Twisted Kingdom

Date Completed: August 19, 2007
Pages: 368
Year Published: 2007
A book in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series

Reason for Reading: I was hesitant to read 'new' Star Trek books because the crew had all gone their own ways, so the crew of the Enterprise is much different than it was for years. I finally decided to give the books a try, though, and see what happened after the cameras finished rolling.

Long before Captain Jean-Luc Picard took command of the Starship Enterprise,™ he fell deeply and hopelessly in love with Doctor Beverly Crusher. Picard never acted on his feelings, yet he found a measure of contentment as Beverly's close friend, colleague, and daily breakfast partner.

When Doctor Crusher leaves to become the chief medical officer of Starfleet, the brightest light in Picard's life is taken from him. He has barely resigned himself to his loss when he learns that Beverly has been declared missing in action -- and presumed dead.

Kevratas is a bleak, frozen world on the far side of the Romulan Neutral Zone where the Federation has become the plague-ravaged natives' only real hope. Starfleet has no recourse but to send in another team -- and Picard is the natural choice. Critical to the mission are two colleagues from his former command, the Starship Stargazer: Pug Joseph and Doctor Carter Greyhorse. Joseph is a man with a past to live down, and Greyhorse has served time for attempted murder. They are determined to succeed where the doctor failed.

On the Romulan homeworld, meanwhile, the political vacuum created by the demise of Praetor Shinzon has been filled by Senator Tal'aura. But there are those who oppose her, including Commander Donatra and the warbirds under her command.

So begins a desperate struggle -- not only for the freedom of the long-oppressed Kevrata but also for the soul of the Romulan Star Empire. Before it's over, destinies will be forged and shattered, the Empire will be shaken to its ancient foundations, and Jean-Luc Picard's life will be changed...forever.

It is save to say that I have been 'watching' Star Trek since The Next Generation aired 20 years ago. I was only 3, but my father watched it and I was there, so I remember it from a pretty early age. When I was older I watched it with older eyes, and by now I have seen every episode several times a piece. So, it is also save to say that there are certain storylines that I have been waiting since episode one to see concluded. One of those storylines was cleared up in Death in Winter. I am super happy, but since I think it is a huge spoiler, I will leave it for your reading pleasure.

So, this book takes place after Star Trek: Nemesis. Data has died, Deanna and Will are off on their honeymoon, LaForge and Worf are still serving on the Enterprise, Picard is waiting for his ship to be repaired, and Crusher is serving as the head of Star Fleet Medical. There have been a lot of changes to the senior crew, so it was interesting to see where the show was going if they ever made another movie. I keep hoping that Data will reappear and that he is not dead, but unfortunately no appearance from him.

Anyways, this book mostly concentrates on Captain Picard. There is a disease sweeping through an alien race and Doctor Crusher has been sent to find a cure. The species are in Romulan space, though, which causes some troubles for the mission and the next thing Captain Picard knows he is hearing that Beverly is missing in action. He does not know if she is alive or dead, but because her mission was so important to the salvation of a race, Picard is sent in with another doctor to try and save them. He is accompanied by members of his crew from his Stargazer days. He has to put aside his fears that Beverly is likely dead and be a species saviour.

If you like Star Trek: The Next Generation you should read this book.

Completion Date: August 17, 2007
Publication Year: 1994
Pages: 248
Part of Star Trek: The Next Generation series

Reason for Reading: This is a novelization of the very last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was a wonderful way to end the series, and has always been one of my favourite episodes of all time, so when I saw a hardcover edition with pictures from the show in the middle, I decided to pick it up.

Seven years ago, Captain Jean-Luc Picard first faced the judgment of the Q Continuum -- a race of beings with God-like powers over time and space who presumed to gauge humanity's fitness to exist in the galaxy. Seven years ago they suspended judgment, but now a decision has been reached: The human race will be eliminated, not only in the present, but throughout time. Humanity will never have existed at all.

The only chance to save mankind lies with Captain Picard. An old enemy has granted him the power to revisit his life as it was seven years before, and to experience his life twenty-five years in the future. With the help of friendships that span time and space, Picard struggles to defeat the plans of the Q Continuum. But even as he fights to save the human race from total extinction, he has been set up to be the unwitting agent of mankind's destruction.

In an effort to save humanity, Picard must sacrifice himself and all those he commands and if their sacrifice fails all mankind is doomed.

There are so many episodes of Star Trek that I have watched and enjoyed over the years. When this episode aired in the early 90's it meant that Star Trek: The Next Generation was going off the air forever. It was a sad day because you know, I am a big X-Files fan as well, but other than those two shows, as well as Star Trek:Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I have never found a show that I have to watch. Instead, most of my television viewing is reruns of these shows. My solution? Bring another Star Trek on television that is not Enterprise. I was never able to get into that show.

One of the good things about reading the book versions of episodes is that there are scenes in the books that got cut out of the television version. It was interesting to read those scenes in this novel. What really seemed to get cut out were the cameos. For example, Deanna's mother and Doctor Pulaski have a scene in this book, but they were not in the television show. Doctor Pulaski was the doctor on the show for one season, the second when where Doctor Crusher went off to be the head of Star Fleet Medical. What really happened was that the writers did not know what to do with their female characters, or so I have read, and so they killed off Tasha Yar, gave Deanna Troi less screen time, and sent Beverly off to Star Fleet Medical. I am glad they brought her back, and the actress that played Tasha Yar even returned, but she played her daughter. I wonder what the show would have been like if Tasha had not been killed off. Until Star Trek: Nemesis, she was the only leading star to be killed off of the show. (Then they killed Data. I still have issues with that.)

