Hello everyone! How's it going? What have yall been delving into this week?

Facing tough odds with a few close friends?

Exploration where advanced tech malfunctions?

Culture clashes amid first contact?

Evasive maneuvers under red alert?

Enjoying shore leave between tough missions?

Let us know how it's going and what books you recommend or what may have not been quite what you were expecting. Happy reading yall!

Examples. First scene. Chapel examining McCoy in sickbay.

​

Mccoy muttering to himself.."Getting sucker punched by a girl. THIS is why I left Starfleet."

Chapel. Your SEXISM?

McCoy: "My lack of tolerance for the type of shenanigans that tend to happen on this ship."

Chapel: "Then, if you don't mind my asking, WHY are still on it?"

McCoy. "Well it's kinda cold outside if you haven't noticed."

Chapel. "Captain Kirk reactivated you during the V"Ger crisis. You're not needed for the refit shakedown cruise we're on. You could go back HOME. So why haven't you?"

Dang Chapel is fed up to the gills with being replaced by the old man. Don't blame her.

Chekov loses a lot of blood in surgery. Dialogue

Chapel: "It means Mr. Sulu that Chekov is stable for now, but his blood volume is dangerously low."

Spock. "I take it you've considered a transfusion?"

Chapel: "Of course. We're not idiots Spock."

​

You go girl! Christine!

https://beforewegoblog.com/review-star-trek-picard-firewall-by-david-mack/

Star Trek: Picard is a controversial spin off in my circle as it draws out very strong emotions from its viewers. Some people love it, some people hate it, and some people’s feelings change between the seasons. On my end, I think the Picard show was of varying quality but came up with some of the best ideas the franchise ever had. Also, I think that it has consistently produced some of the best novels that Star Trek has ever produced. THE LAST BEST HOPE by Doctor Una McCormack and ROGUE ELEMENTS by John Jackson Miller are two of my all time favorite Star Trek novels ever. FIREWALL by David Mack is now up there as well.

The premise is that Seven of Nine has found herself adrift after the ship’s return to the Alpha Quadrant. Starfleet has made the possibly justifiable decision to exclude her from Starfleet based on the idea she might be a danger. Which becomes considerably less justifiable when you remember that if she could be remotely hacked or was going to taken over by the Borg, would have probably happened during the show’s seven year run. It becomes even more spiteful and prejudice-filled when you find out they’ve also denied her Federation citizenship. Which doesn’t actually prevent her from living there but exists purely to make her feel unwelcome.

I wasn’t a big fan of “Ad Astra Per Aspera” from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds because it depicted a Federation that was engaged in hate crimes and ghetto-ization of a large chunk of its population in the Illyrians. I like to believe in Roddenberry’s future, we may not be perfect but we’ve moved past Nazi/Terran Empire behavior. I’m more inclined to accept Seven’s treatment, though, because it is far more isolated and we see pushback from Janeway and others. It’s also practiced only by a handful of individuals in the Federation which, sadly, include people of power.

Anyway, Seven seeks to find herself by living on the fringes of Federation society that are also pretty dystopian and seem capitalist despite the fact they don’t have money. This is a pretty common issue in many works, though, so I don’t mind. That’s when she’s offered a chance to get her membership in the Federation and possible Starfleet commission if she infiltrates an organization called the Fenris Rangers.

Like all prequels, the actual destination is less important than the journey. There’s a lot of interesting character beats in this book like Seven coming to terms her bisexuality and also analyzing the idea that the Federation’s Romulan Rescue Plan resulted in a total collapse of necessary humanitarian relief in other parts of the galaxy. It makes the question to cut their losses after the destruction of Mars seem more justified.

Some fans were offput by Seven’s attraction to women but I think it results in some of the more interesting parts of the book. We also get a relationship that is surprisingly drama free and one that I feel like will resonate with queer reader. I really liked the character of Ellory Kayd and hope she shows up in future Star Trek material. I understand that David Mack envisioned her as played by Jessica Henwick and I think that helped my mental picture a great deal.

