Summary
On the eve of her start in the Command Training Program, Tilly shares her personal story with her Discovery roommate Michael Burnham.
When Sylvia Tilly was 16, she lived with her maternal grandmother in Paris and went to school every day in New York. Her parents were divorced. Her dad was on a starship, The Dorothy Garrod, and her mom was a bigwig with the Federation Security Council. Frankly, her mom was a force to be reckoned with. She often left Sylvia feeling small and trapped – like she felt when her mom announced she was sending her to a boarding school on Talaris IV. Sylvia’s mom was determined to give her daughter every opportunity to develop the skills she would need to join the diplomatic corps. She didn’t see Sylvia’s love of math and science as anything to cultivate when there were languages to learn and political scenarios to understand.
The ups and downs of boarding school life set Sylvia/”Tilly” on a path she never could have imagined when she first stepped foot onto Talaris IV.
Review
This book’s intended audience is adults, but Tilly’s story is so solidly in the YA range, too, that I wanted to review it as a YA coming-of-age tale.
Tilly is my favorite character on the show Star Trek Discovery. So when I saw she was getting a book, it immediately went on my “must read” list. And now that I’ve read it, it’s on my “must buy list.” This was outstanding! A perfect-fit book for me.
The Star Trek pieces were comfortable and familiar, as was the general story of a teen seeking her identity while under the thumb of a controlling parent. And I loved all those pieces. But Tilly really made this story for me. She’s wicked smart and funny. She’s also endearing and awkward. I wanted to rescue her from her mother’s controlling ways. But it was so much more satisfying to watch her rescue herself. Her journey wasn’t flawless, but it was delightful! I am a sucker for a book with a kid or a teen who finds his/her place/gift/identity and then thrives in it. And this was that sort of story.
The Star Trek Discovery connections are minimal, mostly just the prologue and epilogue which anchor the character to the TV series. But if you know that Michael Burnham is a woman, and she’s Tilly’s roommate on the ship – older, with more life and Star Fleet experience, maybe a reluctant mentor – you probably have everything you need to know to enjoy the book.
I highly recommend this book. In fact, after typing up this review, I want to go read it again! (Some language, minor consumption of alcohol)