Novel Reviews

Section 31: Abyss by David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang  
Plot: Afer "Avatar", Section 31 recruits Bashir to stop a genetically enhanced madman breeding Jem'Hadar.

Some interesting ideas and story lines, but the main plot is pretty by the numbers.  The old 'infiltrate enemy compound' bit along with the 'join local resistance' bit wasn't very original or terribly engrossing.  Locken wasn't a particularly memorable adversary and his small group of Jems were even lamer.  The ending was on the whole pretty lame, they get defeated way too easily, and Bashir's theory that 31 masterminded Locken's mad plan is complete bull (and the Bashir clones was pretty lame as well!).  The prion virus revelation is a bit lame since it only lasted for a handful of pages.  The emphasis on secondary characters like Bashir (with some great development as a super-human), Ezri (who really shined as a sarcastic and capable soldier), Ro, and Taran'atar was good and they all got excellent development, particularly Taran, who despises his position and the people around him so much its dangerous.  It was wonderful to get Section 31 involved, and Cole was an extremely interesting character.  I particularly like the discussion about the future of the Quadrant, their enemies, and the need for bioengineered soldiers.  But the best revelation of all is that Vaughn is part of an anti-31 group who just recruited Bashir!  This is an extremely interesting development!  Vaughn using the "Insurrection" holo-ship and revealing that was a 31 operation was a great revelation too.  In fact, I didn't really like Vaughn in "Avatar" but he's great now.  The revelation that this Ensign Tenmai is Vaughn's daughter was very shocking, too bad it didn't go anywhere yet, same with Quark hooking up with this pirate Malic (which wasn't particularly interesting, but it was a single scene that went nowhere!).  I liked Empok Nor being used to fix DS9.

Avatar Book Two by S.D. Perry 
Plot: Renegade Jem'Hadar attempt to destroy DS9; Kira reveals the renegade prophecy to the Bajoran public.

Same quality as the first book... and again surprisingly pedestrian and lacking in action.  There's one large action sequence in the middle of the book, and that's it.  Kitana'Klan being a fake managed to completely fool right up to the point he attacked Bashir, this was a superb misdirection.  The action sequence set in the vast grid work of the Lower Core was a great example of doing something bigger than TV that is truly involving.  The appearance of the true Observer, Taran'atar, is also surprising.  Ejecting the vast reactor of DS9 is also great.  Taran looks like an extremely interesting character, and it's great that he's one of the rare White-producing Jemmies and very old to boot.  It's great to see Odo again, first debating with Laas (another welcome cameo!) then in the message.  All this stuff is great, but I strongly disagree with the Dominion allowing the Allies to explore the GammaQ if they leave them alone.  First of all, like the Dominion hasn't already conquered all the territory surrounding the Wormhole!  Second of all, considering this was the initial reason for the start of the war, it seems ridiculous to return to it.  Is this really necessary for the book relaunch? Let's stay in the AlphaQ!  Taran in a social party was pretty funny, truly an alien perspective in everyday matters.  The Bajoran plot took an unexpected and welcome twist when Kira went public with Ohalu's words, thinking freedom of speech more important than religious security, and getting excommunicated for it!  This was a truly shocking plot twist that will be a wonderful aspect to her character!  It also gives her a better dynamic with Ro.  The discovery of the vault of Ohalu's protectors was also a nice unexpected twist, and it gave a nice bittersweet ending to the plot, cleverly avoiding the expected massacre.  Interesting to learn Shar's mother is on the Federation Council, and it's a nice foil with Nog.  It's a shame that the TNG characters didn't actually team up with the story, just more stood on the sidelines.  Picard forgiving Ro was good stuff (even better was him secretly protecting her from Starfleet's wrath!).  Ezri joining the command track sounds pretty laughable, but who knows it might become acceptable with time.  It's a real shame that Jake goes in the wormhole and spends the whole novel with nothing happening until the very end- so has Jake disappeared from the series too now?  What's up with Ensign Prynn Tenmei, who I can't even remember from the novel, having a hatred for Vaughn at the very end?!

