A Stitch In Time by Andrew J. Robinson
A cross between Great Expectations and Harry Potter, this is not a good thing. While I find most of the book tedious (appropriate for a Cardassian epic but not conducive to the real audience) the idea of Garak playing soccer is amusing. The more you read the less like Harry Potter and the more like Great Expectations it becomes, particularly with regards to the love interest. But remember, Dickens was a hack who was paid by the word to drag his story out over 9 months in a weekly magazine.
Final Verdict: Great Expectations in space, I cannot imagine who that would ever appeal to.
Avatar by S. D. Perry
I'm not entirely certain what to make of S.D. Perry, the new characters are great as is the handling of the old ones but the dreams, foreshadowing, and Jake's plot are painful. One is so thirsty for new DS9 that you'll drink anything but upon re-reading you want to skip these parts desperately. And creating a whole crew of interesting personalities just to kill them all off a page later seems a huge waste; yes it makes the loss more poignant but it also makes the reader less willing to invest in new characters and given that this is a relaunch that would seem to be a poor foot to start on. Once the action gets started though things really take off and the action itself is well written. Ideally if they had gotten to the action in Chapter 2 rather than 4 I think the pacing and interest of the reader would be much better. The little dig the book takes at the previous novel, particularly making fun of it's length, was well received. Most of the characters are written well, reflecting a deep understanding of their motivations although I found the Ezri-Bashir plotline a little base and verbose. As well I found Jake and Kassidy somewhat out of character. Kassidy went from vibrant and independent to boring and repetitive while Jake while emotionally strong has a plot that just drags along for far too long.
Final Verdict: While not especially noteworthy does an excellent job setting the stage for the relaunch.
Abyss by David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang
The dialogue is the first thing that catches you; it's brilliant, hilarious, insightful - a definite step up from the previous novels. In fact it's so well written and conceived that with a decent imagination it feels like an episode of the show.
Final Verdict: Easily the best DS9 novel since Time's Enemy and easily the best of the relaunch.
Demons Of Air And Darkness by Keith R. A. DeCandido
The holomeeting was an effective and novel (pardon the pun) way of tying the crossover books together. The novel itself has an interesting premise that is reasonably well executed but the maintenance on the ongoing plotlines of Shar and Dax is a little tedious.
Final Verdict: One of the better relaunch novels.
Mission Gamma: Twilight by David R. George
Like Avatar the title of this novel is a reference to a previously unmentioned bajoran prophecy. The first 2 sections of the book, comprising 17 chapters and 170 pages seemed an unnecessarily long setup to the gamma mission, not that there isn't any good stuff there but it could have been much tighter. The short and numerous chapters do get a little annoying, particularly when they last about a page and a half. 72 chapters over 504 pages works out to an average chapter length of exactly 7 pages. Vaughn's odessey is painfully slow and repetitive that by the time he reaches his destination you really don't care anymore. The Quark-Ro story on the other hand is really quite endearing.
Final Verdict: A sometimes slow, repetitive, and tedious novel but it brings you to a wonderful place at the end.
Mission Gamma: This Gray Spirit by Heather Jarman
The book is somewhat aptly named as I find it a little depressing on both major plots. One can't help but wonder if the people behind the relaunch haven't written themselves into a corner with the Andorian problem. Speaking of Thriss it's her plot that frequently keeps me away from re-reading this series. It's not just that she reminds me of a crazy ex-girlfriend or two but that the whole plot is both utterly pointless and as I mentioned it's depressing. The saving grace is the Gamma Quadrant and Bajoran politics plots are more interesting than the previous novel. Some of the characters on the Gamma side are hard to tell apart and keep track of but it's not a problem if you make your peace with it.
Final Verdict: One depressing subplot tries to take away from what is otherwise a decent novel.
Mission Gamma: Cathedral by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
One thing about the first 3 books in this series, they aren't short; coming in at 504, 390, and 400 pages respectively these aren't the 250-odd page novels of the 90s. On the whole I think the lengths aren't justified, these aren't Peter David or Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens novels afterall. I think each novel should have been toned down a little. The first book took too long to get to the point and the second should have eliminated the Thriss plot entirely. I fear the density of the material, already a 4 book series to begin with, may have turned people off of the relaunch. This novel does not get off on the right foot with me as it begins with the subplot from the previous novel that I loathe. Once into the thick of things it gets pretty interesting, but the Julian plot is disturbing but not in any way you'd blame the author for. I think what happens to Julian is the fear of any intelligent person or parent. As a person that values their intelligence the thought one day being robbed of it by accident, biology, or age is upsetting and this book stares it in the face. As a parent you fear your child could stop developing but your only option is to either push the child to achieve, likely too forcefully, or be patient and try not to think of it. This book makes it very hard not to think about. I also despise mind-as-real-world metaphors. Frankly it seems like the authors think it's a chance to show how clever and learned they think they are but it just comes off as pompous and unrealistic - and realism is hard enough to maintain in Science Fiction to begin with. I do very much appreciate how they don't forget the transporters in the shuttles. How many times did transporters go down on TNG, DS9, and Voyager causing a major problem? Almost never did they think to use the perfectly working transporters on shuttles or runabouts.
Final Verdict: On the whole a very good, and at times disturbing and thought-provoking, story.
