When you are referring the idea of a more gentle, nurturing style of leadership, is that in regard's to Robert April as captain of the Enterprise? I approached Best Destiny as more of a sequel to Final Frontier, a novel that I have a lot of nostalgic affection for, than the premise of young James Kirk's first adventure in space.
From what I gather, the idea of characters Robert April and George Samuel Kirk (James Kirk's father) is that they are, in spirit, two halves of what is perfected in James T. Kirk. Robert April has the bookish, self-reflective, philosophical angle; but maybe a little indecisive or slow to make decisions. George Kirk is the military side of things, tactical and impulsive; but perhaps sometimes inflexible. This is just a rough impression from memory.
Best Destiny is great from the standpoint of bringing back these two characters, and playing out the idea of two halves of a personality, and putting James Kirk in the mix, both of them in the room and having an influence on him in the middle of a crisis (and there's a sense of romanticizing of the idea of Kirk as we know him being born in battle, played out spiritually in Best Destiny and literally in the 2009 movie). Conceptually it's a great idea, and a natural, organic progression from Final Frontier. Advertising it for general ST fans and ST readers as Kirk's first adventure in space is a great way to present it as it's own individual book, even though it follow on from previous material by the same author.