Avatar Book One by S.D. Perry 
Plot: Three months after "Behind": Jem'Hadar attack DS9; prophecies suggest the Emissary's return.

For a big series relaunch, it's surprizingly pedestrian.  Hardly anything happens, there's very little action, nothing epic, but this is slightly understandable since it's establishing a new group of characters and their relationships.  And things should pick up in Book Two, after all this setup.  Nice to see Bajoran/Prophet matters being dealt with as always.  Jake attempting to retrieve his father based on an prophecy is interesting, as is the fact that ten thousand are fated to die when Sisko returns and his son is born (assuming this Avatar isn't another thing and they're all misinterpreting, which I think is true since I doubt they'll bring back Sisko this soon).  Good to see the new workins of the Bajoran government without the war and Winn, Yevin seems like a nice enough guy but I wonder about them sanctioning murder to coverup this renegade prophecy.  The Dominion plot is extremely interesting, not just for the renegade Jem'Hadar attack (the only bit of action in the novel!), but for Odo sending an Jem'Hadar observer to DS9, that is just an incredibly inspired storyidea, easily the best thing of the book, can't wait to see more of Kitana'Klan!  It's great to see the post-war climate, both in the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants (though I worry the Allies sending in a fleet will lead to some unnecessary and repetitive fighting).  As for the new characters, my favorite was easily the Andorian engineer Shar, he was extremely interesting.  Wonderful to see Ro Laren again of course.  Cmdr Vaughn was only vaguely interesting.  There were lots of disappointing little things in the novel... the sorry defense state of DS9 was absolutely ridiculous, even with the war over it is still *the* most important piece of space in the galaxy.  The threat of the Dominion invading from the Gamma Quadrant seems ludicrous given "Sacrifice of Angels" (hell, if the Prophets weren't keeping them out then why hasn't the Dominion conquered the Alpha Quadrant a thousand times over during the last two seasons of DS9?).  Kasidy and Kira being such close friends is pretty out of the blue and unrealistic.  All the TNG interlude scenes were incredibly slow, and while all the continuity nods were nice, they just really dragged.  This has to be a first in Trek novels for explicitly portraying sexual intercourse between Bashir and Ezri (and their whole little fight just seemed odd, wrong).  In addition to the several continuity nods, we even see Bashir reading "Stitch in Time", which was great.  The ending could have used some kind of cliffhanger...

#27 A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson 
Plot:  The life story of Garak intercut with Garak living on Cardassia Prime after the Dominion War.

A wonderful multi-textured novel that finally reveals the life story of Garak, one of the most compelling secrets of DS9!  Garak's past is extremely interesting, from his military academy days to his Order days to his DS9 exile.  My only complaints in this area are the academy chapters are just a tad slow and generic (in most respects they're identical to any other Trek Academy story, for example VOY's Mosaic and Pathways).  Also, Garak's romance with Paladine seems a bit off since we never really see her personality after her betrayal early on.  The most interesting sections are easily the days in the Order, explaining away the various assignments referenced to throughout the series (I particularly enjoy his time on Romulus).  It's also great to see some extensive background on Dukat, and on his father who Garak interrogated (and apparently killed off screen), both of whom who were involved in a conspiracy for a military coup and war with the Federation.  Interesting stuff!  And Dukat's first name is finally revealed to be Skrain.  We also get to see The Wire put in of course.  I found the reason for Garak's exile (surely the biggest Garak mystery!) to be a tad disappointing, though I did enjoy Garak killing Lokar during his own interrogation.  Garak's exiled time was glossed over but the necessary points were hit, though I was a bit thrown on the section where a Federation negotiator apparently confesses all to him and he rats her out.  Also, it's a shame to see this novel's version of the Withdrawal contradict with Millennium's version, suggesting one or both of these books are not considered part of the post DS9 canon.  The other great thing about this novel is the constant intercepting between the past, present, and future, giving the novel a fast pace.  The present scenes are somewhat filler though it's interesting to see Garak and Bashir no longer friends, though the brief bit with the Bajoran murderess seems confusing now (Garak was involved with a failed hostage scenario being massacred on Bajor, but wasn't he exiled before he ever stepped foot on Bajor?).  The future thread, Garak on the rebuilding Cardassia Prime, gets extremely interesting on the end, when the political struggle develops between the old order (The Directorate) and the Federation ideals reforms (Reunion Project), and how Garak helps them realize the old ways are useless.  Great stuff.  In fact, one of the surprizingly great things about this novel is the extremely complicated Cardassian society that Robinson has created, full of history and culture and detail, not to mention the brief bits on their Neanderthal-esque ancestors the Hebetians.  It's surprzingly complex and interesting stuff, it's a shame the Cardassians never had this kind of depth in the series!  Oh, and the novel came with a little map of Cardassia City and the military academy!  Very cool!

