Star Trek Movies Books

This book is one of the better for a Star Trek's fan. In their chapters are many sketches and original pieces of the series. The designs of Matt Jefferies for the sets, (Part1), the design of the original Enterprise, (- born almost like a Warbird?-, Parts 2,3 & 4), the shuttlecraft and the weapons (Parts 5 & 6). Brillant the Part 7 with The Lost Set and the original scale model of it, (great ! ). The following chapters show the wardrobe by William Ware Theiss in sketches and tests, the make-ups of Fred Phillips (the ears of Spock, the green skin and deformity of Vina, klingons, romulans, etc.), and the accessories created by Wah Ming Chang, (did you know that he received a payment of U$S 520.00 for the design of the original phaser ?). This book shows the courage and innocence of those first pioneers that created the most famous adventure of the Universe, Star Trek.

This is a book set in the Star Trek "Mirror Universe", where almost all of the same characters exist, but in a much darker, more unpleasant and "evil" universe. We get a look at what Kira, Dax, Sisko, Seven of Nine, Worf, Deanna and B'elanna would be like had they grown up in a world that didn't reward decency and honor, a cutthroat world in which it's every setient for themselves. It is not a pretty picture, but it is an interesting one.

I had always loved the "Mirror Universe" episodes from all of the various Trek series. It gave a refreshing respite from the regular Star Trek universe where everyone is always supposed to be so darned high-minded and goody-goody. And the episode featuring evil Kira and Garak was always my favourite of these. So when I saw this book on the store shelves with "Intendant Kira" featured in all her wicked glory right on the cover I knew I HAD to read it.

I was disappointed that evil Garak is actually not in the book much and is just a minor character. Instead this 2-volume story focuses on the female characters of the parallel universe. This story takes place sometime before the DS9 characters rediscover the parallel universe.

It details the backstabbing political intrigues involved as Kira maneuvers for ever more power within the Klingon-Cardassian Empire, which in the parallel universe succeeded in crushing the former Terran Empire thanks to our universe's James T. Kirk having earlier convinced the parallel universe's Spock to spread a pacifist message there.

But there are others vying for the same power that Kira wants, or seeking to keep her from it. Among them are Deanna Troi, who occupies a position of great influence as lover of Worf, head of the Empire. Also Enabran Tain, head of the Obsidian Order, who sends his crack Terran assassin Agent Seven on a mission to infiltrate Kira's power base. And Tain's disgruntled rival Gul Dukat, who also seeks to regain some of his former power.

I thought the first of the two books was great, as we get LOTS of evil Kira, plus the cool spy intrigues of Agent Seven. Book 2 on the other hand.... well, I'll write a review for that one soon too, but just let me say I thought it wasn't quite as good.

But I still LOVE the mirror universe and wish they would write MORE stories taking place there. It's got a lot more gritty atmosphere and has the possibility to tell some very edgy stories.

So should you get this book? Sure, it's just plain a lot of fun. -- But don't get your hopes up too high for a brilliant conclusion. Just sit back and enjoy the ride (especially this first volume).

This is a great crossover novel. I really enjoyed the B'Elanna of this 'reality': she embraces her Klingon half, hates her human half, and befrieds Seven. You should read this, if you like DS9, TNG, OR VOY.

this book is one of the best depictions of the mirror universe ive seen... it caugth me in the first few pages i read it (both volumes) in 3 days...

It would be hard to do better.

Over the years, Susan Wright has proven herself to be an extremely reliable author in the Star Trek universe and this "Dark Passions" duology is no exception to that. I found the entire story to be thoroughly intriguing, extremely well paced and the characterizations to be perfect for what one might expect of these characters in the mirror universe.

With this small duology, Susan Wright took the rather apropos approach of building upon the known and unknown characters in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine mirror universe episodes and created an extraordinary story that actually takes place prior to start of the series, giving her the advantage of having all of the characters to use and giving her the opportunity to create a much more original story to include killing certain characters off. This is an extremely powerful story that involves the majority of the female characters in the current Star Trek universe, proving their "mettle" so to speak and using them to perfection.

