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I guess these early novels that spend a lot of time exploring Vulcan bonding and mating and mind melding are just not my thing. I respect them a lot however. These early writes, many of them women, were pioneers and absolutely essential for shaping our fandom.

The actual epidemic this book is about reminded me of our own Covid-19 epidemic and it was interesting to see how it has the potential to sow dispute and distrust, though I would have liked that part to be a bigger focus. Unfortunately that was not the case. A lot of the story was about people falling in love in the midst of it all. There was also a natural disaster and some berserk Vulcans (holdovers from the earlier book "The Vulcan Academy Murders"), that have no problem whatsoever to circumvent the Enterprise's security. Nothing was really explored in the detail I wished it were, and a lot did not quite click for me.

However, there is a scene between Spock and Sarek about Spock's mixed heritage that I found really good. The Klingon forhead ridge thing is also mentioned, pretty much in passing, and I wonder if the Enterprise writers had read this book before they wrote their story.

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Set shortly before "The Emissary", DS9's pilot episode, this novel is a great opportunity to meet a lot of the station's crew for the very first time - kind of 😉. Being written now, 30 years after DS9 started and with a lot more onscreen Trek story to work with, I love that there are connections to the new stuff. It's always been there, even though it was never shown. Another part I loved a lot was everything with the O'Briens. Geordi acknowledges Miles' dutiful transporter room work, and we get great scenes between Keiko and Miles where they talk about their future and possible change of scenery. This book is really good at filling in some character backgrounds. Speaking of Keiko: She gets something meaningful to do with Beverly on Bajor, which I loved seeing. There are so many little things that I loved: a meta-comment on the same actors playing two different characters; a fun scene between Garak, Geordi, Data, and Dukat; Sonya Gomez; a fun scene with Beverly and a Warp Core Breach; probably most notably a scene between Garak and Odo; and more.

One part of the story is set in a Cardassian labour camp. There are some descriptions of violence against Bajoran prisoners. They are not easy to listen to/ read, but I am also glad the author did not shy away from being specific. This is what's been happening in such camps all throughout history and it needs to stay in our consciousness.

There is a good deal of focus on the fact that the Federation never came to help Bajor during its occupation by the Cardassians. This is especially topical now where we are talking about how much we should and shouldn't help countries like the Ukraine. It also adds to the long going discussion about the Prime Directive. I like how several characters acknowledge this and don't try to explain and excuse their way out of this decision, but rather accept the criticism and offer their help now.

After the main story ended there was a lot of transitioning towards even closer before "The Emissary". I found that part a bit slow and I caught myself drifting off a couple of times. But that is strictly personal taste, and did not hamper my enjoyment of the book overall.

As always I'm going to repeat my praise for the narrator, Robert Petkoff. He hits the characters' voices even more perfectly this time around. I think this might be his best work yet (of those I listened to at least).

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When I was asking my fedi friends for cozy Trek novel recommendations, this was one of the books recommended to me. I was a bit skeptical about the book because of Tilly's not so good relationship with her mother. Something that I have struggled with all my life as well, I did not want to read a story about it. I feared it would be really uncomfortable and upsetting. I was reassured that that was not a big focus of the book (and it really isn't), so I got the audio book of it and... was a sobbing mess for the first part of it. LOL

So it did not start out very cozy and happy for me at all. LOL Part of that was due to how Tilly's mother behaves towards her, but a big part of it was due to how Tilly struggles at her school. I saw myself in her so much. I cried for Tilly as much as I cried for myself. (Reading Trek novels has been very revelatory, cathartic, and therapeutic for me recently. 😅)

The rest of the book, which is the majority, was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed watching Tilly find her confidence, which she puts to the test in the end when she confronts her mother about her plans for the future. I loved her grandparents a lot. Salla, the engineer she meets, was a great character as well. I also liked Ms Keith, the teacher. I just realise, Tilly meets a number of women to mentor her or help her out, where her mother can't.

This is a pretty low stakes, fun book. And if you aren't quite so easily upset about all the things that went wrong in your childhood and youth as I am, you shouldn't be sobbing so much either. Tilly has been one of my top favourite Trek characters and this book only confirmed that. I am very glad I finally read/ listened to it. Thank you, friends, for recommending it to me! 🙂

That I consider January LaVoy to be the queen of audiobook narration is no secret. This book is just another reason in a long list to support that.

Una McCormack talked to Literary Treks about the book. Worth a listen, as always.

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The amount of eyerolling, sighing, facepalming, and "Oh god, what!? No!" and similar commenting I did was too high to count. I thought about giving this 2 stars, but the longer it went on the more frustrated I became. So 1 star is all I can give.

A lot of this book is a regurgitation of scenes and quotes from TOS episodes and films. It sometimes feels like a badly re-enacted clip show. It's just too much. By a lot. The part about Amanda dying (no spoiler, it literally says on the blurb) left me cold, and her diary entries are beyond juvenile. (I am an avid journaler myself. A journal should never ever be censored or edited. Be as juvenile as you want in yours. I know that I am, and it is very cathartic. But I don't think it makes for good literature.) The part about Peter's stay with the Klingons was the most eyeroll inducing of it all. Good grief!

