Customer Reviews

The First Virtue (Star Trek the Next Generation: Double Helix, Book 6)

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

 

 

This story is another wonderful tale in the Star Trek: The Next Generation tradition. It is based in the same wonderful universe as all other star trek books where faster than light travel and communications make galactic journeys possible. Unlike most other Next Generation books, this story does not take place aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Instead it is based a few years before the Next Generation series began on the U.S.S. Stargazer, Captain Picard's former ship. There are a few familiar characters though, obviously Captain Picard, and the often spoken of but seldom seen husband of Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lieutenant Commander Jack Crusher. Also joining these two characters is one Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. If the name sounds familiar to Star Trek: Voyager fans, it is the same as your Lieutenant Tuvok but a few years before his Voyager years. The story is of a mission to the Kellasian sector to try and help defuse the war cries of two races on different worlds brought on by old hatred and recent terrorist attacks. While Picard tries to solve the problem diplomatically, he assigns Crusher and Tuvok to investigate the attacks because he believes they are coming from an outside source. This is the final tale in the series of the plot of a mad man to destroy the entire Federation. Interestingly, this last story is the first chronologically and answers the questions posed by the first five novels about why this mad man has been sending virtually incurable diseases to seemingly random places in the galaxy over a period of nearly a decade. Some of the most interesting parts of the story come when a carefree and impulsive Jack Crusher teams up with the completely logical and reserved Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. The clash of their personalities is nearly audible to the reader in the early stages of the book.

"The ease with which they found a place to land and hide their small craft, all within a few kilometers of a main city, was actually rather unsettling. `Any disreputable type can sneak onto this planet,' Crusher said. `But then,' Tuvok told him as they concealed their ship with loose foliage, `so can a team of Starfleet officers.' The commander looked at him. `In other words, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.' The Vulcan appeared perplexed--and maybe a little annoyed as well. `The reference escapes me,' he said. `What it means,' Crusher explained, `is that you shouldn't question good luck. You should just run with it.' Tuvok sighed a little. `I see.' `Don't you have any colorful Vulcan expressions?' asked the human. The ensign glanced at him. `No,' he said flatly. And he dragged a few last branches full of leaves up against their vessel. Crusher brushed off his hands. `Looks like we're done.' `Indeed,' said Tuvok. he gestured. `The city is that way.' and he began to walk toward it. The human had no trouble catching up with him. `Impatient, aren't we?' he asked his companion. Tuvok stopped and turned to him, obviously a little surprised. `Not really. I simply saw no reason to delay.' Crusher smiled at the ensign's expression. `My fault. You're absolutely right-- there isn't.' And as he started walking again, he reminded himself that he couldn't joke with the Vulcan as he might [with other people he knew]."

However, as they work together, they realize that their differences do not need to stand in the way of forming a friendship, not that Tuvok would ever admit to needing friendship. Friedman and Golden use dialogue very well to show what is happening, not only around the characters but also to show how the characters are feeling. When Tuvok is explaining how he talked an adversary out of killing Crusher and himself.

"`When he attempted to sense my emotions, our minds were linked. it was not difficult to examine his thoughts and extract something useful for them. and the rest--' He hesitated. `The rest . . . ?' Crusher prodded. Again, Tuvok's dark eyes seemed to glimmer with the faintest hint of mischief. `The rest,' said the Vulcan, `I made up.' Crusher grinned at him. `Tuvok, you son of a mugato. I didn't know you had it in you.' The ensign's brow wrinkled ever so slightly. `There is much you do not know about me, Commander. Perhaps we will have the chance to rectify that at a later time.'"

Although he remains constantly icy to Crusher, Tuvok does change and begin to show a bit of affection for his illogical and slightly annoying partner. Friedman & Golden do a wonderful job of tying together a series of six novels into one chronologically spaced out story. This book is not for everyone. I will be the first to admit that Star Trek or Science-Fiction in general really turn some people off. But if you are a Trekkie, or are someone who is willing to open his mind to a tale based in the far distant future but not far enough that you can not relate to the story. And if you've got a lot of extra time on your hands, read the whole series, it's worth your time.