The only true complaint I would lodge about this duology falls more into place with the decisions of those at Pocket Books than with the author and that is the fact that this "novel" was broken into two books. Considering the rather standard sized text and the fact that the first book is only 232 pages and the second is 200 pages, this could've and should've been one novel instead of an obvious ploy to ply an extra $6.99 out of "passionate" Star Trek readers; bad on the powers that be at Pocket Books.

The cover art for this novel makes this and the second novel that much more intriguing considering the originality of the story.

The Premise:

As it might spoil the story a bit I won't delve too deeply into the premise of this wonderful story. Suffice it to say, this story involves the majority of the major female characters from "The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" in extremely enlightening roles carrying an extremely original story to fruition through healthy amounts of intrigue and action...

Overall, I highly recommend this and the second book in this small duology to any and all fans of Star Trek fiction and especially to those that thoroughly enjoyed the mirror universe episodes on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. {ssintrepid}

... of the behind-the-scenes design, artwork, and storyboarding for the first two Next Generation movies, "Generations" and "First Contact." Indispensible to a real starship hardware fan, this book gives plenty of details and is interspersed with interviews, recollections, and notes from some of the principal talents involved in creating the location sets, some of the special effects, and the new ships seen in both films, as well as much unseen material from the design of the Borg presence. I found the evolution of the Enterprise-E, Phoenix warp ship, and Vulcan ship from First Contact especially interesting. My only criticism is that, even at 340+ pages, there is not enough! First Contact alone should occupy a 400-page "Making of" book. Nevertheless, this volume is a gem which belongs in the library of any hard-core Trek devotee.

Not only is this volume a must for anyone interested in production design, it is also a well designed book all round. Each page is a stunning work of art in its own right. Full compliments to John Eaves for so carefully selecting his, and other artist's work, for the book. His commentary throughout is informative and interesting. JM Dillard holds it all together with his, as always, brilliant text. I hope Eaves releses a new book about Insurrection, or at least, has the existing book expanded to include this film. Well done, S&S, John Eaves and JM Dillard.

I interviewed John Eaves two years ago and first heard about this book at that time; I am more than slightly relieved to say that it was worth the wait! Profusely illustrated -- with artwork that has NOT already appeared everywhere else -- the book is both reader- and Trekkie-friendly, with brief anecdotes which humanize the filmmaking process while also supplementing the nice pics. Eaves' attention to detail -- especially in regard to properly crediting those responsible for a given design -- is both noteworthy and surprisingly welcome ... This book almost makes up for previous "authorized" illustrated Trek volumes, nearly making me forgive Pocket/S&S for THE ART OF STAR TREK, and gives cause for one to hope Eaves will contribute in a similar fashion to STAR TREK 9. (and generate another book like this as well.)

First of all, I would like to say for the record that Captain Kirk is my favorite character and that I am still overall very happy that Kirk is still alive and kicking (in the Shatnerverse anyway). However, this is the fourth Shatner book I have read and this was easily the most disappointing. Ashes to Eden and Collision Course were very good. Shatner's ego was.. um... pretty well in check. However The Return while a great novel and great ideas I had an issue with just how much Shatner wrote the original cast(him specifically)over TNG. Avenger was a pretty similar in that aspect to the Return. Kirk, Spock and McCoy were the big heroes and TNG basically sat back and watched in amazement. The major issue that I had with this book that took this from a 3 star book to a 2 star book was the idea of The Avenger itself. Kirk was the Avenger and he avenged Sarek's death. Why did he avenge Sarek death? Answer because according to this book they had been like father and son all these years. This is the scenario, Kirk stopped Spock from killing the individual who murdered Sarek. Then a few pages later Kirk had killed the guy. Two questions, number one, when did Kirk and Sarek become so close. I realize Kirk discovered that he had a mind meld with Sarek when he was thirteen years old on Tarsus IV. However, Picard had a mind meld with Sarek too and he didn't feel like he had avenge Sarek's death. Kirk even used the reasoning that it was an vulcan custom, which is strange because vulcans are not exactly the violent type, but even if they were Kirk isn't vulcan. Question number two he stopped Spock from avenging his fathers death... just so he could do it. He didn't feel that it was Spock's place to avenge his father's death? Just that part of the book along with the fact that Shatner still doesn't respect TNG characters to even put them anywhere near the level of TOS characters are really brought my opinion of this book down.
However, the other main story was well done. There was a ban of Vulcans called the Symmetrists that unleased a virus called virogen that killed plant and animal life and it was up to the familar heroes of the starship Enterprise to stop virus from destroying all the planets within the federation. Kirk, Spock and few others followed the clues from Vulcan while Picard and the Enterprise were following events that lead to Picard and Crusher actually getting effected themselves.

