This is an absolutely brilliant story by a brilliant author who died too young. 'How Much for Just the Planet?' takes James Kirk and his crew on a madcap adventure with Klingon adversaries on a planet that feels like it's straight out of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Vulcan milkshakes, references to 1940s film noir, harebrained schemes, battle by golf, and pie fights abound.

If this book has any flaw, it's that it's *too* genius - the text on the page is almost insufficient to keep up with the complexities of the action, and I counted at *least* five different narratives going on at once. The way the text shifts back and forth between them is whiplash-inducing; I found it difficult to keep up with what was going on and why.

But even though I missed some details, it was still a Star Trek adventure like none I'd ever seen - or read - before.