Inferno (Millennium Book Three of Three) by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens 
Plot: Sisko and the crew are trapped in a timeless void along with several DS9s from different timelines.

While most of the novel is confusing as hell and at times extremely difficult to follow, this is again an excellent classic epic DS9 novel.  This novel moves a lightning pace, jumping across timelines, characters, and the characters' other selves.  Extremely confusing, but still worth it.  At least it never gets boring!  The compex situation our characters are faced with is very interesting as is their attempts to solve it, though in particular the latter half of the novel showcases this well.  But the most important part of the novel are the last passages.  I was shocked to find that our characters REMEMBER everything that happened, this is one of my few beefs with the novel.  It would have worked much better if they didn't remember, because it really is too much to know even if they swear to speak of it.  For example, they see here a Pagh Wraith infested Dukat on a rampage, which would make you think they would work on security arrangements for this, which would preclude Dax's death at his hands in the episode after this occurs.  And also, Dax being the one to kill Dukat was just a little too cute for my tastes.  In the end we get some major relevations about the Bajor/Prophets/Emissary storyline.  This order of monks led by Obanek have been following the prophecies of the alternate timeline Picard, Vash, and Nog all this time and knows that The Emissary, the real one (I was a bit confused on this at first, it seems a bit out of the blue but an interesting plot twist nonetheless), is Sisko's second son with Kassidy.  The editor Margret Clark has informed me that this is a lead-in to the post-"Behind" series of novels, and I am very interested in this!   I also adore the final scene, when Jake and Kassidy discover the mural and then Sisko visits them briefly.  Very touching, much moreso than anything we saw in "What You Leave Behind".  Looking at this trilogy as a whole, I would definitely call it the best Trek novel(s) ever.  It was an amazing epic that seems like a vital part of the DS9 storyline (and as it turns out is!), full of action mystery strategy, amazing continuity and great characterization.

The War of the Prophets (Millennium Book Two of Three) by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens 
Plot:  The crew find themselves transported 25 years in the future where a defeated Starfleet flounders to stop the Bajoran Ascendancy, led by Kai Weyoun, from uniting the two wormholes and destroying the universe.