Shatner and Co did an excellent job with the characters of the both generations of the Enterprise. One thing I find as a weakness in The Return was Shatner's lack of being able to bring the crew TNG to life. That is something he did a lot better in this book.

This book did not change my mind about Captain Kirk or William Shatner as a writer. I still say if you are a fan of TOS or a Captain Kirk/William Shatner fan you will love this novel. If you are a fan of both TOS and TNG like I am you will probably rate this book somewhere in the middle. There are readers out there that say "Of course Kirk, Spock and McCoy are the heroes it is Shatner writing the novels". However, I am sure that most of the writers of Star Trek have a favorite character but they still keep it pretty balanced in the long run of the books they write. Shatner just doesn't do that. Anyway, I have heard good things about Spectre but I am going to take a break from the Shatnerverse and read the classic Yesterday's Son. I saw the episode All Our Yesterdays again the other day and can't wait to read that book.

Avenger ties the Odyssey Trilogy together brilliantly. Kirk and Picard, as we saw in Generations, make a fantastic team. One of my favorite parts of Star Trek novels is expanding on a single piece of Trek lore and getting a whole novel that doesn't bore you out of it. Amazing!

With Captain James T. Kirk fully alive and well in this chapter of the Kirk Saga, we get a great story full of plot twists surrounding the death of Sarek. What makes this novel so good is that Shatner does an excellent job on his homework intermixing the book with the history surrounding the episode in which Sarek dies from the Next Generation series.

All in all, this is a great conclusion to the first trilogy and sets up well for the next trilogy involving the mirror universe. 10/10

Star Trek "Avenger" is a good conclusion to William Shatner and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens first Star Trek trilogy that spans well over a century of "Star Trek" time. The first two, "The Ashes of Eden" and "The Return" were absolutely phenomenal in so much as telling a good story about Captain Kirk just before the events of Star Trek "Generations" and after the events of that movie with his return from the dead in "The Return" bringing this compelling character back to Star Trek readers if not moviegoers.

The one unfortunate aspect of "Avenger" is that while it is a very good novel it doesn't quite live up to its two predecessors. The story in and of itself is a pretty good one, it just reaches into some areas of Star Trek that leaves one wondering where the authors were going; by that I mean in the areas where the dialogue more or less puts Captain Kirk in such a glorious light and in doing so demeaning such STNG icons as Captain Picard and Commander Riker. That being said, the overall story is still a very good one where all three authors deftly put together a truly good story that is in good fashion in Gene Roddenberry's universe. The pacing of the novel is exceptional and the overall plot set up and execution is well on the mark.

The cover art for "Avenger" is pretty much more of the same bland stuff that was very typical of Star Trek novels at the time of its publishing.

The Premise:

In true Star Trek style and fashion, William Shatner and the Stevens brought together a story that clearly ties up many of the loose ends set up in the first two novels and set up a reunion between Captain Kirk and Spock. The two storied heroes eventually come together when Captain Kirk, long thought to be dead, sets out to discover the source of a lethal virus that is destroying crops all over the Federation causing famine throughout the Federation with the situation worsened by over population. At the same time, Spock returns home to Vulcan to investigate whether his father died of natural causes or could there have been foul play involved. Both investigations lead them into a long awaited reunion that is told extremely well...

What follows is an exceptionally well written novel with only few technical errors that aren't too difficult to overcome. Overall, I would highly recommend this and the first two novels in this, the first Shatner/Stevens trilogy to any and all fans of good Star Trek fiction! {ssintrepid}

For all those complaining that this book is self-serving on Shatner's part, realize this book is about KIRK and SPOCK, not about the Next Generation!!! That said, Shatner writes the BEST Trek books, no doubt. Although RETURN is my true favorite, this one still weaves a good tale, and includes all the best characters. Yeah, I love Shatner, so I may already be a little prejudice in regards to other STAR TREK characters, but to be honest, KIRK was the smartest captain. Kirk was the strongest, coolest, toughest and perhaps, THE BEST! And with that, I recommend this book to any fan of the STAR TREK continuum...

