Two Times the Enterprise: Headlong Flight from Dayton Ward

The potential in Dayton Ward's Headlong Flight is overwhelming just from the enticing cover art.

A story that promises the Enterprise-D and the E plus old school Romulans has to be something special - it just has to be because how could such a massive opportunity during the 30th anniversary of The Next Generation possibly be lacking?

Well...

Headlong Flight over promises and tragically under delivers in spectacular style. I can actually describe the whole book in a sentence - three ships get stuck in a dimensional mcguffin and then work out how to get back. There you go, all done and dusted. The issue for me is that this could have been so much more.

For those following the novel series that has evolved since Nemesis, the familiar Enterprise-E crew are back but are definitely not the most interesting part of the book. That title has to go to the crew of the Enterprise-D from an alternative universe and also from a point around the mid-fourth season of the show.

But this is a crew that lost Picard in the final confrontation with the Borg in Sector 001, a ship that still has Pulaski as its doctor, Data as its first officer, Wesley as a civilian advisor and Tasha Yar still at the tactical station. It has all the plus points just in those characters to be a blinder with what is the A plot really as an option to become the background story. Instead it seems like this is all wasted for a story which doesn't really go beyond the ordinary. 

I really wanted to see the moments that changed this crew develop as narrative rather than summarised plot points with Ward really delving into the background of what happened to Picard or how come Pulaski did remain. Even the anguish that is supposedly present from Picard's death seems trivial here. I just didn't feel an attachment to the Riker-prise or really care about their stories because there wasn't anything to latch onto. 

Nor did the Romulans fare any better although they do get to take some pot shots at the two Federation starships.  Indeed I reckon that Headlong Flight could have done without their appearance and just seen the two parallel Enterprise crews teaming up to get themselves free of the planet. In that case there would easily have been more room to discuss the backgrounds of the alternative crew from the Riker-prise.

The problem is that while the intention is good, the conclusion is a foregone conclusion and it really feels that nothing of any real note happens. I would even have been excited if this had been a story purely set aboard the parallel Enterprise or just from their perspective. There's no surprise, no tension, no revelation, just a reset and a book which, tragically, feels like filler from start to finish. I did want to care about the crews or the aliens but in both cases I fell short. Tasha's appearance back on the bridge was perhaps my biggest "yes!" for Headlong Flight but that isn't paid off at all. There's no reason given for why she's still alive nor what happened if/when they did encounter Armus. How is she still alive? It's never adequately discussed in the book and by two-thirds of the way through it seems to have been largely forgotten.

Ward unquestionably knows his cast and every nuance that can be. He avoids colloquialisms and keeps them true to their portrayal on the show and in the movies however that accuracy can't save them from a mediocre story that over-promises and under-delivers. In conclusion it has to be one of the biggest fails of the book series I've read so far. I genuinely love Dayton Ward's work and although I made it through to the final page it was more to confirm that I hadn't missed an interesting aside or a revelation as to what influence the time-stream to create these versions of the lead characters.

While The Next Generation's Parallels provided a series of insights into the crew in different timelines, Headlong Flight feels stale, unfulfilled and begging for something to raise the tension. However I find myself drawn to stories which do offer these twists on our expectations and if I'm looking at how it did keep me entertained I have to compare it to how many times I picked it up and put it down versus The Fate of the Unknown which I'm struggling through at the moment. In that instance I have to say this is a sure fire winner and one that I raced through in a couple of days. 

Praise? Yes, BUT I know that this is because I love the concept and was waiting for a big reveal or a character swap or something that might tag this standalone into future novels yet there was nothing. Maybe a standalone set in this parallel universe just after Headlong Flight is the answer? At least then there would be a payoff to this 300+ page story.

Headlong Flight is available now from Simon and Schuster priced £7.99 ISBN 9781501111310. 

Accurate review or was Headlong Flight a literary winner?

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A Fitting Legacy? The 50th Anniversary Trilogy

I'm still pretty shocked I burnt through these three novels in the course of just three weeks.

