since we know that Roddenberry (or at least his team) cracked down on the novels after being triggered by Killing Time's homosexual tendencies. Killing Time was number 24, Pawns and Symbols is number 26, there would have been only a couple of months between them, I doubt whether the editorial mess would have been cleared up in time for this book to have been filtered out or had any editing. Actually, I'd be surprised if this book had any proofreading or editing at all. There are so many typing errors and sentences that make absolutely no sense littered throughout, at times I found myself wondering what had just happened.
Frankly I found myself wondering how this book ever saw print.
I've got to give credit where it's due though. Whoever Majliss Larson is, I think she really cared for this story; I think it meant a lot to her, I think she tried hard. That doesn't change the fact it's bloody awful, but you do get a sense that it wasn't a throw away novel for her. In fairness, she tried to show more of the universe by putting a new character in a difficult situation and was able to increase the time passing in the novel as part of that - I haven't had another ST novel in which the event spanned 6 months... yet. She did try to add a quite a complex society to the Klingons, which could have worked, but her vessel - Jean 'Mary Sue' Czerny - was not the best choice. Frustratingly, I could see ways in which the narrative could have been improved, she had good ideas that if told more from the perspective of the Enterprise crew could really have worked.
Consequently, I really don't think this is a recommended read unless you're interested in strange OOC Klingon centric stories, and even then you've got to have a high Mary Sue tolerance to reach the end (I was struggling!).
1/5 - Kang bang...?
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