Mr.Kirk Reeve is my math teacher. He is a really brilliant teacher and person. I know that this book must be good if it is written by Mr.Kirk Reeve. I liked this book really much. I am Eric Chang and this is my review.

LoLo and Red Legs is written by Kirk Reeves. This book takes place in Los Lomitas which is a town situated near Los Angeles, California. There are four main characters in this book. LoLo is the most important character. He is a Hispanic teenager who lives in Los Lomitas. Red Legs is the tarantula that LoLo catches from a hole near the fort that he and his friends built together over summer vacation. Frankie and Mario are LoLo's best friends who frequently get into mischief. The story is about a boy named LoLo who decides to catch a Tarantula and Keep it as a pet. When he asks his abuelo or grandfather how he can catch the tarantula, his grandfather tells him to take some meat, a jar, and a piece of string. After listening to his grandfathers instructions, they go together to catch the tarantula. When LoLo catches the tarantula he decides to name it Red Legs. Later in the story LoLo goes to a pet store called Animales Domesticales where he meets the owner named Mr. Verdugo who becomes friends with LoLo while teaching LoLo about Red Legs. Mr. Verdugo invites LoLo to show Red Legs at the county fair. A couple of weeks later LoLo realizes that he has lost Red Legs when he finds that the fort where he kept red Legs is destroyed. With Red Legs missing he begins to feel down. For a while in the story LoLo suspects a person named Joker and his brother Danny of taking his spider. But later LoLo finds out that Joker isn't the thief. He begins to wonder what really happened to Red Legs. Is he dead stolen or just missing? if you want to find out for yourself go to your nearest book seller and buy it.

This novel is well written and captures the characters well, however it does little to develop the Star Trek universe -- and does a lot that goes against some basic tenets. There is a great deal of self-indulgence on the part of William Shatner - and the plot is basically a tribute to Kirk and how "fantastic" he is. Given the return of Spock in the earlier movies - we can accept the fact that Kirk can be returned from the dead via alien technology. However, we can't accept the fact that the Borg simply decide to work WITH a race (Romulans) instead of trying to assimilate them. We also can't accept the fact that Kirk is suddenly god-like in his power/strength - and he is now apparently irresistible to all women! For all it's flaws, this isn't a bad novel at all! I haven't read the third one yet - but I sincerely hope it has more of a plot - and is less of a homage to Kirk. (Apparently, Shatner has signed to do 2 more in this series ... he must have a burning desire to keep Kirk alive)

This book is an excellent read with more twists and turns than the Blue Ridge Parkway in the rain, and it's a terrific sequel to the movie, Star Trek, Generations. The author uses the Next Generation Enterprise crew, the Deep Space Nine crew, Ambassador Spock and Kirk's "resurrection," very cleanly within a great yarn about a Borg/Romulan invasion. Now, there is a spot near the end of the book where the crews gather in the "new" Enterprise for a "hopeless" battle that seems a bit forced and the ending is rather predictable, but all in all I found myself having quite a bit of fun. I am told that William Shatner had a ghostwriter for his novels. Probably... But whomever it is - Shatner or not - they write very well, not allowing the details or the science to overshadow the fun! (I am also reading the "Star Trek, NEW EARTH" series - now there's a tedious read...whew!) If you enjoyed the movie Star Trek, Generations, you'll absolutely love this book.

After seeing Star Trek V the Final Frontier I was almost turned off by the thought of seeing ANYTHING Trek ever again...and guess what?? William Shatner wrote the script! It was impossibly, horribly bad...MY vote as the worst of the 'Trek movies'. Okay, leapfrog with me if you will a few years and now we have Shatner attempting to write novels. I have avoided these books like the plague I was certain they were mostly because of how much I detested 'Trek V'...that is until a friend of mine recommended 'The Return' to me. I was happy to pick it up, but when I saw Shatner's name on it, I immediately started to give it back, but my friend insisted that I at least give it a try. I was suffering from 'can't find a decent-book-to-read syndrome' at the time and so gave it a shot. !!WOW!! Was I surprised or WHAT? Shatner has given us one of THE most entertaining Trek stories out there. Totally chock full of action and plot twists and in general all-out fun. Now I'll tell you WHY his Trek books are so good: He is CO-writing them with THE best Trek authors out there, Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens'. Have you picked up 'Federation' yet? It is one of the ALL-TIME best Trek books ever written (along with their amazingly creative 'Prime Directive'). I'm sure the collaboration is what makes Shatner's novels actually good, but whoever is responsible for the WHY, I don't care, this is just one fun adventure to take. If Shatner IS responsible, kudos to him for a great story, if it's his co-authors I don't really care, as long as he continues to produce these great Trek stories. I would also recommend 'The Ashes of Eden' as well. It takes place in the Universe of the 'Trek of Old' with all the other major Trek characters, and is another winner of a story. All in all Shatner's Trek books stand nicely side-by-side with ANY other on the market. Peter David's 'Q Squared' is also one of THE most original stories out there as well.

