Customer Reviews

Maximum Warp Book One: Dead Zone (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 62)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This two book series is set against the backdrop of the Alpha Quadrant three or so months after the conclusion of the Dominion War. The Federation and Romulan Empire are both straining under the fragile peace that the War brought upon them, but find themselves in a staring contest as a series of "Dead Zones" crop up across the quadrants; these Zones somehow render a drastic change in substance, rendering everything from communications to warp drive to even the seemingly infallible Data useless.

The Enterprise is sent on a covert mission to the Neutral Zone, carrying with them one Ambassador Spock. Together, with their reluctant Romulan allies, they must discover the true nature of the Subspace Deserts, and it may cost them their lives, or perhaps signal the end of the civilization that they have fought so hard for.

It is only fair to say that the "End of The Universe" storylines have been overused, but, like the Genesis Wave duology, Maximum Warp offers up a fresh spin on the tired old tale. Brodeur and Galanter (who always does the bulk of the work) follow the plot well, and the characterization is as I've come to expect from this team of writers.

The idea is original and begs the question: what would happen to the universe of the 24th Century if everything they'd come to depend on would serve them no more, and to what extreme measures would they go? These questions are answered, and aside from the occasional hopping around (especially early on; but it does drive the plot forward) and somewhat obvious plot twists, the books reads well and is worth buying.

The end will leave you hanging, and the desire to start (and finish) book two will probably overtake you. All in all, an excellent work that gives us a rare glimpse in a little-seen race from the television series', the Romulans. Well written, well-plotted, well-characterized, but a little choppy. Final verdict: Four stars.

I thought this series of two books was much better than some other reviewers seem to have. The authors brought in elements from more than just the Next Generation, like Voyager, which made an appearance. What was particularly impressive was the pseudo-science the writers intertwined throughout the two novels to build the main storyline, namely "dead zones" that had suddenly appeared throughout the universe. Any ship or planet that happened to be where one of these zones was would lose all main power. This would have meant the end of the universe as we know it, so naturally it is up to Picard and his crew, with help from a shady Romulan named T'sart and also a heroic Romulan named Folan whom we never really know until the end where her loyalties lie. The addition of suspicious Klingons adds yet another possible area of conflict. The multiple story lines were really engaging. They were so involving, in fact, that I read both novels in a day, one right after another. While there may be a few loose ends that were never tied up, they really do not take away from the resolution of the story. The resolution involves a highly advanced alien device and some real scientific theories about how after our universe has expanded as far as it will go, it will contract back together into its original mass of energy and matter, the universe will end, another Big Bang will occur, and the uviverse will begin anew. All this science mixed in with the Star Trek pseudo-science is very believable. I truly advise against being swayed by anyone away from these books. They are worth your valuable time.

Maximum Warp Book 1 is by far one of the best TNG novels I have read , that is just my opinion. I really loved the story line. It was great to see Ambassador Spock turned back to Captain Spock working with Picard in this story. While you are reading it gets you thinking about who or what is behind what is happening the galaxy. My opinion of T'sart is he is a pain in the backside, but what do you expect from a Romulan. After finishing read book 1 recently I had to to start book 2 [not finished yet with book 2] to see how it ends up. I highly recommend both books 1 and 2 to any die hard Star Trek fan or if someone is looking for a good story to sink their teeth into.

Without giving away too much; part two of Maximum Warp reads like your "watching" a two part episode. Spock and Picard work together to discover the secret behind the "dead zones" that are crippling starships. Instead of the old Kirk and Spock routine that's been done endlessly; we get a logical Picard effectively working with our favorite Vulcan.

T'sart, the former Romulan war criminal, has the information to stop the chaos. This novel portrays the Spock character much better than the televised "Unification" episodes. He actually knows the functions and operations of this version of the Enterprise. This one can endure repeated readings because it is so dramatic. I give it a very enthusiastic 5 stars

This is my first review. Please don't hurt me! :)

I've read the complaints about it not having enough story for two books, etc. I thought it had enough story, although to save money I'd have prefer this was one big book. My mind was seeing this as an episode of the show, and I think the books allows things what the show cannot-other POVs, such as on the Defiant and Voyager. It emphasized how widespread the problem was.

What I didn't like was the very end. It seemed too choppy for me. *SPOILERS!!!* It was a nice way to end the book, but I would have preferred a better explanation as to how the Federation and the Romulans came to the treaty. What did this treaty employ? Did Tobin choose to go home or to 'defect' anyway? What about Folan and the Tal Shiar? The alternate universes were cool, though. Captain *Robert* Picard?? The mind boggles at the possibilities. *END SPOILERS* I also felt there was a point where Data, Spock and Picard were out of character. I'd like to chalk it up to strain of the mission, but it seemed really out of place.

As this duology was my second and third ST:TNG novel purchases, I'd have to say I enjoyed it.

I wanted to like this two book set, but ended up disappointed. There was such potential, but it was wasted. Picard and Spock working together. The Cold War between the Romulans and the Federation getting renewed after the Dominion War. Even a mention of a post-Sisko Deep Space Nine. Alas, the authors' reach exceeded their grasp.

The action jumped from scene to scene with many loose ends left untied. What exactly was the point of the Lotre character? What did T'sart want with the device and why was he even in the book? Folan's actions had no consequences. And all the secondary characters and subplots: Tobin and Nien, the aforementioned DS9, the Klingons. All these elements were thrown together in one big stew without much organization.