Mission Gamma: Lesser Evil by Robert Simpson
Easily the shortest novel of the Mission Gamma series this is also easily the best. Action and a sense of urgency, even relevance, finally return. The DS9 and Defiant plots are both gripping, reminding you what it was like to have a DS9 novel you couldn't put down. The involvement of the Borg is handled masterfully, particularly as the Borg aren't even hinted at on the cover and don't completely overwhelm the story.
Final Verdict: A fantastic end to a marginal 4-book series.
Rising Son by S.D. Perry
This book seems to try to do too many things in terms of the crew and ship - too many difficult to picture or hard to understand aliens and concepts that end up becoming background noise because the reader has to do too much of the mental footwork of figuring it out and keeping everything straight. And some of the names feel like madlibs selected on occasion specifically to be confusing. The beginning is further off-putting as Pif makes it read like a children's novel but Facity seems straight out of erotica at first, suffice to say the juxtaposition is somewhat jarring. I also detest coming of age stories so maybe this just isn't my cup of tea.
Final Verdict: An unremarkable novel that nevertheless pushes the relaunch story pretty far along, particularly at the end.
Unity by S.D. Perry
The first 200 pages are almost a complete write-off; virtually nothing happens and they pretty much spend the time thinking or talking about the events of previous books. Some of it is relevant housekeeping but much of it makes you wonder if the author is paid by the word Dickens-style. Then it's as if a switch had been thrown and everything becomes fast paced, edge of your seat, can't put the book down but that part is not made any better than the preamble. The conclusion has a dues ex machina feel to it but it's hard not to when the Bajoran faith is involved.
Final Verdict: This is more like two books; the first half dull and unnecessary, the second half exciting and interesting.
Worlds Of DS9: Cardassia & Andor by Una McCormack and Heather Jarman
I don't like the way Keiko is written, so many exclamations and imperatives and such a focus on politics she comes off as a cross between a soap opera character and a liberal blog. In fact up until the action finally starts pretty much everything on Cardassia is tedious - much like an enigmatale I suppose. Even the action isn't that memorable or remarkable. The Andor half is even worse, frankly I see nothing redeeming about it but I dislike the entire DS9 relaunch's take on Andorian society although I do like Shar.
Final Verdict: Essentially a waste of time, Shar finds a new bondmate and that's all you need to know.
Worlds Of DS9: Trill & Bajor by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels and J. Noah Kym
Unlike the previous Worlds, Trill seems to have everything: action, political intrigue, and moral conflict. This is Star Trek; the unjoined could easily be a metaphor for a minority, the poor, or homosexuals. Given what I know of the authors I think I know which but at least it's more subtle than the TNG Section 31 book, that thing should have had to register as a lobbyist. But this is so subtle I didn't even pick up on it the first time I read it. Trill could easily been it's own novel; just so long as no more time was given to Dax's SCUBA trip, I found the Trill backstory interesting but the trip itself to discover it was rather dull. I also didn't like how they handled the Bashir-Dax relationship at the end, I guess one benefit is lesser writers won't be able to turn them into teenagers again. The Bajor half on the other hand is much less interesting - the Siskos plotlines are painfully dull. The attack plotline is interesting but woefully unsatisfying in it's lack of progression.
Final Verdict: A substantial improvement over the previous novel, half of which is enjoyable and all of which is necessary to understand future developments.
Worlds Of DS9: The Dominion & Ferenginar by David R. George III and Keith R.A. DeCandido
Ferenginar is an unremarkable story but true to the Ferengi episodes of DS9. It seems these Worlds Of DS9 novels have a secondary goal of squashing romantic trends of the previous relaunch novels. The Dominion half is likewise unremarkable.
Final Verdict: Both stories are necessary and progress the overall story but don't expect anything special.
Warpath by David Mack
If you read this when it came out the long break between the release of the previous novel and this book would have served as quite the cooling distraction but in re-reading this adds to the previous stories nicely. It helps that both the plot and quality of writing improve significantly. After wading through the oftentimes dull Worlds Of DS9 series one needs to look at this book with fresh eyes to give it a fair chance but if you do you'll be pleasantly surprised by the suspense, rising action, and engrossing characterizations. This novel won't be particularly memorable but that in no way means you won't enjoy reading it. The Kira-prophet-dream plot is boring and pointless. As for the rest of the story Mack does a lot with very little. In terms of overall plot progression this reminds me of Dark Victory, which essentially means I could sum up the entire plot of the novel in one sentence without leaving anything important out. Despite these significant drawbacks Mack makes this an enjoyable read if you skip the Kira parts which you can.
Final Verdict: Unremarkable but decently written and an enjoyable read.
Fearful Symmetry by Olivia Woods
The multiverse concept of the emissary is fantastically refreshing, especially when the primary ongoing plot at times begins to feel like a comedy called Too Many Kiras. The characterization is generally pretty good although the Kira-Vaughn conflict doesn't feel very organic. The flashback, while interesting, seems to slam the brakes on the rising action established in the previous novel. The latter half of the novel is a completely different entity; entirely backstory it does precisely nothing to progress the plot. It begins like a soap opera, then shifts into a letters-from-war format, and then goes to an incredibly dark place and finally ends with a little action. Frankly the entire second half could have been replaced with some dialogue and those pages instead used to move the story forward some.
Final Verdict: The first half is very interesting; the second half is a disturbing waste of time.
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