Customer Reviews

Cold Wars (Star Trek New Frontier: Gateways, Book 6)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Peter Davids latest New Frontier Cold Wars is his best effort to date. This book finds our heros Calhoun and Shelby going to thallonian space to investigate Iconian gateway activity. On the way they get sidetracked to two planets whom have been at war with each other forever and are now using gateway technology to once again start the war back up. Shelby's new ship the Trident is a galaxy class ship. We meet two of her new crew members right off. Arex and M'Ress from TOS anamated have joined the crew after separate temporal incidents. Another new crew member is Lt Cmdr Gleau a Selelvian who is the science officer on Shelby's ship. Calhoun's new 1st officer is someone you will never suspect. The story is fast paced and the book impossible to put down. Character development is great. Selar has some good moments such as when Moke ask her to be his mother. Burgy and Selar have some good moments also. And there is something for the fans of Calhoun and Shelby. Shelby and Mueller have several good scenes one which is very amusing when they discuss Calhoun. This book has a nice polished feel to it that was sadly lacking in the last outing Restoration. I highly recommend this book for all Star Trek fans and especailly for New Frontier fans

No surprise that the first fully rewarding "Gateways" series book was written by Peter David and used his New Frontier characters. The story itself is self-contained, and you don't need to read all the other books in the Gateways mini-series for it to make sense (something mini-series writing Trek books need to do more often).

Secondly, the characters progress from where we last saw them in the New Frontier novels - Shelby on her own ship, with her own crew. I liked two additions to what I hope is the regular cast: M'ress and Arex - characters you may remember from the cartoon of the original series. Though I did find that some of the "return" characters seemed a little forced - Shelby basically snapped up half the crew from the Grissom from when Calhoun served aboard said ship, the entirety of the USS Triton was well done.

The plot was excellent - self contained, like I said, but also playing around with some interesting philosophical ideas: what is "holy land," what's the point of fighting over it, etc. Peter David is fairly true to characters when these issues arrive - it is the tactical-minded Shelby who can't comprehend the notion of fighting over something called "holy," for example. Add the usual level of witty conversation between characters and crew, and you've got a great book here, folks.

Grab it.

I'm gonna need another bang in the eye for dismissing Peter David's New Frontier world before I read this book. Admittedly, there are holes because I didn't read a few NF installments, but those holes didn't diminish my understanding or enjoyment of this book. A few details missed? Yeah. But in the Big Picture, I was still able to put it all together. The holes just make me want to go back and read the NF books I missed, so how could that be a bad thing?

In this, novel, Peter expertly guides his "irreverently-professional" bunch through a rousing adventure involving both ancient technology and ancient enemies.

Take two vicious enemies and put them on separate planets to keep them away from one another. Introduce technology (those dratted gateways) that enables them to get to each other in the blink of an eye and boom Big Trouble in Thallonian space.

Enter Mac Calhoun on the *Excalibur* and his wife, Elizabeth Shelby, on the *Trident,* charged by Starfleet with keeping the peace.

What follows is "peacekeeping" quite unlike what you might expect from, say, Jean-Luc Picard. Take, for example, this excerpt, written here to give you an idea of the reigning attitude throughout:

"Calhoun was standing in the open area within the desk, and Si Cwan was next to him. The Counselars had made it clear that they would not convene nor speak with him at all unless he stayed in the 'Place of Address,' which was where he was standing at that moment. Calhoun did not particularly want to be in the Place of Address. Just then, he'd have far preferred to be in the Place of Beating the Crap out of the Counselars, had such a location actually existed."

I ask you, can you beat this?

While this novel stands alone just fine, it *ends* with a gateway cliffhanger, same as all the rest of them do, to be taken up in the final novel in this series, "What Lay Beyond."

But for real? Read this puppy. And read all the other Gateway novels while you're at it.

Like many reviewers have mentioned here before it is a story of two races that hate each other and were separated long ago by the Thallonians. They sent them to two different worlds with no spaceflight technology. Since this is a Gateway series you know they get their hands on it and attack each other. The Excaliber and Trident commanded by Calhouhn and Shelby are sent to solve the Gateway problem and the war between these races.
The story is very typical New Frontier style with interesting twists and attitude. I did noticed the NF gang is mellowing and growing up more except for the engineering crew with that Fetus joke. Thatcould have been cut down a little. Overall I thought the story was great and to me the best of the series tied with the TNG story. The series started so-so, dropped to pretty bad in the 2nd but from that point on was good to excellent.

`Cold Wars', though touted as book 6 of 7 in the Gateway story arc, is a stand alone story in its own right. While events revolving around the sudden appearance of Iconian Gateways through the Trek universe is the catalyst for these 7 books, only a very brief setup description in the first few chapters brings the reader up to speed on what's going on.

In this New Frontier tale taking place in old Thallonian space, we learn that two warring races have been separated from their home planet and dispatched to two separate planets in order to refrain themselves from mutual extinction. These two races that share centuries old hatred for each other are introduced to Gateway technology, allowing them to invade each others planets for the first time since their separation. These scenarios are very action packed and will have the reader turning pages like mad. These skirmishes and their outcomes begin a frenzy and renewed interest in these warring races into wiping each other out. Thus, the UFP sends the Trident and Excalibur to each planet involved to stop a major war from brewing and to also find out who's behind the sudden appearance of the Gateways. It seems that the Gateway's in and of themselves are a threat to the known universe, for their misuse could end up causing irreparable damage to all systems.

Think of the Aerons and Markanians (the two opposing races) as a social commentary of or own history. Substitute either the Hatfield's and McCoy's, Black vs. White, religious belief against religious belief, or whatever, and you have Peter David's message in a nutshell. Mr. David once again does a brilliant job of barely disguising our own problems that have plagued mankind's thinking for years in the guise of a great science fiction story.