And I've read well over a hundred. This book seemlessly integrates plot threads from numerous television episodes and movies, while putting its own unique spin on all of them. It is the ONLY treatment of Data with his emotion chip that I've ever seen handled even marginally well, and it's handled beautifully. The characterizations are marvellous, the pacing is quick and never drags, and the plot concept is clever and quite unpredictable. A definite must for any Star Trek fan, and quite a good read even for someone unfamiliar with the series.

This book introduced a plot that tied a few lose ends to some of the original series episodes. It seemed to get a little boring in the middle, but there's a lot of action. You get to see Data do things he normally wouldn't do (like falling in love or meeting other androids, even if they were paranoid). It also has parts in it about Dr. Noonien Soong, which fit into the story perfectly. It's a must for a TNG fan. I've read it four times.

I've enjoyed reading Star Trek novels for years and I've read a lot of them. This one is among the best that I have ever read! Jeffrey Lang has done an excellent job of pulling together some obsure characters from earlier Star Trek series and putting them in a very plausible story line. I kept getting new surprises right on up to the end. I'll be looking for more from this author. If you are looking for a Star Trek story with a fresh plot try this one!

Immortal Coil is, ostensibly, about Data coming to grips with his own immortality. Barring catastrophe (or blowing himself up on a Romulan warbird), Data will outlive all those close to him, a prospect the emotion-chipped Data worries over. Such is the theme that should pervade the book, but all it receives is the occasional lip-service.

Instead, we are given a plot that ties in threads from several TOS episodes, including the infamous Roger Korby. There is even a cameo by "Norman" of Harcourt Fenton Mudd fame. The attempt to draw all the TOS androids into the TNG "Data Is Unique" universe is well-done and should be satisfying to all Trek fans. Non Trek fans, however, will probably be left cold (but then why would a non-Trek fan be reading this, anyway?).

Perhaps the biggest plus to Immortal Coil is a chance to see Data struggling with his emotions and identity, something we only get to see in First Contact (Immortal Coil takes place sometime after First Contact). That alone makes this one worth the time of any Trek fan, but there's nothing here to appeal to the general public. Ultimately, it's standard Trek fare.

My favorite of all Star Treks Series is by far TNG (The Next Generation). As a pretty avid fan of TNG I have seen probably 90% of the shows, most a few times. I love the show, and movies that have been made about Star Trek and this book is just an extension of that quality i've enjoyed over the years. The book itself, reads really quickly at 330 pages. I read it in 2 days, and i'm not a very fast reader, i just couldn't put the book down. The story is very unique, and as always with Star Trek, very interesting. The characters, and the emphasis in this story on Data's history, are quite believable. The story, after having read it, reminds me more of a Star Trek movie, than just an episode. The only down side to the story that i can think of was that it was purely about Data. The references made in the book (to previous episodes and movies) are what make this really a book written with the true Trekkie in mind. I would reccomend this book to anyone with an interest in TNG.

I must admit, that for some reason I have always been a Wesley Crusher hater. Wil Wheaton is fine, but I hate Wesley. I never liked the character. OK. I'm OK now, just had to get that off my chest.

So when I realized that this is another frickin' Wesley-the-genius-screwup-comes-to-the rescue story I turned green and was very quiet for a long time. I'm OK now, again.

Anyway, it turned out that A Time To Be Born is a pretty good story - concluded in A Time To Die. Picard is locked away in a psych ward due to a political move by the Federation and Riker is commanding the Enterprise.

The major plot lines involve the situation in a `haunted' space graveyard that lands Picard under the control of a counselor who seems to be a control freak. (One plot device common to the Star Trek universe is that everyone in Star Fleet not on the Enterprise is either a power hungry maniac or a total idiot.) Riker commands the Enterprise.