Probably THE best Trek novel, a perfect blend of great characters, great ideas, great continuity, action, a cool and intricate make-believe history, and several cool mysteries, not to mention armageddon itself!  This was literally a book I couldn't put down, mainly to learn more about these 25 years of history.  The authors created an incredible tapestry that could have made an incredible television series by itself, though it's a shame so much history had to be glossed over; for example we see little of the Gregari even though they were instrumental to the Bajoran Ascendancy's victory.  There were really cool strategies like using the Mirror Universe and the Guardian of Forever.  Interesting to have Weyoun as a Pah-Wraith leader, and though Pah-Wraith-Dukat was a horrible idea it is handled as well as it possibly could be here.  This novel also manages to create an incredible new mythology to the Prophets, making it seem more important to the series' storyline that the entire final season.  Though I was confused between the red wormhole Pah-Wraiths and the Fire Cave Pah-Wraiths for awhile; also Dukat for awhile claims to be working for the original Prophets like Sisko but that didn't go anywhere.  Commander Arla continues to be an interesting character, namely in addressing some major flaws in DS9/Trek lore like Stardates, creation mythology, and the Prophets closing the wormhole to the Dominion.  The authors are literally fixing everything wrong with the series and improving it!  Project Phoenix was a very interesting idea, but even more interesting was Nog's final plan; he, Picard, and Vash go back in time to become the three Bajoran prophecizers who this trilogy have created.  How cool is that!  Though perhaps if you take out the historical exposition nothing much happens until the end of the novel, it is still great stuff full of memorable scenes.  Just to name a few: Bashir runs into Voyager's Doctor and Seven.  Bashir and Jake walk in on Worf and Dax having sex.  Arla's aforementioned discussions.  The ending really carries a foreboding sense of doom to it, and justifiably so since the universe is destroyed.  Very cool, as is the cliffhanger with Sisko trapped in Pah-Wraith hell.

The Fall of Terok Nor (Millennium Book One of Three) by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens 
Plot:  A murder mystery and a hidden laboratory aboard DS9 ties into the Cardassian Withdrawl and the Prophets.

A wonderful station-mystery novel set in the Dominion War makes for a great retro feel.  I was really drawn into the Prophets/ Orbs/ Cardassians/ Withdrawl mystery and all the aspects to it.  It's great to get a huge epic storyline tying into the Prophets and just about everything else in the show.  But perhaps the best aspect of the novel is the amazing continuity; each page is literally packed with episode references, some of which are very subtle.  It makes this novel beautifully tie-in into the series as a whole, and makes it feel like something important.  The new character, Commander Arla, an athiest Bajoran with no combat experience, was very interesting, particularly in her discussions about the Bajorans being made helpless by the Prophets.  This is a very interesting and truthful concept!  Reb Orbs bringing about armageddon of course make for an interesting plot, though some of the smuggler bits got a tad annoying.  And with one hell of a cliffhanger, how could you not love this book?  Can't wait to learn more about the ideas raised in this book; a third sect of Prophets, a second wormhole, Bajorans being manipulated by the Prophets, and so on.  In fact, this stuff is better than Season Seven's Final Chapter!

The Badlands Book Two by Susan Wright 
Plot:  Set before "Purgatory's Shadow".  The Defiant faces off against Romulans, the Bashir/Founder, and the Dominion as they try to destroy the Badlands Anomaly.

I really love this 130 page mini novel concept!  Like it's Voyager counterpart this mini-novel was filled with awsome continuity from all the big episodes of the 5th season; "The Begotten", "For the Uniform", "Rapture", "Purgatory's Shadow", "Inferno's Light", Kassidy Yates, wow!  It all makes this seem like an intergral part of the DS9 arc especially with the glimpse of Weyoun meeting Dukat to negotiate for their upcoming alliance!  I also love the appearance of the Bashir/Founder as well as a brief glimpse into life on the "Inferno" Dominion prison (before Garak and Worf arrived).  Unfortunately the main plot was a bit disappointing; while it was cool seeing the Romulans trying to destroy the wormhole and cut off the Dominion, there was a lot of uninteresting techno-babble and plus a 5 page 'threat to the Federation', please.  In fact, this novel ended too abruptly with no closure on the Bashir/Founder, Odo, the Dominion prison gang, etc, but hey that's what the episodes are for!

#26 The Liberated (Rebels Book Three)  by Dafydd Ab Hugh 
Plot: Dax and Bashir are reunited with Sisko et al as the Natives fight the Cardassians.  On the station, Kai Winn and Kira must collaborate with the Liberated, who just want an Orb of the Prophets.  During the Occupation, Winn is arrested when her plans begin to fail.