The Legacies trilogy consists of Captain to Captain (Greg Cox), Best Defense (David Mack) and Purgatory's Key (Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward) and spins a tale surrounding a mysterious object known as the Transfer Key that has been hidden aboard the USS Enterprise since the days of Captain Robert April with its secret transferred from captain and first officer to their successors which brings us neatly to Kirk and Spock.

The three novels follow on seamlessly but each has a very different story to tell using the Transfer Key as the cornerstone from which everything is built. Cox's first third of the story is the origins piece, cleanly establishing the nature of the device and relating it very closely to another item which made an appearance in The Original Series. An origins story might not sound that exciting but the gem here is that the story flips back in time to the era of April and it's discovery and concealment. 

Central to the whole thing is one character - Captain Una aka. Number One from The Cage who served under both of Kirks predecessors on the Enterprise. It is her arrival at the beginning of Captain to Captain which sparks events into motion and by the end you kind of wish she'd just stayed away and saved everyone a heck of a lot of haste. 

As a character never really explored beyond the hour of the unaired pilot, Number One is a huge blank canvas waiting to be sketched out. Or maybe not. As for background we do get some details as to her academy record and the reasons behind her numerical nickname and short chosen moniker as well as a cool nod to the Enterprise's computer voice and just how come it sounds the same as Una. 

Along with the Transfer Key at the core of the first book we also have the introduction of two alien races whom will also be featured across the anniversary trilogy and cross paths with the crew and the returning Number One. Captain to Captain however does not work solely as a standalone novel because Cox is tasked with a lot of set up and explanation which is handled well and does give the subsequent books a lot more room to breathe. I actually found this first book the most captivating for that very reason and that Cox seemed more aware of his environment than Mack who slipped in a couple of very out of place colloquialisms that did jar me a little when I was reading through. 

In relation to characterisation Cox also nails this very well avoiding turning the cast into all out action heroes and retaining a sense of The Original Series. In relation to Best Defenses especially I did sense that Mack went off on a big action adventure piece with apparent influences from the more recent reboots perhaps affecting the way in which the story evolved. While it was an enjoyable read I did feel that Captain to Captain created an epic path and prospects that weren't captured fully in the second part. While it's a good read there are a few final points that just seem to come out of nowhere to bolster the trilogy but fortunately they are managed very effectively by the subsequent writers.

Now Best Defenses is, fortunately, different to its predecessor taking that more action orientated slant but also drawing on Star Trek's rich character base to add a slab of continuity to the proceedings. Klingons, Romulans and Vulcans all have their place at David Mack's table including such franchise returnees as Gorkon (The Undiscovered Country) and Spock's father Sarek although whether all their presences are necessary is a bit borderline.

Again the action content is pretty heavy and there are now several different threads to manage so skipping book one is not an option. There's the conference, Number One's activities in the alternative dimension plus the goings on aboard a Romulan Bird of Prey to balance and remember. It's not as linear as Captain to Captain but the amount of information and development that happens in Best Defenses cannot be ignored in any sense. 

As for characters Kirk and the Enterprise crew are faithfully recreated and I find with authors such as Mack and Cox they tend to avoid the use of colloquialisms that jar you out of the 23rd Century environment. It's faithful to the show and with this being the Legacy trilogy it would be silly to expect anything less than an indulgent - and period accurate - read. While Mack has Sarek pinned well there are times he almost slips into an action hero role but one representation i just couldn't grip properly was Gorkon. The soft spoken statesman from The Undiscovered Country might be a fair few years away but there's very little hint of that personality within Best Defenses and more so in Purgatory's Key. For some reason he is most certainly cast in a more active and warrior-like Klingon role than you appreciate in the sixth classic movie. Sadly it's a blip that does give me a grumble in an otherwise highly enjoyable trilogy of books.

The supreme issue with this book and by association the trilogy is that the wrapping up of the various strands is done in a smattering of pages and seems to be over before it's even started. Ok there's a little bit of cleanup work after that but the drawing together of (most of) the story elements does feel a little rushed given the 900 page build up. As a trilogy it really does offer lots through the first two books with the second not just a place holder and instead building and adding to Captain to Captain. Problem is that there's a lot left for Purgatory's Key to do and even with a 340 page offering to round everything out it still felt a little incomplete and hurried.