The Fenris Rangers are actually given a backstory and we get a sense of what they are, other than having a cool name and fighting crime. Apparently, they were once a legitimate law enforcement/security company (for lack of a better term) contracted to protect the Qiris Sector. When the governments collapsed, they continued carrying out their jobs of enforcing the law of the previous regimes. Frankly, Starfleet labeling them vigilantes in that respect is a sign of Federation arrogance as who else would qualify as a legitimate government in that situation?

The villains of the book are also interesting because they’re some of the vilest ones in Star Trek, up there with the Cardassians, but some of the most easily understood too. General Kohgish and Erol Tazgül are guilty of horrific crimes against sapience but their motives are both believable as well as extremely petty. General Kohgish just wants to make as much bank as humanly possible while Arastoo believes that he’s able to keep the Romulans out of the Federation by making a buffer state via any means necessary once the Neutral Zones collapses.

I also appreciate Erol isn’t a part of Section 31 as that would be the “easy” way to do it. No, he’s just a guy who got fired for his extreme politics.Admiral Janeway gets something of an off kilter performance and why I put this book as a 9.5/10 instead of a 10 out of 10. Well, that and because I feel like some of the locations like Starfield are a little too like capitalistic intolerant Earth than the Federation should be.

Basically, Janeway seems awfully naive throughout the book. She doesn’t seem to understand how much pressure and prejudice Seven is getting or that Starfleet’s opinion on the Rangers are wholly unjustified. I wonder if those blinders are just something every Federation citizen has or it’s because she wasn’t in the Dominion War and saw how fallible the Federation’s leadership could be.

In conclusion, I find this to be a fantastic novel and one I really enjoyed. Seven of Nine has always been one of my favorite characters in Star Trek and this is a great bridge between her VOY and Picard personas. I really liked the Fenris Rangers as a concept and hope they eventually invite David Mack to do a sequel or perhaps even a series of novels set between this one and Season One of Picard.

Out now: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Echoes TPB" by Marc Guggenheim with covers by Oleg Chudakov and published by IDW Publishing

Join Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise in this never-before-seen adventure spinning out of the Original Series!

When a space anomaly thrusts a bounty hunter and her target—a criminal mastermind—into their universe, it’s up to Kirk and his crew to stop them from unintentionally starting a war with the Romulans and unleashing a superweapon of foreign tech onto the system. But the strangers from another universe are more familiar than they assume…for underneath their helmets are their doppelgängers—from an alternate reality!

From critically acclaimed screenwriter, producer, and comics writer Marc Guggenheim (Arrow; DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; Star Wars: Han Solo and Chewbacca) and artist Oleg Chudakov comes this brand new mini-series!

Out now: "Star Trek: Defiant #13" by Christopher Cantwell with covers by Rachael Stott, Elizabeth Beals Angel Unzueta and published by IDW Publishing

Starbase 99 has been compromised. Worf and the Defiant crew are quarantined within, desperately trying to evade the infected as their parasitic counterparts flood the floors of the base. To make matters worse, one of the crew’s bounties is dead, another missing. Can the crew survive this raging parasitic invasion on the desolate starbase?

Finally finished all of the bantam era books of the 70s and very early 80s. These were the first line of original Star Trek fiction ever published. But there was one single YA star trek book published even earlier and my thoughts on that one will be in a future post. So without further delay, let me share my thoughts on these books.

**Warning, spoilers ahead for those who haven't read these decades old books and want to read them.

~~

First mention goes to the short story adaptations by James Blish. They are good adaptations but are very short (usually 20 or so pages long). They aren't terribly notable and certainly not a necessary read. But for collectors and completionists they are great fun. The Harry Mudd episodes were not included in Star Trek 1-12 and were later adapted and finished (with an original Mudd tale by J. A. Lawrence) in Mudd's Angels.

