Customer Reviews

Quarantine (Star Trek The Next Generation: Double Helix, Book 4)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the better Double Helix books, because it doesn't focus entirely on the virus itself. With backgrounds setup for Thomas Riker, Chatokay, and Torres, it is definatly a page turner.

Having just finished two of the original series books, The Vulcan Academy Murders & The IDIC Epidemic, I was struck by this book's similarity to the latter book. Both are set on planets where diversity prevails & many of the victims are of mixed parentage (though not as mixed as in the newer book). Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sarek, & assorted Vulcans, humans, a gallant Klingon, & his two Klingon/human sons save the day. If you liked this book (as I did), try to get the older book & compare the two.

Tom Riker, the other replica of Riker of Enterprise shows he has the Riker's talents. This story also touches on how he join the Marquis. He is captured by Chakotay and was on a ship with other members of the Voyager team before they disappeared. This story describes how Chakotay faces various threats to accomplish an errand of mercy. I find the story good.

I have yet to read a bomb in the Double Helix series. Red Sector was lacking in some parts, but it was still good. Like books 1 and 2, book 4 did great. It presented Tom Riker in a very cool way, in which he joins the Maquis. The planet they visit is very interesting.

A very good story. My only problem with it was that a cure wasn't really found. They got rid of the infectors, but not the real diseis. Still, it did justic to the rest of the series. Now... all they need to make the whole series a hit is for the next two books to be good.

At last, a novel about Chakotay, B'Elanna, Tuvok, & Seska before they joined Voyager. Will Riker's clone Tom Riker is also seen between his appearances on TNG and his return as a Maquis on DS9. They join forces to help conquer a plague on a former Federation planet ceded to the Cardassians. The planet is almost entirely populated with genetic hybrids, who practically worship B'Elanna, as she is a Klingon-Human hybrid herself. Tuvok comes to an appreciation of Chakotay and the others, while Seska's actions hint at the future betrayal to come. I would love to see another Maquis book in the near future.

Not a bad story, it suffers from the fact that I was getting tired of the series by book 2 of 6. If I had read it as a stand-alone, I would probably have rated it four stars; it's a tolerable genre story telling the beginning of Tom Riker's association with the Maquis; it has action, drama, and characterization, but as book four of six in a series that really has no business being a six-book series, it suffers on the originality front, as well as the predictability front.

Great Star Trek books and this one is no exception.

Rondall Banks

BOOK REVIEW: "Quarantine" by John Vornholt

This is the fourth book in the "Star Trek: Double Helix" series about a mysterious villain who has been releasing biological agents across the Alpha Quadrant in an effort to create the perfect plague.

This time, the mysterious villain returns to his roots, as he has found the perfect lab to test his devastating multi-prion virus on: the world of Helena. A large and thriving colony founded and populated by people of mixed descent it's one of the few places where just about all of the races of the Alpha Quadrant are present. Located on a beautiful water world, each isolated island can also serve as mini petri dish for prolonged experimentation. And if the plague happens to escape the planet and infect the galaxy, all the more better

A neutral world located in the Demilitarized Zone, the Federation is powerless to help. So it is only up to a handful of Maquis (Chakotay, Tuvok, Torres, Seska) and a Starfleet sympathizer (Thomas Riker) with limited resources to stop the plague. They must race against the clock while battling the mysterious villain's operative and prickly natives before a fleet of Cardassian ships arrive to destroy the infected planet, breaking their treaty with the Federation and potentially setting off another war.

Highlights: 1) we get to see a pre-Voyager Chakotay and crew at work. 2) we learn more about Thomas Riker and get to see why and how he joined the Maquis. 3) the world of Helena is a fascinating smorgasbord of forgotten Trek races (Coridan, Antosians, etc.). 4) a DS9 character has a cameo that actually works out quite well.

Nitpicks: 1) once again the plague itself gets little attention. 2) methinks this villain needs to dump the multi-prion virus, because it's getting way too easy to treat. 3) nothing new is revealed about the conspiracy. 4) as usual, it felt rushed at the end.

All in all, it was an ok book. It's worth reading for Chakotay and Thomas Riker alone.

Another great Star Trek novel by John Vornholt. Quarantine gives us a good idea of how "Tom Riker" ends up joining the Maquis. As is par for the course with John Vornholt, he goes into great detail describing a beautiful planet and all of it's surroundings. Not a lot of Trek authors do that. I thought Torres seemed a little soft, considering her personality, but that can be explained away. Hopefully not too much of a spoiler. Another great installment in the "Double Helix" series and thank you to the author for another good read.

When Quarantine first came out, I was a little reluctant to buy it after reading Red Sector. I bought it anyway, despite my thoughts. As I enduldged myself, in what I thought would be another bomb, despite Vornholt's usually exceptional work, I was fascinated by what a recovery it was from Red Sector. This book was especially interesting because of the action and climax in it. The plot kept me guessing, and, unlike Red Sector, had a little variety to it! It looks like John Vornholt wrote another wonderful piece of literature once again!