The writing itself is solid and there's no schoolboy errors here but the quality of the end result is just tarnished by that breakneck pace to clean everything up nicely. I could have more than abided a few loose strands left floating for future stories but alas that doesn't happen although I would welcome some more novels to feature Number One now that she's stepped into the limelight here - so much potential. 

The Legacies trilogy is a grand milestone in the literary series however its memory might fade pretty quickly especially since there's the rather impressive Prey trilogy right after it...

Was Legacies the trilogy we deserved for the 50th anniversary? Were you wanting more or something totally different?

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Time Twists in Elusive Salvation

Dayton Ward nailed a superb read with History's Shadow three years ago and the long teased sequel (of sorts) dropped earlier this year with Elusive Salvation.   

While this does act as a completely separate story to the events of History's Shadow, Ward's newest trek into the unknown returns familiar faces from episodes of The Original Series (Assignment: Earth), Deep Space Nine (Little Green Men) and Enterprise (Carbon Creek) in a tale which is set between the events of The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan as well as across the 1970's and 1980's.

Placing the action within several different years of human history does mean that you need to keep your wits about you from the first page as we move from moments in the 20th Century to the 22nd Century with fair regularity. Keeping up? Good because there's also a couple of new alien races to drop into the scenario at the same time who are the main reason we're flip flopping around the continuum in the first place.   

The pace at which Ward keeps us moving around definitely keeps you pinned to the story all the way through and it's a well-warranted sequel after the apparent success of History's Shadow. Elusive Salvation is a Star Trek novel that isn't quite a Star Trek novel given that it allows a lot of its guest cast a significant amount of room to breathe and exist. At times it almost comes across that Kirk, Spock and the rest of the regular USS Enterprise crew are there as the guest cast in this adventure which tends to focus more on the characters of Roberta Lincoln and the Vulcan Mestral (Carbon Creek). 

Elusive Salvation is a refreshing break from adventures on at the final frontier and the edges of the galaxy bringing the action - in a very reboot way - right back to Earth of two time periods. As for characterisation it did feel somewhat light this time round focusing more on the twists and turns of the time travelling protagonists and leaving them with very little to do. Ok there are a few Kirk quips, an occasional raised Vulcan eyebrow and a cantankerous comment from the good Doctor McCoy but the bulk of the book does rely on Roberta Lincoln for its energy and motivation. For a character who appeared in a single episode of The Original Series, she gets a lot of ground here but very little character depth and at moments I even felt she was coming off a little too much like a female Doctor missing only a TARDIS since the servo she carries is certainly akin to a sonic screwdriver in no uncertain terms. 

While characterisation might suffer here, Elusive Salvation certainly delivers when it comes to maintaining pace and shovelling out the goods in terms of action and suspense. We have the car and mouse hunt for the Iramahl in the 20th Century as well as the observations of Starfleet's finest admirals in Nogura and Morrow in the 23rd Century which are a tad deflated by the sporadic and two dimensional appearance of the Ptaen Hunters who are seeking out the Iramahl survivors. There is a lot happening within this story and some knowledge of the previous tome wouldn't go amiss. Admittedly I haven't read it and did have a furrowed brow at a couple of moments because I wasn't 'in' on past events but don't let this deter you from reading on and enjoy what I must describe as a 'temporal caper'. 

While not Dayton Ward's finest novel it's still a very worthwhile read and one I enjoyed at every turn. There's even some nice hat tips towards the end that will thrill every fan.  Not an essential for your collection but a good 390 page indulgence without question.

You can also read our chat with author Dayton Ward right HERE!

Elusive Salvation is available now from Simon and Schuster priced £7.99 ISBN 9781501111297

Dilmore Concludes Legacies - and Talks to SKoST!

Ian Kimmins speaks to author Kevin Dilmore.

Kevin Dilmore has worked with co-author Dayton Ward for over 15 years of Star Trek novels we had the pleasure of being able to talk the man himself

His new Star Trek novel Purgatory’s Key the conclusion to the trilogy has just been released and is now available. So I asked him what direction we can expect?

