STAR TREK - DESTINY - BOOK III LOST SOULS

s

POCKET BOOKS

Written by David Mack

Copyright 2008 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Art by Rick Rick Berry; design by Alan Dingman.



Lost Souls written by David Mack, is Book III of the Destiny trilogy. Captains Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker, and Ezri Dax must fight the Borg for the sake of the known galaxy.

What I liked about Lost Souls is that you finally get to find out where the Borg came from and who the Borg Queen is. Having Will Riker being forced to leave behind his crew and his wife, Deanna Troi, in order for Will and his ship to escape the Caelier with Captain Erica Hernandez of the Columbia on board made me feel for Will and the responsibilities of command. Having President Bacco of the Federation accepting the responsibility for the fall of the Federation made me really feel for her knowing the Federation is being destroyed as she listens to report after report of the fall of various strategic points in and out of Federation space to the Borg. It really makes me feel for President Bacco because she is really just a regular person from a small town on a small planet, who just happens to be the President of the Federation. The fact that President Bacco gives Captain Picard to take any actions - even if they violate Starfleet or Federation law - made me appreciate how desperate she considers the situation.

With Picard strongly considering using Thaleron radiation to destroy the Borg, of which use was last seen in the movie Star Trek - Nemesis, Geordi LaForge strongly objects to building such a device as it is morally wrong. You can see how obsessed Picard is for ordering Geordi to build such a device. As it is, they use the dangerous Omega molecule - the perfect molecule of which the Borg have been looking for - as bait to lure the Borg into a trap. Now will their plans work in stopping the Borg?

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - DESTINY - BOOK II: MERE MORTALS

Pocket Books

Written by David Mack

Based upon STAR TREK and

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
created by Gene Roddenberry

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE created by Rick Berman & Michael Piller

STAR TREK: VOYAGER
created by Rick Berman * Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE
created by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Copyright 2008 by CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In Mere Mortals, the Borg are coming to Federation space and Federation President Nan Bacco gathers allies to stop the Borg invasion. Meanwhile, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Ezri Dax are determined to try to close off the Borg's route of subspace tunnels. On the other side of the galaxy, Captain William Riker in his explorations has made contact with the Caeliar who has held captive Earth starship Captain Erika Hernandez for 200 years.

You feel for President Bacco as she realizes that the Federation's only hope against Borg assimilation and annihilation is an alliance with governments and people that were hostile to the Federation and  also her realization that she will be the last President as the Federation gets destroyed. She is just a person in charge that everything has fallen onto her. Bacco's strategic negotiations are a desperate action for the preservation of the Alpha Quadrant. My respect for Captain Hernandez has fallen considerably from her being the captain of one of Earth's first starships to being the sole survivor of her crew, despite the fact that she has evolved into part Caeliar and has been able to live so long. In fact you feel that she deserves the pergatory that she has been placed into, especially when Riker and the crew of the U.S.S Titan are captured by the Caeliar with her. The Titan's crew plan an escape strategy, but can not trust Hernandez as a result. With Counselor Deanna Troi pregnant, you also feel her peranoia against the reptillian Titan's ship's doctor - Dr. Ree as her pregnancy endangers her health.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - VOYAGER - FULL CIRCLE

Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Written by Kirsten Beyer

Copyright 2009 by CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In Full Circle, the U.S.S. Voyager goes on a mission to search for B'Elanna Torres and her daughter, Miral kidnapped by radical Klingon warriors. Then later, Voyager is sent on a deep space diplomatic and scientific exploration mission to lead a fleet back to the largely unexplored Delta Quadrant.

This book is basically two books with Captain Chakotay, and especially with his first officer Commander Tom Paris looking for his missing wife B'Elanna and kidnapped daughter Miral - who is believed to be the chosen one for the Klingon people. Then later, after Admiral Janeway is killed, are the political dealings with Starfleet trying to send Voyager back to the Delta Quadrant where Voyager was stranded far from home for seven years.

The second half of the book takes place after the events that have occurred in previous Star Trek books, one of which Janeway was killed from a Borg threat. My initial reaction is that Voyager and her crew suffered enough and should not go back, but there is the logical reason for Voyager to return - in that Voyager's crew has the most experience with the Delta Quadrant and would know how to deal with the many dangerous and violent species they might encounter. And with new engines, there is no chance Voyager and the fleet will be lost in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay, after greatly suffering from the loss of his love Admiral Katherine Janeway, must undergo psychiatric evaluation to prove he is capable of commanding Voyager. The results of which causes him to make a major career decision.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Greater Than The Sum

Pocket Books

A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Written by Christopher L. Bennett

Copyright 2008 by CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.




In Greater than the Sum the Starship U.S.S. Rhea finds unusual life forms on a planet with the ability to mimic anything, when they are attacked by the Starship U.S.S. Einstein - which is now controlled by the Borg. As she is about to be assimilated by the Borg, Lt. T'Ryssa Chen, a half-Vulcan, is suddenly somehow sent two thousand light-years away.

With the Einstein cut off from the rest of the Borg, instaneous transportation - controlled by the new life forms - must be kept from the deadly Borg. Lt. Chen joins Captain Picard on the Enterprise as they search for a way to stop the Einstein.

Having T'Ryssa Chen being a half-Vulcan who embraces her human half appears a little odd to me. Actually I like the idea that the young Chen rebels against her Vulcan half, but it just makes her seem like another human and nothing really that special - except for the fact that she is half-Vulcan. Captain Picard takes Chen under his wing as a sort of protege. I look forward to Chen growing as a character in future books.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Star Trek - Destiny Book I God of Night

Pocket Books

A Division of Simon & Suster, Inc.

Written by David Mack

Copyright 2008 by CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The first book of the Star Trek - Destiny trilogy, Gods of Night is the story of what happened to the old Earth starship Columbia after the discovery of it's wreckage way out in the Gamma Quadrant after the Columbia has been missing for 200 years.

While the U.S.S. Enterprise deals with the Borg and the U.S.S. Aventine searches for the secret of the Columbia's propulsion, we learn the story of how the Columbia wound up in the hands of the alien race Caeliar - and how and why half of the Columbia's crew mutinied against the leadership of Captain Erika Hernandez in order to return home.

Although it is believable that the MACO's would instigate the mutiny in Columbia, it is also hard to accept that they would go against their captain. It shows that the MACO's were never really a part of the Columbia's crew.


Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Star Trek - The Return

Pocket Books, A Division of Simon & Shuster, Inc.

Written by William Shatner with Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

Copyright 1996 by Paramount Pictures

Star Trek - The Return is about the return of James T. Kirk - back from the dead. Using Borg technology, the Romulans reanimate Kirk with one mission - to kill Jean-Luc Picard!

As a Borg story, the story is interesting. With Kirk searching aggressively after Picard, it seems like petty jealousy is rearing it's head with Kirk, even if you realize his obsession is the result of Borg programming. It does feel like Willima Shatner's voice is behind Kirk in this story and Picard's character feels just right. This is the first of William Shatner's Star Trek books.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.