Twilight's End by Jerry Oltion (Star Trek #77, January 1996).

The Enterprise is badly in need of resupply, but is once again called away to deal with an emergency. This time, it is to the planet Rimillia, a world with no rotation. The people living on this world have already moved from another when conditions worsened there, and now the atmosphere is again becoming too thin, oxygen levels dropping as trees have been cut down to make more living space on the thin strip that does support life. The Dumada have come up with a desperate plan: use hundreds of impulse engines to start the planet spinning again, as it did millions of years before. The problem is, part of the population that does not want the project to go forward. They have sabotagued some of the engines, and kidnapped the scientist in charge of the project. Captain Kirk and the crew must set things right, and rescue a civilization.

This is the first of a handful of Star Trek novels for Oltion, an honored science fiction writer both before and after his ST work. Oltion didn't need Star Trek to make his mark, but it probably made for a good paycheck and raised his profile among those less involved with the genre. Licensed titles can help in that.

Oltion deftly moves back and forth between the Enterprise crew, presenting each of them with some screen time, with the exception of Uhura. I am not sure if Oltion often has a problem writing women, or if it is just Uhura. We get a point of view of the other six Enterprise main characters in turn, and of course all are males. We switch back and forth every half-chapter or so between focus points, with Kirk, then McCoy, then Scotty, then Spock, and so on, giving us a look inside their head and how they view the action. This allows for more of a spread of the story than just using one point-of-view character. It is also more cinematic in approach, although some movies do focus on one character. So, in a way, it is more of a television approach.

The plot, involving the problem of getting a planet to rotate, the problems when it doesn't (only a ring of habitation, in perpetual twilight, is usable land that isn't too hot or too cold) and the problems involved with the first days of rotation are treated in fine science fiction fashion, with emphasis on the science. This is an involving book for true fans of science fiction, Star Trek fans or not.

Oltion is not quite as smooth with characterization or dialogue, but there is no reason to complain in these departments. We have reasonable conversations, and the characters are not out of character. The only serious problem is after Sulu has been assigned to a botany problem, and Kirk, Spock and Scotty are all down on the planet. Uhura should be the conn officer, but instead it is Chekov in command on the bridge. That's a bit of a stretch, since Chekov is an Ensign. There is mention made of Dr. McCoy being the ranking officer, but not on the bridge. That's a bit of a stretch too, since McCoy is not in the usual line of command succession. However, this is a minor point.

Oltion has a good first Star Trek effort here, and a good SF novel. I can recommend it to fans of both.