I think the basic story about KEHL and a possible conspiracy behind it, sounds interesting. The execution however did not satisfy me one bit.

I acknowledge, respect, and appreciate the narrator's skill for producing accents and speech patterns. His Sarek was excellent, I also enjoyed his McCoy. However, most of the rest I found a bit too much. Speaking of the narrator: It is not Mark Lenard (as even stated on Simon & Schuster's website), but Nick Sullivan.

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Star Trek: Destiny -- Book 3: Lost Souls ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It was another intense book, I am exhausted! Especially the stuff that happened on that "frozen ass" planet was hard for me to read. But also the invasion and battle scenes were emotional. I had tears in my eyes more than once. Everything comes together now, all threads find a satisfying conclusion. In a story that big, that is not necessarily a given. Mack nails it. I like Captain Hernandez. When I went into this trilogy I was not happy with how her original mission went. I thought she deserved better. But her story took quite a turn and I like it. Will we ever see her and the Caeliar again? I hope so! As for the big bad I will write more in another post, which will then be behind a CW for spoilers. I don't know how to write about it without giving anything away. All I will say here is that I loved the solution.

David Mack talked to Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson on Literary Treks about this book and the trilogy as a whole. As always, this is absolutely worth a listen. Alone for Mack talking about the techniques of story telling. Thumbs up!

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Star Trek: Destiny -- Book 2: Mere Mortals ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It took me a while to finish this for reasons that have nothing to do with the book. It's another fantastic action packed novel with quite some heartbreak too. I cried several times.

Again we follow the Enterprise E and the Aventine as they try to figure out how to stop the Borg from invading Federation space. There's a good space fight and also some face to face combat which was really good. We meet President Bacco a few times too, which I always love. I enjoy seeing all the different groups adding their part to solve this problem, as this is not something we get to see on screen a lot.

In the meantime the Titan is investigating the shelled planet they found while the away team down on the planet is facing some problems of their own, both within the team (WTF Dr. Ree??) and with the planet's inhabitants. On the ship there are some interpersonal problems to be solved as well, which I loved seeing. That gives a bit of a break form the rest of the story and shows that the crew are people with lives besides their duty. I'd love to see more of Tuvok.

In between we always go back in time to Captain Hernandez and her away team in Axion. I found that the isolation they face and feel among the Caeliar is palpable, and I never envied Hernandez as she needs to make difficult decisions. I can't wait to see how her role unfolds in the next book.

The end is one of those "OMG, how will they ever get out of this?!" situations. I can't wait to find out.

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Don't let the cover design trick you into thinking this is a Worf novel that includes a lot of Romulans. He's got things to do and I love seeing him do these things. But it should have been Troi and Crusher on that cover.

Listened to it a second time over the weekend. A great book with clear A and B stories, that are not interwoven. It's set right before "All Good Things...". I love that the two main women in the TNG crew get to be center stage here.

The story around Crusher, Riker, and Data is very cool. They face some unusual events on a new planet and it's fascinating to follow them figuring out what they are. Crusher has a very crucial role in that and that's so good to see. Love her scene with Data at the end.

The story around Troi, Worf, and Picard starts as a nice and funny stay on Betazed, Lwaxana included, that turns into a detective story and chase through space to catch a thief. Here it is Troi who can shine and she's great doing it. Her empathic abilities are used in a great way that we rarely (if ever?) see on screen. I love the solution between her and the thief. I also love all the hints towards later events as seen on screen. Lwaxana is always great to see, she's an amazing character full of heart. The author said in an interview she would love to write a Lwaxana novel and I am here for it. There are a couple of cute scenes between Worf and Troi and I think they are a well executed continuation of what we see on screen.

Robert Petkoff, as always, is great. Especially his Worf and Picard are excellent.

Two interviews with the author can be listened to at Literary Treks and Positively Trek.

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This is one of the last books in the post-Nemesis litverse before the Coda trilogy, and not having read the absolute majority of these books, I didn't know what I had missed. And it seems I had missed quite a few things! Like the thing with the person. Or what happened to that other person. What!? 😱

I'm a big Dr. Pulaski fan. So I was very happy to have her as one of the main characters in this novel. I loved her in TNG and I had a lot of fun with her here as well. (I still want a series of books about all the husbands of Dr. Pulaski. 😁)

I really liked to see how Cardassia is grappling with its recent history and asking the questions of who's guilty, of what, and how best to handle that. Garak says something like "I like Paris, but I know Berlin", and that really struck a chord. This whole part of the story did. I like that this history, that is so far in the past for these characters, is still remembered and visible in 2388. Something that right now, in 2024, seems more important than ever.

Literary Treks talked to Una McCormack about the book and it was a very insightful interview, where she's talking about all her inspirations for the themes. Besides Nazi Germany there are Colonial India and Australia mentioned as well.

Robert Petkoff is one of the best audio book narrators I know. He gives every character a great voice makes the characters we know from screen sound familiar.

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