Customer Reviews

End Game (Star Trek New Frontier, No 4)

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

 

 

So far i have read all 6 books and I am simply amazed.Here we have an old guard captain who does not want to be captain.A first officer who should be captain.A security officer who trust no one.Deposed royalty.A space-cadet.Puppy love.A three-way love triangle.I cannot wait for the rest of the series.Bring it on.

This book nicely ties up the loose ends from the previous three; as I've said before, the first four books of this series should really have been made one large book; in fact, they've been collected into an omnibus edition, and that edition I would rate at five stars. The storyline for the first four books combined is a fine one, the characters are handled quite well, and the writing style maintains Peter David's usual high quality, especially his ability to tell a dramatic story without losing his sense of humor.

Still, this book on its own is only a story fragment; it has an ending, with just a couple of ongoing subplots (which is perfectly fine) but no beginning. And no story fragment is worth five stars. This is unquestionably the best "book" of the four, however.

End Game
Peter David
1997

The mysterious planet of Thallon is rent with earthquakes amidst political upheaval, and the crew of Excalibur is trapped at Nelkar, forced to resolve its refugee issue before departing to the home of the former Thallonian Empire to retrieve its missing crew. Meanwhile, the dark pasts of the crew seem to be catching up with them.

The final book in the introductory four-book series, "End Game" ends readers' first view of "New Frontier" with a literal bang -- and a hell of a good finale.

This is a series of 4 books that should be made into a tv show to replace Voyager. The author lets his ship go into "new space" without suffering the "Gilligan's Island" syndrome of Voyager. However, he still retains enough links to the Federation so we are not completely starting off from scratch. The best feature of these stories are the dynamic characters, especially the new ones. While some of the crew are "ol' favourites", the new characters bring much to Star Trek, such as decisive action, as in the case of Captain Calhoun (no pathetic negotiating with terrorists), satircal wit (security officer Kebron) and most importantly sexual innunedo (Burgoyne 172). These are areas in which the "new Trek" (Voy and DS9) shows have been lacking as they wallow in their political correctness. Main beef is publisher's shady idea of breaking one book into 4. Overall, an excellent series for any Trekker who wants a change.

A note to this review's readers: This review is for all four books of the 'New Frontier' series, so as to avoid reviewing every book. You have been warned.

So, I have to admit that ever since Voyager exploded onto the Star Trek scene- and subsequently fizzled out like a candle in a rainstorm- I have been praying that someone would have both the courage and the imagination to create their own Star Trek series in book form (I even tried it myself once; the USS Explorer, with a crew of characters even stranger than the one Mr. David has put together). Needless to say I jumped for joy when I saw that not only was my dream coming true, but it was being realized by Peter David, whom I consider to be the hands down best Trek author out there.

I admit, after finishing the first four books, that there were some rough spots. For example, the hallmark of David's writing to this date has been an unerring ability to tie loose ends of the Trek Universe together. In this book however, he takes it just a touch too far; each and every crew member, with the sole exceptions of Captain Calhoun and Burgoyne 172 (to my knowledge) has appeared in one or another incarnation of Trek, be it the series or the movies or David's own novels. It was cute at first, but dragged a bit. Also, the last book is a stretch even for David, though I won't go into it any further for fear of a spoiler.

On the other hand, what Trek pilot has been without its share of problems? Overall, David has created in 'New Frontier' a fascinating area of space and a wonderful new ship manned by possibly the most interesting cast of characters in Trek. Zak Kebron (the Brikar security chief) alone is worth the price of admission on this one. So, I highly reccomend these books. Here's to hoping they continue, and kudos to Peter David for a job well done.

I finished this young adult novel pretty quickly. I loved Peter David's comic book writing (Hulk, Supergirl, etc.) and so wanted to explore his Star Trek stuff.

Star Trek New Frontier are a series of novels he wrote around a certain Captain Calhoun of the Starship Excalibur. I have not read the other novels in the series so it's a bit strange starting at Book 4.

The book jumps around a bit especially at the start. We start out with a hostage situation where a group of aliens are being held in exchange for Federation technology. To solve this, Calhoun pretends one thing and executes another. The world they're orbiting goes nuts. Why?

Despite this controversial, odd interpretation of the Prime Directive (which is ignored here just as readily as Kirk had done in the original series) we suddenly jump to another planet, the home world of this same Captain ,who now is conflicted -- duty and honor versus wanting to do something about the world of Thallan.

I thought the poor attempt at a love triangle and a Vulcan scientist's struggle with her Pon Farr was a bit strained. The author did not expand on this much, especially when she has a minor realization regarding relationships. It's just "OK."

I did enjoy the battle scenes and the Captain fighting for his life while the planet was cracking apart.

More character development was needed with his second officer and a few other crew.

Bottom Line: Enjoyable, but not the best Star Trek I've read.

The first four books of the New Frontier series introduce an interesting array of character who make up the crew of the Excalibur, build up the back story of its "Kirk-like" Captain, and describe the details and fate of the Thallonian Empire. The series has breadth and depth of scope, meaty characters and plots, and large dollops of Peter David's brand of humor. I don't know if his humor will be to everyone's taste, as it has moments of silliness, but he occasionally make me laugh out loud ... rare for me when reading a book.

End Game finishes off the intro of the series, but the stories go on for MANY books after this. You'll come to regard the crew of the Excalibur with as much affection as you felt for any of the crews of the TV series. Deservedly so, since its an interesting and likable assortment of personalities and skill sets.

It is Star Trek as space opera at its best. Highly recommended.

I was entertaining hopes that Kallinda was really dead until the very end when my hopes came crashing down on me. Hard to imagine anyone being surprised by anything in this book but like my title suggests, I still liked it. Not looking forward to have Cwan reunite with his sister unless there is something horribly wrong with her ;)

The book was nonstop action. It would make a great show, Buy this book if you like the Next Generation

Fantastic series if you really like the Next Generation era of Star Trek!!!!!!!!!