Right, the problem with reviewing these books is I start rambling on about the television series, sorry about that. In this book Captain Picard travels back and forth through time. He is in the present, but then he travels back to seven years before to be with the crew before Farpoint Station and into the future 25 years where we see the cast older, and many of them retired. I am glad that the characters have developed differently than the 25 into the future predicted. Deanna and Will got together, in this novel she was supposed to have died. Beverly and Captain Picard were supposed to marry and then get divorced, but that has not happened yet. I am still hopefully they will get together, though, and they might have in more recent books. Will and Riker hate each other in this book, but that does not happen.

So, another funny Data quote:

Wiping her hands on her apron, she leaned in close to La Forge and spoke quietly--though not so quietly Picard couldn't make out what she was saying. "You're his friend, eh?"

He saw the former engineer nod. "That's right. And I have been for quite some time."

"Well then," said the housekeeper, "as his friend, see if you can get him to take that gray streak out of his hair. He looks like a bloomin' skunk, he does. People will soon start walking on the other side of the street when they see him coming."

Data, who had obviously overheard, cast a remonstrative look at Jessel. "Thank you," he told her. "That will be all."

Without another word, she made her exit. The android turned to his guests with a wry look on his face.

"She can be trying at times," he admitted. "But she does make me laugh now and then."

La Forge smiled. "So... what is it with your hair, anyway?"

Picard was glad someone else had mentioned it. Unfortunately, Data looked a bit embarrassed.

"I have found that a touch of gray adds an air of... distinction," he explained. "Unfortunately, I don't seem to have it quite right yet.".....

She is Data's housekeeper. To give you context, Data says that "a touch of gray adds an air of... distinction." Here is what Picard thinks about "the touch of gray" when he sees Data.

"Being an android, he hadn't aged over the years. However, there was a prominent streak of gray on one side of his head-not a natural streak, but one that looked as if a paintbrush had been taken to his head."

Date Completed: August 13, 2007
Pages: 284
Publication Year: 2004
Book One in the A Time to... series

Reason for Reading: I stopped reading Star Trek a few years ago, but I remember when this series came out. I almost resumed reading Star Trek right then and there, but there were so many other books that I wanted to read I didn't. When I recently found the first five books in the series at the second-hand bookstore, I picked them up.

On the cusp of their epic battle with Shinzon, many of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's long-time crew were heading for new assignments and new challenges. Among the changes were William Riker's promotion to captain and his new command, Riker's marriage to Counselor Deanna Troi, and Dr. Beverly Crusher's new career at Starfleet Medical. But the story of what set them on a path away from the Starship Enterprise™ has never been told.

UNTIL NOW.

The site of one of the Dominion War's fiercest battles, the Rashanar Sector now contains a vast interstellar graveyard littered with the lifeless hulks of hundreds of devastated starships. The explosive destruction of so many varied warp drives has severely distorted the space-time continuum in this region, resulting in dangerous unleashed energies and bizarre gravitational anomalies.

The Enterprise has been assigned to patrol the perimeter of the danger zone, while other vessels carry out the difficult and highly hazardous task of retrieving the bodies of the dead from the wrecked warships.

To some alien races, the former battleground is hallowed space. To others, including the rapacious Androssi, it is a scavenger's paradise, ripe for salvage. None expect this ship's graveyard to hold a deadly secret that will force the android Data to make a heart-wrenching decision about the path his life will take -- and that will endanger not only the Enterprise, but Picard's future in Starfleet.

This is a series of books that I believe many Star Trek fans will want to read because it explains all that happened between the movies Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis. A lot changes, and with this series of books, people can understand why. For starters, I was very happy to see Wesley Crusher return to the cast. I would not call myself a big fan of him, but it was about time he reappeared. I was mostly just curious what happened to him and what he was doing during those years that he was off with the Traveler. This book fills the reader in.

I will have to read book two in this series soon, it has a cliff-hanger sort of ending and I want to know what happens next. Mean writers. At least when this series came out they came out one book a month, but for some reason the sixth book in the series is out not available on amazon.ca. Anyways, unlike the last book I read, the Dominion War is over in this book. The Federation is left to pick up the pieces, and the Enterprise is sent to a particularly bad spot to salvage the bodies and send them home to their families. This battle was particularly bad and is full of mystery. It seems that the mystery did not end with the destruction of all those ships, though, the Enterprise and its crew find itself in the middle of it.

This was a rather interesting way to explain all the changes that the crew go through, and I am enjoying learning why things turned out the way they did. The problem with the show not being on television anymore is that things are not explained each week, so when they make a new movie there are often big gaps. Writing books to fill them in is, I think, a great idea.

There is one scene in this book that I do not think I will ever forget. It is between Geordi and Data, and honestly, it was such a perfect scene. Not perfect in how things were dealt with, but perfect in how it was orchestrated. Another good book in the Star Trek series.

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.

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.

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.

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!