The station plot arguably became the largest plot in this novel, and it was handled well.  The Occupation plot was also excellent, however the Starfleet plot was disappointing, and ended with a whimper.  First of all, the Bashir-Dax plot was just silly.  It was very repetitive; they steal a vehicle, it crashes, one of them has a horrible injury, then it all repeats again.  Plus, those two end up single handedly defeating two hundred bad guys!  Pretty stupid.  The whole concept of the Natives fighting the Cardies with their own weapons was neutral at best, just not something really interesting or entertaining.  This plot ended very abruptly; Bashir and Dax run into the Cardie army, trap it in a canyon, then the Natives blow them away.  That's it?  Fortunately, the orbital defenses suddenly decide to destroy the Cardie ships in orbit (this is never explained!) and fortunately the Founder flees with the fleet, so we never get anything interesting out of the Founder.  A real tease having a Founder show up briefly like that!  The whole thing about searching for a cure to the poisonous atmosphere was also annoying.  The station plot however was really good, though it stretches credibility when Kira is beat within an inch of her life then goes running around the station and attacking people.  I like the Liberated, and the realization that they were former Dominion prison guards (why didn't we see this race in the Dominion prison camp in Season Five's "By Inferno's Light"?).  What I really like about this plot is the alienness of the Liberated (the way they treat the station like a prison, and freak when civvies leave their shelters like its a breakout) and Kai Winn's brilliant twist at the end.  I knew she was planning something, but it's great to see Winn showing some real intelligence.  The ending is a bit confused though; Kira stabs Winn to save her life, and finds both of them in the Infirmary, but suddenly she's on Ops when the bomb goes off and Winn isn't there miraculously.  Why was Kira brought up and Winn left behind?  It doesn't make any sense.  Furthermore, I really doubt Kira could survive this bomb even with the novel's weak explanation.  The Occupation plot was again stellar; the Resistance attack is called off thanks to Winn, and her master Ragat is now in trouble so Winn is in trouble.  Winn's quest for freedom is very involving, like when she stabs herself in the chest and fakes a heart attack, pretending to drown in the river.  Great stuff!  Unfortunately this plot also ends a tad apruptly; Winn escapes in the river, thinking that Ragat let her escape.  Then events are quickly narrated, when instead we should have seen these things, most of all Ragat's fate.  We never learn exactly what happened to Ragat between being shipped back home and then appearing on the Native planet thirty years later, and I really think we should have.  As a whole this is a light, enjoyable but not stellar read with some great Winn stuff.  These covers are a big mistake though; I have no idea who these Bajorans are (I suppose the woman COULD be a young Winn) the covers were made before the story.

#25 The Courageous (Rebels Book Two)  by Dafydd Ab Hugh 
Plot: Sisko et al abandon the Natives to destroy the planet's power generators themselves.  Dax & Bashir strike out alone after escaping the suken Defiant, which under command of ensigns is attacked by a sea monster.  On the station, the aliens who called themselves "The Liberated" reveal their purpose.  In flashback, Sister Winn plans a major but risky victory against the Cardassians by revealing an upcoming Resistance attack to her master.

