Book Review #110 - Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Seize The Fire by Michael A.Martin

Book 34 of 52
Page count - 488

This is the second book in the Typon Pact series and centers it's story around Will Riker and his ship the Titan.

After the affairs described in Destiny, races that felt they were forced to participate in the Federation actions against the Borg formed their own alliance.  Members of the pact are; the Romulans, the Tzenkethi, the Breen, the Gorn and the Tholians.

These are all races the Federation has had troubles with in the past so it's a bit ominous that they would all group together in a rival alliance.  So now the world of Star Trek is poised to endure a period of Cold War much like the United States and the USSR.  This could make for some interesting story telling.

Unlike the previous series, the Destiny trilogy, these books do not follow a single narrative, at least not yet.  The first two books truly stand alone and serve to more fully explore each of the member races.  In this book we take a look at the Gorn Hegemony where they have suffered a terrible natural disaster.  A critical hatchery world is destroyed and they are now looking for a candidate to terraform to replace it.  The trouble starts when they choose a planet that is inhabited by intelligent pre-warp beings.

Riker and the Titan must get involved to save the inhabitants of this world.

We learn more about the Gorn society and  how delicately it is held together.

All in all it was a good story in that understanding the Gorn is the primary thing I've come away with.  The book itself could have been cut by 150 pages without hurting the plot one bit.  The amount of repetition is astounding, you'd think this was a collection of serialized stories, not a novel.  Plus, again, "sigh", aliens, (I hate these guys) - so much ink is wasted on describing all the funky aliens working on Titan that I was ready to pull my hair out. 

This book was only okay.  It was such a slog to get through that it has made me want to take a break from the world of Star Trek.

Interestingly, this recent period of exclusively reading Star Trek stories has awakened some real world interests in me.  While reading this fiction I've been buying many non-fiction books that the stories have inspired me to learn more about.  I've got dozens of books about the history of space flight, engineering, shipping, espionage and exploration all inspired to be purchased from reading Star Trek.

Because Star Trek books are so closely related to each other I've come away with a desire to read some history.  I could have gone on a quest to learn the history of Star Trek by buying all the old books and filling in the blanks but, instead, I want to learn more about the real history and current events of the world I'm living in.  I'll be returning to Star Trek from time to time but I don't see myself reading them exlusively as I have been for the past while.

I'll still be choosing books that I feel I can fit into my book a week challenge.  Once the 52nd book is read I'll be free to tackle some of the larger books out there.

Michael A Martin

Interphase Book 2 - by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, a short story review.

Original cover.

In part one the Captain and his a way team are stranded on the Defiant, inside the spacial anomaly, while the Tholians execute a surprise attack on the da Vinci.

This becomes a two-perspective story switching from the actions of the away team trying to free the ship from the anomaly and the crew of the da Vinci coping with the attack while being led by an inexperienced officer.

Through the action the authors keep injecting moments of humor that serve to break the tension for the reader and the characters in the story.  This kind of self-deprecating interaction is easily achieved among people with exceptional abilities and strikes a note of realism that I very much enjoyed.

I'm not sure if David Mack has read these stories although I feel he must have.  There is a scene at the end of the story that was lifted and inserted into the end of Star Trek: Destiny.  I do know that these three authors have worked extensively together so I'm pretty sure this kind of thing is more a tip of the hat then a lift.  It's a form of compliment among authors.

In any case this story was very satisfying and I recommend anything written by Ward and/or Dilmore.

Dayton Ward (Captain) and Kevin Dilmore (Navigation)

Cover of the omnibus collection

Interphase Book 1 - by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, a short storyreview.

The fourth installment in the Corps of Engineers series was a cracking read.  The USS da Vinci is sent to Tholian space to recover the Defiant, a Constitution class starship lost in a spacial anomaly 100 years previously.

Its the job of the da Vinci's captain and crew is to figure out a way to pull the derelict ship out of the anomaly.

This being a two-parter; things go terribly wrong just as the team is making progress.

