Customer Reviews

The Lives of Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lives of Dax had me hooked from the moment that I saw it's cover. The book is an excellent anthology telling stories from each of the different hosts of the symbiont Dax from Star Trek Deep Space. Using the few continuity clues provided from the show the numerous authors weave powerful tales for each of the Dax symbionts. We see many familiar faces in the stories from Vic Fontaine to T'Pau, Dr. McCoy, Christopher Pike and others. These familiar characters help to blend the stories seamlessly into the Trek mythos. The stories were all first rate. I could not pick a favorite story from the bunch. Each of them could easily have made an excellent DS9 episode. Fans of DS9 and Star Trek will find this a must read. Kudos to the authors and editor.

Ezri - "Second star to the right..." by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

This is a wonderful short story about Ezri running into Vic Fontaine in the holodeck, when she was expecting Julian; unfortunately he's called away for emergency surgery. She breaks down somewhat and tells Vic about the circumstances surrounding her becoming the current Dax host. She then begins to impart the stories of all the previous Dax hosts.......

Lela - "First Steps" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

This fantastic short story is, of course, about Lela, the first Dax host. This is an excellent story, which recounts Lela's experience as a junior member of the council. It covers her meeting T'Pau of Vulcan. The story beautifully covers how Trill finds that it must overcome their desire for isolationism and embrace the knowledge that the Vulcan's are more than willing to impart upon them about their neighbors in the galactic neighborhood. This is a wonderfully well written story.

Tobin - "Dead Man's Hand" by Jeffrey Lang

Tobin, Dax's second host is kind of unsure of himself and a little nervous. He's is on a human ship, the Heisenberg. The ship is mostly manned by humans, but has one Vulcan, Skon. He befriends Skon. This story takes places during the Romulan, Terran war. The Romulans seize control of the ship, Tobin and Skon set out to free the rest of the crew and save the ship. This is a great short story that adds some interesting lore to the Dax character. SPOILER - The author makes it such that Tobin/Dax were the first to be transported and also that Skon and Tobin are the ones that suggest to Starfleet the idea of being able to separate the engineering and primary hulls. Great story!

Emony - "Old Souls" by Michael Jan Friedman

"Old Souls" is another extremely well written story by one of Star Trek's top authors. Emony is a champion gymnast who is now a judge for interstellar competitions. She happens to be on Earth for one held at Ole Miss, where a certain young man by the name of Leonard McCoy happens to be attending college. A great story that sets the non canonical back story that Emony Dax and the circumstances of this story are what inspires Leonard McCoy to take up his father's profession as a Doctor. Great read!

Audrid - "Sins of the Mother" by S.D. Perry

"Sins of the Mother" is a heartfelt and somewhat frightening story that heralds S.D. Perry's debut in the world of Star Trek. This wonderful story is written in the form of a letter from Audrid Dax to her daughter, detailing the events of her father's death after several years of estrangement between the two of them. A truly well written story and I'm certainly looking forward to S.D. Perry's future endeavors in the world of Star Trek and the Deep Space Nine relaunch series!

Torias - "Infinity" by Susan Wright

Susan Wright as usual, does a wonderful job of giving depth and feeling to what we already knew of Torias having been killed in a shuttle accident. She skillfully entwined a lot of emotion and depth of character into such a short and tragic story. Another great piece of "Trek" fiction by this author!

Joran - "Allegro Ouroboros in D Minor" by S.D. Perry & Robert Simpson

This is a wonderfully well written story detailing how Joran, the murderous sixth Dax host was stopped and Dax's memories suppressed. S.D. Perry is obviously going to be one of the top Trek/DS9 writers and I believe this is Robert Simpson's first foray into the world of Trek. This story could've easily been expanded into a full length novel. It would be very nice to see these two fine authors team up for a murder/mystery Trek novel.

Curzon - "The Music Between the Notes" by Steven Barnes

From the author of the wonderful novelization of "Far Beyond the Stars," we are treated with another fine story! This short story is about Ambassador Curzon Dax and a young Ensign Sisko being in the middle of a trade negotiation and Curzon educating that young Ensign in the ways of the universe. My only minor complaint about this story is that this anthology is written in the format of Ezri Dax telling the stories of all of Dax's hosts to Vic Fontaine. This story is written from Benjamin Sisko's perspective, therefore making this story somewhat out of context. Who cares though, great author and a great story!

