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Space - the final frontier. These are the introductions that practically
write themselves. My continuing mission - to read 52 books in one year. To
seek out books to read and review. To boldly rehash jokes I have used many, many
times before . . .
Seriously folks, I told you there would be a lot of Star Trek books in this
challenge. I warned you of several months of Star Trek themed columns. However
I consider myself a reviewer of great integrity. I would never do anything just
to fulfill a selfish desire to get to something I couldn't resist right away.
So the fact that I scheduled myself to start writing one mere week after the
release of a Star Trek: New Frontier novel is a complete and total
coincidence. (If you believe that - I have a completely new kind of pet I could
sell you. Just head to the spaceport near Sherman's Planet and ask for my
associate Mr. Jones.)
Hopefully we take flight and reach the half point a month early.
- Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff by Peter David:
New Frontier is
Star Trek kicked up to Warp 10. Blind Man's Bluff is Star Trek: New Frontier
shoved into a transwarp conduit. It's full of nice meaty character
development. It's got comedy though in this volume its drier than a Vulcan's
armpit. It's got plenty of action even for those uninitiated to the world of
Mackenzie Calhoun. I wouldn't suggest this as a starting point for anyone but
is a great ride even for casual New Frontier fans. This book starts with a bang
that makes you think it's firing with all its cylinders. It isn't. The ride
just keeps getting faster. It slows down long enough to kick you in the gut and
gives you just enough time to crap your pants. There were more 'They
didn't just do that...' moments than I could count. I mean the good kind.
Nobody and I mean nobody writes Star Trek books like Peter David. Even at the
moments where the book is at its most unbelievable, he sells you on it. I really
hate to admit this, but Mr. David got me giving a rat's ass about the characters
from Voyager. They didn't feel like they were intruding on the New Frontier
story at all- unlike M'ress and Arex did until I got a chance to see The
Animated Series (along with reading a certain run on DC's Star Trek comics).
This book's ending was gripping, satisfying and hands down one of the best Star
Trek books I've read in a long time. It even surpasses what I consider the
series previous high point 'Being Human'. (Which is oddly appropriate since one
of the main plots of the book really got started there.) The only bad thing
about it is this may be the last Star Trek: New Frontier novel. Pocket has not
yet renewed Mr. David's contract. As someone who buys about $200 worth of Star
Trek stuff every year and most of that spent on books, I have one message for
the executives at Simon and Schuster: 'If you want to see any of that $200 for
late 2011 and 2012- a single strip of latinum - keep New Frontier going with
Peter David at the helm. Otherwise - I'll see you in Gre'thor.'
- Worlds of Deep Space Nine Volume Two: Trill and Bajor:
This series, picking
up where the first set of post television DS9 books left off is split into two
novellas.
- 22a Trill - Unjoined - Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels - This book
contains the conclusion to the long ongoing subplot involving the aliens from
the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode 'Conspiracy' and their newly
discovered connection to the Trill. On that front is it is a very satisfying
wrap up to a story started about eleven books before. (Counting the Gateways
crossover and various anthologies.) The colossal super sized Trill was a little
annoying but I can see why they did it - for reasons other than needing a quick
wrap up. No - for me where the story doesn't work was with the Ezri and Bashir
plot. I don't think after what happened in the Section 31 book, as well as
Cathedral (a book set in Gamma Quardrant - when we saw how those two would
interact had Ezri not been a joined Trill and Julian not had his genetic
enhancements) that the near collapse of Trill civilization would have been enough to
break them up. I don't buy it.
- 22b Bajor: Fragments and Omens by J. Noah Kym: This one is a very slow
burn. For the first forty pages almost nothing happens. Once it starts rolling
it goes pretty quickly. It reads more like three separate stories that
dovetail into an ending. Oddly appropriate considering the title. The three
real surprises were 1) While I've liked individual Bajoran characters,
particularly Kira, I haven't always enjoyed stories about Bajor. 2) Around
the time the DS9 writers decided to put Nog in a Starfleet uniform they
floundered about what to do with Jake Sisko. At least according to the main
credits, he was supposed to be part of the main cast but was often over shadowed
by Garak, Commander Eddington, Nog, Gul Dukat, Rom, Weyoun, Brunt, Moogie,
Ziyal, Dumar, Grand Nagus Zek, Maihardu, Leela, Ben Sisko's dad, The Female
Changeling, Iggy Pop and even Morn. Part of this was because Jake has always
been a somewhat inert character. Without Nog or his father to incite him to
action there wasn't much meat to him. Kym's novel really finds a role for Jake
and not as Nog's friend or the son of Ben Sisko. This book finally lets the
audience meet Jake on his own terms which is something the television series
pulled twice in seven years. ('The Visitor' and 'The Valiant' - one of which I
don't think counts since Cirroc Lofton was replaced with Tony Todd.) 3) I
really enjoyed the way Kym tied in elements not only from two years worth of DS9
novels but also forgotten subplots from a half dozen DS9 episodes. I only wish
this book had a more precise non-cliffhangerish ending. Still, overall it was a
fun read.
