Deep Space Nine

RATING	EXPLANATION
	The sad book that gets it all wrong. Characterization is stiff and fails to ring true and the plot is an absolute chore to get through. On the off chance I actually managed to finish this piece of trash, I certainly would never, ever re-read it.
	A disappointing effort. It's possible that this book has solid characterization but a terrible plot, or else the plot is engaging but the characterization is off somewhat. Either way, this is a book that I didn't particularly enjoy. If someone gives it to you, try it. But don't waste your money on purchasing a copy.
	An average, run-of-the-mill Trek book. Either the characterization is bland or the plot is so standard that it never manages to rise above the pack. Good enough to pass time on a rainy day, but nothing that I'd ever want to re-read.
	A solid read, with many entertaining features. There are one or two flaws, but they are minor in nature and do not detract from the overall enjoyment. I'll possibly re-read this someday, but it's doubtful.
	The rare book that gets it all right. Great characterization and an engaging plotline. This is a book that I will definitely re-read in the futre.

Plot Summary : In the aftermath of a war that brought the Alpha Quadrant to the brink of destruction, Starbase Deep Space 9—the galaxy’s nexus of scientific and military intrigue—is once more the flashpoint of impending Armageddon as a surprise attack cripples the station, killing hundreds and threatening the fragile new peace.

Colonel Kira Nerys and the survivors—together with several controversial new officers—are all who stand against the outbreak of a new war and a terrible doom tied to the unborn child of Captain Benjamin Sisko.

Elsewhere, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise make a startling discovery…one that will affect the destiny of an entire civilization and forever change the lives of those aboard Deep Space 9.

My Comments : This was nice. For someone who's really missed the DS9 characters, this feels like coming home. Picking up three months after the final episode, we see that DS9 has continued to evolve, with a new first officer (Kast), a new science officer (an Andorian named Shar) and a new chief of security (Ro Laren).

The best part of this was the characterization. For the first time in years, Jake not only didn't annoy me -- I enjoyed his scenes. The Quark/Ro relationship was perfect, as was the slightly adversarial confrontations between Ro and Kira. The added tension between Ezri and Julian made sense and was entertaining, if a bit soap-operish. Still, there relationship evolved so keeply during wartime that it makes sense for there to be growing pains now that things have calmed somewhat.

The new characters were all intriguing -- especially Shar, whose Andorian nature brings loads of questions. What secret is it that Shar is hiding? We know it deals with the fact that Shar isn't married yet, but considering how little we really know about Andorian society and physiology, it could be just about anything. Kast's fate wasn't surprising, since promotional materials had made it quite clear that Elias Vaughn was fated to become Kira's second-in-command. Still, in just a few pages S.D. Perry made us truly like Kast's character. Vaughn's interactions with the crew of the Enterprise-E were well portrayed. I particuarly liked his banter with Troi.

Plot-wise, I enjoyed things. Some of it was obviously set-up for Book Two, but the mystery was well-handled. Seeing Ro investigate the murder of Kira's friend was interesting, particularly in how it dovetailed into Jake's discovery of the prophecy. Speaking of the prophecy, I do hope this leads into the eventual return of Sisko, though I'm not sure what directions they'd go with him after that. It's one thing to be the Emissary, but think of how much the Bajorans would expect of him if he returned from living amongst the Prophets!

The book wasn't perfect, however. Nog's character didn't seem to have much growth in this one -- I sincerely hope his low self-esteem in his job doesn't continue because that could get very old, very fast. Also, Vaughn's background is certainly rife with story potential -- perhaps too much. I don't want him to become the Equivalent of the X-Men's Wolverine, where he knows everyone and we constantly see new surprises pop out of his past.

Overall, though, I highly recommend this novel. If you're a hardcore DS9 fan, you need this.

Plot Summary : As the Federation prepares to launch a counterstrike against the Dominion, Colonel Kira Nerys searches for a way to prevent another galactic holocaust. But when a newly discovered prophecy propels Jake Sisko on an impossible quest and threatens to plunge all of Bajor into chaos, Kira is forced to choose between being true to her faith…and being true to herself.

Meanwhile, as the combined crews of Deep Space 9 and the Starship Enterprise struggle to stop a terrorist plot to destroy the station and the ship, lives change, new friendships are forged, and the shocking truth behind a grisly murder is revealed.

My Comments : A solid wrap-up to the first DS9 storyline. I felt that the Kira/Vaughn scenes in the warp core dragged a bit, but I'm the first to admit that I'm a characterization guy and not an action nut. I did like the developing Ro/Quark relationship, the friendships that Shar is developing with both Ro and Nog and the changes being brought about in Vaughn's personality. I'm very, very impressed by how quickly I've come to like the new characters -- kudos to S.D. Perry for handling them so well.