Jadzia - "Reflections" by L.A. Graf

I have in the past found the L.A. Graf writing teams efforts somewhat hit or miss. They score a huge hit with this effort. "Reflections" is a wonderfully well thought out and scripted tale about Jadzia being forced to go home to Trill because her sister is in huge trouble. Her sister Ziranne, a school teacher, never wanted to be a joined Trill, yet she shows up in a hospital with an implanted symbiont. Absolutely great story!

Ezri - "... and straight on "til morning." by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

This is a poignant closer to this outstanding anthology about "The Lives of Dax." It also, as with the episodes, leaves you wondering what Vic Fontaine is all about along with leaving you with that feeling that Ezri has worked out her emotional distress about not wanting to be joined.

Marco Palmieri and all of the authors deserve a huge round of applause for their efforts on this Star Trek masterpiece. I would recommend this to any and all Star Trek/Deep Space Nine fans.

As Trek fan that also loves to read, I've been frustrated that Pocket's offerings rarely reflect the progressive, dynamic Trek vision I fell in love with. No longer! "Lives of Dax" is a bold step toward more character-oriented, risk-taking Trek fiction. Instead of conforming to the stretch-an-episode template, "Dax" gleans guest stars, scenarios and events from canon and then takes those elements where episodes can't go. Each multi-faceted host is written in the unique style and voice of a different author. Consequently, "Dax" becomes a rich, tapestry of interwoven stories that never succumbs to homogenity. The authors have imbued their stories with affection for the characters and for the Trek universe.

My three favorite stories were Kristine Rusch's "Lela," the Reeves-Stevens' "Ezri" and Jeffrey Lang's "Tobin." While Rusch's vision of Dax's first host has an idealistic, almost regal tone, Lang's "Tobin" is smart, wry and clever. "Ezri" convincingly picks up where DS9 ended last year and provides much need backstory for Dax's ninth host.

Though the "Curzon" story had a few clumsy moments (pre-Academy grads are *never* called ensign), the sci-fi elements were intriguing. I wasn't as enamoured of S.D. Perry's "Audrid" as I was of her collaborative effort, "Joran," with Robert Simpson. Suprisingly, I thought L.A. Graff's "Jadzia" was the anthology's weakest offering.

Unlike many Trek books, "Dax" continues to yield treasures after multiple readings. The reader can selectively sample stories or enjoy the subtly crafted, cohesive narrative that the stories create when combined. The anthology works as both in indivdual parts or as a novel utilizing different voices.

"Dax" is a book for fans to get behind. It's fun, intelligent and thoughtful; it deserves to be read by fans of all Trek series. If the future of Trek fiction can be as luminous as this anthology, we can only hope the franchise continues to "live long and prosper."

This anthology builds up the character of Dax (the symbiont)in all the forms shared with the various humanoid hosts. The concept of the Trill as an alien is in keeping with the best science fiction so both my fourteen-year-old son and I shared the reading of this anthology. The stories were enjoyable for both of us and each contributed to the overall development of the central character. Some of the stories were based on specific incidents referenced by Dax in the DS9 series and others were tied less closely to the show. At any rate, this is a very successful and unusual approach towards Star Trek commercial fiction. Suitable for ages 12 and above.

This was excellent! My congratulations go to Marco and all of the authors on jobs well done. My favorite story was "Sins of the Mother", the Audrid Dax story by S.D. Perry, and I really enjoyed seeing both the changing role of Trill-Federation relations over time, the different effects caused by joining with Dax, based on the increasing number of lifetimes from which to draw strength and experiences.

It's too bad there aren't many more Star Trek pro-anthologies scheduled for the near future (only "Enterprise Logs" and "Split Infinities", to my knowledge), because this book really shows the strengths of the format.

Along with "Vulcan's Heart" and "The 34th Rule", this is one of the top Star Trek books of 1999.