The second plotline is of Wesley's initiation into the Travelers, a group of beings who, through mental powers can move through time and space at will. Crusher notices the plight of Picard and the Enterprise and at the risk of losing his place with the Travelers, decides to help out. Somehow he and Riker and the crew must clear Picard's name and solve the riddle of the spaceship graveyard.

The story moves along pretty well and Wesley is fairly tolerable - maybe he is growing up. Maybe I am mellowing.

You'll need to read A Time To Die for the conclusion.

This book is a pretty good start to a great series of ST TNG books. The plot is interesting enough to make you want to read the entire series, and made a great Summer read for me. Personally, I would have lead the series off with either David Mack or Christopher Bennett, but John Vornholt does a pretty good job of taking you into the Star Trek Realm and keeping the reader entertained and wanting more.

In 2007, I would suggest ordering the entire series, or at least the next three books at a time if you like this series. It seems the books are getting somewhat rare, and it takes a month to get the middle of this series. If you want to read one after the other, I would suggest biting the bullet here and ordering at least the first seven (Be Born, Die, Sew, Harvest, Love, Hate, Kill)books so that you can read one right after the other. I had to wait for the middle books (that I could only find on Amazon) for about a month, and I was really watching my mailbox after reading the first three. Great series of books for the ST TNG fan.

Let me start by saying John Vornholt is one of my favorite authors. I've read several of the Trek books he's written, and he's definitely one of the better Trek authors.

A few people said there were boring parts in the book, and that's true, but you have to remember the "A Time to..." series spans 9 books, so you can't have everything happen all in the first book. I don't think I've ever read a book that didn't have at least some boring parts to it (save maybe the Babylon 5 Technomage trilogy, and some of the Harry Potter books).

In all, I'd say this was a good beginning to this series and sets up what could be a great storyline.

I'm sorry, but this book is, simply put, not good. The writing level is extremely elementary and the dialogue is robotic and completely unrealistic. The plot line contained potential that was never explored and the entire time the story spends in Rashanar is a garbled mess of ridiculous occurrences. I rarely give books less than three stars but I was very disappointed with A Time to be Born. The only reason why I spent time finishing it was because I had paid for it and continued to hope that it would get better. It didn't. I have been a Star Trek fanatic since I was 5 and this ranks as my least favorite Star Trek book I have read.

The first in the "A Time To..." series, "Be Born" recounts events that took place between the TNG movies "Insurrection" and "Nemesis." It starts out pretty good; the Enterprise has been dispatched to one of the battle sites from the Dominion War to help keep looters away and recover bodies, only to find something dangerous lurking inside. So, we start off with a good premise, but John Vornholt's writing just doesn't stand up to other Trek authors such as David Mack or Keith R.A. DeCandido. And that was my major problem with the book: the writing. After seven seasons and four movies, you get a certain feel for how the TNG crew acts and talks, and I thought that Vornholt could have done a much better job nailing that. That aside, it is enjoyable to be back with the Next Generation crew, and it's nice to have the blanks between the ninth and tenth films filled in. If you plan on reading other books in the "A Time To..." series, I would read this one as well. That way you're not lost when references are made in later books.

The Federation is locked into a brutal interstellar war with the Dominion, a group let by the Founders, a society of shape shifters. The Dominion is extremely well ordered with the founders at the peak, then the Vorta who fill the role of field commanders followed by the genetically engineered Jem Hadar soldiers. The sole purpose of the Jem Hadar is to fight and die for the founders. That is what they have been bred to do and that is all that they can possibly do. Control over the Jem Hadar is maintained by their dependence on Ketracel White, a combination narcotic and nutrient. At this time, the Cardassians are allied with the Dominion, and their combined power is more than the Federation can handle.
The Federation is in full retreat from the might of the Dominion/Cardassian forces. Although they were able to mine the wormhole so that no new Dominion forces can come through, the Federation was forced to abandon Deep Space Nine, destroying it as much as possible before leaving. At the urging of Cisco, the Bajorans signed a treaty to remain neutral in the conflict, an action that many Bajorans find difficult to accept.
Cisco leads his team in several actions against the Dominion, successfully destroying a major White processing station. However, they are damaged in their retreat and crash land on a planet, their ship sinking in an ocean. A Jem Hadar ship that was pursuing them also crashes on the planet and the two forces fight it out on the ground. The Federation party emerges victorious and is eventually rescued. The story closes with Cisco and his crew back in the fight and preparing to launch additional raids against the Dominion.
This novelization stays very close to the action of the TV series. That is both a positive and a negative. On the positive side, the struggle between the Federation and the Dominion is explained in great detail as the Federation forces continue to retreat. The negative side is that there are too many characters that are involved to keep a novel on track. Cisco's son Jake stays on Deep Space Nine as well as Quark, Odo and Kira. The action moves back and forth between the actions of Cisco and his crew and what is going on at Deep Space Nine. This bouncing back and forth can more easily be done in a visual medium where you have had time to flesh out the characters but is very difficult in print. If you have not seen these episodes of the television series, then you will it very difficult to follow. In my opinion, some of what occurred in the series should have been dropped from the novelization.

