Customer Reviews

Gods Above (Star Trek New Frontier)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Star Trek-New Frontier: Gods Above written by Peter David is an adventure that takes you on a ride of a lifetime. This book continues where "Being Human" has left off and takes us through an interesting story about The Beings.

The Beings are made of energy and can take the shape of Earthlike pseudo-Egyptian-Greco-Roman-Norse-Mesopotamian-Gods i.e. Apollo, Artemis, Thoth, Anubis, Woden, and Hermes just to name a few. The Beings need worship to derive their energy and to get the people to worship them they hand out ambrosia to guarantee continued compliance.

This book continues the storyline of Mackenzie Calhoun the captain of the U.S.S. Excalibur along with Captain Elizabeth Shelby for the U.S.S. Trident as they face these god-like beings in a show down. Freedom of thought vs. total compliance and worship of a pseudo-god are what's at stake. This book takes us from the Excalibur to the Trident to the planet Danter as we read on. There are twists and turns as McHenry is in a self-imposed state of stasis and is experiencing out of body experiences. The Danteri run off SiCwan and Kalinda as the Thallonians tried to pose a government with them as the head, only to be rescued by an icon in the Trek universe.

This is a well-crafted story with plenty of action-adventure to go around. The beginning of the book is a little slow going as David sets-up the story, but there is plenty of character interaction and interplay to make the story interesting as it begins to take stride. There is a good space battle scene and as space begins to open up and things happen. There are scenes in this book that take us back to adventures of Kirk and crew and the original Enterprise-1701.

All in all, this was a good, fast and interestingly enjoyable read. I gave it a solid 5 stars and it is worth the purchase price. A point of fact, I have NOT read anything by Peter David that was a dud, he is a very intertaining author that writes a well-told story.

The latest installment in Peter David's "New Frontier" series got a little out of hand in its plot, but was ultimately enjoyable.

When we last saw the crew (or, I should say, 'crews,' since Shelby's crew on the Trident is now just as much a part of the plot as Calhoun's on the Excalibur), they were getting beaten to a pulp by the ancient gods of historical earth, and we'd learned that Mark McHenry had, in his ancestry, one of those gods - Apollo. In the episode of the original series with Apollo, he took a lady lieutenant aside, and apparently, they conceived, which ultimately led to Mark and his odd abilities.

Since Mark told Calhoun not to trust the gods (including Artemis, his childhood friend and adolescent lover), the gods smacked the Excalibur to heck and back, killing eight crewmembers, including Robin Lefler's apparently not-so-immortal mother, and leaving McHenry in a strange dead-but-not-decaying state.

And that's just the set up at the start of this novel. Si Cwan is back on Danter, trying to rekindle the Thallonian empire (but one of the gods is also on Danter, handing out ambrosia, and things get awkward, fast). The role of the gods, ambrosia, and the effect it is having on the quadrant is the main plot of the story, and done interestingly, if a tad over the top, and of course, the McHenry story (like he'd really be totally dead). Ditto Robin's mother.

The 'B' plot is the continuing story arc on the Trident of Lieutenant M'Ress, Lieutenant Commander Gleau, and Lieutenant Commander Arex - a twisted little love and hate and potential murder triangle that leaves one a little confused at best. Kat Meuller, Shelby's XO, gets quite a bit of attention in this book, and it's a good thing, but Peter David's tendancy to make everyone lust after the wrong person is starting to get a tad trite.

I was looking forward to this book, so I think I was a little let down by holding it up a little high in my expectations. It has some great one-liners (a David trademark), and the plot advances in some significant ways, so I cannot complain overmuch. It was good enough, just a little heavy on the coincidence.

'Nathan

Peter David scores a home run with God's Above. This latest installment has major changes in store for many of our characters and plenty of action. The last book left us with McHenry and Morgan Primus appearing to dead. We have a unique resolution to these to characters that will leave some pleased and some and leave some a bit sad. S'Cwan finally finds out how Lefler feels about him. New information is learned about Moke and we see a major change for the better with Zak Kebron and find out the reason for his behavior in the past that will surprise many. If you disliked Zak in the past you will probably find him more to your liking at the end of the book. I for one cant wait to see where New Frontier will lead. I would love to see them tie up with Captain Riker for a story.

Ok before I start would people please stop giving away spoilers in the book on your reviews. It ruins it for someone who has not yet read it.... now the book along with every other New Frontier book is written by a geniues. Peter David,I cannot seem to stop praising him eachtime I read his works. Read the book and trust me you will love it, especially if you have been following the series closely. Its not the best in the series but its far better then most Star Trek books I have read.

This was a pretty good follow up in the series, and the continuation of the events in Being Human, in which Mark McHenry was found to be a member of The Beings (like Apollo in the TOS episode "Who Mourns for Adonis?") and tells Captain Mackenzie Calhoun that Artemis is not to be trusted, resulting in the attack upon the Excalibur by the Beings. In this one, Mark McHenry is thought to be dead, and Morgan Primus is now integrated into the Excalibur's computer system because of an energy surge during the attack. Calhoun must work with Ambassador Spock and Ambassador Si Cwan to convince the Danteri people that The Beings, who have now ushered the Danteri people into hero worship, that The Beings are not gods and should be worshipped. Eventually Calhoun angers them and forces their hand, but he soon discovers who to destroy them. All the while, McHenry is stuck in a dimension between reality and death, while Zeus helps him `survive' a little longer. Also, we discover the true origin of Moke, Calhoun's adopted son.

