War Drums (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 23) Review

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(More customer reviews)This one constitutes decent Star Trek entertainment. It is set in the "Next Generation" universe. Basically, the USS Enterprise is dispatched to deal with a situation in which a very small Earth colony is being plagued by a group of Klingon aborigines. It turns out that the Klingons are children who were fleeing the Romulans (they were being evacuated from a war zone) and they crash-landed on the colony planet. In a sort of "Lord of the Flies" scenario, the Klingons revert to savagery and begin preying on the colony. Captain Picard and Co., mainly Ro, Data, Worf, and Troi, are charged with dealing with the situation.
No "Star Trek" novel constitutes great literature, but this one is solidly written, and the storyline hangs together pretty well. The author, thankfully, manages to steer clear of the overused devices of time travel and telepathy, and simply writes us a story about space travel. How novel and refreshing! I did question whether the Klingon youths would have stood up as well as this novel assumes against a technologically advanced human colony armed with phasers, replicators, and the works, but each reader can decide for him or her self.
An enjoyable read.

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The Two Front War (Star Trek New Frontier, No 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Two-Front War" is the third in a series of three short, interlinked novels designed to introduce the reading world to the "New Frontier" novels.
The refugees Excalibur has protected have come to what they hope will be a happy home on a planet home to a species known as the Nelkar. However, these Nelkar seem to have nefarious plans, and Excalibur's commander, Mackenzie Calhoun, suspects something ill is at play. Meanwhile, security chief Kebron and guest-ambassador Si Cwan are on a mission to find Cwan's younger sister -- which also reeks of subterfuge.
A direct continuation from the previous two books, "Two-Front" continues the bold new tradition of New Frontier. These books, exceptionally well-crafted, are in this reviewer's opinion, some of the best Trek to be found on or off-screen.
7.5/10

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Captain Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur are on Thallon when their sensors detect strange vibrations coming from beneath the surface of the planet. Original."

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Sacrifice of Angels (Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Dominion War, Book 4) Review

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(More customer reviews)In this, the conclusion to the "Dominion War" series, we have the novelization of the final seven episodes of the sequence leading up to the re-taking of Deep Space Nine by the Federation, as seen in the television series. It's a very moving, very powerful, very action-packed series of episodes, and makes for an equally impressive novelization. What's surprising is that Diane Carey actually does it justice; all too frequently, she gets carried away with attempts to be a clever wordsmith and use the language creatively; usually, these attempts fall flat as she manages only to use the language incorrectly. In this book, not only does she do very little of this (I can only think of one example; she refers to Sisko's "magistrating events" when clearly she means "orchestrating"; it is true that a magistrate CAN be an "administrator", and thus, by a large stretch, one could say that Sisko was "administering" events by managing them, but the more commonly understood meaning of "magistrate" is "judge", and she was definitely not trying to tell us that Sisko was "judging" events. He was arranging them, and the proper term for that would be "orchestrating", even if that word HAS been used in that sense before and she therefore finds it boring) but in most cases, when she used words in an attempt to be creative, it actually worked. And, as usual, her characterizations, her pacing, her plotting (in those cases in which she filled in missing gaps in the plot) were all excellent. This story is a must for any fan of the series "Deep Space Nine", for any fan of Star Trek in general, and indeed for anyone who enjoys a well-written Space Opera. If, of course, you hate science fiction in general or the action-based "Space Opera" subgenre, this story won't do anything for you, but if that's the case, why are you bothering to read this review? You already know you don't want to read the book.

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Deep Space Nine and the crew of the "Defiant" face off against the Dominion, in a valiant effort to recover control of the station.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation / The Dominion War, Book 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)First, books 1 and 3 should really be part 1 of the Dominion War, and books 2 and 4, part 2 (or vice-versa) since there is no overlap between the two whatsoever. I agree that it was a little questionable of Picard to let Ro off so easily and 'welcome' her back, but it is understandable given the context of the Dominion War and the Federation losing thus far. Crusher and Troi are virtually ignored. Riker is his typical self, macking on a woman. Data kicks ass alone, though I wish more of his inner thoughts were explored. Geordi is good, but Ro and Picard and Sam Lavelle steal the show. Grof's character is well written and evokes an emotional response. Picard is his usual brilliant self and Ro evokes the same strong character as on the series. The cover of the books (all four) are rather misleading (esp. the 4th), but I don't agree that books 1 and 3 are lacking when viewed in the context of the Dominion War. Books 2 and 4 are where the gusto is, where we see some of the Federation Fleet attack some of the Dominion fleet. Books 1 and 3 are the small scale level of undercover ops about what has to be done to save the quadrant. Both series (1&3, 2&4) are essential turning points in the War, and I'm very glad to see that Picard was his usual brilliant self saving the entire Quadrant... yet again. If either Sisko or Picard had failed, while the other succeeded, it would all be for nought, which makes this 4 part series somewhat intertwined. Personally I prefered books 1&3 to 2&4 since 2&4 were for the most part taken straight from the TV show. My only complaint, why does the Enterprise drop shields to fire her quantum torpedoes? Answer: she doesn't, or at least she shouldn't!

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Call to Arms (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine / The Dominion War Book 2) (v. 2) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book was one of Diane Carey's better efforts, and one of the best novelisations I've read of any star trek episode. It was really written well, starting off with the attack on DS9 in 'A Call to Arms' right up to halfway thorugh 'Sons & Daughters' inclusive. Personally, I really enjoyed the first part describing the attack on DS9, Sisko's speech, and some details into the attack the Torros III shipyards. This book is a must for all those fans of DS9, and if you're not a huge fan of it consider it anyway, it's good. Go Carey!

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Captain Sisko and the Deep Space Nine team must find a way to close down the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant before the entire Federation is enslaved by the Dominion.

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Tunnel Through the Stars (Star Trek: The Next Generation / The Dominion War Book 3) (Vol 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Federation is locked in a brutal war against the Dominion and things are not going well. Deep Space Nine has been lost and the Dominion is building a giant artificial wormhole. If it is completed, the Dominion will be able to send enormous numbers of Jem Hadar soldiers and ships through it to join the battle against the Federation. If that were to happen, the Federation would certainly be defeated.
Captain Picard is on a ship with a motley crew of various species. The crew includes a Trill who was the genius behind the development of the artificial wormhole, a Bajoran who once deserted to the Maquis, a Starfleet officer who was once a Dominion slave, a captured Romulan with one arm, Geordi LaForge and a Vulcan. Their mission is to somehow infiltrate Dominion space and destroy the wormhole. To complicate matters, there is a traitor on board who is sabotaging the mission. Despite the odds, Picard manages to get the ship into Dominion space, reaching the wormhole. He also manages to identify and destroy the traitor just before they launch their mission of sabotage.
The action in this story is kept rather low-key until the end. Most of the plot revolves around Picard's attempts to simultaneously carry out the mission and expose the saboteur. This point is a little weak, as the first act of sabotage should have been a strong indication as to the nature of the threat. Data and the rest of the Enterprise crew play essential but bit parts in the story, the focus is on Picard and his command abilities. While the story did keep my attention, there were points where the pace of the story was too slow for my tastes. I started to grow weary of the same features repeated with slight modifications over and over again. I also didn't understand why the story about the graveyard of ships and the winking in and out of the various dimensions had to be included. It came across as filler.


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As an Enterprise away team races to destroy a Cardassian wormhole that can deliver Dominion forces to Federation territory, they receive help from an unlikely source, but it soon becomes clear that there is a traitor lurking amid the away team.In the STAR TREK:THE NEXT GENERATION series.

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