This story is another wonderful tale in the Star Trek: The Next Generation tradition. It is based in the same wonderful universe as all other star trek books where faster than light travel and communications make galactic journeys possible. Unlike most other Next Generation books, this story does not take place aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Instead it is based a few years before the Next Generation series began on the U.S.S. Stargazer, Captain Picard's former ship. There are a few familiar characters though, obviously Captain Picard, and the often spoken of but seldom seen husband of Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lieutenant Commander Jack Crusher. Also joining these two characters is one Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. If the name sounds familiar to Star Trek: Voyager fans, it is the same as your Lieutenant Tuvok but a few years before his Voyager years. The story is of a mission to the Kellasian sector to try and help defuse the war cries of two races on different worlds brought on by old hatred and recent terrorist attacks. While Picard tries to solve the problem diplomatically, he assigns Crusher and Tuvok to investigate the attacks because he believes they are coming from an outside source. This is the final tale in the series of the plot of a mad man to destroy the entire Federation. Interestingly, this last story is the first chronologically and answers the questions posed by the first five novels about why this mad man has been sending virtually incurable diseases to seemingly random places in the galaxy over a period of nearly a decade. Some of the most interesting parts of the story come when a carefree and impulsive Jack Crusher teams up with the completely logical and reserved Vulcan, Ensign Tuvok. The clash of their personalities is nearly audible to the reader in the early stages of the book.

"The ease with which they found a place to land and hide their small craft, all within a few kilometers of a main city, was actually rather unsettling. `Any disreputable type can sneak onto this planet,' Crusher said. `But then,' Tuvok told him as they concealed their ship with loose foliage, `so can a team of Starfleet officers.' The commander looked at him. `In other words, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.' The Vulcan appeared perplexed--and maybe a little annoyed as well. `The reference escapes me,' he said. `What it means,' Crusher explained, `is that you shouldn't question good luck. You should just run with it.' Tuvok sighed a little. `I see.' `Don't you have any colorful Vulcan expressions?' asked the human. The ensign glanced at him. `No,' he said flatly. And he dragged a few last branches full of leaves up against their vessel. Crusher brushed off his hands. `Looks like we're done.' `Indeed,' said Tuvok. he gestured. `The city is that way.' and he began to walk toward it. The human had no trouble catching up with him. `Impatient, aren't we?' he asked his companion. Tuvok stopped and turned to him, obviously a little surprised. `Not really. I simply saw no reason to delay.' Crusher smiled at the ensign's expression. `My fault. You're absolutely right-- there isn't.' And as he started walking again, he reminded himself that he couldn't joke with the Vulcan as he might [with other people he knew]."

However, as they work together, they realize that their differences do not need to stand in the way of forming a friendship, not that Tuvok would ever admit to needing friendship. Friedman and Golden use dialogue very well to show what is happening, not only around the characters but also to show how the characters are feeling. When Tuvok is explaining how he talked an adversary out of killing Crusher and himself.

"`When he attempted to sense my emotions, our minds were linked. it was not difficult to examine his thoughts and extract something useful for them. and the rest--' He hesitated. `The rest . . . ?' Crusher prodded. Again, Tuvok's dark eyes seemed to glimmer with the faintest hint of mischief. `The rest,' said the Vulcan, `I made up.' Crusher grinned at him. `Tuvok, you son of a mugato. I didn't know you had it in you.' The ensign's brow wrinkled ever so slightly. `There is much you do not know about me, Commander. Perhaps we will have the chance to rectify that at a later time.'"

Although he remains constantly icy to Crusher, Tuvok does change and begin to show a bit of affection for his illogical and slightly annoying partner. Friedman & Golden do a wonderful job of tying together a series of six novels into one chronologically spaced out story. This book is not for everyone. I will be the first to admit that Star Trek or Science-Fiction in general really turn some people off. But if you are a Trekkie, or are someone who is willing to open his mind to a tale based in the far distant future but not far enough that you can not relate to the story. And if you've got a lot of extra time on your hands, read the whole series, it's worth your time.