This is not Diane Carey's worst effort, not by a long shot. Still, as is frequently the case in her writing, there are places where her word choice is, to put it charitably, questionable. It's never as bad here as it is in, say, "The Search", or some of her other earlier works, but it is still noticeable that she's trying too hard to be "clever and creative", and generally succeeding only in being distractingly odd. The story itself, being mostly an adaptation of several episodes of the "Deep Space Nine" television show from the time period of the "Dominion War" of the book's title, is good, and the changes that Ms. Carey has made are as often improvements as not, and generally don't seem to detract anything from what we saw onscreen. But as of the writing of this book, at least, she had yet to learn that being a "wordsmith" (which seems to be what she wants to think of herself as) does NOT involve playing such games with the language as to distract attention from the story she's telling.

Everyone say the book is always better then the movie. Diane Carey's novelization of these Deep Space Nine episodes holds to the same standards. We get to see into the minds of the characters and understand the choices they made on screen. We get to see specific outcomes of events never fully disclosed during the series.

There were a few new characters introduced but the development of the regular cast was great. Captain Sisko's development and the insight into his choices I felt were completely in character. General Martok showed new depth into his character but having read the two part series by J. Hertzler, am not sure of some of this character's actions.

Overall, a wonderful read and I enjoyed pushing through it quickly. As a four part series, I was hoping for some interaction and cross over with the first book. From what I have read so far, I see two, two-book series, rather then an interconnected four part I was hoping for.

This review is for the Dominion War (DW) 4 book set. I hoped that the people in charge of star trek could have written a series of books that gave us some of the grand sweep of the war in our galaxy that earth could have lost. THIS WAS NOT THAT SERIES. A better Title would have been SNIPPETS FROM THE DOMINION WAR (a lttle french military inuendo there) as we learn very little about the Dominion War.

Star fleet takes their greatest leader Picard (is kirk dead again?) and puts him in charge of a commando operation that has little chance of success in a tiny back water to a great war. We see virtually nothing of that war, only that the federation getting slaughtered. At least Picard knows to use two teams, instead on relying on only one team.

Of course it is not the publishers fault that I assumed they would fill in new information about the DW story with fuller richer detail. That would have been to much work. What was i expecting from a non-Shantner book.

SPOILER!!. At least they don't kill a popular character, which is why i gave 2 stars instead of 1.

I knew the plant from the beginning. Cone on. How many of you were shocked to learn who the saboteur was. A slow piece of junk defeats 3 enemies? Enterprise shows up right on time WAY behind the lines of the most guarded thing the dominion has?

This series would have better placed a Junior Star War series, featuring Picards, Rikers Troys geordis and datas children.

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. So it is ok to start reading book 2 having not read book 1. I believe had I not just watched DS9 on DVD that I would have enjoyed book 2 and 4 more than I did. The episodes were among my favorite, but reading it, much of which is taken word for word from the show, hardly offered new exciting twists. I agree you get a lot deeper insight into characters, especially Sisko and Martok's plan to do something about the War. At times I questioned whether Carey was right about some of the inner thoughts of Sisko and whether the producers of DS9 had the same views, or if Carey just invented them. Either way, it works. It's also good to see more of what happens when the Defiant goes off on a mission, esp. when Dax is in command. It was also good to see Charlie Reynolds and his crew. For that, I give this book 4 stars rather than 3, and also because I believe if one hasn't seen these episodes, that the books will be quite enjoyable. Seeing O'Brien on a suicide mission was quite funny, although the Tex character seemed very odd and out-of-place. Personally I prefered TNG books (1&3) more.