The rather surprising nature of the prophecy (esp. the "ten thousand") was impressive. I was wondering how Perry would resolve the many mysteries left over from the first book and she came through on all counts. I'm very saddened by Kira's removal from the Bajoran religion (the Bajoran equivalent of excommunication). It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in future novels.

I'm not sure about Dax's switch to command track, though. I liked her as a counselor, but it makes some sense given the scenes onboard the Defiant in book one. I just hope she doesn't lose her empathy and other endearing qualities while becoming some sort of Trill super-woman. The resolution of her problems with Julian was handled sweetly, however.

This novel, the third in the new "continued line", is part of a larger series called Section 31 which runs through all the various Trek series. I'll say up front that I didn't read any of the other 31 novels. Weddle does a great job, though, of bringing everyone up to date on what Section 31 is and what it's been up to.

I have mixed feelings about this book, to be honest. I did not love it as much as the previoius two, but it was a very solid read nonetheless. There were parts of the book that I absolutely loved -- the continuing emphasis on the Julian/Ezri relationship is extremely well-done. Their interactions with Dr. Locken (the villain of the piece) was very engaging. Speaking of Locken, it's a shame he died -- though with all the cloning involved in the story, he might yet return, I think. Locken had great potential as a Khan-like villain.

The scenes with Ro and Taran'atar were interesting at times, but went on far too long for my tastes. I'm not a fan of big action scenes in general and I got a bit bored during their trek through the jungles.

I was also disappointed that the Jake subplot had only one chapter devoted to it -- I can only assume they wanted to keep this as self-contained as possible for folks who were picking up all the 31 books.

In short, this was a good book with some fantastic characterization -- but certain parts of the story dragged on a bit too long for me, making it rank a little bit lower than the Avatar books. The DS9 series continues to be far better than the usual "Trek novel of the month," however.

Plot Summary : The fourth DS9 novel in the new series is also the second in a row to be part of a Trek "crossover." This time, the tie-in is to the "Gateways" storyline. Once again, this review is written from the perspective of someone who isn't bothering to read the non-DS9 books.

Overall, I enjoyed this book though the Orion/Quark part of the storyline didn't interest me in the least -- the surprise about his Dabo companion was clever but it didn't salvage the plotline for me. The bits with Garak at the end were cute, though.

Very little use of Dr. Bashir, though he was featured heavily in the last book, so that's understandable. Not much Ezri, either, though I really enjoyed what little was there. The notion that her joining is causing problems is certainly a natural outgrowth of her ongoing storyline. I can't wait to see more of this.

Nice scenes with Shar, Vaughn and Kira all through this one and I loved the use of the Hirogen! Very well done and frightening!

On the downside, I hated that, once again, there was nothing more than a paragraph or two about Jake's subplot. And the ending...! "To be continued in Gateways book seven...."

What the hell?! Kira disappears through a portal and it's not going to continue in a DS9 novel?!

Review: Overall, this series continues to be far, far better than the "average" Trek novels. This one sees a return to the four-star rating, which the relaunch hasn't reached since the Avatar opening two-parter. David George is an unfamiliar name to me, but I'll definitely look forward to future Trek stories from him.

This novel features a number of divergent storylines, with my favorites definitely being the Kira/Bajoran/Federation subplot (thank god, they're finally moving towards a resolution of that one, which has stretched on since the first ep. of the television series), the Quark/Ro romance (this one had me rolling my eyes when first introduced in the relaunch, but George actually made me root for these two and explained, for the first time to me, what the attraction is between them) and the Vaughn/Prynn relationship.

Overall, the characterizations seemed excellent though Julian had virtually nothing to do in this story except serving as "Ezri's boyfriend." I know that he he was the main character of Abyss, but the last two novels have really seemed to slight him. Also, I continue to be a bit uncomfortable with Ezri's growth into the command track. I understand the need to develop her past the one season of exposure she got on the show, but I, for one, like her vulnerability and her counseling career. I feel that there is a conscious attempt to up her "Jadzia-factor" and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

Also, as much as I loved the Vaughn/Prynn subplot it seemed almost padded at times here. This novel, by Trek standards, is looooong -- and seems even longer with the tiny print. Some parts of this novel could have been cut, reducing the page count by 50 or so pages and it would have seemed a stronger book in my opinion. For instance, once we've established that they blame one another and we've even seen flashbacks and hallucinations to further develop that, we then get even more flashbacks and hallucinations and more exposition on how they feel. I don't want to make it seem as if I didn't like the Vaughn/Prynn storyline, though -- it was very moving. I just think it could have been stronger.

I highly recommend this one -- it's part one of the four-part "Mission Gamma" series and the rest of the books will have quite a standard to uphold.

Review: The lowest-rated "Relaunch" novel yet is part two of the "Mission Gamma" series. To be honest, I really had a hard time nailing down a rating for this one -- there were portions of this novel that were very, very good. But, in the end, there were too many problems to overcome.

