Customer Reviews

Dark Passions Book Two of Two (Star Trek)

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

 

 

This book gave this two part series a fitting end. 2000 was a good year for Voyager and Deep Space Nine in the books so why not put them all together in a action packed adventure taking place in an Alternate Universe? Seven of Nine does a wonderful job this time when she teams up with Trek's leading ladies; Kathryn Janeway, B'Elanna Torres, and Beverly Crusher. For you New Frontier fans, you'll enjoy the Mirror Cameos of Dr. Selar and Robin Lefler. This was action packed and one heck of a ride. Deanna Troi and Kira face off finally and who wins and how is quite enjoyable. Everyone in the novel falls into place with every thing explained. The author did a wonderful job of pulling in all of our favorite characters from the three modern day Trek series plus NF. You see Lwaxana's Mirror Counterpart, Ro Laran, Koloth, Tom Paris, Harry Kim, Chakotay and many others that'll make you smile and laugh when you see them all in one place, interacting. If they wanted a sure hit and tip off to the Trek movies, this would have made a rather fitting movie with all the series' contributing their best characters. Every Trek fan needs to read these books. They are some of the best books of 2000 for Trek in my opinion, hitting it high with DS9's Millenium series, the New Frontier come back and Voyager's Dark Matters. Start your new year off right by reading a book that places all the favorite and admired Trek females in one universe and with each wanting to achieve one goal. Not everyone will survive and you know it, but you still will get a kick out of reading about Agent Seven of Nine's most dangerous and eye opening mission yet.

this story picks up with kira as the overseer and the many factions that want to see her out of this position. deanna troi figures that if you can't assaignate her, why not try and be her best friend. this plpy works for a hot minute and when kira finds out that she has been betrayed, look out universe. the slave that was originally sent to kira as an undercover obsidian order agent is now firmly entrenched in kira's household. but when deanna's treachery is found out, seven(the undercover agent) is sold as a slave on the unlisted list. she is sent to the mines to work. here she meets up with janeway and her crew. they start to work together to get seven back to earth and get kira out of office. this has a clever plot at the end that is well worth reading. i would mention that here but then you would not need to read the book. it is not as good as the first one, but like most people i wanted to know how it ended. i see room for possibly a third book and i hope they write one.

The most striking thing about the two books is how many of our favorite characters have personalities which aren't just different, but either evil or ineffectual. The story centers on Seven's battle with Kira which makes her focus on discovering her true self. With the exception of Troi, Worf, and Torres, most other characters are only touched on. Kira is evil personified. Worf is only a puppet, not a true Klingon. Troi has a complex personality, but definitely not the caring Troi we know. Seven is also complex as the central character.
Once you leave the "real" Star Trek Universe behind, the story is entertaining, but it is very dark. There is a sexual content as well, but not explicitly described. This second book is much more enjoyable than the first.

Star Trek "Dark Passions" book two of two is the glorious continuation of and conclusion to the first novel in this small duology that uses a majority of current Star Trek's strongest female characters from the mirror universe. Just as in the first novel, Susan Wright's extraordinary writing skills such as exceptional pacing, thoroughly intriguing plot set up and execution and strong characterizations stand out brilliantly in this novel.

As stated in my review for the first novel in this small duology, the only downside to this story has nothing to do with the author as Pocket Books chose to skim their faithful readers for an extra $6.99 by breaking this story into two novels when they could've easily cut down on the pitch for the type and published this great story in one novel.

Just as in the first novel, the cover art is an exception to the rule for when this novel was published.

The Premise:

Book two carries the story on in which Seven (Annika Hansen) who in the mirror universe is an Obsidian Order agent, is continuing to stay close to Kira Nerys in the hopes of carrying out her mission but she is also having second thoughts about her goals in life as she is for the first time in her life thinking for herself which can and will have some serious ramifications for those she's dealing with...

As stated above, this is an exceptional conclusion to a wonderful story that I highly recommend to any and all fans of Star Trek fans and especially to those that thoroughly enjoyed Star Trek Deep Space Nine's mirror universe episodes just as I did. {ssintrepid}

Dark Passions part 2 is the sequel of the latest book dark passions while it is not a bad idea, I felt it could have been better. I guess it shows the problems many fans have with some the series they do a good first part but the seconds falls flat.

This story is set in the "Mirror Universe", a parallel reality to the usual Star Trek universe. In this dimension, most of the same characters exist, but the world in which they live is a much darker place, one in which honor and kindness and decency are rarely found and virtually never rewarded. As such, the characters are very different from the people we are familiar with.

This book picks up where the first "Dark Passions" book leaves off, and follows Kira and Seven of Nine, Deanna Troi and B'elanna through the next few months. The story is very well told, not quite as depressing as the previous installation, and even if it does pick up in mid-story, it still seems fairly self-contained. The ending is actually set up to allow for further sequels.

This is the second half of a 2-volume story set in Star Trek's "Mirror Universe". Overall, I would say that while it was good, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first volume.

The thing I really liked about the first volume was that it had a pretty even balance between Agent (of the Cardassian Obsidian Order) Seven and evil Kira. We got to see LOTS of both. But in this second volume, the focus becomes mainly on Seven, while Kira becomes more of just a supporting character. Also, I found some situations seemed to be solved too easily and implausibly. And it sometimes felt a little rushed compared to the first volume, like the author was trying to squeeze in the ending under a certain page limit.

And by the end of the book it becomes ENTIRELY focused on Seven, and ends with a rather preachy ending that I didn't like at all (--because I'm rooting for the BAD guys, and that's the whole reason why I love the Mirror Universe!) So to really love this book I'd say that you should be a major fan of Seven. (Hey, I like her and all, but evil Kira is one of my FAVOURITE Star Trek characters of all, and I guess I was disappointed that she didn't get equal coverage this time out.)

In addition, the book's cover is misleading and will no doubt leave many Janeway and Crusher fans in disappointment, as Janeway is just a very minor character here and Beverly Crusher is barely even in the book. The cover SHOULD have featured B'Elanna Torres and Deanna Troi instead of them.

Also, like some other reviewers I wonder if these 2 books could not have just as easily been published together in 1 volume?

But still, I feel happy to have had a chance to pay another visit to that twisted dimension that is the Mirror Universe. I hope that the people putting these Star Trek books out will hear me when I say that I would love to see MORE books featuring adventures set there -- preferably with more focus on the wonderful baddies who populate it.

Contiues the problems from the first novel. Bad/predictable plotting, stretched thin and unbelievable dramatics. The persistant use of the idea (promogated in the series admittedly) of bisexual equals evil (after all, only the -bad- Kira beds down every woman (and man and eunich) she comes across.

Plot developements with Troi and B'Elanna that might have saved the book were destroyed by ill placed melodramatics.

Oh, and the cover is misleading, though Crusher and Janeway appear in the novel, they are less than afterthoughts.

The 2nd volume was just as good as the first... its hard to make a sequel or part two just as good a s the first but they did... it is a must read.

The conclusion of this Mirror Universe was as enjoyable as book 1. I would recommend this story to any trek fan.