The Eugenics Wars: Not Your Father’s Wars
Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars
The Books:
The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (Volume #1)
The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (Volume #2)
To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh
The Author:
Greg Cox
Publication Info:
Volume #1 Published July 1, 2001 by Pocket Books
Volume #2 Published April 1, 2002 by Pocket Books
Reign in Hell Published 2005 by Pocket Books
Warning: Some Spoilers Ahead
I initially wanted to read this series because of the historical nature of the story and the historical value the series adds to one of the most famous aspects of the original series — Khan Noonien Singh. It’s a famous plot line that was made even more famous by the reboot treatment it was given for Star Trek Into Darkness. The Eugenics Wars has been one of the most memorable Trek novel series that I’ve read. I hate to say this about Trek novels, but most of them aren’t memorable. Most of them are good, interesting reads, but I couldn’t tell you what they’re good reads, but I couldn’t tell you what most of them were about six months after I’ve finished them. There are a few exceptions, notably the canon novels Pathways and Mosaic, but the truth is there are just too many of them to keep track of.
Volumes 1 and 2 of the Eugenics Wars depicts Khan’s origins and his rise to power on Earth, as well as his fall. Volume 3 provides valuable insight into his life on Ceti Alpha V after being left there by Kirk in the TOS episode “Space Seed”. So many things surprised me about this entire series. The first major surprise came in the first pages of the first book, when the opening scene features Roberta Lincoln from the TOS episode with Gary Seven. I don’t know if Seven and Roberta’s involvement in the Eugenics wars was supposed to be a surprise — I didn’t read many reviews of the series before I read it — but it was something I never expected. I was initially skeptical about them being part of the plot for the entire series. They were, but it wasn’t a disappointment, not at all.
It was enlightening and funny to see some of the situations that Seven and Roberta interfered in, but I’ll always wonder if Roberta regrets not having a personal life. It seems sad that she got sucked into this crazy life with Seven, and she never really got the chance to live a normal life after that. Granted, she chose her life with Seven — she could’ve backed out and decided that his kind of life wasn’t for her. I kind of expected her relationship with Seven to evolve into something more romantic, but it never did. Maybe she wasn’t interested in romance. Even if she were, her lifestyle would have made a normal relationship with someone impossible. And she probably felt that her missions were more important than romance and love, anyway. By the second volume, she was middle-aged, and all she had was Seven and their work.
Speaking of romance, something I never figured out completely is Seven’s relationship with Isis. It seems like more than that of a pet and her owner. I know that Isis isn’t a regular cat, and she has the ability to shapeshift into human form, but was there something more intimate going on between them? At the end of Volume 2, Roberta gets her own pet — a male cat named Ramses, who’s from the same place as Isis. Maybe Ramses will provide more than just companionship to Roberta…
I do love how Roberta developed as a secret agent. I remember the TOS episode where she was first introduced, and from watching that, I never would have guessed that she’d be able to do the stuff that Seven does. However, by the end of Volume 2, she’s taking over for him on Earth. She even gets her own “Roberta” (Rain Robinson from the Voyager Season 3 two-parter “Future’s End” — that was another very cool surprise).
In Volume 2, I kept wondering about Isis and what happened to her. Cox wanted readers to believe that the cat had died. So, I totally never expected that Ament would turn out to be Isis in disguise. I admit, I had suspected that Ament was the “inside operative” that Roberta referred to a few times, but It had only been a suspicion.
When I first heard about the Eugenics Wars, I envisioned a traditional war, where armies fought each other with tanks and guns, and maybe even germ warfare. I pictured Khan and his supermen (and women) united against the world powers, fighting their way to world domination. I guess I was expecting something akin to World War III. I would never have imagined that the super humans would be fighting one another, each trying to secure his or her own vision of how the world should be. And most of this struggle went on out of view of the public. Most ordinary people weren’t even aware of the magnitude of danger and threat that these super humans posed.
I love the way Cox brings together characters and events from a variety of different episodes and events. It’s a Trekkie’s dream! Shannon O’Donnel (one of Kathryn Janeway’s ancestors) and Guinan are a few of the more prominent ones, but then we also get a random appearance by Claire Raymond, who pops up in Volume 2. Don’t worry if the name doesn’t sound familiar to you. The character was only ever in one Trek episode, the TNG Season 1 episode “The Neutral Zone”. In that episode, Picard’s crew finds and revives three 20th-Century humans from cryogenic stasis, one of them being Claire.
In The Eugenics Wars, Cox has been able to weave an intricate history of sorts that connects a lot of previously unconnected aspects of Trek history. It’s a fun exercise to take part in as someone who enjoys the historical aspect of Trek and the fact that it has this rich history of its own. What’s even better is that Cox does this while also weaving in events from real history.
The Eugenics Wars casts Khan in an entirely new light for me. Before, he was a one-dimensional character (or close to it, at least) who was obsessed only with power and vengeance. He didn’t have very many redeeming qualities to me.
But The Eugenics Wars changed all of that. I found out that he wasn’t inherently evil and that his initial intentions were good and admirable, even. He started out wanting to change the world for the better, by using his super human attributes to be a better leader than regular humans. He didn’t want people to have to suffer any longer because of the incompetence of regular human leaders.
I like that the series depicts the evolution of Khan from someone with admirable intentions to someone who condones genocide as a tool to mold the world into his image. His intentions were initially quite noble, but he lost his focus when he got caught up trying to fight his genetically enhanced brothers and sisters for world domination. Make no mistake — Khan is definitely power-hungry and arrogant; but that isn’t the only thing that drives him.
Reign in Hell was a straight-up love story, with lots of adventure thrown in. You get the idea from The Wrath of Khan that Khan really did love Marla McGivers, the Starfleet historian who went to live with Khan on Ceti Alpha V, but RIH gives a much better perspective of just how much love he had for the woman. It provides one more solid explanation for why Khan can’t be viewed as a one-dimensional villain: he had the ability to love — really love. In some ways, he’s a lot like the pre-wraiths version of Dukat (my all-time favorite Trek baddie), and maybe that’s why the Khan character appeals to me so much more now after having finished The Eugenics Wars. I’ve always thought that Dukat was one of the best written characters — not just one of the best villains — in all of Trek because he was gray. Not talking his skin color, here, but the fact that you can’t label him totally good or bad. He was shades of gray — you could never be certain of what he was going to do.
I’m not sure Khan is as unpredictable, simply because you know what his core goals are. With Dukat, his goals were a moving target, it seemed. They shifted depending on the situation.
After reading the Eugenics Wars, I’ll forever view Khan in a different light whenever I see him on screen.
The Eugenics Wars is a fantastic series. Even for Trekkies who are not into TOS, I think it would be enjoyable because the scope goes beyond TOS era. I would consider it required reading for any Trekkie who’s interested in Trek’s version of the 20th and 21st Centuries.