So Star Trek 1-12 + Mudd's Angels adapt each episode of the Original series in short story form. These are all, like I said, fine adaptations for those who like that sort of thing.

3/5

~~

Spock Must Die! - James Blish

Again written by James Blish, this is a VERY short "novel" (I hesitate to call most of these sub-200 page stories novels). Spock is cloned due to a transporter malfunction and his personality is split. Star Trek does these clone episodes quite a bit. The story is quick, fun, and very filled with postulation and tech jargon. I liked this one! Not very substantial but feels straight out of a classic episode, like an unmade script. A nice little nibble.

4/5

~~

Spock, Messiah - Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr.

This one I wasn't much of a fan of. It shows it's age in the way it refers to characters of color, which is true of nearly all of the Bantam books. This one involves another clone like story. I thought that this one barely felt like a Star Trek story because of how differently written it was. If you are looking for a strange dated 70s psychedelic kind of travel story, then you may like this one. Me? I wasn't prepared for that and didn't love it.

2/5

~~

Price of the Phoenix - Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath

Whew, this one was bad and made me question reading more Star Trek. Yet another clone story so I was tired of that already except this is a Kirk clone. Which has been done before. The story is a tired retread, and to me reads like the 10th book of some teenager/young adults fan fiction series because the bad guy is just kind of there, and it feels like all of the characters know about him and the reader is just left absolutely confused. Lots of fight scenes, lots of macho bullshit which is completely contrary to what I want in my Star Trek. This and their other Trekbook down below are the worst of the worst. Damn near unreadable.

0/5

~~

Planet of Judgement - Joe Haldeman

This one was alright. Again very short 130 or so pages and well spaced out on the page could be read in an afternoon. Nothing too special, it feels like a mismash of a few episode concepts already done. I honestly can't remember toouch about it.

3/5

~~

Vulcan! - Kathleen Sky

I really enjoyed this one for the most part. A woman scientist is set to board the enterprise and join the crew on a mission. Kirk and McCoy are literally dragging their tongues on the ground around this woman, which ranges from humourous at first to kind of too much as it goes on. As it turns out, she's a huge racist and hates Vulcans! Anyway hijinks ensue and surprise surprise the racist is trapped on a planet with spock and only spock. How will they get out of this one?! Teamwork! Put aside your racism and work together and yeah you get the picture. For what it's worth it's a fun read, but pretty on the nose with it's message. Again, the horny crew can be a bit much and it shows it's age there but overall enjoyable.

3/5

~~

The Starless World - Gordon Eklund

Classic Trek right here but with some minor complaints. We get more of the classic trope like a planet that can't be escaped, some female falling for Kirk, and a god like entity but it takes place inside of a Dyson sphere! That's about all that's notable about this one. Not bad, but not great either.

3/5

~~

Trek To Madworld - Stephen Goldin

Starts off interesting but the plot takes a turn on a strange "wacky" planet. I don't care for this kind of wacky nonsense in Trek. So I was skipping pages at a time to get to the original plot line which ended poorly anyway. Did not care for this Alice in wonderland shtick. He even takes lines directly from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which is tacky in my opinion.

1/5

~~

World Without End - Joe Haldeman

Really enjoyed this one for the most part. I only wished it was a bit longer because the plot kept escalating until the final 10 pages then everything was just solved without much of an explanation. Even the crew doesn't understand. It just ends too quickly and is a bit dissatisfying because of that. The body horror element was truly interesting though. The main three were written as total badasses which was fun and different.

4/5

~~

Devil World - Gordon Eklund

This one was a surprise hit. I read this one while on vacation in a cabin. Easy to read but very Kirk focused. Pretty much everyone else were just tertiary characters. Not a bad thing, but no one but Kirk had any good lines or purpose. The romance between the main girl wasn't great but wasn't totally offensive. also the "the entire planet is a computer" shtick was a bit of a let down because I feel like I've read that twist a few times already in these bantam books. Overall, I enjoyed the read and was engaged but it could have been better. For what it was, I had a lot of fun! Very very similar to Gordon's previous trek offering though.

