Customer Reviews

The Brave and the Bold, Book 1 (Star Trek)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Brave & the Bold is an interesting concept. It is a series of four novellas contained in two books, each novella involving one of the four Trek television series, with a prologue that involves the fifth. Not only is the concept intriguing, but DeCandido does a wonderful job with the first book. It contains a wonderful mix of the characters we know and the ones that he has created, along with characters who were briefly shown in a television episode whom he has fleshed out to a great degree. The first book is a knockout punch, and I enjoyed it very much.

DeCandido has created a very logical way to bring the five television series together into one set of books. It does feel a bit stretched, as yet again the main cast of each show are involved in the same events, but at least DeCandido involves other ships and people as well, lessening that impact a little bit. DeCandido makes good use of the formerly incidental characters from the television series to flesh out the story. Even better, though, the stories are told completely from their viewpoint, so that all of the familiar characters that we know and love are seen from an outsider's view. I found this very effective, as we got to see our heroes as other see them without delving into their thought processes.

In the first story, DeCandido has created a vibrant crew that is interesting to read about. Decker is the only character from the television series, all other characters being original. Decker matches what little we know about him from the series, and the rest of the crew comes across very well also. Takashewada is Decker's no-nonsense first officer who keeps him in line when he wants to go against the book. She's completely against the imposition of martial law on the planet and is ready to tell Decker in no uncertain terms about it when she gets the chance. Fortunately for Decker, she never does, as the situation is resolved before that can happen. She's very determined but you can also tell that she really likes Decker, and that he finds her a very valuable officer. Dr. Rosenhaus is a bit too much of a Dr. Bashir (from the series Deep Space 9) clone, given that he's a young doctor excited to be out on the frontier. He's arrogant and thinks he can fix anything, as well as thinking that he knows better than some of the old hands. However, the relationship he develops with Dr. McCoy of the Enterprise is wonderful. When they first meet, sparks fly as arrogance clashes with experience and McCoy's crotchetiness. Soon, though, a healthy respect develops, especially after Rosenhaus goes off half-cocked and almost kills an experimental subject. Rosenhaus learns some humility when McCoy doesn't berate him (too much) for what happened. Other crew members do well in the limited parts that DeCandido gives them, and all of them seem to have distinct personalities no matter how little screen time they have.

Much the same can be said for the second story, and the crew of the Odyssey. DeCandido tries to do a couple of things in this story. In the television episode in which the Odyssey appears, there is a healthy dislike between Keogh and Lieutenant Dax. This story gives us the reason why, which helps flesh out Keogh and also provides another dimension to the episode. There aren't as many new characters in this story, but DeCandido does a good job with them as well. Especially effective is Orta, who is a Bajoran terrorist from a Next Generation television episode. DeCandido gives him a lot of background and broadens him a lot. He's a terrorist, not a freedom fighter. He fought Cardassians because he hated them, not because he wanted to free Bajor. DeCandido paints a wonderful picture of a man who's lost in his own insanity. When Orta finally makes his move, his reasoning keeps on changing as Kira and Dax point out the logical holes in each story he tells. Descending deeper and deeper into madness, you almost start feeling pity for him for what he's gone through and what he has finally become.

What I found most effective about these stories, at least to me as a Trek fan, is the sense of tragedy that is evoked. Both the Constellation and the Odyssey were destroyed with all hands in the television episodes where they appear. Both of these stories take place shortly before that. We are getting to know these characters, getting to like them, and then we realize that they are not going to survive much longer. I liked that, and it's a tribute to DeCandido's characterization that we wish we had more time with them. Also, the fact that most of the crew is created by DeCandido gives us the possibility that not all of the characters will survive the story, which provides a nice bit of extra tension.

There isn't a whole lot to say about the plot. The stories are interesting, but nothing that special. I found the characters much more interesting than the plot, which is just as well. The plots are almost Trek-by-numbers, which isn't always a bad thing, especially in a franchise series of books. They do their job well, and don't get in the way of the characters. I liked that. We don't get a lot of information about the Zalkat Union, which makes the artifacts little more than McGuffins, though they are at least used in each story. It's the characters that make this book worth reading, and any Trek fan will enjoy it because of that. If you like Star Trek, I think you will like this book. I just hope the second book in this series is as good as the first.

David Roy

Star Trek: The Brave and the Bold, Book One written by Keith R.A. DeCandido is the first book in a so far two book series that will encumpus all of the Star Trek genre.

This first book starts out with with Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the Starship Enterprise NX-01. This portion of the story takes place shortly before the "Enterprise" first-season episode "Breaking the Ice." This adventure spans three generations of TREK as we will eventually fine out.

This whole story starts to unfold as Archer and his crew find evidence about what will be known as the Malkus Artifacts... four very deadly machines that wielded absolute power to the person who controlled them. One was capable of controlling the weather, one imparted a fatal virus, one served as an immensely powerful energy weapon, and the final device could be used to channel telepathy.

Archer decides to issue an all out alert warning to other vessels that the Federation needs to find these machines before they fall into the hands of those who would do ill with them... you see these machines emmit an energy signal that is unique to these machines, when they're active.

Now, the book carries us to the ST-TOS timeframe. This portion of the story takes place shortly before the STAR TREK first-season episode "Balance of Terror." This is where the artifacts are now being found. You see they were scattered throughout the Alpha Quadrant to keep others from getting total control of the awesome power when combined.