If I were to choose a word to describe our direction for Purgatory’s Key, it would be ‘metaphysical’

And about his working relationship with Dayton Ward his co-author

When dividing our work for this book, I chose to do the first drafts of each chapter that takes place in the unnamed realm beyond our own in which important parts of the story take place.

I got to use the most diverse assortment of characters in those chapters that I’ve ever used, from races we know well, to beings the likes of which we’ve not seen. I also explored relationships among the crew of the Enterprise as well as with persons they love not typically aboard the starship. For me, the characters of Star Trek are family to one another; that’s a theme we got to explore this time around.

It seems as though Kevin and Dayton have a wonderful working relationship and also the pertinent question - how much of a challenge was it to co write the conclusion to the 50th anniversary story?

Each book presents its own challenges to me personally. One challenge I don’t have is in Dayton’s and my processes of co-writing.

We have a shared voice that’s distinct from our separate writing voices, and it’s one we can snap into pretty easily at this point.

Beyond our writing partnership, Dayton’s not only my closest friend, we are practically family. Our goal is to make each of our projects the best story possible but never at the expense of each other or of our friendship. I always enjoy collaborating with him.

Did having worked with the other authors (David Mack and Greg Cox) in this series make the process easier?

Our past work with Dave and Greg certainly contributed to ease in the plotting process. We share a sensibility of what we believe makes a great Star Trek story (we learned that about each other years ago through fun conversations whenever we get together).

I then moved on to his other Star Trek novels (The Vanguard Series) and how they influence his present work. Was it easier to write these earlier books? (since you had the freedom to create a little pocket of your own in the Star Trek universe) or would you prefer to deal primarily with the established crews?

It’s been more than a decade now since Dave and former Star Trek editor Marco Palmieri invited us to contribute to their vision of Star Trek: Vanguard. At conventions, Vanguard is cited without fail as being among someone’s favorite Star Trek series of books. 

I remain very happy about my writing for the Vanguard story; I imagine I will regard it among my top accomplishments for the rest of my writing career. I felt no more or less freedom with the characters of Vanguard than I do with those from series produced for the screen because I felt no more or less responsibility to them.

While writing, I have just as much fun working with our Vanguard cast as I do any other characters in Star Trek, including those of the original series—and for me, that is saying something!

And of course, with the excitement building about Star Trek: Discovery, I had to ask about the possibility of Kevin being asked to write a novel from this pre-The Original Series era

Who was it that said, “There are always possibilities”? I have complete confidence that the creative minds behind Star Trek: Discovery will present to us an exciting and intriguing facet of the Star Trek universe, and one I would be happy and flattered to explore in prose. Whether I; or anyone I know is invited to do; so remains to be seen.

Going back to the Golden Age of Star Trek; you used to write for the Communicator magazine; how much fun was it to be involved in that period of Star Trek?

I owe my Star Trek career to Star Trek Communicator publisher Dan Madsen and Editor Larry Nemecek. These two men placed confidence in me to cover everything from the opening of Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas to the finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I had uncounted opportunities to meet and interview Star Trek’s writers, visual artists, crew and cast, including a few people for whom I was their first journalistic interview. I made so many friends through the Communicator, such as the contributing writers of the Strange New Worlds anthologies published by Pocket Books, including Dayton, we met when I interviewed him about his short story in the first volume of the series.

Fun is a vast understatement!

And lastly, I asked Kevin what he had in store for the rest of 2016/2017 whether Star Trek related or not.

           

Looking ahead in 2016, I have a couple of children’s books to be published by Hallmark Gift Books. Dayton and I wrote a story for issue #2 of Star Trek Way-point, heading to news-stands in November from Comics. I stay pretty active co-hosting Pop Minded, a weekly YouTube series on the Hallmark and Community channel. Watch my Facebook  page for more updates.

A true pleasure it was to speak to such a talented and thoroughly nice man. Kevin’s books are available on all formats and I would highly recommend that you indulge yourself in some excellent Star Trek storytelling.

Thanks again to Kevin Dilmore for speaking to us!