4/5

~~

Perry's Planet - Jack C. Haldeman III

VERY quick read at 132 pages with pretty large text. Not a bad story, but feels just like a lot of the other previous books with the "the planet is run by a computer" trope. The scarves that the planet dwellers wear constantly reminded me of Dr. Suess. I'd say this book was quite middle of the road. Not great, but not bad by any mids. Mid tier extended episode. Fun read for someone who wants something easy and quick for sure. But the tropes of these books start to feel very worn and retreaded a lot.

3/5

~~

The Galactic Whirlpool - David Gerrold

I read this one so fast because I had trouble putting it down. First, David Gerrold wrote the episode "the trouble with tribbles" so I was already excited because of that. Second this is the longest Trekbook to date at a relatively whopping 223 pages! So there is just so much more room to sit and stew with the problem at hand and for things to develop a little more naturally over the course of the story. Speaking of, the story was great, I was really emotionally invested in the plight of the people on this nearly derilect spaceship. I thought it was hilariously convenient that the main crew postulates every small detail about this ship and people aboard, the story of how it got there, where it's heading, etc. and end up being exactly right. The enterprise stumbles upon a ship that's been missing for 200 years and find that it's people are headed for destruction, so they must find a way to convince the captain to move it's trajectory. Lots of problems though, there is a klingon ship just far enough away that it causes Kirk to have to stay on the enterprise to.maintain battle readiness (and this klingon ship just goes away is never a threat at all in the story), the people are religious zealots who think that Kirk and crew are devils, the ship itself is divided by two classes of people who are warring on each other. It's got a lot going on! Very interesting read, very much worth the time, IMO.

5/5

~~

Death's Angel - Kathleen Sky

Truly and utterly boring. I was skimming through this nearly the whole time. The plot is focused on a failing marriage, a love interest for Kirk, Kirk's abject horniness, and a who-dun-it plot with characters so silly I just get bored. It even tries to compare itself to Alice in Wonderland, which is just tacky. I was just so bored and did not care about the plot. None of the usual cast has any plot relevance. Just forgettable and a real dud to end the Bantam books era on.

1/5

~~

Final thoughts:

Overall these early stories are really a mixed bag. These seem to be overlooked nowadays by all but very dedicated fans of TOS. None of these books are what I would consider to be required reading, although the galactic whirlpool is definitely the closest I'd come to saying that for anyone looking for early trek literature before the numbered series by Pocket Books started along. These have a much more raw and fan driven feeling to them. It's an interesting look into what science fiction and fan fiction was like at the time. Glad I read them, but I can't imagine I'll return for a while. I've got more than 150 TOS books to read ahead of me anyway.

What are your thoughts, have a favorite?

Now this was a fun little quick read! Not too much to be said about it as it was fairly short and had basically the same plot as the episode. But it was nice to get more of Kirk and crew’s POV, and I particularly enjoyed seeing Bashir and McCoy interact and Odo’s reaction and thoughts about Kirk was an interesting tidbit. Overall, a pretty good novelization of a fun episode.

7.5/10

I was quite hyped to read this book as it was sort of a crossover between the major series including Enterprise! But the final product was mixed. I will say the TOS story was better and it was great to see a story focused on Matt Decker, the commodore from the Doomsday Machine and how it fleshed out the relationship between him and Kirk. I was the most interested to learn about him vs. Captain Keough of the Odyssey. I really hope Decker makes an appearance on SNW as his character was great here.

But the DS9 story felt like an afterthought and the Malkus device doesn’t show up until 40 pages before the finale. This basically made the whole story feel pointless. Keough wasn’t really that interesting of a character vs Decker who was more developed than Keough. I know Keough dies when the Odyssey and New Bajor are destroyed but Decker’s death felt far more impactful because we actually see it.

