Star Trek: Discovery: The Way To The Stars by Una McCormack - A Character Study Of Tilly

Star Trek: Discovery: The Way To The Stars by Una McCormack

While I have enjoyed all of the four Discovery tie-in novels released to date, I think this one is my favorite. Una McCormack's novel, The Way To The Stars is Tilly's story. For those of you who may not be familiar with Discovery, Tilly is a talkative young woman who is also quite brilliant in her own right. She is also the first character to ever drop an f-bomb on a Star Trek show. There are no f-bombs in the novel though, just a great story about a young woman who is trying to find her own way in life.

In her quarters on board the Discovery, Tilly tosses, turns, and sighs repeatedly until her cabin mate, Michael Burnham asks her what her problem is. Tilly is at first reluctant to burden Burnham with her worries, but after a little goading, Tilly tells Burnham that she is very worried about beginning the command training program the next day. Burnham is a little confused as to why this is a problem for Tilly, and with a little more encouragement, Tilly tells the story of her past.

16-year-old Sylvia Tilly lives in Paris with her grandmother, Adele, and step-grandfather Quinn. For the most part, Sylvia is a happy young woman who does pretty well in school showing an aptitude for math and science. Her grades are adequate, but unfortunately not up to the standards imposed on her by her mother, Siobhan. Sylvia's mother is an up and coming star in the Federation's Diplomatic Corps and envisions Sylvia following in her footsteps. Sylvia has attended numerous diplomatic functions with her mother and has little to no interest in pursuing a career in that area. Despite this, Siobhan enrolls Tilly in a school that specializes in training diplomats.

Being an intelligent young woman, Sylvia does pretty well in school while continuing to pursue her own interests in science. When Siobhan learns of this, she forbids Sylvia to do anything but study the school's diplomatic curriculum. She will not listen to any arguments and, as a result, Sylvia experiences a number of failures. At the end of the term, Sylvia 'escapes' from school to strike out on her own to find out who she is and what she wants to do with her life.

The rest of the story is the several adventures that Tilly finds herself involved in leading to an appointment to Starfleet Academy.

Oh, the things we do to our children, even when our intentions are good.

Unfortunately for Tilly, she has been instilled with a ton of self-doubt by a mother that is overbearing. Siobhan will not even listen to her daughter and consider what her talents and interests are. Tilly's father is a very gentle man and is always full of encouragement, but he isn't around enough to counter the bullying that Tilly is subjected to from her mother. What this does, in effect is undermined everything Tilly is about and fills her with insecurity and a fear of failure. Every new situation that this girl faces is about pleasing someone else, mostly her mother in this story. I feel so bad for this young woman that it hurts. Left to her own, and given the proper encouragement, Tilly would probably become an incredible scientist, making great strides in whatever field she chose. On Discovery, we see some of what she is capable of. McCormack did a brilliant job channeling Tillly's character as we see her on the show, and placing her in the book.

McCormack's story is a fun read providing deeper insight to Tilly's character. The author is also sensitive to what parents can do to their children when the parent's agenda is to control instead of nurture. In the story, once Tilly is outside the influence of an overbearing mother, she shows a lot of personal growth that could take her in numerous directions. In the case of Tilly, getting out on her own was probably the best thing that could happen for this young woman. All is not easy for Tilly when she gets away from her mother's influence and away from the diplomatic school, she is forced to prove herself and does a great job of rising to the occasion numerous times.

When her father finally comes on the scene, Tilly gets a great deal of encouragement and advice to standing up to her mother. Alas, it is too late and the damage has already been done though. Tilly will spend the rest of her life having to prove to herself that she has what it takes to do whatever she sets her mind to. It is also important her dad explains something that Tilly has blamed herself for a number of years, only adding to her self-doubt.

Outside of a good character study, the story is immensely engaging and well-paced. It is an easy read despite the complicated relationships between characters. The story focuses on Tilly, but develops several characters to the point that a reader can relate to them all, even Siobhan.

Una McCormack has penned a number of books set in the Star Trek universe. In the past, she has shown a vast knowledge of the stories and characters within that world. With this novel, set in the Discovery timeline, she further demonstrates that she is adept at understanding characters that are not as well developed in canon. Were I a writer for the show, I would definitely keep The Way to the Stars in mind as I wrote Tilly-centric episodes.

Most of the stories so far from the Discovery timeline have been character studies giving we readers some backstory and a deeper understanding. This is an excellent look at what might have gone into the makeup of Tilly, one of my favorite characters on the series. I recommend this book to fans of Discovery as a way to better understand one of the most energetic characters on the series.

Well, there it is...

Qapla!