I've been a Star Trek fan since the debut of the original series. I still have fond memories of turning the elementary school jungle gym into the Enterprise and playing Trek at recess. So when I heard there was going to be a prequel film, my husband and I were in line for the first showing. I loved the movie and plan on buying the DVD.

The novelization follows the script fairly well as I recall it with a few exceptions. The story begins with Spock's birth on Vulcan. Next, we go to the USS Kelvin, which is under attack. Field promoted Captain George Kirk loses his life to save the crew from an attack by a Romulan ship from the future led by Captain Nero, who's seeking vengeance on Ambassador Spock and the Federation for destroying his world in the future.

Next, we follow the lives of Spock and Jim Kirk as they move through their early years prior to Starfleet, then the Academy and finally their assignments to Enterprise. Of course, we see the famed Kobayashi Maru incident. But the cadets are called from training early when a surprise attack at a Klingon prison camp causes the fleet to go on red alert. The ship's crew must face Captain Nero again, because now he plans to destroy both Vulcan and Earth.

Alan Dean Foster is one of my favorite writers. He's got a strong flair for describing details and making characters come to life. As I said earlier, the book fairly follows the film with some stronger explanation and deepening of the story. You see a bit more of Spock and Sarek, plus more at Kirk and Scotty's meeting.

Two questions you're probably going to ask: Is the book better than the movie? No. Unquestionably not. You've got to see this film to really capture the story as it should be told. And should I see the film first or read the book? I watched the film first and while I think you could take this in either order, I preferred seeing the film first and then getting a deeper explanation.

NOTE: This is not the best of Foster's work. I've loved this author for many years and while he does a stellar job of capturing the Enterprise's crew, the narrative flow of this novelization is very much like the movie, so the point of view shifts are going to be somewhat hard to follow.