A definite improvement over the first, a light read with some great action and a few good bits, but the exaggerated character comedy (especially in Quark and Odo) really hurts.  This time the Sisko plot was the shortest (after the station plot of course) and little was accomplished except at the very end when they blow the generators.  Stupid comedy ruined this plot, especially when Quark must convince sentient cow-monsters to ferry them across a desert.  It did have a nice concluding bit, where they return to find the Natives a ready to fight army and Worf gives a nice overly dramatic speech.  The opening bit in the Dax-Bashir plot where they swim to the surface was excellent, it really puts the reader into the action especially when a big something brushes against Dax.  This was another short sub-plot, ending with them deciding to just shoot any Cardies they find after coming across a massacre of Natives.  A little over the top, but not too bad.  There was one big plot twist though; they find Winn's old Cardie master among the 'renegade' Cardies!  Can't wait to find out what happens!  This is good because it ties the Starfleet plot back to the rest of the novel, instead of having it so out of the blue.  The brief junior crew on Defiant plot was actually pretty good, nice to have a young Bajoran man in command.  Again there was a cool gigantic sea monster, which they actually get to talk to.  Unfortunately this plot ends abruptly half way through the novel when they get near the surface, and just wait.  The station under seige plot is again almost totally ignored (very strange) but the aliens communicate now, demanding the (as we later learn) the Orb of the Prophets.   They call themselves the Liberated, who were they liberated from?  The Dominion?  This plot seemed like a bit of a rip off  of Ab Hugh's earlier and far superior work "Fallen Heroes", but it was barely mentioned.  I like the end though; Winn surrenders and beams the Ops crew to the aliens, holding Kira's hand.  What is up with Winn's sudden parental tone towards Kira?!  It's obvious Winn is planning something though, nice to see Winn shown as a smart leader not some crazy power hungry dictator as in the final episodes of the series.  The most stellar plot (and the longest fortunately!) was the Winn-Occupation flashback.  This stuff was really interesting, especially the way Winn always risks exposure as a double agent.  Winn is a really great character here, and since we don't know the specifics of her past, this is like a major revelation that could turn with her capture at any time, very edge of the seat stuff!  I especially liked her almost escape off the swamp road, which ended with her running into a very young Ziyal, daughter of Gul Dukat. This was a really cool cameo!  I am very anxious to see whether Winn can get to the Resistance with her stolen Cardie information and prevent her master from massacring the impending Resistance attack.  Another great scene was where she indirectly warns the boy with her master right there, wondering if either one of them understood what she was talking about.  Great stuff, I just wished there was just a one novel about Winn's past rather than all this extraneous stuff.

#24 The Conquered (Rebels Book One)  by Dafydd Ab Hugh 
Plot: Sisko and crew travel to a planet invaded by renegade Cardassians, where the Natives are primatives obsessed with tech and cannot think for themselves.  Sisko and crew must train these Natives in warfare to defeat the Cardassians when the Defiant is 'crashed' into the ocean by the Cardassians.  On the station, Bajor assumes temporary control.  Kai Winn takes over and renames it "Emissary's Sanctuary" just as mysterious Gamma Quadrants aliens attack the station.  In brief flashbacks, the story of Kai (then Sister) Winn's life during the Occupation is told.

This was a curious novel, with a mix of stupid plots and exaggerated characterizations yet still manages to be readable.  Unfortunately the Winn During Occupation plot is only the first chapter, but it was really wonderful.  Winn is a slave for a younger and moderate Cardie Gul, and she is driving petty conflict into the ruling Guls like Dukat.  Very interesting stuff, but it is practically seperate from the rest of the novel (hopefully the next two books will involve this more).  The DS9/Bajor plot was interesting, especially the way Winn replaces every crewer (save Kira) and these buerocrats actually do a superior job.  Unfortunately Kira is subjected to horrible, overly comedic dialogue, like when Winn arrives on the station she she is shocked and says "Hi Kai!".  Please.  The alien invasion was WAAAY too brief, they pretty much just shoot at the shields for a little bit as far as we're concerened.  Another interesting bit: Winn has a combat crew ready that does an awsome job at hitting these sensor-invisable ships.  Again, way to brief.  I'd have to say that 4/5 of this novel was the Starfleet plot, which was readable but pretty stupid.  All the chracters are once again exaggerated to act like idiots, especially Dax, Worf, and O'Brien.  Suddenly Worf and O'Brien despise each other, and Dax is just totally out of character.  The whole concept of the Natives is just annoying, these idiots who use tech without knowing what it is.  And the concept of training these Natives in warfare is just ridiculous.  Half the novel is subjected to this.  Sisko sets up an exercise, they use Tech to avoid the work.  Yawn.  The only good parts of this plot was the rare action:  Cardassians destroying villages was pretty cool, especially the way they just turn off the power generators for all this tech the Natives are dependant on (thus the need to train them!  get it?).  The bits where the Cardies attack the Defiant are pretty cool, and I just love the concept of the Defiant floating around in an ocean.  Plus, Odo secretly spots a Founder posing as one of the Cardassians!  Very interesting.  I am intrigued by the novel's end: the GammaQ aliens are about to board the station, Starfleet & the Natives are about to take out the whole planet's power supply, Bashir & Dax are about to go swimming out of the Defiant, there's a Founder with the Cardassians...  On the whole a lame book that's readable and leads to interesting things.  Incidently, at the front of every book in this trilogy is a statement saying this happens in the Fourth Season.  Actually, there many facts that point it to late Season Five!  Odo was solid for a while, Bashir is a genetic mutant, the Dominion is in charge of Cardassia.

