Customer Reviews

Reunion (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

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

 

 

The plot: the Enterprise is trapped in a subspace anomaly while one of the Stargazer survivors stalks the others. One of the major story lines is the murder-mystery side. It is very light on investigation, mostly consisting of action scenes of considerable variety. The other major component is the stories from the Stargazer days. The reason it all works is simple: quality of writing and characterisation. This author's writing is usually rather flat, particularly in dialogue and characterisation. This time, he presents the Stargazer crew as though they are as fully developed as any of the TNG regulars. The portrayals are strong and vivid enough that by the time of the first murder attempt, you already care about whether the characters survive it. The quality of writing in general is very high. The Stargazer stories here are better written and more interesting than any of the Stargazer books, except The Valiant. The `treknobabble' side to getting out of the subspace anomaly is only a minor part of the story, but also very well presented. All in all, the quality of this book and the entertainment value it provides is extremely high.

Suspensfull, well written, and entertaining; Reunion brings the old crew of Picards former command, the Stargazer, to the enterprise for a mission to the homeworld of one of Picards former officers, who has the fourtune of becoming the ruler of his homeworld. However, this joyous reunion is soon to become a nightmare, when someone is trying to kill members of the old stargazer crew.

Finding the killer will be a challenge, as they all have issues of one sort or another. To top it off, they find themselves in another emergency which threatens the entire ship, a subspace phenomena from which they must escape.

Suspensfull to the end, a great read. Only one cavet, at times I did feel the technical information was a bit dumbed down. A common patern was to explain the problem technically, then again explain in a simpler technical language, then once again in a very simple maner. While all accurate, it got a little annoying after a while, as if the author were attempting to make it so a sixth grader could understand it easily(perhaps?) Dispite this flaw, it is still an excellent mystery which captures the spirit of the Enterprise and Stargazer crews quite well.

My original idea was to start with "Reunion", then move to "The Valiant", then dive into the Stargazer series. However my plans have changed. Now I am going to get ready for the Destiny Trilogy coming out later this year. So the spin back to the Stargazer days will have to wait. Anyway, this book is excellent. A great way to introduce the Stargazer members and have an entertaining story at the same time.

The novel starts with an announcement that Captain Morgen of Starfleet who was an ensign aboard the Stargazer will be taking over his father's crown on Daa'V, and the other surviving members of the Stargazer will all be part of the ceremony. Friedman does a great job of introducing the other members of the Stargazer, what they did during that time and what they are doing now. You have Captain Morgen, Commander Asmund, Dr. Greyhorse, Captain Zoma, Chief Pug Joseph, Lt. Commander Calwallader and the engineer Phigus Simenon. After each member is introduced, that is also when the attempts on several of their lives start to happen. Picard and the crew have to try to figure things out before the Stargazer Reunion is death sentence.

Another part of the plot was some kind of space abnormality had made the Enterprise fly into warp 9.95 which is impossible for any ship to go. However even when they shut off there engines they were still going at that velocity. Geordi, Data, Wesley, and Simenon where trying to figure out how to get them out of this mess. I won't give any of it but I will say the Romulans get involved.

The Characters were fantastic. The regular cast was written to perfection, Picard, Riker, Data and the rest of the cast were written as if they were saying their dialogue I heard them speaking clearly in my head. One funny thing that I noticed was when Riker was starting a relationship with Cadwallader the lines that he used was like Jonathan Frakes was saying them himself. Worf dialogue dead on... everyone was perfect. - I also enjoyed the Stargazer members. They all had there own little side story that represented who they are and enriched the story at the same time.

I figured out the killer about half way thru, but hey it is not mystery novel it is science fiction. The author (either on accident or on purpose) gives away a big clue and it is pretty easy after that.

Highly recommended story with an author that knows the Star Trek universe as good as any other author.

Grade: A+

An incredible story on the past of the Stargazer, and is very suspenseful to the very end. However, recommend readers to read the Valiant, also by Michael Jan Friedman, before you read this book. It gives even more surprise to the ending.

Great book. The suspense is held right up to the end. Having to fight varied battles (internal and external) from unexpected contact with romulans to an assasin on board.

I guess this book was supposed to be a set up for the new Stargazer series.

Who doesn't love a murder mystery? Especially when it occurs onboard the beloved family-operated-and-owned Enterprise!

I picked up this book for an easy read and got more than I bargained for. I couldn't put it down. Friedman's writing is superb, and I believe that, of all the Trek authors I've sifted and flipped through, he ranks as one of the best along with Peter David.

Picard is placed in a vulnerable position here, where his present meets his past; I enjoyed seeing Picard stuck between nostalgic reminisces and keeping stern duty in the present time. Meanwhile the people from the past have all "grown up" and made their way through the ranks.

And then, as the hardcover blurb will have you believe, people start dying.

Herein lies the flaw in this book. While reading, I compared it to Alistair MacLean's "Bear Island" and Agathie Christie's "And Then There Were None," both brilliant tales of people in secluded areas, who start dropping like flies. (Christie's tale, in particular, will blow the reader away with its originality.) Friedman is dealing with characters that cannot simply be dispensed with. There are no "ensigns" to "off" during Picard's voyage to Daa'V. So Friedman has to, unfortunately, resign himself to merely hurting members of his crew and passengers, rather than outright doing them in.

This process infuriated me...perhaps I am spoiled, but with nearly everyone (save one or two) surviving each attack, how serious could this murderer be? An assassin cannot make mistakes and must never leave witnesses. A simple overlooked detail in this book becomes a major plothole: a survivor of an attempted murder lies in rehab, but never mentions who it was that attacked him or her, even though he or she obviously saw the killer.

My final complaint regards the ending. While the above is occurring, the Enterprise has been drawn into Romulan space. Friedman had a fantastic opportunity to multi-layer the ending and make it even more complex and suspenseful. Instead, after one mystery is solved, the Romulans are taken care of almost as an afterthought.

So why four stars instead of three? Friedman's writing is spectacular. It is so incredibly realistic, that I forgave him for his above faults (as if I could do better). His characters are funny, and I've always thought it was difficult to make me laugh out loud at a Star Trek character (aside from the innocent Data). And besides, murder on the Enterprise is an almost unthinkable thing, and the idea alone kept me tense throughout.

Plop down beside a river in the sunshine, forgive me for my rantings, and enjoy the book for what it really is.

entangled in a web of mystery and emotion, this is a book you have to read, spellbonding and thought provoking, it's high on my rating as a startrek TNG book

Judging by the ISBN, Ultimatum is an early or alternate title for Friedman's novel Reunion, the first hardcover ST: TNG novel. There is no ST book in print called Ultimatum.