Michael in Wonderland: Burnham's Missing Year Explored

I would suspect that from the title of this piece there are a few people out there thinking; "Who cares?" and honestly, after the events of season three I was sitting very close to that fence indeed.

But you can't keep away from a novel from one of Star Trek's modern day super writers in the form of Una McCormack.

McCormack has steered us literary Trek fans though a whole host of events across the last 20 years. Even though this is her first take on the Discovery universe I was confident it would be expertly handled.

Rightly so because Wonderland not only fills in a gap we didn't see on screen but helps to develop the characters of "fish out of water" Burnham, Cleveland "Call me Book" Booker and Federation administrator Sahil, all of whom we met or were reacquainted with during the season three opener.

Something that becomes evident very early on in McCormack's latest volume is how much opportunity there is for story and galaxy building on the page. Discovery itself is visually budget limited to a degree but here in this new novel there is the chance to really expand the canvas and explore the very different, disjointed and at times horribly bleak 31st Century. It's very much a universe "rebuilding" novel in that we get much more specific details on the ships Burnham explored to research the Burn, we get to see how she acquired her on transport vessel for courier runs and just what happened within the relationship she nurtured with Book.

In light of the nature of the galaxy without warp drive, the story is very self contained spatially and fortunately this means we get to see more of Starbase 47 and the remnants of what has become of its Starfleet contingent. There are moments of optimism in there - possibly more than we actually got to see in the whole of the third season - but I found that knowing the actual outcome of this and how Wonderlands fits into the overall arc of Discovery let it right down after about 100 pages. 

McCormack has also had to drop in the odd expletive as has become something of a staple for Discovery and Picard. It's not the worst thing to happen but y'know, we managed 50 years without overuse of them which makes their appearance in any form of the franchise rather jarring. McCormack's dialogue is excellent as it has always been in every one of her stories and you can't fault the effort and the care to ensure that everything lines up with onscreen events but it's likewise constricted by just that.

Novels from the other Star Trek series have worked because they have been able to step away from the frame of the TV but Discovery's serialised form nips away at any chance to freestyle because of the potential impact on its characters and a clear desire for the novels to fully tie in with the series. The same seems to be happening with Picard and with the imminent end of 20 years of continuity in the Coda trilogy we may find that a lot of our novel entries become less imaginative if they are needed to align with the franchise's plans.

Wonderlands is a well written piece of Trek but it can't be saved thanks to its writer's abilities. This one's a disappointment that hints at things we already know and doesn't, tragically, add any real depth to Discovery as a whole. Not one I'll be going back to anytime soon sadly but it does serve a purpose to fill in some of that "lost time".

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