[These notes were made in 1983:]. My reading today went from the sublime [Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd:] to the mildly ridiculous. The premise of this one is mind-links gone awry - mind-links with aliens who don't know about it, which seems to me to be a flagrant violation of the Prime Directive. But, that slip in "veri"similitude ("series"similitude?) apart, it's a well-enough told story, of the sophisticated-man-in-jungle-conditions genre. Spock himself makes almost no appearance from beginning to end, but his link, who appropriates many of his mental qualities, successfully impersonates Spock in the minds of both Enterprise crew and readers until the identity-switch is made known in the last few pages. There is the inevitable female officer who sheds her icy demeanour and gives her all for the good of the civilized universe (and what's more, enjoys it). An afternoon's fun; good for a quick gulp.