Star Trek: Legacies 3; Purgatory's Key'is available from Simon and Schuster ISBN 9781501122774.

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The Fog Clears: Dayton Ward on Legacies, Vulcans and Time Travel

This month sees the release of the much anticipated Vulcan Travel Guide and ahead of it's release, Ian Kimmins got in touch with author Dayton Ward to discuss his latest work - and more!

"I was approached by the publisher, Insight Editions, after being recommended by John Van Citters at CBS Consumer Products." explained Dayton in regards to the upcoming guide; "They asked if it was something I’d be interested in doing, and of course I said yes. Insight has been producing some truly beautiful books that tie into all sorts of film, TV, and gaming properties, and it seemed like one of those opportunities I really couldn’t pass up."

But this isn't the only travel guide that's coming from the publisher - and the followups won't necessarily be using the Star Trek universe either; "Insight is using the Hidden Universe Travel Guide label as sort of an umbrella for travel guides for different properties." said Dayton; " There’s one coming later this year titled The Complete Marvel Cosmos, as written by the Guardians of the Galaxy from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That one definitely looks fun. If Vulcan does well, then there could be others in this vein. I hope they let me do one for Risa. Do I really need to explain why?"

Travelling back a few years, Star Trek fans might remember that the Elusive Salvation author actually got his break through the Strange New Worlds competition back in 1998 and this has recently had another run to find the next big writer. So how did one of it's major success stories - a writer who had work published in the first three editions no less - feel about the return of such a prestigious event?

"I was thrilled to see the contest return, and I hope it becomes an annual thing again. I guess we’ll have to see how this first one is received and how it does, sales-wise.

"The contest definitely had an impact on me, as it launched my writing career. Everything I’ve done can be traced back to that first Strange New Worlds sale. Fans have always been an integral part of Star Trek’s longevity, and a contest like this is a fantastic way for fans to play in the sandbox. For those whose stories are selected there’s that sense of recognition that they contributed even some small way to the larger Star Trek tapestry."

Looking through Dayton Ward's back catalogue of Star Trek titles there are a lot of memorable adventures in The Next Generation, through Typhon Pact and Mirror Universe but one that captured a lot of interest was From History's Shadow. So much so that it led to the recent release of Elusive Salvation which is effectively its sequel.

"I don’t know if my book in particular had any real impact or brought a lot of new readers to the fold." recalled the author, "I’d like to think it’s something a casual or new reader could pick up and enjoy, without having to be too steeped in the mythology, or feel the need to read a number of the other books. 

"That said, regular readers of the Star Trek novels tend to be dedicated fans, so it’s nice to be able to provide something that catches their interest. I got a lot of nice responses to From History’s Shadow and I had a tremendous amount of fun writing it thanks to the blending of Star Trek history and real history. The same is true for Elusive Salvation. When I wrote From History's Shadow, it wasn’t with any expectations of doing a sequel, but the response was good enough that my editors weren’t opposed to the notion. 

"Will there be a third book in this sequence? I guess there probably should be, given the way the second book ends. Here’s hoping!"

As we noted, Dayton Ward has a great back catalogue that we would encourage any Star Trek fan to dive into. Alongside his time-travelling adventures, another one that has struck a chord and spun off to the recent four book Seekers series was Vanguard.

"The Star Trek Vanguard series (which he co-wrote with Kevin Dilmore and series co-creator David Mack) is one of those dream jobs you love to get and I enjoyed every minute working on that series." he said, "There hadn’t been anything like it, and it may be a while before see something like it again. I’m very proud of what we were able to accomplish with those books, and how our editors and CBS let us push things the way we did, taking a few of Star Trek’s core tenets and deconstructing them a little bit while endeavoring to remain true to them."

So that covers the past but what about upcoming events for the always entertaining Star Trek scribe? Well there's a new The Next Generation story up  in January 2017 entitled Headlong Flight.

"It’s another story with Picard and the Enterprise-E, several years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis as well as a whole bunch of stuff that’s happened in the novels in recent years. The Enterprise is exploring a largely uncharted region of space called the Odyssean Pass, which I introduced in Armageddon’s Arrow, a novel I wrote and which was published last year. (title image from Dayton's superb blog The Fog of Ward)

"This time, they find a rogue planet, with people on the surface who basically tell the Enterprise to go away for their own safety. Naturally, Picard sends people to investigate, and while that’s happening the entire planet disappears. And then things get really weird."