This story was so well written with good dialog and a plausible situation.  Dilmore and Ward always turn out entertaining page-turners.  This one felt like it could have been a television show; it was very cinematic.  Some of the best sequences are the moments when the crew beam over and make it to the classic bridge.  There are some cringe-worthy moments as the away team discover the ship is not only a museum piece but also a tomb.

These stories were once sold individually, today they are collected in omnibus volumes.  Pocket Books are taking full advantage of the ability to split the two parts into separate volumes, ensuring sales of the next book.  But I don't mind it a bit since most of the stories are of such high quality.

Read on people.

Dayton Ward (left) and Kevin Dilmore (right)

Omnibus cover art.

Hard Crash by Christie Golden - a short story review

Here was a good stand-alone story of finding a crashed ship on an inhabited world.  The government of the planet calls for Federation help to remove the alien vessel.

Once the da Vinci arrives nothing they first suspect about the ship is correct.

What we are left with is a touching story of an ill-fated civilization with a type of technology we've had little exposure to.

It's good to read a story that does not have an aggressive antagonist but, instead, a misunderstood one.  This goes to the hart of what Star Trek is really all about: discovery.

Well done indeed.

Her website is HERE.

Christie Golden

Cover art of the anthology

Fatal Error By Keith R A DeCandido a short story review.

Mission #2 for the crew of the da Vinci. I do like the serial nature of the story telling here. 

The SCE team respond to a distress call from a super computer.  This computer controls all aspects of life on the planet Eerlik.  It controls the economy, traffic and even the weather, but things are not going as they should; the computer has been infected with a virus.

It doesn't take long before the crew is tangled up in something bigger than they expected. 

It was a pretty good story except for one thing; it fell into a Lord of the Rings vibe where much of the action revolved around walking. The away team just walked for miles and miles getting trapped behind force fields, random doors and being chased by bad guys.  It went on so long that I began to get frustrated with the story.

After investing so much time walking to the computer core I was very disappointed the problems were solved in a matter of just a few paragraphs. There was certainly some character growth, which I like but, over all, the plot was just a bit thin.

One of the good things about short stories is that they are short.  I'm glad I didn't pay for this one individually.

The cover art of the omnibus eddition

The Belly of the Beast, a Star Trek SCE story by Dean Wesley Smith

The original cover art of the story.

I've known about the Star Trek SCE (Starfleet Core of Engineers) series for years; I've even read a few.  They first saw the light of day in 2000 just when eBooks were in their embryonic stage.  Proving, once again, that science fiction fans are early adopters of new tech.

Most of the stories have been collected in omnibus volumes; I've purchased the first one called, Have Tech, Will Travel that contains the first four stories.

Story #1 kicks the series off with a bang.  We are dropped right into a battle involving Captain Jen-Luc Picard's Enterprise and an enormous ship of unknown origin.

The Enterprise is involved in a long-duration battle with this ship that resembled the Death Star of Star Wars fame, but with two rings; one running pole to pole and the other along the equator.  With a bit of luck the Enterprise disables the vessel.

Now it's up to the Starfleet Core of Engineers to survey the ship and to acquire as much knowledge the can about the species that constructed it.  This is where Captain Gold and his ship the USS da Vinci come in; they are the flag ship of the Core of Engineers and are tasked with being "fixers" for Starfleet.  It is also here that we catch up with a minor character from the TNG TV series; ensign Sonya Gomez, who famously spilled hot chocolate on Captain Picard, she is now a Commander and head of the SCE team on the da Vinci.

USS da Vinci

The alien ship is so big the crew nicknames it The Beast.  At first look the ship gives every impression that it is a cruise ship; filled with luxury suites and the rings are discovered to be promenades that are transparent from the inside.  Every indication show that the ship could hold thousands of people but there is no one to be found.  A thorough search is begun and I can tell you there is something lurking deep in the centre of the thing.  Oh, my god - yuck!

This was a terrific story and one that will immediately make you want to read the next installment.

It's always good to see the universe of Star Trek expanded to include new characters and ships and to see more of Starfleet.  I've always been a fan of Star Trek and I'm happy there is more of it to experience.

Dean Wesley Smith's website is HERE.

The cover art of the omnibus edition.

Dean Wesley Smith