I bought this book at the suggestion of the manager of the local bookstore to keep me occupied during an unwanted month-long trip to Poland. I normally don't read Star Trek novels, because Paramount doesn't recognize them as canon. That means that they never happened. They're basically authorized fan fiction. In fact, this is the first Star Trek novel that I've read all the way through. It's actually pretty good. In fact, I read so much of it at a time that I had nothing to do to relieve my boredom for the rest of the vacation. It's written by William Shatner. Who better to write a Captain Kirk story than James T. Kirk himself? This story is Kirk in his own words. It takes place between the end of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and Kirk's apparent death in the opening scenes of "Star Trek: Generations". Kirk joins a young woman on a journey to save her homeworld and, perhaps, recapture his youth and be young forever. Sure, we know that he won't be young again. Sure, we know that he'll survive the events of the novel. It's still fun and exciting to read, though. Don't let "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" fool you. Shatner can write. The only complaints that I have are a few typos and Shatner's writing style. He often omits the word "and" in compound sentences, and he often uses incomplete sentences lacking subjects. He also writes a lot of the characters' thoughts into the narrative itself, which is supposed to be neutral. It's as if the narrator knows what the characters are thinking and agrees with them. Other than these things, which you can get used to, it's a good book. Shatner even references events in numerous TOS episodes and all of the TOS movies except for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (which really didn't need to be referenced anyway). The story is bookended with scenes of Spock, standing over Kirk's grave on Veridian III, thinking about his late friend. Some historical notes are contradicted, such as when phasers were invented ("Enterprise") and the time period of Cochrane's first warp flight ("Star Trek: First Contact"), by later canon material, but the main story itself can still fit into the canon. The ending sets up Shatner's next Star Trek novel, "The Return". Overall, "The Ashes of Eden" is a good story and worth your time to read. It IS James T. Kirk.

Starting with this book, Willam Shatner has proven how much he knows about and truly loves Star Trek and its characters. Along with the help of the Reeves-Stevens (They also deserve a high salute as well), Shatner adds some much needed depth to the cheap "death" of Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. He also takes care of some hanging continuity threads from the past movies as well. Gosh! Is it more than satisfying or what to finally see the resolution and evolution of some key questions and themes! The interesting thing here, while reading this, is that word has it Shatner proposed this story for the next Star Trek film. 6 was a great way to go out, but if they would have come back for one more, this would have been it. This story would have merited it, and I gurantee you everyone would have been leaving that theater with tears in their eyes and their fist in the air in victory. All sorts of juicy details are touched upon, including how and why The Genesis Project failed and more about David Marcus's death and everything else. I, too, had a little bit of a struggle seeing the young Teilani go after Kirk. I realize he IS Kirk, but come one, he is 60 years old now. (This is rectified in the following books in the series when Kirk is in the 24th century and Teilani is more his age) Whatever reputation Shatner may have, there is one thing no one should dispute: He knows and loves Star Trek like the back of his hand. It's too bad; as awesome as his books in this series have been, I wish he and Nimoy would take over the reign of control over the Star Trek franchise. I would DIE to see the saga Shatner had portrayed in these books on the big screen. For me, his books are what the movies used to be. Star Trek has become so cheapened, watered down, and politically correct, that when I finally ran across these books, I finally had REAL Star Trek again. Not some soap opera like what it has become. Go ahead: Compare these books to anything Star Trek in the past several years. The difference will make you weep. Here is the difference between love and the almighty dollar.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, William Shatner has written what I would proclaim as a piece of fine science fiction and Star Trek literature. The story begins with a great mysterious/emotional awe as it opens with Spock at the grave of his fallen friend James T. Kirk. Then, the story sky rockets as Mr. Spock recalls their last adventure in the final days of the beloved James Kirks life! The story starts with Kirk reliving a simulation on Tycho VI where he lost his girl friend and relives a challenging moment with arch-villian Androwar Drake. In the end Kirk awakes from a simulation and drags on his last day virtually hopeless until a new young lady enters his life. A half Romulan/Klingon hybrid she leads Kirk and virtually gives a desperate Kirk hungary for a last piece of action hope. Kirk's friends think he is crazy but Kirk does not listen. Instead he gets involved with the young women and leaves Starfleet to aide her in defense of her planet Chal. This young woman named Telani gives him the Enterprise after Kirk learns his arch-enemy Androwar Drake becomes the CiC of the Fleet and plans to blow the ship to dust. So, Kirk returns with the Enterprise and old friends Scott to the planet! But that is one half. Meanwhile Checkov and Uhura go on a mission to find out Klingon's are selling weapons of mass destruction. While there both Checkov and Uhura run into a rogue agent of Star Fleet Intell and get ditched and left to die until Captain Sulu rescues them. Then the crew goes to the new CiC and the old gang along with Spock and McCoy are assigned to hunt down Kirk! Well, in the end the two sides meet in epic battle that only the reader will have to find out! Shatner blows the fans away with a great book! Long life James T. Kirk!