On the good side of things, Ms. Jarman did a wonderful job with the Kira/Bajoran Conference subplot. The continuing problem of the Attainder was handled very well and I love how Gul Macet is coming along -- and the Ro/Quark relationship continuedd to sparkle. There were one or two scenes with those characters that made me laugh out loud. Also, the suicide of one of the supporting characters in this novel was very surprising and Ms. Jarman successfully captured the sort of obsessive love that drove this character to an early demise.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the novel was spent fleshing out the Defiant crew's mission on a new planet. This portion of the book was intriguing at first but seemed incredibly over-padded by the end. I grew so weary of this whole thing that I was tempted several times to just flip past these scenes and get back to the Kira/station portions of the novel. The pace of the proceedings here was so plodding that it was excruciating. I saw the "plot twists" that arrived from a mile away and yet we were "teased" like it was going to be some terrific shock. It wasn't.

And I think that the relaunch authors, for all that they've done right (and they've done a LOT right), have almost completely turned me off from the character of Ezri Dax. I loved Nicole's portrayal of her in season seven of DS9 but the character in the books now is more and more a Jadzia clone and I just don't find that intriguing in the least. When she first began to express problems related to the joining (such as in Abyss), I was intrigued and excited but in these last two novels we see all my worst fears come to light. Ezri has become downright annoying and Julian continues to be treated as "Ezri's boyfriend" as opposed to any sort of major character in his own right. Julian badly, badly needs a Garak or Miles figure to play off of because right now he's floundering after a strong turn in Abyss.

I'm moving on to book three now, but I have to admit that a lot of my enthusiasm for this four-parter has been derailed.

Review: Now this is more like it. The DS9 scenes, particularly the shocking ending, were fantastic, as we once more saw some wonderful characterization with Kira, Ro and Quark, among others. The Defiant episodes were fast-paced and did a lot to restore my faith in how the relaunch writers are handling Julian and Ezri. Ezri, in particular, was handled well as she lost the symbiote for awhile here and was once more the girl I fell in love with from the tv show, though she had a new maturity gained through the events of the relaunch. Julian's situation was very heart-rending and well portrayed.

I have few faults to find with this one -- it read quickly and kept me interested throughout. I find myself excited about where things are going with Kira, in particular. I loved the scene where the Bajoran protestors staged their demonstration in the temple. Gave me chills!

An excellent read -- and one that has me greatly excited about the big finale to the Mission Gamma storyline.

You know, I have no freakin' idea where they're going next -- and that's a good, good thing. The revelation of who's been masterminding the recent events was a shocker and the upcoming symbiote war has me salivating in anticipation.

Characterization was extremely solid, with Kira once again coming through as a solid lead. When the series began I wasn't sure if Kira as commanding officer would work, but now I find myself filled with trepidation over the supposed return of Sisko in Unity. If he doesn't come back, it's a cop-out. But if he does come back...

Overall, this ranks as one of the stronger books in the relaunch. I very much enjoyed it -- the only thing that works against it is the fact that it's very clearly the finale to an ongoing story. This isn't something you just pick up and start reading if you haven't read the preceding chapters. Still, how many folks would do that, since it's clearly marked? I dunno.

I wasn't looking forward to this one, I'll admit. Jake Sisko as a character was always nice as a background figure, but an entire novel focusing on him and a cast of new characters? I wasn't exactly thrilled by the concept.

But upon reading the story, my opinions have changed somewhat. Jake comes through as a very likeable character and his interactions with the new characters (all of whom are very well portrayed and are interesting enough to warrant a return visit) are intriguing and illuminating. I continue to feel that Jake himself isn't very exciting, though. It's mainly through his interactions with others that interest arises.

But the return of Kai Opaka (though spoiled a bit by the ending of Lesser Evil) certainly makes me interested in what's going to happen next -- and somehow I'm feeling that her return will spell interesting things for Kira's religious subplot.

The story lagged a bit in the second half of the book, but it's still entertaining.

This novel brings to a close many of the subplots that began back in Avatar and really provides a sense of closure to this 'season' of the relaunch. The writing was solid throughout and I really breezed through the book. It took me about 3 days to read.

The big interest in the fan community was the 'will Sisko return or not' question. I found that the way his return was handled was done very well -- I loved how it played into Vaughn's role in the series, as well. I'm very, very curious where they go with this next.

The romance that may or may not develop between Shar and Prin is very engaging. I never saw this one coming, but it makes perfect sense. Both characters are emotionally vulnerable and badly in need of a true friend. Like the Ro/Quark relationship, this is the sort of thing that is surprising -- but fun.

I thought the return of Odo was a bit rushed in the way it was handled, but a nice touch overall. Same with the return of O'Brien.

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