In addition to a great stand alone story, the author continues to develop other subplots that continue from previous novels (see: Moke, Dr. Selar, & Kalinda), introduce new ones (see: Burgoyne, Shelby, Mueller) and new characters: M'Ress & Arex (displaced in time from Captain Kirk's era), Ensign Phyetus and others. The author makes each of these characters unique with fascinating stories of their own that make the New Frontier series so entertaining. Mr. David does this in a way that always propels the larger story forward without the feeling of crowding these in for filler material or quick levity. These aren't your regular `red shirts' or menial characters usually downplayed in the television series or other books.

Finally, the climax is full of excitement, and just when you think it is over, Peter David throws in his classic twist and cliffhanger. Great read.

In New Frontier, Peter David brings together much-loved, briefly seen, characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation (such as Dr Selar, Shelby and Lefler), quirky aliens from the original series, and from David's own young adult novels, to create a book series that closely resembles a wacky TV soap opera. At the same time, New Frontier carries the hallmark social commentary of excellent aired Star Trek.

Now two new (old) crewmembers sign up! Peter David was first able to "play" with Arex and M'Ress, funky alien crewmembers of the Enterprise (as depicted in Filmation's Star Trek Animated television series - and Alan Dean Foster's "Star Trek Log" adaptations), when they were re-introduced into DC Comics' Star Trek comics by Len Wein after Star Trek IV. Just as things got really interesting (such as M'Ress falling in love with Sulu!), DC's license was rejigged and poor Arex and M'Ress were forced to disappear again.

It's been a long wait, but they are back! Three-armed, three-legged Lt Arex, and his beautiful felinoid companion, Lt M'Ress, have both fallen through time - to end up on Captain Shelby's starship in the New Frontier books. They even get first names!

Since we last met purple-eyed Captain Calhoun, his crew have been split across two Galaxy class starships (hence the need for more crewmembers). It barely matters that "Cold Wars" is part of a gripping seven-book saga that crosses all other Star Trek series. Often hilarious, often shocking, and always impossible to put down, "Cold Wars" almost makes for a good stand alone story (there is a cliffhanger that isn't resolved until the forthcoming hardcover, "What Lay Beyond"). There are also enough intriguing snippets and characters to make first-time readers scramble to find the New Frontier books that have come before, and to make long-time fans anticipate the next New Frontier adventures.

Now I can't wait for the next NF novel (#12) - and hopefully also the return of Ensign Janos, the only sentient Mugato in the galaxy.

Like all the Gateways series, this book lacks an ending, which was held hostage in a book customers should not have had to buy. So although this is an excellent story, I have to dock a star because the book is incomplete. The PR guy who dreamed this up at the publishing house should have been hung out by his thumbs.

Now, on to the books. I have thus far read the TOS, New Earth, DS9, Voyager, and New Frontier books. On advice, I'm saving the TNG book for last.

Peter David outdid himself with a story of adventure, intrigue, mystery, and politics which outshines not only the other Gateways novels, but most of his other New Frontier novels also. Several auxiliary characters get plenty of attention, and two surprises show up from the past. I won't say just WHAT past. ;-)

The plot is well documented, so I won't cover it here. I will say that this book was fun from start to finish, even when dealing with violent and tragic incidents. Peter David is not afraid to build up a framework and then dash it to bits to make his plots roll, and he outdoes himself in that regard in Cold War.

The only quibble I had with the book is a small incident included for dramatic effect. Calhoun reads something that almost certainly could not have been written in a language he could have read. Outside of that, I have no complaints with this book at all. Well crafted, and a fine read.

This was the best of the 5 I've read. Like many New Frontier books, this one ends in a cliffhanger, but the story just prior to that point has a conclusion that you can feel is complete in itself.
Peter David is probably the most consistently entertaining ST author, but this was a challenge for him. I think dealing with two New Frontier crews is difficult. He pulls it off, but not as much fun, in my opinion, as some of the earlier New Frontier books. The two separate Captain--First Officer relationships just don't have the flame of Calhoun and Shelby. And Shelby isn't her same old self either. That can be good, as the future will tell, but so far I was slightly disappointed in that aspect.
Still, the book by David is the best I've seen of the Gateway series.

That's what Captains McKenzie Calhoun and Elizabeth Shelby (Mrs. Calhoun) find to be the best solution to a multi-generation war that's only a "cold war" because the warring races are both removed by a superior alien race from their home planet to new worlds where they can't get at each other. At least at first, anyway. Until the Gateway people give their device to each of the sides. The result is a sneak attack on the royal palace of one world that wipes out their royal family except for one pre-adolescent princess (well, they say that one of the Pharaohs was a middle-school age kid). So the Calhoun-Shelbys have each taken their respective ships to one of the worlds involved. This story breathes something of a new life into the series I variously refer to as "Punk Trek" and "Alt Trek"--the New Frontier cycle of books. The "New Wave Frontier" series has thus far been a bit short on any real story lines--it's built instead around "CWA" (Characters With Attitude) and their quirks. Such as a Jean-Claude Van Damme-clone skipper that makes the cowboy Jim Kirk seem like Mister Roberts by comparison. I won't bore you with any more, but the whole idea seems to be a more hip Star Trek for a different generation--I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they use gangsta rap, techno and grunge as sountrack music if they ever (shudder!) do a TV series of this cycle. Another bright spot to this story is the introduction of Arex and Mress from the animated series, in which Arex comes across as the tough cop security officer rather than his rather wooden personality in his old role, and kittenish (in more ways than one) Mress comes across sexier than she could have in Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970s.

This book arrived promptly and in excellent condition. I could not have asked for more. Great job.