Anyway, I would rate this book 6/10

Edit: Also the disrespect shown for Archer and Enterprise by the TOS characters was criminal 😭they acted like they had no impact at all. I’m happy SNW showed more love for them

This one was pretty interesting in a few ways. I always wanted a follow up to "Relics" to learn more about the Dyson Sphere and this book also explores having a crew of Horta officers. The authors did a great job making me feel the enormity of the sphere but I felt it was rushed or cut short. Turns out they edited out 20% after the authors' final draft. Still a fun read!

https://youtu.be/It60ZB-QDmM

Hey everyone! How's it going this week? Where have yall been reading in Star trek?

Tracking criminal ships through uncharted territory?

Trading and diplomacy on a new world?

Tightening up defenses in the Neutral Zone?

Talking down hostage takers in a tense standoff?

Theorizing on various scientific anomalies?

Let us know where your journey has taken you and how you felt about the books you've read or are looking forward to this week!

https://idwpublishing.com/collections/spring-cleaning-sale a dozen or so Star Trek TPBs and 'online exclusive' covers.

I am fairly sure someone here has made a timeline of all the books or some sort of logical reading order. Can you point me in the right direction? I'm going to try to read them all

Out now: "Star Trek #18" by Collin Kelly with covers by Rod Reis, Marcus To, Jake Bartok and published by IDW Publishing

Tzenketh is on the brink of war against the Federation… and it’s all the fault of Captain Sisko and his crew. A battle between the Tzenkethi, Romulans, and Cardassians is imminent, while Tzenketh itself begins to tremble. The Theseus crew’s actions have exacerbated the volcanic instability of the planet-another thing the Romulans will undoubtedly pin on the Federation. The Romulan Magistrex’s plot to build an alliance that will destroy the Federation is underway, can Sisko and his crew manage to save this savage world of glass and bone? Find out in the finale of arc three of the Eisner-nominated series!

Holy cow.

There's a huge shift in quality from book 1 to book 2.

I accused book 2 of being complete and utter garbage and questioned why editors even get paid. A few people chimed in and told me it was because it was the first book for next Gen.

Well, they got most of the kinks worked out in book #2.

I'm always impressed with how well these fiction authors wrap a book up, because by the time I was 90% through the book, I still wasn't 100% sure how this was going to end.

Once the Enterprise figures out that the alien ship's transporter circuits are only meant to send instead of receive, it gets them going in the right direction and... it really surprised me that I'd never heard of this idea before.

This book was written in 1988, but in none of the later series play with this concept of transporter circuits only being able to send/receive instead of doing both.

Riker has a very heroic moment without doing anything but stepping up onto a transporter pad. And it's one of those moments that has me convinced that before they started filming TNG Roddenbury would have been telling the producers "This time we're switching Spok and Kirk's roles around." and by the time they got to filming it, Picard has become a human.

Riker is so much like Kirk. He'll do whatever has to be done. As long as there's a chance for success he'll do whatever is needed regardless of the risk.

If you could put slipstream drive on the defiant and give it to both Tom and Will riker, the Borg would have been dead in a week and Voyager would have spent the rest of their natural lives traveling back to Earth.

This book isn't bad, if you completely ignore how dumb the colonists are.

They were smart enough to make it out into outer space and travel to a planet far far away and even begin to colonize that planet, but past that point the colonists were completely incapable of making a single competent decision with the exception of the 12 year old genuis.

I was often laughing out loud at Worf playing diplomat.

I know that the novel Federation by Judith and Garfield R.S. had Cochrane taking trips on his own to Alpha Centauri, and Strangers From the Sky was written in the early days of trek books so it mentioned how first contact came in the form of encountering Vulcans near Saturn (?), but besides that, what else talks about maybe the day after, or the year after?

