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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not a bad book, but definitely disappointing., May 13, 2004
If the reader is not familiar with Ms. Hamilton's "Anita Blake" series, and goes into this book expecting simply another Star Trek book by a random author, he or she will doubtless be at least mostly satisfied. The plot is above average for the genre, and if it does have a fairly common theme for Star Trek (and particularly Next Generation) novels (inhabitants of unenlightened planet are in danger of destroying their planet's ecosystem) it is a storyline that is handled fairly well here; the plot moves, and the characters seem recognizable. The writing is a bit sloppy, with a few too many commas where there should be either semicolons or periods, but not to a truly distracting extent, and the occasional misuse of a word ("breath" used as a verb, instead of "breathe", as in "give me room to breath"; "suppose" used instead of "supposed" as in "what were the powers suppose to be able to do?"; "use" instead of "used" as in "It's what our world use to be") is annoying, but again, not so frequent as to be a really terrible problem. The real problem is that, if the reader is familiar with Ms. Hamilton's "Anita Blake" series, he or she comes to this book expecting something truly exceptional, and that isn't at all what he or she gets. This book was published only a year before "Guilty Pleasures", the first in the "Anita" series, but the quality here is decades behind the quality in that book. Some of the problem, admittedly, is that we are working with established characters here, none of which is Anita Blake, and much of the delight to be found in that series comes from the portrayal of that very delightful character. Perhaps Ms. Hamilton would do better if she wrote a novel set in the period before Tasha Yar died, and wrote from Lt. Yar's perspective, as she does from Anita's. The characters are similar enough that she might truly be able to bring Tasha to life. But in this story, none of the characters, established or new, has a tenth of the spark that one finds in Anita Blake. It's unsettling to think that someone who could create such a dynamic character is a one-trick pony. Hopefully, she's grown as a writer in the last 12 years.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what you might expect, April 27, 2008
When I saw the title NIGHTSHADE and noted the author, Laurell K. Hamiliton, I thought "vampires on the Enterprise?" Sigh it was not to be, instead the Enterprise was on a diplomatic mission to a war torn world. The Away team of Picard, Troi and Worf had just begun meetings with the various factions when the Enterprise is called away on a rescue mission. Picard decides that the team will remain on the planet and directs the Enterprise to leave without them. Immediately after the Enterprise leaves there is one of the negotiators is poisoned, Picard is arrested as a suspect and appoints Worf to take his place. Worf, who feels out of his depth as a diplomat, finds that Troi is under some sort of psychic attack and that the local interrogation method involves torture and usually ends with an execution.
This is an odd novel, it seemed as though Hamilton wanted to write a Worf/Troi story and could not think of a good way to get rid of the rest of the crew. Picard was stuck in a cell and mostly ignored, the 'B' story line was rather limited to Geordi and Dr Crusher while the rest of the Enterprise was similarly treated. The basic premise of the ongoing war destroying the planet, society and people, was original and handled well. Hamilton's solution was intriguing, if not exactly a surprise.
Pick up this one and curl up for a few hours on a rainy weekend if you are a Troi/Worf fan but otherwise give this one a miss.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worf becomes an ambassador for the first time, July 14, 2003
Captain Picard, Dianna Troi, and Lutenant Worf are on a mission to Oriana to negotiate a peace treaty between waring factions on the planet, who are finally becoming convinced that if they don't find peace soon, they will all be doomed to die along with thier ravaged planet. Soon after the away team beams down, the Enterprise recives a distress call and leaves the team on the planet while Riker leads the Enterprise on a rescue mission. Now alone, things soon take a bad turn as the Peace delegation discovers the terrible things which war has done to the planet, and to the people through the long two hundred year war. Picard is arrested when someone is killed by poision in the first peace talk gathering. Worf and Troi must now invistigate the murder to clear thier Captain's name or he will be executed in three days time. This was a good book, a quick, enjoyable read. This is Worf's first need to be a diplomat, and at the point it was written in the series this was a nearly absurd thought, most espically to Worf. However, you may also be interrested in a book "Diplomatic Implausibility" which is in the timeframe after Worf has served on DS9 and has actually become an ambassador.
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