The Eugenics Wars, Vol. 2: The Rise And Fall Of Khan Noonien Singh (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
Having seized power in India and cultivated a network of spies and yes-men who will do his bidding throughout Asia, genetically engineered and predestined ruler of the world Khan Noonien Singh is ready for expansion. Having experienced his first difficulty in politics (people), Khan hopes that joining forces with his fellow augments will expedite his dreams of world domination. Enter sibling rivalry…with biogenic weapons. The second volume of The Eugenics Wars tries to fit the wars themselves into the geopolitical events of the early 1990s, rather like stuffing a gorilla into a tuxedo. It doesn’t work out too well, but it’s still entertaining to witness.As with the first volume, this is a Gary Seven story. Seven, for whom thwarting Khan has turned into a full-time job, will be remembered as the Secret Agent Man from Space in “Assignment: Earth”. Having saved the child Khan from the explosion of his insane mother’s underground base, Seven feels some responsibility for having turned him loose onto the world. Their perennial feud is first marked by professional respect for the others’ skills, but later grows personal when Khan learns that Seven blew up mommy. Also personal is the grudgemath between Khan and his kin, who really don’t like one another. None of them are quite powerful enough to war openly, however, so they resort to terrorist attacks on the people their counterparts wish they were ruling. Two manage to buy submarines and they have a little torpedo tête-à-tête in the east Med, but ‘real’ warfare is nonexistent. Unfortunately for the plot, there aren’t enough real-world dead people in the small window of time canon allows for the coexistence of the Eugenics Wars with our own history, at least not if the Wars are to be given their “bad-as-WW3” feel experienced in “Space Seed”. That these events could have happened is believable, but why would Kirk and company be fussed about it several centuries from now? But explanations can be found; considering that genetic engineering reared its head several more times, perhaps the historians of Kirk’s time have come to believe a more legendary version of Eugenics history, that Khan’s escape marked the end of the beginning, but not the end altogether. At any rate, the established character-based portions are terrific as usual, as are the little connections and allusions to greater Trek. Even Star Trek Voyager gets a nod, unavoidable given that it had an episode set in the 1990s. The supermen themselves aren’t an asset to the book, consisting of caricatures (a Marxist revolutionary and a man-hating chieftess with an army of ‘amazons’, for starters) who don’t help general believability. While the sequel isn’t quite as terrific as the first novel promised it might be, the third – To Reign in Hell – will – will be freed of having to conform to real world history, so I imagine the series will end on a strong note.Related:From History's Shadow, Dayton Ward. Another impressive and fun integration of ST canon and real-world historyAssignment: Eternity, possibly my first ST novel, and another Gary Seven tale by Greg Cox.
Star Trek, The Eugenics Wars, Vol. 2, The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox – In volume one of this trilogy Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln destroyed the underground eugenics lab and rescued Khan Noonien Singh and the other genetically enhanced children. Then we saw them trying to guide and control Kahn as a teenager and young adult. In volume two, Kahn is an extremely egotistical adult who ruthlessly attempts to seize power on a global scale. We see him evolve into a megalomaniac who tries to control the world. However, some of his genetically enhanced comrades exercise their own power and refuse to bow to Khan as their leader. Khan’s struggle for power and his uncontrollable ego lead him to actions that put the entire population of Earth in danger. Seven and Lincoln battle to save the human race. It’s a well-written and compelling novel that includes suspenseful action, fascinating scientific content, many interesting characters and a satisfying conclusion. I look forward to reading the third novel in this series.
What do You think about The Eugenics Wars, Vol. 2: The Rise And Fall Of Khan Noonien Singh (2003)?
The second volume of Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars is much like the first in that it is a fascinating mix of Trek continuity of what "happened" in the 20th century (more specifically 1992-1996, which is covered in this volume) and real world history. As a result of the setting, and the focus on the characters of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln (from the TOS episode Assignment: Earth), it’s far more spy story and techno thriller than a typical Trek story. Given that the 1990s were quite a way off when Khan was introduced in “Space Seed” back in 1967 and that with them now gone by without a huge war between genetic supermen taking place, Greg Cox portrays the Eugenics Wars not as a full-fledged world war but as a shadowy conflict often hidden behind real world events. There’s plenty of Trek stuff in the book as Cox fits in all kinds of references to episodes across all of the various Trek shows and movies minus Enterprise (which had only started airing when the book was published though Cox does make a reference to it). There are two flaws to the book though: the sometimes cardboard nature of some of the characters and, weirdly, the framing story set during TOS of the Enterprise going to a rogue colony of genetically engineered humans that’s seeking admittance into the Federation seemed to interrupt the flow of the narrative somewhat. Overall though, the book was enjoyable for its mixing of spy thriller, Trek continuity and real world events as well as believably portraying how Khan and the Eugenics War might have actually happened.
—Matthew Kresal
The constant barrage of pop culture references seemed toned down in this volume, compared with the first one. That was a relief. In its place, to annoy me, were constant references to the *advanced age* of Gary Seven. Who was 65. ugh. Even a non-genetically-enhanced human who takes reasonable care of himself is not as decrepit as Seven is depicted here at age 65. It was distracting. Ageism aside, this was marginally better than Volume One, if only because it actually has a resolution. I would have liked to see more Star Trek and much, much less Kahn and Co. The Kirk storyline was so abbreviated that I found it completely unbelievable that he felt equipped to make his decision regarding Sycorax.
—Denise Link
The premise and promise set up by the first book are sadly let down here. Greg Cox tried too hard to hold himself to our timeline of events, thus burying the Eugenics War underneath terrorist plots and back room deals. I expected a WAR, with Khan calling the shots and rallying ordinary people as well as genetically engineered supermen to his cause. Or at least taking on the entire world with a smug sense of superiority.The author suffered from a bad case of fanwank, and tried to squeeze every si
—Thomas