Hi all! I’m new to this subreddit, but I was told you may be able to help me out. My friend recently let me join in with his group to play a Star Trek table top rpg. I have been a fan of Andorians for a long time, love their designs, so I thought I’d make my character one. But I’m having trouble finding stuff on them and their culture and religion and how they function as a society. I love reading books to help build up a character and their backstories. So, I was hoping you guys could recommend some that help with that?

TDLR: Help me build a well rounded character for a silly game with my friends. Book recommendations that are about Andorians please and thank you!

Hello everyone! Having a good weekend I hope? Where have yall dived into this week? How are your reads going?

Defending diplomats at a crucial conference?

Delving into ancient alien ruins?

Describing intriguing scientific anomalies?

Discovering secret military installations?

Defeating enemies who assault defenseless colonies?

Let us know how it's going with your journey into various trek lit, or what your deciding on for next week

I was able to wrap up the Q-Continuum Saga today with "Q-Strike". The whole saga has been great but I especially like the way the Q and these other being are portrayed. This one starts out with Picard and Q observing the war between the Q and 0 that takes place on a grand scale.

The author gives you little glimpses that show how these beings battle changes their whole planets and lives. He does a great job of making you feel the scale of the destruction going on.

All in all just a great read that gives you a deeper look at the Q and other's like them.

​

https://youtu.be/-j\_Aw-AiRIM

This is probably my favourite DS9 book I’ve read so far this year. My biggest criticism of the Mission Gamma books is that there isn’t much exploring. The Gamma Quadrant was explored a fair bit in DS9 but not the extent of the Delta Quadrant in Voyager. I know the Dominon was the major player there but there’s more to the Quadrant than them.

I also know it’s a book series and it’s hard to focus on so much and you don’t have the budget of a TV show, but come on. Show more than one world at once.

This book, I’m officially counting as the fifth Mission Gamma book. This was a really good book and it’s great to see such an exploration of Jake as a character and who he is outside the shadow of his father. Being the Emissary’s son is something he didn’t ask for and dealing with prophecies is a pain because it makes you feel like you have no free will. But this book felt adventurous and gave me what I wanted in exploring more of the Gamma Quadrant. Also the crew of the Even Odds were great, although I did lose track of the various characters aboard. They also felt the Guardians of Galaxy and I was half expecting Dez to say “We’re the freaking Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Just the feeling of fun and light hearteness was missing from the other books imo. The relationship between Dez and Jake was great as he tried to be a surrogate father for Jake and saw him as a son. It really got me in the feels. Also it was great to get some follow up with Opaka and seeing what’s she been doing all these years.

8/10

Positively Trek 265: Seven of Nine Knows Her Name!

Picard: Firewall with David Mack & Guest Host Jessie Gender

https://www.positivelytrek.com/book-club-seven-of-nine-knows-her-name/

In this episode of the Positively Trek Book Club, Dan Gunther and guest host Jessie Gender welcome David Mack to the show to discuss his new novel, Star Trek: Picard: Firewall.

When the USS Voyager returned to Earth, Seven of Nine’s life looked promising: Earth, the bastion of acceptance and equality, stood ready to accept the former Borg with open arms. Right?

Reality proved to be very different from what had been promised, and soon Seven finds herself on the outside looking in. Refused a commission in Starfleet, and even denied Federation membership, she sets out to find herself, beginning a journey that would eventually lead to the Fenris Rangers and the Seven that we meet in the series Star Trek: Picard.

Stream below or subscribe!