Sounds like another big winner from Dayton Ward if you ask us! And what else might we be expecting for the remainder of 2016 - after all there's a 50th anniversary bubbling away and Mr Ward is a man of many talents...?

"On the writing front and in addition to the Vulcan Travel Guide, I’ve got two novels coming out in August. The first is Trial By Fire, a novel based on the television series 24. It’s a prequel, featuring Jack Bauer several years before the events of the TV show and before he joined the Counter Terrorist Unit, when he’s just starting with the CIA. 

Coming out a week later is Purgatory’s Key, the novel I co-wrote with my writing partner, Kevin Dilmore and which is the third book in the Star Trek: Legacies trilogy that is celebrating the original Star Trek series’ 50th anniversary. The first book in the trilogy, Captain to Captain by Greg Cox, just came out at the end of June, and the second book, Best Defense by David Mack, will be out at the end of July. We follow in late August. I’m also developing a concept for an original science fiction novel I hope to shop around in the coming months, and there’s always something else brewing somewhere.

"I try to stay busy! Somewhere in and around all of that, I look forward to sleeping every once in a while. I’m not getting my hopes up, though."

MASSIVE thanks to Dayton Ward for taking time out to reply to our questions. Make sure you're looking out to get a copy of his Vulcan Travel Guide soon!

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Straight to the Tip: Armageddon's Arrow from Dayton Ward

+Daniel Adams takes us out with the Enterprise-E as it returns to its core mission of seeking out new life and new civilisations. Catchy line that - they should use it....

I’d argue that a lot of the 24th Century novels are like the Marvel Cinematic universe. 

There are Avengers-type series like the Destiny, Typhon Pact and The Fall sagas, epic stories that have implications for the quadrant, and so our captains and other main characters have to put their heads together and work to solve the problems, in the same way that Iron Man and Thor team up. However, in the same way that each individual Marvel hero’s supporting cast is given brief, if any appearances in the Avengers, the junior officers of the various crews – most of which have never been seen on screen, are often briefly mentioned, but don’t really get involved. 

Armageddon’s Arrow is a return to the basic form of Star Trek, in the same way as say, Iron Man 3 or Thor 2 focuses on the relevant heroes instead of a mega team up. Dayton Ward’s novel is set mostly on Picard’s Enterprise-E, which has returned to Starfleet’s core mission of exploration. Therefore, by focusing on the one ship, the next generation, of er, The Next Generation all get a moment to shine. For those who don’t know, Picard is still sticking to Captain Kirk’s advice, and remains a Captain. Troi and Riker, were on the Titan, but now Riker is an Admiral, Crusher is still on the ship, as is La Forge. Worf is the first officer, and numerous posts are filled by crew that are entirely created for the novel continuity. 

While charting a previously unexplored area of space, The Enterprise stumbles across a time ship from the future, created by the Raqilan to bring an end to their decades long war with their neighbours the Golvonek. As intended, the ship, based on a familiar planet killing design, was designed to destroy the home world of the Golvonek, thus ending the war before it began. The plan was derailed when the ship was attacked before it jumped to the past. The damage to its systems meant that the ship failed to revive the crew from cryogenic stasis when it arrived at its destination. The war began, and the crew were revived by Picard decades later than planned. 

In the present day, the contemporary versions of the Golvonek and Raqilan want to get their hands on the weapon from the future. Picard finds himself balancing not only the Prime Directive, but the Temporal Prime Directive as well. In the meantime, things are further complicated when the revived crew have an agenda of their own. 

The novel starts slowly, but eventually picks up speed as we learn more about the craft’s occupants, and the two races trying to take hold of it. The two species are actually pretty well rounded, rather than being one race of ‘goodies’ and one race of ‘baddies’, instead they come across as two three dimensional species in their thinking. Indeed, there is no real ‘villain’ of the piece, just soldiers following orders. 