Bad conclusion to wrap up this whole double helix thing. Found the book rather slow and couldn't finish it. Really did not have much that kept you holding. I am good friends with mike friedman and he told me that Christie hogged most of the writing and that was why it was poor.

I thought this book made a discrace of the Double Helix series! Nothing compelled me to actually finish it. I stopped around page 100 for a while and then finished it. Soon after that I forgot about it. I thought that having it take place 20 or so years before all of the other books was strange. If I were writing a conclusion, I would have at least have set it after Double or Nothing by Peter David (which was very good!). They might as well just have made Peter David's Double or Nothing the conclusion!

Easily the best book in this sub-series, this book is the prequel to the rest of the books in the set. It tells the story of why the villain of the series did the things he did, and why he hated the Federation in general and Picard in particular so fervently. The book was saved for the final entry in the series in order to keep the mystery of his identity throughout the series, and I understand the purpose of doing so, but frankly I think that the value gained from maintaining that mystery was not nearly enough to offset the loss to the flow of the series created by not running this book first. The entire series would have made much more sense, and been a much more enjoyable read, had it been run chronologically, with this book as the first entry.

This book is set in the time period in which Picard is the captain of the Stargazer, but not early in his career as captain of the Stargazer when he's still proving himself. He is an established captain here, almost as respected as he later is as captain of the Enterprise.

I have one very minor quibble with this book: the cover art of the edition I have shows Tuvok and a young Beverly Crusher, yet she has essentially no part in this story; the critical characters are Tuvok (on loan from his normal assignment) and JACK Crusher; apparently, the powers that be did not feel that Jack Crusher was a sufficiently recognizable figure to put on the cover, that his picture would not sell any books. That is possibly true, but that's no reason for putting Bev on the cover; for one thing, I'm not sure how many books her picture will sell, either, and for another, if her picture DID sell any books, whoever bought this book because they were a Beverly Crusher fan would have felt significantly cheated, as she makes only a token appearance as the other end of a video call home by Jack. Perhaps Picard and Tuvok would have been a more appropriate pairing.

Here's another great star trek book.

Rondall Banks

THE PLOT OR PREMISE:
This is the final in the series of six books dealing with an assault with biological weapons on the Federation. In the fifth book, we found out that it is a result of vengeance over the death of someone. A little tired but workable as a plot point. This book takes the reader back to the time of Picard as Captain of the Stargazer and adds Tuvok and Jack Crusher to the series. Picard is assigned diplomatic duties for a system on the verge of war. Working together with Tuvok and Crusher, they quickly realize that the war is being primed by someone, but they're just not sure who. Tuvok and Crusher go undercover and they form the majority of the story.

WHAT I LIKED:
Tuvok's and Crusher's undercover antics are interesting reading, and represent a solid addition to Tuvok's background.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Crusher's character is only superficially developed, as is the character of the man who eventually becomes the assailant for the other five books.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
A little disappointing, but still interesting reading: 3.00 lilypads out of 5.00.

OTHER INFORMATION:
* Format Reviewed: Softcover
* Original date of review: 2001, updated 2011
* Source: Library
* Tags: Star Trek, ST:TNG, Fiction, Prose, Action, Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

The story here tells the reason why the plague was started. Tuvok gets recruited and has to work with Picard and Jack Crusher. (Do not understand why Beverly Crusher is with Tuvok on the cover, I suppose no one knows how Jack Crusher looks like). The story is rather slow and unexciting as it is highly predictable. Two species at a peace meeting, shouts at one another, a third party under cover causes trouble for each side and each side blames the other and threaten war. Along comes Picard trying to make peace, naturally he will fail at first, then he succeeds and the bad guy is captured. Highly predictable, no suspense element. 'First Virtue' gets a few mention.

The book was a good conclusion, despite being set 20 years before the other books. The only real problem with the book is Mike Friedman and Christie Golden's writing styles are very different and you can tell who wrote each part. The Starfleet: Year One chapter was a nice surprise, but only 13 pages long. Hopefully it will be longer in later books.

I cannot help but think that this book is ridiculously boring. I did not care at all about characters (except perhaps that of some terrorists). And as explinations for the plants of galaxy-wide genocide go, this one is rather feeble.