#23 The 34th Rule by Armin Shimmerman et al 
Plot: When Grand Nagus Zek refuses to sell an Orb of the Prophets to Bajor, Bajor barricades the Ferengi from their space and the wormhole, leaving Quark in jail.  As Quark and Rom have to fight to survive Gallitep, events spin out of control as Bajor and Fereginar prepare for war with the Federation being forced to watch from the sidelines.

My god!  This is easily one of the three best DS9 novels ever, if not the best!  Only "Fallen Heroes" and "Station Rage" could be better, but those are simply really good action novels whereas this is an involved and brilliant political story.  Plus, this novel feels like an actual part of the Arc with a war between Ferengi and Bajor going on and not just filler like novels usually are.  This novel is also about twice the size of a normal novel, giving it much more room.  It is of course written by the actor who plays Quark, who has always complained about the Ferengi being used for cheap sit-com gags, and man does he get his revenge here!  This novel is the best Ferengi portrayal, especially of Quark, ANYWHERE.  Ferengi here are brilliant, prideful, complicated, and even victims.  The first half of the novel essentially deals with the way the crew (excluding Dax) views Quark with such bigoted views.  Quark is painted the victim of racial bias here, and it really is true.  Quark is able to really freak out Sisko, who suddenly realizes what a hippocrite he is for mouthing Federation equality dogma then being so racist towards Quark.  Kira especially is an asshole here.  It's all brilliant dialogue, well thought out.  At the novel's mid-point, Quark and Rom are hunted down by the Bajorans after a clever attempt to elude them on station.  This sequence, as well as later sequences, really make Quark and Rom out to be Jewish people fleeing the Nazi Holocaust, and of course later they are thrown in Gallitep, and treated just as bad as the Jews were by a crazy Bajoran in charge.  It is really ironic the way Bajorans were made to be the Jews and Cardassians the Nazis, and now the Bajorans have reversed roles and become cruel heartless religious nuts.  This is the kind of DS9 you'll never see on the show!  At this point Quark begins to play a minor role in the novel and it becomes Sisko's spotlight.  Quark's breif chapters of hell in Gallitep are certainly involving but a little slow, and were complicated by minor nits like how can this guy go nuts and no one saw it coming and is the prison really never communicated with ever and things like that.  Meanwhile Sisko is trying to mediate the arguement, but Shakaar is going around buying warships (another nit:  Bajor didn't already have warships?  Why didn't they get them sooner if not?) from smugglers and Zek is getting more adversarial, declaring a blockade of Bajor.  The Defiant witnesses a breif battle between the Ferengi and the new Bajoran ships, which on further investigation was a ruse!  The Ferengi ship faked its death!  This is used by Zek as a catalyst for war, echoing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution bringing about the Vietnam War.  At this point I was of course suspicious of what was going on, knowing that Zek was planning something big here, but I couldn't figure out what it was.  The ending of the Gallitep sequence was a little hard on the credibility but entertaining, I too was questioning the credibility of hitting a mine and running into the Defiant, fortunately it was done on purpose.  At this point war is about to break out and Sisko's only hope for peace is to ferry Quark to Ferenginar to speak with Zek.  On an aside let me say this novel handles Sisko and the war excellently, I was expecting a Quark novel but it really isn't.  Quark's meeting with Zek protrays Zek as a great leader, something which the series unfortunately does not do, opting instead to make him a loud idiot.  Well I prefer the Ferengi leader, and the Ferengi themselves, to be more like this.  Another question: I was surprized at the impression of military power that the Ferengi had in this novel.  Everyone knew they could wipe out Bajor easily.  I like this concept very much, unfortunately I see the Ferengi more as traders than fighters, but I really like the way this novel makes the Ferengi respectable.  The ending action finale with Sisko taking a Defiant shuttle through the warzone to tell Shakaar about Zek's peace agreement was a little too descriptive for me but pretty exciting.  As the novel closes all is revealed, but I am still left with questions.  It was all a brilliant complicated scheme by Zek to use the Bajorans to make a pile of money!  There are some holes to the story though.  In the brief battle, NO ONE died.  I know the Ferengi sold weak ships to Bajor but they had other real ships too, I find it extremely hard to believe NO ONE died.  Plus, Zek had a plant in Gallitep to watch on Quark and the other Ferengi internees with a ship waiting.  This has a lot of questions:  why DID they stay for punishment?  To help the Ferengi plight?  How did Zek know they would be in Gallitep when apparantly the mad Col. Mitra secretly opened Gallitep again himself and put them there?  What was up with that mad Colonel?  I thought he was an actor working for Zek but apparantly not.  All in all, a brilliant complicated scheme that makes Zek out to be the most brilliant man in the galaxy, and Armin Shimmerman to be an awsome, awsome author.  I only hope he will write more!

