Requiem: Requiem Bk. 1 (Star Trek: New Frontier) [Kindle Edition]

Peter David (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

When the U.S.S. Excalibur was suddenly and mercilessly destroyed, Starfleet lost one of its finest starships. But the crew members of the Excalibur lost their captain...and their home. Now, in mourning for their ship and Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, First Officer Elizabeth Shelby and the rest of the crew await new assignments

For Lieutenant Soleta, that means a painful reunion with her Romulan father, while Zak Kebron and Mark McHenry are sent undercover to investigate a series of mysterious alien abductions an a low-tech world. Going their separate ways throughout the Alpha Quadrant, the Excalibur's survivors must face diverse challenges and dangers on their own.

The ship is history, but the adventure continues...

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One: PREVIOUSLY IN STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER...

The normal low-level buzz of conversation on the bridge tapered off as Captain Calhoun stepped out from the turbolift.

He had missed an entire shift, which was unprecedented for him. Everyone understood, however, and no one knew quite what to say to him when he did reappear.

He went to his command chair, took his seat, and when he looked around at the respectfully silent crew, a smile played across his lips. It was a sad smile, but a smile just the same.

"Captain," began Shelby.

"Commander...it's all right," he interrupted. "All of you...really...it's all right. The important thing...the thing I'm not going to lose sight of...is that he went out like a warrior."

There were nods from all around.

"It was very...Xenexian of him, believe it or not. The notion of dying in one's bed is anathema to my people. To die in combat, on the other hand, is very much to be desired...and to die in combat while saving others is the highest, most noble passing that anyone could wish for. I will miss him...and regret the time that we did not spend together, and the time we will not have...but the bottom line is, he died heroically. All of us...should only be so fortunate as to have that opportunity," said Mackenzie Calhoun, five minutes before the Excalibur blew up...

Copyright © 2000 by Paramount Pictures

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2002 KB
• Print Length: 292 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0671042386
• Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek (April 13, 2001)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC0TDG
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,115 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Peter David is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous Star Trek novels, including the incredibly popular New Frontier series. In addition, he has also written dozens of other books, including his acclaimed original novel, Sir Apropos of Nothing, and its sequel, The Woad to Wuin. David is also well known for his comic book work, particularly his award-winning run on The Incredible Hulk. He recently authored the novelizations of both the Spider-Man and Hulk motion pictures.He lives in New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could this be the best Star Trek book series ever?, October 1, 2000

By 

John DiBello (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Requiem (Star Trek New Frontier: Excalibur, Book 9) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've followed the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing program for twenty years since Vonda McIntyre's "The Entropy Effect." Many of its hundreds of books have been pretty good. Some have been great. A lot have been less-than-average. But page-for-page, no one Trek writer has entertained me as much as Peter David, and none of Peter David's Trek books have inspired so much enthusiasm in me as his "Excalibur" novels. Filled with characters (mostly) of his own creation, unfettered by a writer's bible or much of the complicated Trek continuity, these twelve (so far) novels have proven to be my ultimate favorites in Trek books, and the two newest are better than ever.

I've mentioned in other Trek book reviews that I heartily applaud any attempt to focus on characters other than "the big three" of each TV series (c'mon, I can't be the only Chekov fan out there!) so the whole concept of the Excalibur books and their non-TV cast crew has been most enjoyable. David takes this concept one step further in "Requiem" and its sequel "Renaissance": after the destruction of the Starship Excalibur and the apparent death of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, the crew breaks up to follow their own adventures. David deftly mixes three subplots: Soleta searching for her hated father, McHenry and Kebron on a funny "X-Files" type investigation which leads them into conflict with a previously-established Trek character, and Si Cwan and Kalinda search for the murderer of their teacher. Nearly every chapter ends with a decent hook or cliffhanger, showing David could write a compelling TV episode that might at least keep us tuned through the commercials!

Why are these among the best Star Trek novels ever? The characterization is, in a mere dozen books, incredible--David takes time and effort to get us inside the heads of his Starfleet crew, to the point where I know much more about most of them than many of the "Voyager" characters. His dialogue is entertaining, brisk, and best of all *fun* to read: David has a keen ear for the way people talk--with sarcasm and humor. The action is fast-paced. And best of all, the characters *grow* and *learn* through the book, throughout the series. Soleta's quest surprises us as much almost as much as it does her, mostly for the reason that I can't think of the last time a Trek character has "grown up" and discovered something so major about themselves since DS9's "In the Pale Moonlight" episode. David's not above throwing in a shocker of characterization once in a while (what *is* the mysterious connection between McHenry and a long-standing Trek nemesis?)--it wouldn't be a Trek novel without surprising revelations. In short, Rick Berman could do worse than to hire Peter David as story editor and consultant for the next Trek series: no one quite brings humanism to "Star Trek" like Peter David.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More Like A Comic Book, January 2, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (Newport, Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Requiem (Star Trek New Frontier: Excalibur, Book 9) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a big fan of Peter David. He's one of the best Trek writers because of his wide knowledge of the Trek universe and love for the characters that inhabit it. His "New Frontier" series started with a big bang, interesting plots and characters spiced up with quirky humor and inside jokes. But unfortunately with each new book that careful balance starts to disappear. No substance, just comic-book style gimmicks. This is highly evident in his latest book "Requiem". The Romulan plot with Lt. Soleta was great, the one saving feature of the book. But everything else detracts. Anything dealing with Si Cwan might as well have been a complete blur. While an intriguing X-Files tribute totally collapsed with a tired, old cameo and an incredible revelation about Lt. McHenry that just makes you roll your eyes.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, with a few quibbles..., July 9, 2001

By 

Jonathan Burgoine "bookseller" (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Requiem (Star Trek New Frontier: Excalibur, Book 9) (Mass Market Paperback)

I waffled a bit over whether to give this one 3 or 4 stars. I finally went with 4 on the strength of the Soleta plot.

To start at the beginning, Peter David created a series called "New Frontier." An alien captain, three characters who were cameo's on The Next Generation, and the rest of the crew made up from his fertile imagination. They are put aboard the USS Excalibur, and sent into Thallonian space.

In book eight, the last line of the story takes us, with no explanation, to "five minutes before the Excalibur blew up."

Ack.

The first foible of this book is the very manipulative way we are kept out of the loop as to what happened to the USS Excalibur, and further, Captain Calhoun specifically.

The second foible is that the crew scatters, which is fine, but the B-story of McHenry and Kebron, despite revealing some really interesting and tantalizing tidbits about McHenry, read like a joke. A bad joke. X-Files meets a Circus Act.

For all that those two are two major concerns, the plot with Soleta exploring her mixed racial history was just phenomenal. The amount of intruigue that Peter David managed to slide between only about a third of the book was just a treasure to read. If the book had focused entirely on Soleta, I would have been a happy man. Instead, the more awkward bits with Kebron and McHenry had me groaning, and I was tempted to skip passages (but didn't).

Still, exploring a crew in their "downtime" is a new side to the Star Trek universe we've not really seen explored often, aside from the occasional Risa episode of DS9 and TNG. This was handled rather well.

A must-read for Soleta, but otherwise, just a fair book.