Resistance by J.M. Dillard
Spoiler-Free Review
At 300 pages with a decent amount of action it's easy to read through this novel in a day. It's fun and has some nice new twists but doesn't really bring a fundamentally new story. The author is known for his novelisations which tend to retell a story but with some new depth or an extra scene or two � to say that�s what this novel is would be unduly harsh as it does have a lot of new ideas and twists but at the same time it�s similarity to First Contact and parts of The Return make it hard to think of as entirely new. If you haven't read The Return you'd probably have a much more favorable view of this novel, much like the DS9 novel Vengeance is probably much more enjoyable to those who haven't read Fallen Heroes.
Spoiler-Filled Thoughts
-The first line of the novel brings one of its major drawbacks to the forefront "It began as it had before".
-Throughout much of the novel it's as if parts of previous Borg encounters are being retold. Upon further reflection it is reasonably original given the confines of a Borg story.
Final Verdict: 4 out of 5
Q&A by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Spoiler-Free Review
Books featuring Q can be a tricky thing. On TV the budget limits how crazy or metaphysical it can get - the trick to a good Q novel is originality, humour, memorability. Sadly this novel fails the memorable test as before re-reading it for this review I couldn't remember a thing about it - in fact I had forgotten it existed at all. Nothing really happens until at least half way through the book - almost as if a short story was being dragged out into a novel using filler and redundancy. It's easy to understand why I forgot this novel - nothing happens! The ending is unique and interesting at least.
Spoiler-Filled Thoughts
-The references to the deleted scenes from Nemesis presented as alternate realities was a nice touch.
-This novel revisits many things from the show and illustrates the author�s encyclopedic memory but in the end that just draws more attention to the lack of originality.
Final Verdict: 3 out of 5
Before Dishonor by Peter David
Spoiler-Free Review
To truly appreciate this book it would help to read the previous novel beforehand although that would create a rather Borg-intense experience. Given the subject matter one wouldn't expect a laugh riot but nevertheless David's use of humour will likely cause you to find yourself chuckling on occasion and actually laughing out loud and even cheering at others. With Peter David's novels there is at first a tendency to want to rush through it but if one resists the insatiable need to find out how it ends or what happens next the rich textures of the journey can be better appreciated, this is particularly important to keep in mind while reading this novel or you're likely to cheat yourself out of the full experience. If you haven't read Vendetta, an earlier Peter David novel, I highly recommend you do so before reading this book, not just because it's awesome (which it is) but because they begin to reference it pretty heavily about half way through. There are 3 things working against this novel, remove any 2 and it becomes fantastic. The first is high expectations for a Peter David novel because all of his solo works knock it out of the park consistently. The second is the Borg-obsessed period in which the novel was written - it's far too easy to get lost and forgotten in the background noise of a slew of Borg novels or under-appreciated by a reader weary of the subject. The last is Chapter 45 - skip this chapter entirely (which you can do without any confusion) and the novel becomes immeasurably better. Specific details are in the spoiler section but this chapter is almost everything that is wrong with an otherwise great novel. Skip Chapter 45 and this becomes not only an excellent TNG novel and a fantastic Peter David novel, but also a worthy sequel to Vendetta.
Spoiler-Filled Thoughts
-I wonder how Voyager fans react to Janeway's negative view of her days in the Delta Quadrant. If they were hoping for nostalgia they'll be disappointed.
-Spock did not need to appear in this novel and Leonard Nimoy would back me up on this. Don't get me wrong, I love Spock but in this novel he served no useful unique purpose. Nimoy himself rejected scripts that only had Spock along for the ride, he felt if Spock didn't push the plot forward in a unique way it was somewhat beneath the integrity of the character and sadly this was the case here.
-The ending is a little disappointing. It seems to get all deus-ex-machina-Janeway-love-fest for a chapter that was not only completely unnecessary but slams the brakes on the exciting action and suddenly gets metaphysical. To paraphrase a famous Klingon, if he were any other author I'd accuse him of writing himself into a corner. But then after the chapter of pain he falls back on an earlier substantial end to the climax.
Final Verdict: 4.5 out of 5
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