During their investigations, the crew discover that the ship is linked to the Planet Killer from The Original Series episode The Doomsday Machine a nice nod to the past and gives Picard another added layer of pressure has he desperately strives to stop the weapon being seized by one side or the other while working within the confines of Starfleet regulations.

The good captain continues to be a much more mellow character than the man we saw on the TV series, his dedication to duty tempered with fatherhood and marriage However, he has the same angst about sending crew on dangerous missions, even more poignant when one of those crew-members is his wife, the returning Doctor Crusher. 

The doctor, Worf and La Forge are faithful to their screen counterparts as well. Crusher still has the same passion for saving lives, whereas La Forge gets some new developments with a romantic partner, sickbay’s Dr Harstad. First Officer Worf is a particular source of delight as he shows a playful spirit through his traditional dry delivery, almost as if there is a touch of Riker in the way that our favourite Klingon performs as First Officer to the crew. 

An exciting plot development comes from the Vulcan Engineer Taurik. The character, who had a role in The Next Generation’s Lower Decks, comes across information concerning the Federation in the future ship’s database. True to Vulcan form, he refuses to divulge the precise nature of that information, seals it away so that not even Picard can access it, and we never find out what the information means. It’ll be interesting to see where this information goes.

Of particular note is T'Ryssa Chen, the reverse Spock, a half Human/half Vulcan that has chosen to reject her Vulcan heritage. Although I find the concept of the character interesting, In I have to say I didn't care for her much in her earlier appearances, but subsequent writers have succeeded in making her more and more likeable. 

If I had one problem with this book is that I though the pacing was a bit out. I thought the last few chapters were very busy and it was exciting, particularly the sequences where our heroes are fighting to escape and/or rescue other crew from captivity, but the process of getting there seemed to be quite slow. Again, perhaps this is a consequence of the reduced cast of characters. 

Overall, while the idea of time displaced castaways being woken up in the present isn't a new one, the but the concept that they are from the future instead of the past is a novel spin on the idea. The return to one ship and one crew is a welcome change in scope, as more characters get a chance to shine, and it makes for a nice rest before the next cross franchise epic.

Armageddon's Arrow is now available from Simon and Schuster priced £7.99 ISBN 9781476782690.

Agree with Dan's review or did you have another opinion? Drop your thoughts below!

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Seekers 2: And Now the Continuation

A starship down and a seemingly malevolent alien race are in control of a planet.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that might be a great tag line to introduce a standalone novel but in this case it's a description of how the second Seekers story kicks off. 

Dropping the reader right into the middle of the story will be of no issue to those who have (sensibly) tackled Seekers 1 however for those of us that haven't it's more than a little challenging.

There is a brief recollection within the first chapter of Point of Divergence (the subtitle for the second book) as to the events that immediately preceded this release but they are pretty sparce and it's not as accessible as I found The Fall could be if you weren't reading them in a linear fashion. However I doubt that with Seekers you'd be reading the second book if you hadn't touched the first.

Anyway, let's tackle this story and see where it takes us. As with every one of our book reviews we do like to note that there may be SPOILERS ahead so if you are worried we'll give something away, click onto one of our other articles and enjoy.

Seekers 2 is a direct sequel, launching the reader back into a tense confrontation between the Klingons, led by Kang, the Federation and an evolving people known as The Changed. These Changed - and one in particular - are fairly hostile towards outsiders and aren't concerned with differentiating a Klingon from a human as we come to find out fairly soon. It's a conflict with two fronts actually as we have the surface activity involving all three parties around the crashed hull of Captain Terrell's USS Sagittarius and then the stand off between Kang and the USS Endeavour in orbit above. 

For new readers there are a lot of characters to get acquainted to fairly briskly although anyone who has made it through book one will have no trouble identifying the leads here. My issue is that they all seem very average with no-one particularly standing out or making a mark and that's a shame since the grounding of Point of Divergence is perfect, relating back to The Paradise Syndrome and the Preservers as well as exploring their legacy and secrets. But I couldn't get excited. Sorry.