That said, I did like the Picard, Spock, Data interaction and the dialogue between Data, Riker, and Troi. In fact, I think Galanter and Brodeur have a real knack for writing for Data. Some of his scenes were downright amusing.

But even that could not make up for the incomprehensible ending. All those theories and mysterious tools and omnipotent aliens were just too much to keep track of and I still don't understand what happened. I think some Trek authors have fallen in the same trap that many Star Wars writers fell into: the superweapon-of-the-week. It was just too big; I mean if the entire galaxy is threatened (or more), then wouldn't the Q or another of the omnipotent aliens have shown up to save themselves? And what was with the brief mention of the Guardian of Forever?

One last nitpick for the publisher, not the authors: Do a better job of editing. I was continually jarred out of the story by bad spelling, bad grammar, and bad punctuation. Perhaps the Trek publication schedule is too full of mediocre books to do a good job of copy editing; cut some of the books or hire some more editors.

book I: Dead Zone

The first half of the "Maximum Warp" duology is a minor dissapointment.

The story is based around an unoriginal concept about spatial disruptions that suddenly appear out of nowhere, causing ships to go wrecked as energy can't get transformed from one form into another in the disruption field to enable any kind of mechanical function. Curiously (and unexplainedly) enough, the phenomenon doesn't appear to effect any non-mechanical transformation of energy.

This causes strain between the Romulans and the federation, as they both suspect the disruptions as a new and powerfull weapon.

The book highly resembels Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur's earlier Voyager novel Battle Lines in it's concentration on action instead of plot and characterization, wich ultimately leadst to rendering the book unrealistic.

This can be seen especially in the field of characterization. The characters feel familiar enough, and the duo writes them talentedly, but there are times in the plot that would absolutely require heavy and deep exploration of one or more characters, but don't contain any. And speaking of characters, Spocs inclusion in the story is as unjustified as it can get, as he has absolutely nothing to do and appears to be there only to fill the pages with his presence and comments that any other characters could have expressed. This I call a true waste of potential, wich appears to be the only real theme of the story.

The book succeeds in offering good science and sufficiently interesting original characters, though, and works at least somehow as a baggage of entertainment.

After all this the book still feels mediocore and cheap, and it leaves the reader with a feeling of being underestimated.

book II: Forever Dark

After the first "Maximum Warp" book, the second half of the duology starts off really promisingly.

The story holds together much better than in the forst book, there are more interesting siuations and even some sufficciently deepened character moments with both new and familiar characters.

But soon starts the downhill as plot gives it all away to action as long and uneventfull space battles and other action-packed scenes take over the story, the plot gets predictable and characterization is forgotten.

The ambitious but messy ending of the book ruins it all, as it stumbles on sci-fi clichés and overly melodramatic climax.

Leave the "Maximum Warp" duology to the bookstore and maybe borrow it from the library. It's not worth your money.

In the aftermath of the Dominion War a fragile peace exists between the Romulans and the Federation and now that could all be about to change. Throughout the galaxy, subspace disturbances are causing havoc as ships are stranded and Starbases are losing the power they need to function. Worse, these "dead zones" are multiplying at a terrific rate and soon the populations of the alpha quadrant and beyond may be completely wiped out. Together with the legendary Ambassador Spock, Captain Picard enlists the help of a notorious Romulan war criminal who knows far more than he will reveal about the "dead zones". With both Klingons and Romulans along for the ride, the Starship Enterprise sets off into enemy territory on a dangerous mission to save the universe.

Maximum Warp is the latest in a recent group of excellent two-part Star Trek book series (Avatar, Gemworld, Genesis Wave, etc...) and are without doubt some of the best numbered Star Trek novels I have read so far. The action does not let up for a second - the pace of the book is incredible - and I read it straight through in a couple of hours. Characterization is also pretty good and the action leaps between different settings and story lines - ultimately producing a novel that is so absorbing that you will find it impossible to put down. The quality is maintained throughout part two and although both books could probably have been merged into one larger volume, ultimately Maximum Warp is an enjoyable, exciting and entertaining read. Definitely recommended to all Star Trek fans!

~Jenna~

As anyone who has read more than a few of my reviews knows, I ALWAYS complain about a book that is missing either a beginning or an ending; I don't mind multi-part stories, so long as they have enough of a minor conclusion that they can, in fact, be read individually, even if a major plot-thread remains to be completed in the second book. (For example, most of the Harry Potter books had an internal plot that was completed within the book, even if the ongoing storyline remained unresolved; similarly, the Narnia books can all be read as individual stories, even though there is a continuing thread throughout.) But what I DO truly hate are books that follow the pattern of the old-fashioned movie serials: a cliffhanger ending, followed by "to be continued". This book does in fact suffer from this flaw, which is why I've only rated it at four stars; that is my only real complaint with it. If you like "tune in next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel" stories, then feel free to consider this a five-star review. And to be fair, it at least didn't feel that there was padding to make the story long enough to stretch to two books; I can't suggest anything that could have been cut, and the book is long enough (although just barely) that I suppose it would have been hard to fit between two covers.

this book looks good on my shelf with the rest of my collection. it is a good story just like they all are.