LELA: Interesting and good story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch about the xenophobic species that the Trill used to be. TOBIN: OK story about a Romulan team boarding Tobin's ship. EMONY: a young Leonard McCoy meets Emony Dax at a gymnastics competition in which his friend is competing. This reveals animosity between the Trill and another race and explains why the Trill did not wish to tell others about their symbiotic nature, thus making everything learnt in TNG's "The Host" OK. Well done, Michael Jan Friedman! AUDRID: Brilliant story told in the format of a letter from Audrid to her daughter explaining the circumstances surrounding Audrid's husband's death. TORIAS: Interesting story about a shuttle flight attempting to reach warp 10 but could have been better. JORAN: The worst story of them all. Difficult to follow and totally uncompelling. CURZON: Fascinating story told through the eyes of a young Ben Sisko watching Curzon Dax handle a very interesting situation. JADZIA: Great story about Jadzia's sister undergoing temporary joining which sees the return of Verad. EZRI: Wonderful story giving us more detail about the circumstances of her joining and featuring a conversation with Vic Fontaine. ALL IN ALL: 9/10

Even a devoted Trekkie as I am finds some parts of Star Trek books that seem to drag. Taking too long to set up plot lines and leaving too little action to excite the reader. The Lives of Dax avoids that problem wonderfully. Each life is covered in it's own short story that flows swiftly and cleanly through some major contribution of that Dax's lifetime intersecting with our well known historical Star Trek figures from T'Pau as a young Vulcan up to 'current' times. The chapters (lives) flew by.

Star Trek: The Lives of Dax edited by Marco Palmieri is a most intriguing work about on of the most incredible characters to come along in the Star Trek Universe... a symbiotic pairing of two distinct life forms creating a joined pair. As the symbiont, Dax lives on in different hosts bodies and as such seen a lot and has an incredible tale to tell.

This book covers Dax's tale from one host to the next over a course of three hundred and fifty years. A life time that spans many different hosts and the personalities. Nine differnt hosts tales are being told in this book, all linked to Dax. Ezri, Lela, Tobin, Emony, Audrid, Torias, Joran, Curzon, and Jadzia are the hosts for this unique and compellling life form. The stories are written by different authors so you get the feeling that each new host is telling the story of the life shared with Dax.

The authors are Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Jeffrey Lang, Michael Jan Friedman, S.D. Perry, Susan Wright, Robert Simpson, Steven Barns and L.A. Graf. Each of these authors lends their respective storytelling ability and gives the book a unique capacity of one life being woven throughout the theme of the book.

This makes an engrossing and engaging anthology told well encompassing personality, personal triumphs and dreams. Also, we see the diverse hosts and some of the tragic consequences associated with the joinings. This gives the book a cohesiveneess as we leave one host and go to the next.

This is a character driven book with a story to tell as the flowing narrative continues sprinkled with intrigue. A through fleshing out of the Dax character is found here and leaves us with a better appreciation and knowledge.

If you like the Dax character, you have to read this book as the memories of each host are past to the next. Fascinating...

THE LIVES OF DAX was quite worthwhile, its quality surprisingly consistent for an anthology. It also lacked the gross continuity errors and misinterpretations that routinely show up in the ST novels these days. (Well, they did use the 24th-century warp scale in a 23rd-century story, but that may have been necessary to avoid confusing casual fans.) Palmieri did a good job as editor, and the authors all did well too. There were a few proofreading glitches in the Steven Barnes piece, and Curzon's dialogue was too stiff, but otherwise it was one of the best stories. Overall, the anthology is intriguing both as a biography of an infinitely complex character and as a cross-section of Star Trek history. My only complaint is that I wanted to write a book about Dax's past lives, but Palmieri and company beat me to it!

This was my passport back to reading Star Trek fiction; it's a standout, not just in Trek fiction, but among s-f anthologies. DS9 remains the black sheep of the franchise for some reason, maybe because the war-time setting propelled the characters into much darker regions than Trek usually explored. The stories here are unusually rich emotionally, fleshing out Dax's character & doing justice to the wonderfully evocative concept of a symbiotic species living successively different lives. Not only that, but Dax's life is nicely interwoven with the other prime players in the Trek universe. The writers all rose to the challenge, and the editor Marco Palmieri deserves applause from all DS9's idiosyncratic fans....