Star Trek: Into Darkness

By: Alan Dean Foster

Narrated by: Alice Eve

The official movie tie-in novelization of the highly anticipated sequel to 2009's blockbuster feature film Star Trek!

Pioneering director J. J. Abrams has delivered an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek into darkness.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Star Trek Into Darkness stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, and Peter Weller, and arrives on May 17, 2013.

©2013 CBS Studios, Inc.; Paramount Pictures Corporation. STAR TREK and all related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

more Alice Eve

Please, more Alice Eve. Loved her performance. Good book, great performance, lovely voice.
Wish there were more books narrated by her

The Narrator Ruins this Audiobook

I was unable to get past 20 minutes of the audio because the narrator is so....terrible. There's no understanding of how to convey emotion beyond an idea that if she speaks three times as fast as normal, it conveys excitement. But what's worse -- so infinitely worse -- is that she obviously has no knowledge of Star Trek itself. The way she portrays both Kirk and Spock (if you are able to tell the difference) shows zero understanding of the characters.

love the story,I hated the voice narrating,

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes the NARRATOR

What did you like best about this story?

the team consept of the crew

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It Should have been a man,she sounded like she was a fitfth grade reader.

Was Star Trek: Into Darkness worth the listening time?

the story was great. I loved the story,but it was hard to listen to

Any additional comments?

never let her narrate another star trek book. Bad Bad

Was all good until...

I am a trekkie. I love the movies and listened to the audible book, Star Trek - Movie Tie-In, which was narrated wonderfully by Zachary Quinto, (Spock in the movie).

Anyway, I expected to enjoy Into Darkness just as much, when I saw Alice Eve, (Admiral’s daughter, Carol, in movie) was the narrator.

Her beautifully, lilting British accent carried me along in the story until she had to speak quite a bit as her father and Khan. Disastrously horrid voice work here. She made them both sound like whiny, evil trolls.

I know it’s hard to compete with the melodious voice of Benedict Cumberbatch, Khan in the movie, but she seemed to try voice Khan opposite to how he would sound with a nasally, high pitched, wheedling voice.

It became impossible to finish the book as the admiral and Khan were speaking to each other. I thought my head would explode from sheer aggravation.

Don’t know why Alice Eve made the decision to voice those two characters that way or why no one involved in the audio production stopped her.

Also, she did quite well with the other male voices. Odd. Just very odd.

a good story that is told well.

Where does Star Trek: Into Darkness rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book is a bit of fun. It is good for the times when I want entertainment and not to think too much. Enough action to be enjoyable but it still has a good narrative.

What did you like best about this story?

I'm not a big Star Trek fan but have watched some of the tv series. I loved that I could be interested in this story without having to know all the fan stuff. Everything is fresh and light. I loved the way the narrator handled the characters and accents.

What about Alice Eve’s performance did you like?

She brought the different characters to life with ease. It was easy to understand and tell who was talking in every case. Most of the time I forgot that she was female and just let her talent for voices carry on.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I didn't want a book to listen to in one sitting as I just wanted something to relax to and wind down with. Even so, I found the book interesting right to the end. There were enough twists and turns to keep the narrative moving forward and the end was satisfactorily summed up.

Any additional comments?

A good listen even if you aren't a dyed in the wool fan.

Great Story Horrible Performance

What did you like best about Star Trek: Into Darkness? What did you like least?

I thought the story was great, no surprise since I loved the movies. I hated the performance though. The narrator sounded like she was doing an over the top Betty Davis impersonation with both Marcus and Kahn. Also she over acted so much of it that it was very hard to listen to. I would recommend reading the book but with this performance wouldn't recommend listening.

Do you think Star Trek: Into Darkness needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes but I hope that they will use the narrator from the first Star Trek 2009 adaptation.

Into darkness

The story was good and exactly what I expected. I found that the narrator actually detracted from the experience. Her character depictions were inconsistent and she failed to understand the emotion behind the characters. At times she tried (poorly) to speak as William Shatner portrayed Kirk then suddenly stopped. Her portrayal of Marcus was difficult to listen to. I would not recommend books read by her based on this reading.

Disappointing Performance

Would you try another book from Alan Dean Foster and/or Alice Eve?

In a word, no.

What was most disappointing about Alan Dean Foster’s story?

Alan Dean Foster's adaptation was lackluster and lacked the depth and insights that I enjoyed when reading Vonda McIntyre's adaptation of "Wrath of Khan" or "Voyage Home". There was nothing new here to make it worth reading.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

When I found out that Alice Eve was doing the reading, I could not wait to purchase this audio. However, Alice Eve's narration of this book was incredibly bad. First, her british accent did not seem to fit a Star Trek novel. As witnessed in the movie "She's Out of My League", she can do a perfect American accent. And she does so when she does Kirk's voice and others. Accents aside, I immediately noticed she had these odd pauses in her reading, but I learned to ignore them after awhile. However, her character voicing of Khan and Admiral Marcus were grating - like "nails on a chalkboard" bad! She should know having been on the set that these characters did not talk like that.

Could you see Star Trek: Into Darkness being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes, I think a movie would be a great idea. I think Chris Pine would make a good Captain Kirk, and Benedict Cumberbatch would make a good Khan. Heck, I think Alice Eve might actually make a good Carol Marcus :-)

Who picked this narrator for this story?

Would you consider the audio edition of Star Trek: Into Darkness to be better than the print version?

Story was great, but hard to listen to because of the narrator. Its possible she would be effective with different material, but she made this book almost impossible to listen to. I wish I had read it instead of listened to it.

What other book might you compare Star Trek: Into Darkness to and why?

The first one was read by another narrator, and I remember really liking it, so I purchased this right away.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

almost whispering at the wrong times, making Kirk sound like a bored drunk person, and overall not putting emphisis in the correct areas.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I could barely listen to it due to the narrator, and the story was really good, I liked catching references to the other series and movies, so I laughed and enjoyed the story and wanted to cry at the narration.

A Fun Story

What did you like best about this story?

Each section had a defined purpose. I like the way the author draws the scene enough to carry a mental picture while I'm listening without delving into excruciating detail for its own sake.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Didn't laugh or cry, but there were sections I enjoyed enough to listen to again when the story finished.

Any additional comments?

I'm going against the prevailing opinion. I enjoyed Alice Eve's performance more in the audio book than the movie. She did a fun accent for 'Scotty' and varied her cadence to define the rest of the characters. I never felt that she was doing 'funny voices.'
My only criticism (spoiler) she didn't do that awesome scream that she did in the movie.

BTW, Eve did a better job portraying male characters in this story than most male voice actors do portraying female characters. I’m looking at you Michael York in Brave New World!

I am clearly in the minority. If in doubt, I think the sample provided is a good representative for the rest of the story.