You see this series (which will be receiving at least a third book in 2015) just doesn't seem to deliver the suspense and excitement factor I've felt with other recent Star Trek literary releases. It's good but standard fayre that seems to be trailing off the backend of the very successful and well regarded Vanguard series. Perhaps the hype for these books has overshadowed their purpose but that doesn't mean that authors Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore haven't done a good job because they have. This is solid and well written with solid and well written characters in a solid and well written environment however the spark just doesn't seem to eminate from the page and this really does take a long time to get anywhere. If there's one thing I can say it's that while the first book provided a great cliffhanger to draw readers back for a second helping it's continuing story has echoes of one of The Next Generation's less successful two-parters - the second round never quite lives up to the work put into the first slice.

In fact I found the first half of this book a slog. Nothing really happens once the Tomol known as Nimur completes her/its transformation into one of the Changed (close to the opening) and sets about making sure her brethren also take the evolutionary leap they have been restrained and nigh on forced to avoid for centuries by the Preservers through a life-ending ritual. That alone is a great draw as a plot point not dissimilar to Logan's Run in it's conception but when the bulk of the book is drawn into an almost cat and mouse chase sequence across the planet with the Sagittarius in the middle effecting repairs it gets a bit repetitive. 

Captain Khatami and the Endeavour are there for plot exposition, revealing the machinations of the Preservers and their relationship with the trampled Tomol but offer little heroics. Khatami herself bounces between the planet and her ship and while we might have expected the crew of the Enterprise to knuckle down and find a solution quick time, the Starfleet crew here seem to take a while going round the planets to come up with something feasible - and that's after a considerable amount of time with characters chatting about their observations of the Tomol or Kang trying to guess what's going on just about anywhere.and repair his own damaged vessel.

Luckily there is a turn of events but it could have come earlier in the book when the Tomol/Changed finally arrive at the Sagittarius but as a new reader to the series I wasn't gripped. The key character here is, of course, Terrell and we all know that he's destined for more wriggly things in The Wrath of Khan which totally detracts from any sense of forboding that could have been created here. Had this been another captain, another name and character specifically for this series then we might have cared as we would have come to know them in the course of one and a half novels. Given it's Terrell you can't take the danger seriously and that's where this whole series might fall down. The premise is good, the idea is good but one captain just lets the realism slip because of our knowledge of the "future".

The Tomol themselves, complete with morphing ability that makes them sound uncannily like the Hulk at some points and Superman at others aren't evil but driven to eradicate all that isn't pure from their home and cause some damage along the way to make the outsiders pay for apparently stunting their growth - in other words thinking the Starfleet crews are their former "jaliers", the Preservers aka the Shenai. Point of Divergence does get very wrapped up in the whole situation with what is causing the change and genomes, DNA and all sorts of biological tech get blasted in to help explain the challenge but I wasn't sure how this would work out and what the point was when the mission seems to be to ensure the Sagittarius crew are rescued. Ok, so it's a reaction to make sure the Tomol/Changed remain on the planet as they can become airbourne but these abilities seem to hinder the plot and make the apparent adversary a super-race and therefore seemingly unstoppable by any normal convention which is equivalent to writing yourself into a very tight corner.

I do feel for the authors of this second book and also for David Mack who wrote the first book. Perhaps my view on the series would be different had I chosen to read and review the first chunk of the tale but sadly that wasn't possible on this occasion but it does go to prove how sometimes just picking up a book from a series can make it incredibly inaccessible. As I'd missed a lot of character build-up and establishment in Seekers 1 I did find all of the characters distant and perhaps a little one dimensional. I didn't understand who they really were because those following the story already knew that and for me not engaging in that formation of a narrative relationship and believing in the characters absolutely shut down my engagement with this book. Had I got to know the crews in the first place I may well have approached this novel much more openly and positively but as it stands, as a standalone, I felt it doesn't hit the mark.

For all of you thinking of reading Seekers you absolutely HAVE to read book one otherwise book two will be a waste of your time and money. I just hope that having taken the time to dabble with the second book I might stand a chance of understanding book three next year. That and I'll have to grab a copy of book one.

Following the Seekers saga? Do you think we're right? Let's discuss!