And that would be reading as many "Star Trek" related books as possible as well as other sci-fi works! Even though I grew up with the Original Series Star Trek, I also came to love TNG as well and, later, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE. Being an avid fan of sci-fi in general, however, it would be an injustice on my part not to mention the many other old and new sci-fi works that both led me to Star Trek and which have forever forged my love for all sci-fi works: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "Foundation", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.

In what seemed to have taken forever to produce the next installment of the New Frontier series within the Star Trek universe was well worth the wait to readers.

After developing a very interesting storyline and expanding upon it from the original television series all those years ago, Peter David re-introduced the entities known as The Beings. The Beings are god like creatures whom ancient humans wrote about as Apollo, Zues, and the like from different human mythologies.

The prequel to Gods Above, had The Beings once again bring their drug-like substance known as `ambrosia' to the people of Danter with promises of enlightenment and prosperity in exchange for worship.

But Capt. Calhoun of the Excalibur and wife, Capt. Shelby of the Trident know better. Calhoun's ship suffered greatly from the powers of The Beings when he challenged their power, in order to save the misguided Danteri people. Even Ambassador Si Cwan and sister Kalinda seemed to be at the mercy of the gods in the form of Anubis, Egyptian god of death.

With both crews of the Trident an Excalibur trying to devise a way to stop the rampant spread of ambrosia and influence of The Beings, other sub-plots introduced continue:

Mark McHenry who `died' at the hand of Artemis, may not be dead at all even though his corpse resides in sickbay.

Kebron continues his hide shedding and metamorphosis and the results are unexpected.

Calhoun's adoptive son, Moke, learns something new about himself and surprises all.

Soleta is tempted by the god of truth, Thoth, and even this Vulcan `logic' comes in question.

A really interesting development with Robin's mother, Morgan Primus comes to light.

A classic Star Trek Icon stops in for a visit.

And many more developments to keep the reader entertained. To me, it is amazing on how easy author Peter David can keep the reader energized and continually surprised with all the different plots. The New Frontier easily and continuously fleshes out its characters to keep them fresh and up to date. More so, the New Frontier series really is the more exciting of all the Star Trek series. Think of the crew of the Trident and Excalibur as a combination of a sorority/fraternity life, seedy soap opera, and a dark comedy all rolled into one continuous space faring jaunt.

And as always, just when you think things are wrapped up, in classic Peter David style, he leaves the reader with a jaw dropping cliff hanger.

Peter David, you are a god! This book, Gods Above, was one of the best of the series and I can't wait for Stone and Anvil, the fourteenth book in the series. The only thing that was disappointing about this book was Kebron's change that he introduced in the 12th book. I'm not gonna tell you what it is, but it just led up so much to this huge thing, but what really happened is just...dissapointing, really.

Anyway! This book is freakin' awsome in everyway. I could not put the book down, no matter how hard I tried. I definitely recommend this book to everyone.

In this sequel to the TOS episode "Who Mourns for Adonis", Captains Mackenzie Calhoun and Elizabeth Shelby go up against powerful beings who claim to be gods.

If you haven't read any of the New Frontier books, Gods Above isn't the place to start as it relies heavily on events from the preceding entry in the series. It also references events from the Gateway series. As I haven't read those books, I found it annoying that more explanation was not provided.

The overall plot and pacing of the story is fine. The author's sharp wit (the thing that elevates this series above all other Trek books) has lost none of its edge; several times I laughed aloud at his humour. One of the most popular characters in the Trek universe makes a completely logical guest appearance (as opposed to just being thrown into the mix as a bit of stunt casting).

However, I was distracted by the poor quality of the writing/editing. There were several typos and the whole things seemed a bit underdeveloped. Although it had great potential, to me it read more like a rough draft than a polished novel.

2.75 stars.

I found it very wearisome for non-humans to constantly use human colloquialisms. To single out the most egregious example: "The S Squad"? Would the letter S even EXIST in Thallonian or Vulcan languages? On the TV shows most aliens sort of have to come across as weirdly made-up humans because that's what they are, but prose shouldn't have that problem. However, smarmy anachronistic humor is unavoidable in even the best Peter David novels, so that's not a big deal by itself.

However, the deal with Captain Calhoun and his crew refusing to act in anything like a professional manner got old pretty quick. "Cowboy diplomacy" gets boring after a while. The Federation lets these goofballs represent its interests with alien civilizations? Why didn't they just defrost the Three Stooges' cryogenically preserved heads while they were at it?

The Starfleet officers did at least as much hostility provoking in this novel (and the preceding one) as did the Beings, who IMHO didn't act too much differently than Si Cwan would've and has acted in their place, but apparently we weren't supposed to think about that.

What the author declined to think about is what it would've been like if, instead of the silly drug dealer analogies and so on, worshippers had come to the Beings the way worshippers generally come to "gods" in the real world: willingly and sincerely. The characters might've actually had to THINK or something. THAT could've been interesting. THIS...was not. The deck was stacked against taking the Beings' approach seriously; it had to be all mind alteration and pettiness.

Plus, and this is back to minor-level, why would Xenexians, Thallonians, etc. regard a jackal-headed god as inherently menacing? The Federation has member/ally races with the heads of fish, snakes, cats, etc. A jackal-headed being should be just another life-form to them. Anubis's appearance should've been a total non-issue, but it was singled out time and again. I'm presuming the series has mostly non-human main characters on purpose, but sometimes it's like the author isn't even aware of it himself.

No Peter David novel is a total waste of time, but this is one of his lesser efforts. IMHO.