Date Completed: August 12, 2007
Pages: 263
Publication Year: 2002
Part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation series. An untold tale of the Dominion War.
Reason for Reading: I spent my childhood reading Star Trek novels and watching it on television. This is why there are so many fantasy books that I still have to read, I started out my life with science fiction, mostly books based on Star Wars and Star Trek. So, the other day I decided that I am going to start reading these series again. Deanna, the main character in this book, was always my favourite character from TNG and I always wondered how Betazed was saved, so this was a logical reentry into the genre.
In the darkest hours of the Dominion War, as the Federation's downfall seemed ever more certain, Jem'Hadar and Cardassian forces conquered Betazed, the homeworld of Deanna Troi. Their victory sent shock waves through the Alpha Quadrant, and put the Dominion within striking distance of Vulcan, Andor, Tellar — and possibly Earth itself.I remember when I was watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Commander Sisko was told that the Dominion had just attacked Betazed. Then, not a lot was explained about what happened after that, and what was done to save it. I had always been curious, so when I was at the bookstore looking at Star Trek books and saw this one, I had to see what happened.To secure their position in the very heart of the Federation, the Cardassians begin constructing space station Sentok Nor in orbit of Betazed. The station is to serve as both the seat of the Dominion occupation and the site of horrific experiments by Cardassia's foremost exobiologist, the infamous Dr. Crell Moset.
With Starfleet's forces spread too thinky in the ongoing struggle to retake Betazed outright, the U.S.S. Enterprise™ along with some old and new friends, is deployed to carry out a dangerous and desperate plan. But no matter what the outcome, the consequences could alter Betazed irrevocably, forcing Deanna Troi to choose between her world's survival and its very soul.
This book captures the struggle that the Federation was in, they just did not have enough vessels to retake Betazed, and lots of people on Deanna's homeworld were dying. The Dominion, the bad guys, were winning and the Federation desperately needed something to swing things into their favour. Then, a member of the Betazed Resistance got a message to Star Fleet and offered up a plan that could easily bring about the rescue of the Betazed people, but they needed Deanna and she was not sure if this was something she wanted to be a party to. It would mean release even more evil into the world, and Deanna was not sure if that was worth it or not if the evil turned on them.
This was a good book. Star Trek novels are not exactly brain food, but they are like brain candy. They are usually pretty short with lots of activity, and since I have seen every single episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and most of Star Trek: Voyager, I can hear the characters voices in my head and picture the activity much more than normal. It was interesting to see how Betazed was saved, to watch the relationship between Deanna Troi and Commander Riker move towards what it would be in Star Trek: Insurrection, and to visit with some old friends. I think you will likely see more of my Trekkie roots on this blog in the future.
This book was exactly what I needed!
7 comments:
I'll have to send Jeff over here since he is a huge Star Trek novel reader.
We just finished Season Two and began Season Three of Deep Space Nine yesterday, getting our first taste of The Dominion. My wife, daughter and I are all loving this series and I regret not watching it when it was originally on. We are having a great time working our way through the series, however, so I can't complain.
And you are right, Star Trek books are brain candy, and there is nothing wrong with a little dessert once in awhile.
zeek: It came out in 2002. I liked it.
carl v.: I am watching Voyager now because I didn't really watch it when it was on, it has been good. I plan to try and read some DS9 and Voyager books, as well. You should send Jeff over, he might have some good recs. :)
I loved this one. I'm one of those that has to buy the Next Gen books as soon as they come out. And I've been reading them since high school, so probably 14-15 years or so. There are only a handfuly that I don't own!
lol.. handful, not handfuly.
That's a lot of books. I probably could own a fair amount of them, but I stopped buying and reading them for a few years.
This book was fun not one of my favorites but still a fun read.
It was the first ST book I had read in ten years... it made it special :)
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