This book started out great don't get me wrong but then it just became bogged down with the technical stuff which ruined the series at times as well. I give it three stars just because we learn so much about Picard and other characters.

Covers period of Picard's life betweem loss of the Stargazer and Enterprise D (Next Gen). Predictible that the alien is going to fall for Picard and end up betraying him... ok for fans who want to fill in gap, but otherwise its obvious how book is going to end.

I can't praise this book more. Just to fair, Prime Directive is still my favorite Trek book of them all, but this one is in contention. C. Bennett has out-done himself (as well as most of Trek writers) with this terrific Trek addition. This author is clearly a fan of Trek as a whole and has seen through a novel that truly embodies the vastness of scale that the Trek Universe so wonderfully encompasses.

I've been a Trek fan as long as I can remember, and have read many Trek novels, but have encountered nothing like this. The sheer scale of Time and Space and the inclusion of the many older races like the Q, Dwoud, El-Aurian, and the Organians makes for one of the purest Trek books ever written. Perhaps it is to Gene Roddenberry's credit that the versatile nature of the TNG characters plays out so well, but Bennett wields these characters with the skill of a Maestro.

One of the best TREK books so far. You see and learn many things happen in this book. Below are just a very few examples:

01. The true reason behind why Kathryn Janeway decided to strand herself and VOYAGER in the Delta Quandrant.

02. The reason behind why Guinan was able to perceive that it was the wrong reality in "Yesterday's Enterprise."

03. The incident with Natasha Yar at the Carnellian minefield.

04. How the Q came up with their name!

And MUCH more! I highly recommened this book!

Christopher Bennett's "Star Trek The Next Generation: The Buried Age" is among the finer examples of "Star Trek" fiction that I've come across lately. It is a most engaging, quite exciting, exploration of first contact that works too as a decent space opera science fiction novel. Here we are given some interesting, quite tantalizing, glimpses into Jean-Luc Picard's character, looking more closely at his lifelong interest in archaeology, and the aftermath of losing the USS Stargazer. It is also a fine introduction to Picard's initial meetings with the entire command crew of the USS Enterprise-D. Told well by Christopher Bennett in clear, concise prose is Picard's unexpected encounter with the enigmatic alien Ariel. Anyone who is a fan of "Star Trek" fiction and of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", should add this book to their collection.

A pretty ordinary Star Trek Voyager tie-in story. The crew of the Voyager are hungry, and need to get supplies, given that they are, as usual, stuck on a ship in the middle of nowhere.

This story deals with having to go to a planet to get food, and, the boss leads the expedition, because the boss always goes shopping, don't they?

There have been very few times over the years that I've started a Star Trek novel in any of the series and seriously entertained the idea of putting the novel down for good without finishing it but this novel fell into that rare category for me. Not surprisingly, this is the second of only two novels in the Star Trek universe for Melissa Scott, an author that I would hope found a more suitable niche in her own or other genres. Much to my chagrin, I found her writing to be somewhat lackadaisical in that the pacing was slow, the plot set up fairly plodding and the characterizations are off by a notch and the overall feel of the novel to be unimaginative.

The strange thing about Star Trek Voyager novels published at this time is that quite often the cover art is better for them while the stories weren't while novels in the other series were exactly the opposite.

The Premise:

"The Garden" is one more example in the Star Trek Voyager line of novels where the premise of "We're lost in the Delta Quadrant and we're desperately in need of supplies" was way over done! This time around, Neelix leads the valiant crew of Voyager to the Kirse homeworld. The Kirse are renowned for their bountiful crops and their enigmatic nature. As timing never seemed to be on their side, Captain Janeway attempts to negotiate a trade agreement with the Kirse when the Andirrim attack the Kirse and she finds herself and her crew caught in the middle and unsure as to which side to trust...