This book starts at 2151 in the Trek Universe, next 2266, and then 2370. So, we get a good sprinkling of the characters in these time frames. Captain James T. Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise and Commodore Matt Decker of the U.S.S. Constellation come across the first artifact on the colony world of Alpha Proxima II. This colony is plagued by disease... a mysterious plague that has the Federation has to stop. Order on Proxima is getting to a fever pitch where a cure needs to be found or all will be lost, the location of the artifact is paramount to the solution.

Now, around a hundred years later, Commander Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine, it's good to see his character in this book series again, is trying to start a farming colony on Bajor's second moon with the help of Captain Declan Keogh of the U.S.S. odyssey. You, guessed it the second artifact has been discovered and now a massive scales destruction threatens this operation. Bajoran terrorists, headed by Orta, are at the heart of this uprising.

This book is a very fast read and the action-adventure flows well as the Federation's best and brightest try to solve this very ancient mystery. I hope book two of this series is as good as this first one was, until then... I will report soon on the second book.

Star Trek The Brave and the Bold is a great book for thos who want a light read. The plot spans three decades, three Enterprises. They aren't short stories but they sort of reads like short stories. They each have a connection to each other. The first "story" i set in the time of the television show "Enterprise. It basically introduces you about what the Malkus artifacts are. It's only a couple pages long. The second "story" is set one hundred years later in the time of the show "Star Trek". The two star ships U.S.S. Constalation, and U.S.S. Enterprise(both Federation starships) are investigating a plague on the planet "Alpha Proxima". The next "story" is set another hundred years in the twenty third century. The two starships Oddysey and Deep Space 9(DS9) are working together to build a farming colony on "Bajors" second moon. But when a Bajoran terrorist named Orta who disguised himself as a farmer plans to hijack the Oddysey they see his what he truly wants.

The Brave and the Bold is a good light read. It reads like a Star Trek episode and might be a good read especially for Trekkies.

I just enjoyed the book and wanted to say so.

I have to admit the best Star Trek books capture the feel of the TV show as if you were watching the episode. The best stories are the ones that have some reference to past shows. This one does a good job with the Decker character Kirk meets in the episode "Doomsday Machine". I wish there was more about Decker's rise to the captain's chair. He came up from the security department and has a much different view of the world than Kirk. Perhaps we can see prequel or short story in the future about the crusty Captain Decker.

I really enjoyed this book. Since I am an amateur Star Trek chronologist, I really enjoyed the notes at the beginning of each section placing them in to Star Trek timeline. I wish more authors would do that.

The book was well written and it was refreshing to read stories about characters other than the series regulars. I would recommend the S.C.E. series to anyone who liked this book. They both are about new and different characters.

Closer to three stars than to five, still, I'd say that this book (made up of two related novellas, one featuring Kirk & the Enterprise, one featuring the cast of DS9, and an intoduction featuring Archer & the "Enterpise" cast) is enough better than average to merit four stars. The plots seem to be a bit formulaic, but not too bad for all of that, and the characters are handled reasonably well, especially those minor characters that we only saw as expendable extras in the episodes that they originally appeared in. The character of Commodore Decker, in particular, seemed quite true to what we saw in "The Doomsday Machine".

I was first introduced to DeCandido's writing while attending a Northwest Fandom Convention where I had the pleasure of observing him as a panelist. I was curious if his unique perspective and point-of-view was maintained in his writing. To my pleasant surprise it was.

DeCandido presented the major characters in all of the Star Trek series with a fresh and new prospective, by allowing the reader to view the old, seasoned characters from an outside viewpoint. This book is a wonderful chance to see Kirk, McCoy, and Spock through the eyes of the crewmen on the USS Constellation and watch the characters of Deep Space 9 as perceived of Captain Keogh and the crew of the USS Odyssey.

This is truly great adventure for the Star Trek fan.

..."Brave and the Bold" is for you. Decandido does a good job developing back stories for characters that appeared in one-time roles (Cmdr. Decker in "Doomsday Machine" and Cpt. Keogh in "The Jem'Hadar"). Pretty straight-forward for both plot and characters w/enough twists and turns to keep things interesting...

In recent years there has been a disturbing trend in "Star Trek" to rehash previous material ad nauseum and here is yet another example. The basic premise for this two book series is actually clearly [an imitation of]the animated "Star Trek" episode "Slaver Weapon", written by Larry Niven and based on his non-Star Trek story "The Soft Weapon". There is even a hint of the episode "The Lorelei Signal" thrown in for good measure as well. Not that I'm surprised by this, if you look carefully the horrendously bad incarnation of "Star Trek" that was "Voyager" also frequently rewrote episodes of the animated "Star Trek", yet the original versions were always more intelligent despite being conceived for a juvenile audience. I think it says a lot about the state of modern "Star Trek" writers and fans that this should be so. Anyway back to this work and after a mildly enjoyable "Enterprise" introduction the writer delivers a largely pointless "Star Trek" adventure that has about as much life as a Vulcan stag night; while finishing off with an equally bland "DS9" story that also seems to have ejected its' warp core. Gone are the interesting characters of old, gone is the action and excitement, and gone is the intelligent drama. Instead we have another soap opera in space with weak characterisations, laughable action, and a plot so stupid even a Pakled wouldn't find it mentally challenging. So the sorry decline of "Star Trek" continues, and it looks as though after all the battles with Klingons, Romulans, Borg, and Cardassians, the enemies that will finally finish off the Federation are [weak] writers. Obviously the old saying is true : "The pen is mightier than the disruptor !"