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/positively-trek/id1501468628

Show Page: https://www.positivelytrek.com/book-club-seven-of-nine-knows-her-name/

Out now: "Star Trek: Sons of Star Trek #1" by Morgan Hampton with covers by Hayden Sherman, Andy Price, Jake Bartok and published by IDW Publishing

From the pen of acclaimed Cyborg writer Morgan Hampton comes a new four-part miniseries spinning out of IDW’s Eisner-nominated Star Trek series and fan favorite Star Trek: Defiant series! In the aftermath of Kahless’ harrowing Day of Blood, Jake Sisko struggles to find his place in the universe now that his family has been reunited and his father, Benjamin Sisko, has once again saved the galaxy. Meanwhile, Alexander Rozhenko is recovering mentally and emotionally from his time as one of Kahless’ devout followers. Though his father, Worf, was able to break him away from the Red Path cult, Alexander is haunted by his actions during the bloody coup and is unsure of his ability to atone for the devastation he caused. Jake and Alexander find their stories intertwined as they’re thrust into an alternate universe where they followed their father’s footsteps into Starfleet stardom. As officers aboard the U.S.S. Avery, Jake and Alexander encounter alternate versions of other children of Starfleet legends who show them they all may have a bit more in common than it would seem.

Out now: "Star Trek: Day of Blood" by Christopher Cantwell and published by IDW Publishing

Blood will flow in this first-ever Federation crossover event which pulls from the ongoing Star Trek space saga and the Defiant spin off graphic novel series!

As emperor of the Klingon Empire, Kahless II has consolidated power, raided ancient tombs and secret bunkers, taken the power of gods for himself, stolen the Bajoran Orb of Destruction, and has begun a slaughter across the stars.

But this genocide of gods was just the beginning. For with the power he has stolen, Kahless is about to declare war on all those who do not follow the Red Path. To prevent genocide unlike any since the ancient days of Qo’noS, the crew of icons led by the emissary known as Benjamin Sisko (Star Trek ongoing series) and the renegades who follow a desperate and violent Worf (Star Trek: Defiant) must unite for a common cause. Only they can hope to stop the DAY OF BLOOD.

Join creators Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy), Christopher Cantwell (Namor and Star Wars: Obi-Wan), and Ramon Rosanas (Star Trek, Marvel’s Star Wars, and The Astonishing Ant-Man) in this monumental crossover event of epic proportions. Collects Star Trek: Day of Blood, Star Trek: Day of Blood–Shax’s Best Day, Star Trek 2023 Free Comic Book Day issue, Star Trek issues #11–12, and Star Trek: Defiant issues #6–7.

This was a decent set of short stories celebrating the 40th anniversary of TOS. But I would say it’s the weakest out of the 4 short story collections that were made around the same time. The stories didn’t quite stick out for me like the other ones. I found the Voyager collection probably the best out of all them followed by the DS9 one, Prophecy and Change. I’ve yet to read to read the TNG one, but I plan on it soon. It was kinda disappointing as this was for TOS’s 40th anniversary and they fell kinda flat.

Make Believe absolutely destroyed me emotionally and was easily the best out of all the stories. Overall, if you want something familiar, this is the book for you.

6.5/10

Damn, good way to keep the relaunch going! This book ties in several hanging plot threads that was hinted at in the Lives of Dax and other entries before this. Also it’s great to see Conspiracy, one of the best early TNG episodes get some sort of follow up. Tying it into the Trills is the most logical place to do it (even though Star Trek Online ties the Parasites into the Iconians). The Alpha Quadrant stuff was the best part of this book and it’s great to see stuff finally kick into gear.

The Gamma Quadrant wasn’t as strong as the Alpha Quadrant stuff though. The idea of the Borg intruding on the Gamma Quadrant is a great idea as we never got to see on screen the Dominon and the Borg fight. I didn’t seriously the point of bringing back Ruriko, Prynn’s mom just to kill her off again and then Vaughan FUCKING LIES about it. Jesus, it was bad. Vaughan is a major asshole in my books now. I also felt this book was too short and could have benefited from being another 100 pages like the rest of the volumes. The Weyoun cameo was funny and the bit with Morn and Trier made me laugh a lot. Overall, an ok book but the Gamma Quadrant stuff wasn’t very good. 7/10

Hello everyone, how's your week been? What have you been reading this week or looking forward to next week?