What follows from there, as stated above, is a novel that in its premise alone had lots of potential but ultimately falls flat in its execution. Despite panning this novel, I would still recommend it to other fans of Star Trek fiction but only on the basis of it being part of the "line" for those, like myself, who attempt to read them all. {ssintrepid}

The book seems out of order in the series. Instead of number 11 I would have guessed it to be one of the first three by the problems faced by the crew and references made by the author about the journey ahead and the conditions on the ship. It sounds as if the crew is still struggling for survival here, but in previous stories their situation seems to have already stabilized somewhat.

This was one of the most interesting story concepts that I have come across in the Voyager series. The only reason I could not give this book five stars and then some is because of the vast number of disconcerting typos throughout the book. I'm not talking about the simple occasional letter left off a word... at one point one ensign's gender pronoun references change back and forth several times in the same chapter. Proofreaders are worth the money! But if you're not distracted by grammatical incongruities, this is a wonderfully engaging story.

It's pretty rare that I don't fully enjoy a Voyager novel. Even if the story or the characterizations aren't the best, I just adore the show so much that I enjoy the book anyway.

The Garden is the exception.

It's well written, but the story itself just didn't entertain me. From beginning to end, I kept waiting for it to capture my imagination, but it just didn't happen. The aliens seemed a little flat to me, and the main characters were a bit off as well.

Janeway seemed more like a female version of Captain Jellico than the fair-minded leader we came to know on the show. She was constantly reprimanding someone, or sending a sharp glance. And Harry Kim or Tom Paris were continually blushing or apologizing in response. Maybe it's me, but I just don't see the characters that way. It quickly went from amusing to distracting.

While this story has some interesting moments, it fell short for me. It's not one I'd knock myself out to get a hold of.

Average - kept me reading but nothing I would push on a friend or even a fan for that matter.

An excellent look into the character of B'Elanna Torres and her conflicting emotions regarding her half-Klingon nature. The characters other than B'Elanna were handled well also, and the plot, while not in itself memorable, was competently handled and was a good vehicle for the character study. The writing, as usual for Mr. Friedman, was smooth and unobtrusive.

This book is my favorite Voyager book. It is action packed and full of suspence, with every turn of the page there is a nother twist thrown at you! This book keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last page! The author did a super job. I highly recomend this book.

This book has it's entertaining moments - mostly, they're confined to the 1st and 2nd chapter, where B'Elanna has to endure the Day of Honor good wishes of her colleagues.

What disappoints about this book is how poor the characterisations are - they feel off. Janeway definitely comes across as a bit inept and rather silly, Tom Paris comes in at the start and end (this is pre their relationship days I guess) although B'Elanna is about 60% there in terms of her portrayal. What's missing is the spark, that extra juice that makes Torres such a cool character.

The plot is okay only and the Day of Honour feels more like a calender coincidence than a real plot driver or revealing of any true character. B'Elanna's discomfort about Day of Honour is confined to how her previous DOH seem to have been like bad luck days for her.

For a better effort at B'Elanna having a bad day, the Voyager Episode 'Juggernaut' works.

While I agree that this book was probably not the soul searching story it was proclaimed to be, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The interaction between B'Elanna and Harry was wonderful all the way through. Their friendship has always been one of my favorite aspects of the show, and I think it was never given the attention it deserved. That's not the case in this book. They behave as the close friends they seemed destined to be after Caretaker.

I also really enjoyed the way Torres was portrayed in this book. She was courageous, formidable, and still very feminine. Those are the qualities that drew me to her in the first place. (Compounded by Roxann Dawson's outstanding acting.)

Perhaps it should have been a stand alone book, and not part of the Day of Honor series, but it was well written and memorable regardless. If you like B'Elanna Torres, you'll enjoy this book.

When I bought this book, I was looking forward to a tale focusing on B'Elanna Torres and an explanation of her conflicted emotions and past. I was disappointed. The first few chapters discussed the Day of Honor, but once they land on the planet it is forgotten and the story becomes a typical episode of the show! In fact, the show handled Day of Honor better in its episode dedicated to the topic! There were scenes that stood out in my mind. Torres holding her own and earning the respect of her fellow prisoners then leading them on a grand escape was worth the buy and well-written. I also liked seeing Torres and Kim together. Their friendship is rarely explored in these books. The plot was interesting and the characters had potential. I think this book is good, but it should stand on its own and not be part of the Day of Honor series.