From Publishers Weekly
Fast on the retro-rockets of Delta Search and In Alien Hands, Shatner's third, warp-paced entry in his Quest for Tomorrow series finds Jim Endicott under scrutiny by the Hunzza and the Albans, alien races who fear humanity will suddenly make the leap to godhood via Jim's genetic encoding, which was secretly altered at birth. The superintelligence known as Outsider also has an interest in Jim, teleporting him and his friends Char and Harpy to the starship Albagens Pride. No sooner does the transport-hum fade than an Albagensian star fleet sweeps into the solar system; before Jim can assume command of the ship, he is killed by an assassin. Outsider easily defeats the rest of the invading fleet, however. While the aliens distract Earth with overtures of peace, Char and Harpy learn that millennia ago, the Hunzza transplanted Neanderthals to another planet, Gelden, where they eventually evolved into god-like beings. Jim suddenly appears on deck, back from the dead, and agrees to work with Outsider; the pair have detected another superentity, the god that evolved on Gelden. Now Jim must decide whether to force Terra to make the dangerous leap to godhood. Shatner's narrative is breathless and often perplexing, but it's peppered with enough bar brawls, gun fights and space chases to satisfy his fans. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Chaos Reigns!

Although he'll forever be known to us first and foremost as Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, over the past decade William Shatner has been carving out quite a niche for himself in the world of science fiction literature. Author of numerous "Star Trek" and "Tek War" novels, Shatner has also been working steadily at creating another unusual series. He follows up his previous "Quest for Tomorrow" books (Delta Search, In Alien Hands) with Step Into Chaos, the third exciting offering in the series. Filled with abundant action, unique SF possibilities, and subtle and sensitive characterization where his protagonists are concerned, Shatner capably demonstrates his ability to draw the reader into a vividly imagined world of conflict and conviction.

Returning to Earth after briefly leading a life as a mercenary on other worlds, 17-year-old Jim Endicott is still suffering guilt over the accidental killing of his own father. Despite being a hero who's already saved the galaxy with his ability to control the Earth's "mind arrays," which have been encoded in his DNA — allowing vast legions of people to become linked into an organic supercomputer — Jim remains only an adolescent. He also continues to suffer after mutually agreeing to split with his first true love, Cat. Losing himself in an alcoholic mire of nightly carousing, Jim is still being closely watched by the two major alien empires in the galaxy: the wolflike Alba and the evil Saurian Hunzza.

Jim's occasional ally, the Alban spy Korkal Emut Denai, is dispatchedtokeep an eye on him. If the boy shows himself to be too great a threat with his new abilities, Korkal may, in fact, become Jim's assassin. The "ghost" of Jim's old nemesis, Delta, returns as a vast artificial intelligence known as the Outsider and also keeps tabs on Jim's life for unknown purposes. During one of his drinking fits, Jim meets with the mysterious girl known as Char, who seems to know much more about him than she should. In an effort to deal with his own emotional strain, Jim follows his mother's advice and visits a psychiatrist. Unknown to Jim, though, the doctor is actually a pawn being used by the Outsider to once again infiltrate Jim's mind and life.

Ikearos, the Egg Guardian and one of the few Hunzza pacifists, has sent his son, Harpalaos, to also watch over Jim as he reaches maturity and possibly becomes a threat to the entire universe. Ikearos believes that the Earth is being transformed into a "god culture," and that if the aggressive Hunzza attempt to stop Jim, the Hunzza will be obliterated, as they nearly were several millennia earlier when they foolishly attacked another god culture.

Working with a solid and exuberant narrative voice, Shatner is highly capable of easing his way through the science-fantasy richness of the work here. The complexities of story are less high-tech and more theological in some respects, adding an even greater foundation to the overall tale. Shatner indulges in the details of computer sophistication as well as divine evolutionary elements, à la Arthur C. Clarke, lending an engaging mixture of inventive world building and fast-paced but controlled plotting. Step Into Chaos is anything but chaotic, as Shatner shows an innovative mind and a sure hand in his craft.
—Tom Piccirilli
Tom Piccirilli is the author of the critically acclaimed supernatural novel Pentangle, as well as the dark suspense mysteries Shards and The Dead Past. His short fiction has appeared in many anthologies, including The Conspiracy Files.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

After defeating the dreaded Hunnza fleet, Jim Endicott wants a "normal" life. But his wish is not to be, for a new and even more terrible conflict is stirring. Earth's former ally, the Alba Packlord, suspects that humans are about to "Leap"—transcend to another level of existence in a process that will sweep away star systems, laying waste to the universe. To eliminate the human threat, the Packlord has made a secret alliance with the Hunnza—but not if the mysterious immortal known as the Outsider can stop them using Jim as a weapon. First, though, the Outsider has to find his embittered hero. Distraught over the death of his father, Jim has plunged deep into the underground, where danger of another kind lurks in the shape of a girl as bad as she is irresistible. But the Packlord will stop at nothing to succeed, including assassination. Jim's only hope for survival lies in making the Leap himself: taking the step into chaos that will save humankind or turn the universe into a graveyard of burned-out stars.

Author Biography: World-famous as Star Trek's Captain Kirk, William Shatner is now celebrated as a bestselling author of science fiction adventure. Beyond the Stars is his twenty-first novel, and the fourth in his acclaimed Quest for Tomorrow series.

SYNOPSIS

William Shatner, a.k.a. Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, returns with Step Into Chaos, the next thrilling chapter in his fast-paced, far-future "Quest for Tomorrow" saga. Follow Jim Endicott as he is forced to contend not only with the intense guilt that he feels over his father's accidental death but also with the Outsider, a manipulative force that is about to coerce Jim into destroying Earth's only galactic ally.

FROM THE CRITICS

Gerald Jonas

What makes science fiction such a remarkable genre is that in fewer than 240 pages...Jim can end up chatting with God, resuscitating the man he called Dad and reinventing the universe. — The New York Times Book Review

Gerald Jonas

What makes science fiction such a remarkable genre is that in fewer than 240 pages...Jim can end up chatting with God, resuscitating the man he called Dad and reinventing the universe. -- The New York Times Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

Third in the "Quest for Tomorrow" novels (In Alien Hands) and, logically, a wrap, though the publishers continue to bill it as a series. For newcomers, there's an excellent synopsis: the Terran Confederation faces two alien threats, from the lizard-like Hunzza and the wolfish Alba. But the programs encoded in young Jim Endicott's genes enable him to access the "mind arrays," a supercomputer comprising a billion linked human brains, that's vastly superior to anything either alien race can muster. Now, however, Hunzza and Alba may be ready to combine their forces to wipe Terra out. Why? Well, they suspect that humanity's a Leaper culture, on the point of a sudden, explosive development into terrifying, godlike superiority. Jim, though, is psychologically damaged, having accidentally killed his father; also, last time out, he was forced to enter the mind arrays to battle a human megalomaniac. This entity lives on inside the mind arrays as the manipulative computer-ghost Outsider, now demanding that Jim destroy both alien races. But a new factor emerges that Jim must investigate: a planet of pacifist Hunzza claiming to have their own God, and demonstrating inexplicable connections with Earth's ancient past. Before the dust settles, Jim is killed (only to rise again in another body), defeats both Hunzza and Alba, confronts the Hunzza God inside a black hole, and rearranges reality to better effect.

Gripping, scientifically lucid space adventure, told in a terse, snazzy style with plenty of cliff-hanging incidents: overall, much the best of the various series.