Debating Ethics and morals in Ten Forward?

Haggling Lucrative opportunities at Quark's bar?

Dealing with tal shiar schemes over a glass of romulan ale?

A unlikely joint op with the obsidian order in a shady dive?

To heck with espionage and mind games, you've been chilling on Risa with saurian Brandy

Or perhaps bloodwine and honorable duels are more your style for 'relaxing'

Let us know what holographic reads have kept you engaged in your downtime, or perhaps something didn't quite go down as smooth as you thought it would

Here are compiled replies to the 'What are you favorite novels?' thread I posted this afternoon on r/startrek.

This should give everyone a great reading list.

CryHavoc3000

• The Wrath of Khan novelization
• Spock's World
• Prime Directive

houtex727

• A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson
• Spock's World
• Prime Directive.

Tucker_the_Nerd

• Author Peter David
• "New Frontier" series

DarkReviewer2013

• Vendetta

YankeeLiar

• "Q-Squared" by Peter David.

Global_Chocolate_825

• "Imzadi" by Peter David

Zaphod-Beebebrox

• Yesterday's Son

DoctorBeeBee

• A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson
• How Much for Just the Planet by John M Ford
• My Enemy, My Ally
• The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane.

Intelligent_Ant6855

• Autobiography of Captain Janeway audiobook

Dial_M_Media

• Destiny by David Mack

Thinklikeachef

• Star Trek: Federation
• Memory Alpha
• Strangers from the Sky

watchedclock

• Deep Space Nine Millennium trilogy
• “season 8” books
• Peter David books
• New Frontier
• The Genesis Wave
• A Stitch in Time

Capital-Direction773

• No time like the Past by Greg Cox

GristleMcTh0rnbody

• Best Destiny

Darth-Grumpy

• The Final Reflection
• The Romulan Way

Upper-Job5130

• Probe

Torch-S2

• Captain's Oath
• Immortal Coil
• Greg Cox's Kahn books

DarkReviewer2013

• Prime Directive
• Spock's World
• Q-in-Law
• Star Trek: Myriad Universe - Infinity's Prism

This book was a surprise for me. The last in the series focused on Q and the Enterprise's dilemma while this one took a whole different route. Q takes Picard back to show him the ultimate test of the T'Kon empire and the story focuses on how 0 and his gang sows chaos and dissent and eventually destroy the empire.

Thinking about it afterward it really shows the power of these beings and sets up for what I hope is a very exciting finish. LLAP.

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=0P05VaERnbQ&si=WbsNoWWJfXUrWhxP

This was a decent book. But it wasn’t as good as the previous volume. First off, the Gamma Quadrant stuff was very interesting as it served as an exploration for Nog, Ezri and Julian. Three pivotal events in their lives were changed as a result as the artifact known as the Cathedral. For Nog, it’s never losing his leg at the Battle of AR-558 and never joining Starfleet, Ezri it’s never joining with the Dax symbiont and for Julian, it’s never being genetically modified. The real star of this book is the latter and it's great to see such themes explored and what Jules could have been like.

Turns out he would have been a normal bloke with a family and still retains his intelligence. It would have been interesting to see how other characters would have been affected by the Cathedral. One of the biggest criticisms I have though is the lack of exploration of the Gamma Quadrant. I know it's impossible given how this isn’t a TV show but I wish we could see more of it.

The Alpha Quadrant stuff wasn't as strong as the previous book but it was still pretty good. We are finally getting to see the fallout of Kira’s decision from Avatar and how it’s affecting Bajor as a whole. I’m relived a bit they didn’t focus much on Shar and his bond mates. I found it really dragged down the previous two books and I was tired of reading the same thing over and over again about them. Also the Garak cameo made me squeal and Yevir returning all the Orbs was really cool and just left me with a happy feeling. The ending of the book was also one hell of a cliffhanger. I look forward to the last book.

7.5/10