#17 The Heart of the Warrior by John Betancourt 
Plot:  Odo, Worf, and Kira invade the Dominion while Sisko oversees a Maquis peace conference hampered by Founders and a militant Vedek.

A little above average.  It was interesting in its relation to the Dominion and Worf, and the ole' Founders paranoia returns.  However the novel really runs out of steam in the conclusion.  The spy plot into the Dominion was nice at first but got kinda stupid after a while; it shows a Dominion and the Jem'Hadar waaay off!  The conference was extremely interesting, a Cardassian-Federation-Maquis meet about creating a new Maquis nation- very interesting!  The Founder infiltration was very interesting as well, but the ending was of course horrible.  The Vedek plot was pretty horrible, especially the ending.  Plus, the Founders treat Odo very friendly just after he killed one of them, but in a later episode they put him on trial!  By the way, this novel takes place in the middle of the fourth season.

#16 Time's Enemy (Invasion! Book Three of Four) by L.A. Graf 
Plot: Starfleet finds a 5,000 year old Defiant and Dax symbiant, suggesting another Furies invasion.  Kira deals with Bajoran atomic terrorists and mysterious ship attacks linked to the Furies.

This was a great novel that unfortunately got bogged down with heavy narrative often.  The first half about the Dax symbiant was very interesting and emotional, especially for Dax and Bashir.  In fact, this novel essential stars Dax and Bashir with Sisko and Kira in supporting roles.  It takes half the novel to get into action, but it never seems slow or boring.  Once the Defiant runs into the creatures in the Gamma Quadrant, the book gets pretty exciting except for the occaisonal slow bit on DS9 as the creatures attack it.  There's a nice Jem'Hadar appearance here, and history of the creatures is pretty interesting.  The ending was a little bit disappointing.   Also worthy of mention is a signifigant role for the Prophets that actually makes sense.