- Star Trek: Voyager - Mosiac by Jeri Taylor: Friends, Romans, Talaxians, lend
me your ears. I come to bury Janeway, not to praise her. This book is such a
tight fit to the Star Trek canon it might as well be considered a lost
episode. This is not surprising since the woman who wrote it was one of the
architects of Star Trek: Voyager. Which in terms of accomplishment in the
practice of design is a bit like being the architect of a Taco Bell. See, the
problem with the book is that it reads like a lost episode of Star Trek:
Voyager. The first simple lesson Taylor should learn about novel writing is
this: if you're going to split your story in half between flashbacks and the
present be sure that at least one of your two stories is interesting.
Otherwise- you just have two stories wasting space on the page when you might
have been able to write one good story. It is very, very clear from her overuse
of the same handful of overly flowery adjectives, a need to explain a characters
actions in the narration then again half a page later in dialogue, merely
running of the characters through their paces without even attempting to
disguise it with suspenseful or comedic beats and including no character
development whatsoever, that shows Taylor should never have strayed from the
screenplay format. Star Trek episodes she can write. She wrote 'The Wounded'
for crying out loud. What few scant 'surprises' were supposed to be there were
telegraphed almost from the get go. The real identity of the sweet, lanky,
sensitive, geeky guy that Janeway didn't like at first wasn't really a mystery
at all. The fate of Janeway's father was supposed to be shocking but it
wasn't. Worst of all, Taylor goes and steals the ending of the book from the
M*A*S*H* series finale. Normally, I don't give spoilers but this time, I'm
doing all of you a favor to save anyone curious enough about this book from
making a colossal mistake. Janeway's first fiancee isn't a chicken, he's a
baby. Note to self, this is the last time I buy a novel from the dollar
store.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Kahless by Michael Jan Friedman:
This is a book Jeri Taylor could have learned a lot from. Yes, it has some of the same
flaws. However there is a fine line between being unintentionally overly
flowery with adjectives and being overly flowery with adjectives with a
purpose. Here it is done as subtle homage to medieval fantasy novels and Robert
Howard in particular. Friedman also breaks his story up between flashbacks and
the present- however here what happens in the distant Klingon past has a huge
impact on the outcome of the main story. At times it is even more interesting
than what is going on with Picard and Worf even when we know how the flashback
story is going to play out. It also handles religion in a way that is very
true to what Star Trek is all about. The only time I felt bored was when the
story shifted to focus on Alexander. Even that subplot had some moments, once
Riker joined the story.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Hard Rain by Dean Wesley Smith:
I haven't thought much of Smith's previous Trek books. I am glad I didn't skip this one.
It was fast paced and fun. Yes, the sentences were choppy. This time it works
remarkably well since the book focuses on Picard's alter ego of Dixon Hill. It
doesn't read like Hammett or Chandler but of their cheap dime store Noir rip
offs. It does a very good job of genre blending. It has an absurd number of
twists and turns. It is full of noir cliches that are clearly not meant to be
taken seriously. The villain at the end was perfect. Sure, I had the how
figure out by page 75 but the who - by the Great Bird of the Galaxy - that was
funny. One of the problems I've had with a lot of Star Trek novels lately is
that they take the series too seriously. They forgot that Star Trek, in most of
its incarnations, was not only smart drama but was often quite funny. The
original series had episodes like 'The Trouble with Tribbles'. Next Generation
had any episode with Q or Reg Barclay. Deep Space Nine had episodes like
'The Magnificent Ferengi' which was essential a remake of Weekend at Bernie's.
Star Trek can do comedy and when it's done right it can be just as potent and
memorable as any dramatic story. The novel writers (or perhaps Paramount's
licensing directors) don't seem to get this and the last time I can remember a
Star Trek novel that was 100% pure comedy was 1991's Q-In-Law. So, Mr. Smith,
I may not be a fan of all your books but I salute you on this. Star Trek books
should do this kind of thing more often.
- Star Trek: The Captain's Daughter by Peter David:
Here's a surprising fact - Peter David can write things other than fast moving,
take no prisoners, keep you on the edge of your seat thrill rides. He's also great
doing small but hard hitting personal stories. This book shows how good a grasp
he has of many of the original series characters. He writes Sulu, Chekov and Rand
with more dimension than they had in any televised episode or movie. Sulu particularly -
since for the first time I can remember he carries the whole book. Most classic
Star Trek novels focus unerringly on Kirk, Spock or McCoy. He fully develops
Demora 'Five Lines in one movie' Sulu and her commanding officer Captain John
'Not Ready Until Tuesday' Harriman. The book is full of Gumping in moments of
several Star Trek movies (though not Star Trek V thankfully - I don't want to
live through that again) as well as lots of jokes going back to TOS episodes.
There are few jokes that are nods to TNG as well. Why? That's what Mr. David
excels at. Getting people to laugh in situations where it should be
uncomfortable. Even more amazing is that I got so caught up in this one and I
was on a forced holiday so I ended up finishing the book in a little less than
36 hours including my nightly eights hours and a good hour's nap this afternoon.
It was almost like that three days at the beach in 1991 when I read Vendetta.
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