After reading the fantastic 'The Return' I was eager to devour another great visit from the literary world of William Shatner...and when 'Avenger' came out, I figured I had found my 'fix'. Unfortunately it was a few steps on the ladder below 'The Ashes of Eden' AND 'The Return' in the way of entertainment. I found it interesting indeed, and like another reviewer mentioned, I had to outright laugh when Kirk came on more physically able than Riker, smarter than Data and you could see the behind-the-scenes rivalry Shatner has with Picard because he out-thinks him at virtually EVERY turn, practically making him look stupid by comparison. It was these particular parts that I not only found overblown, but outright ridiculous.

Now with that said, I STILL enjoyed the book...WHY? you might ask? Well unlike some people who read books and tear them to shreds, I understand that I am NOT supposed to take a science fiction novel seriously. C'mon, it's Star Trek for heavens sake! Kirk doesn't really exist, and neither does ANY Trek character, so therefore I understand that no matter HOW contrived the plot may be, it was written for me to enjoy, and that I did, very much (not as much as his first two Trek books, or the subsequent follow-ups, though). Shatners collaboration with arguably the BEST Trek authors in existence (Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens') pays off for the most part, but despite a lightning fast plot and fun gadgets galore, its the plot itself that brings 'Avenger' down a notch or two. I find it a bit hard to swallow that the United Federation of Planets, with the combined resources of a slew of planets and preparations, that overpopulation could sneak up on them without a tremendous plan designed to correct it in place decades before it could become a problem...but if I suspend that belief because as I said earlier the book was written for FUN, it was a fairly fun read altogether. Now Shatner's follow-up ('Star Trek: Spectre' and 'Dark Victory') are actually MUCH better overall...and I very much look forward to reading 'Preserver'...but I can't say whether or not I'll wait for the paperback...

Having read the first 2 books of Shatner's "Star Trek" novels, I was more than eager to read "Avenger" when it came out 4 years ago! Once again, you have Kirk and Spock back together again (oh but look for 144-year old Admiral McCoy in this novel) along with the "Next Generation" crew to save the Federation from this lethal virus! What Shatner does with this story is go against Gene Roddenberry's theory that by the time period of the 24th Century, poverty, desease, war, and hungar will all be obliterated, and we will all live in a heavenly universe! Not so much the case when you have this group of anarchists trying to prove their point to the Federation by unleashing this virus upon solar systems! Shatner must have had this idea a long time ago, because if you read his novel "Teklords," it's the same type of story-telling and style! But it's still fun to read! Again, Shatner works with co-writers Judith & Garfield Reeve-Stevens for this book! They truly have clear knowledge of the "Star Trek" universe, and you can see how creative they are with their story-telling! What's more interesting is Kirk's statement in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" of how he's always known that he will die alone! Finally, Shatner answers that question with this novel! Also, he re-unites Kirk with Teilani from "The Ashes of Eden!" She is probably the most perfect person in Kirk's life, and the 2 of them are great together in this novel! Although, we may never see him again on the big-screen or in TV episodes, Shatner keeps Kirk's torch lit with each new novel! Like the saying goes: "To boldly go where no man has gone before!" Keep it up Bill!

After reading The Return, I wondered how Shatner could top an all time showdown with the Borg, whilst having Kirk and his friends fighting alongside with Picard and his crew, but this story actually continues on just like you would expect the epic saga known as Star Trek to. (Unlike the watered down tepid crap they have been putting on TV and in the theaters these past few years or so) This book takes a story that originates back to Kirk's youth, and it involves Sarek and Amanda and Spock. A possible Vulcan defection? Maybe... Just watch the amazing character development that takes place in this thing. The Kirk/Spock friendship gets a new and deeper dynamic here. An intruiging tale that involves seeming corruption even to the highest ranks of the Federation, and an incurable disease that is spreading throughout the galaxy. I just wish with all my heart that Shatner's books would be considered canonical (I already consider them that way) and were put on the big screen instead of watered down hooey like Insurrection and what not. This is awesome, and just like all the others, you will read it again and again and realize "Hey, this is the way Star Trek used to be!"... and it should be again. Dear Mr. Shatner, Maybe you and Leonard Nimoy and some others that really care about Star Trek and its future ought to consider taking some kind of leadership role in its future.