Customer Reviews

Blaze of Glory (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 34)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A space pirate has been harassing federation shipping lanes. Picard and Co. are called in to lend a hand. They uncover a brilliant tactican using, as his base the hulk of one of the first starships. What makes this book interesting is that always in the back of your mind there is a little vocie saying "could it be the enterprise?" a great read.

This book is a fast and easy read. It has the dash of Robin hood and pirates sprinked throughout. This makes one of the central characters, Captain Blaze, easy to swallow, despite his methods.

The main plot was easy to figure out, once the author revealed that the K'Trall were related to Vulcans and Romulans. Of course, the more militaristic, pointy eared variety were quickly uncovered. Needless to say, the Romulans wanted a straight line, but the author used a few well placed curves. Things unfolded as expected, with the Romulans going home with slightly duller ears.

Someday, a SNG book will enlighten the Romulans. Strange how the militaristic Klingons joined the fold, why not the logic Romulans!

There isn't much to really make this book stand out in the general run of Star Trek books, but it's an enjoyable read and well put together. The writing is both competent and enjoyable, with the characters and plot devices well-handled and smooth. Not a book for someone in the mood for deep thought, or even the kind of introspection that the best Star Trek books provide, but an enjoyable action-adventure space opera.

This was a fun read, and especially a quick one. Simon Hawke's political negotiations are well thought out. Actually, Hawke spends more time writing out these negotiations than he does concentrating on plot. This slows the book down considerably for summer-breeze readers (like myself), but will definitely keep those intrigue-loving bookworms on the edge of their seat.

The story is simple enough and there are several twists, only one of which caught me off guard (and it wasn't at the end). Probably my favorite part was when Riker leads a covert away-mission to the planet, and everyone has to have fake names and history. Hawke's idea of keeping everyone's names similar sounding (to avoid confusion among the away team) is actually a very intelligent thing to do. Riker thusly becomes Stryker, and a sharp Trek-phile will recognize this name from the annals of Roddenberry's early mindset.

Hawke's largest flaw is the title and its connotation. I found no humor in an alien named Blaze helming a ship called Glory. His second largest flaw is that Blaze is one of the coolest characters to pass through the Trek universe, and Hawke hardly utilizes him. Even his major scenes seem like those of Frozone in the film "The Incredibles": huge potential, vastly under-developed.

On the flip-side, Hawke's dialogue is dead-on believable, but not quite on par with Friedman or David. His only other TNG book is "The Romulan Prize," which I hope to read soon.

This is a Cold War style espionage thriller, with a lot of action. The Enterprise is brought in to, on the surface, capture or destroy a pirate ship. The real situation is far more complex: the new ruler and his cronies are corrupt and power hungry and doing deals with the Romulans. There are two story lines: Picard and the Enterprise investigate the situation, which becomes protecting political figures from attack, while Riker, Geordi and the local Lt. Dorn infiltrate the pirate crew. The descriptions and action scenes are quite good, although the space battles are overly simplified for my taste. Picard's story is an intricate political adventure that was quite intriguing to follow, both in terms of the details of the scheme he unravelled and how he did it. Picard is unusually adventurous in this book. Both his and Riker's stories involved vivid and, for this author, unusually distinctive characters. That can also be a bit of a drawback, because Lt. Dorn is not a very likeable character, and it is very hard to sympathise with her issues. In general, there is a swashbuckling feel to this book, both in Riker's story and also a bit in how Picard behaves. I found it quite entertaining, both in terms of the complexity of the political schemes and style of the general action.

Surprisingly enough, this was the third and last Star Trek novel for this excellent author. I would definitely have thought he would've made more trips into the Trek universe, but alas that's not the case. I found his writing style to be very fast paced, making for an excellent Star Trek The Next Generation novel. It would definitely be nice to see this author make a return to the Trek universe someday!

The cover art is pretty much standard fare for the time in which this novel was published, nothing special.

The premise:

The Enterprise is temporarily assigned to the planet K'Trall which has just come out from under the yoke of barbarous suppression. Captain Picard and crew soon find that they must deal with a pirate ship of a sort that has been attacking Federation shipping. This intriguing ship just happens to be an old Constitution class starship equipped with a cloaking device. Along with dealing with the rogue ship, Captain Picard must also deal with the Romulans.

The planet itself holds a deadly secret as well and Captain Picard soon finds that he not only has Federation shipping to protect but millions of lives on the planet as well.

I highly recommend this numbered STNG title as you will find it to be one of the best published at that time and it's truly good, fast paced and intriguing Star Trek fiction. {ssintrepid}

Star Trek-The Next Generation: Blaze of Glory written by Sinon Hawke is a well-written fast paced with engaging prose, pirate adventure.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is called to action in the K'Trall sector of Federation space near the Federation/Romulan neutral zone. It seems that Federation merchant shipping is being pirated, now Captain Jean-Luc Picard must find the culprit, Blaze. Blaze is a K'Tralli who just so happens to have a constitution class starship called Glory with a cloaking device, hence the story's name... Blaze of Glory.

Captain Picard renews his acquaintence with Captain Gruzinoz on Starbase 37 near the Romulan neutral zone. K'Tralli are distant relatives to the Vulcans and Romulans, so treachery and disaster aren't too far away. Now, Riker and LaForge are captured by the pirate Blaze and Captain Jean-Luc Picard along with Gruzinoz and his security officer must resolve this whole situation as the planet itself holds a deadly secret.

A maze of deadly descption always shrouds the Romulans and you won't be disappointed here as Picard must see past and resolve this dangerous mission... and lives are hanging in the balance.

Fast paced action-adventure are found in this book as it is one of the best books in the ST-TNG series.

Boy, Simon Hawke has done the ST universe well. This one also deals with Romulans, and their so called relatives, the K'Trall. The premise of the story is that a pirate named Blaze is pillaging Federation merchant vessels in the K'Tralli sector, and Starbase 37 under command of Captian Gruzinoz, and old friend of Picard's cannot handle the situation. Plus, Blaze has in his possession an old Constitution class ship he names Glory, and it has cloaking capability.

Well, Picard and the Enterprise arrive on scene to investigate. With Gruzinov and his security officer Dorn helping, they find that the Romulans and a corrupt K'Tralli overlord, J'Drahn, are trying to get the Federation to leave their territory or break the Prime Directive by intervening. Of course, K'Tralli space is on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone.

War with the Romulans seems likely, but after Riker and LaForge get captured by Blaze, things change.

Very well paced novel, with good dialogue as well as land and space battles. Hope Simon & Schuster use Hawke's authorship skillks again.

See line two of the product description. The same typo was on the paperback cover in 1995, and I didn't buy it. Must have been a real rush to get that to the presses!

A great adventure that uses the Gambit plot elements to make what could be a good episode of NG. It starts out with a constitution class vessel with Romulan technology. A pirate has taken over the ship with less than admirable aliens to pilot it. Riker and Geordi lead the away teams to disable his ship and stop his rein of terror...all in all a good novel..today it would be a two or three part saga...