Customer Reviews

Star Trek: the Next Generation: Slings and Arrows #3: The Insolence of Office

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As with other books in this series - the writing quality and storyline are good. The problem is that Amazon is charging an almost full "paperback" price for a very short book -- less than half the length of a regular Star Trek paperback. I have read books 1 - 3. I won't be buying any more of this series because they are over-priced.

This third installment of the Slings and Arrows series brings us the best attempt so far. The story tells two separate tales that hinge on the ideas of duty and giving up something important. The stars of this novella are Troi and LaForge and it's a shame that unlike the other characters they don't have a focus novella for themselves, but share a single one. However, their stories give us perhaps the best, most interesting tale of the Sings and Arrows story. The Troi section of this story is a sequel to DS9's "The Muse" in which Lwaxana Troi marries Odo, and picks up story elements there. As well, this story serves as a coda of sorts to Imzadi II and a prequel to plot elements from "The Ceremony of Innocence is Drowned" and "The Battles of Betazed." Unfortunately, the story does rush a bit at the end but it's a nice piece connecting all the Troi storylines and exploring the bond between Deanna and her mother. The Geordi storyarc explores the reasoning behind his switch from his VISOR to the ocular implants by First Contact. While the initial conceit of that story is a little odd, Geordi explores some interesting emotions over the piece. Of the first three novellas, this is the shortest by ~100 kindle markers and it's a shame there wasn't more space for this pairing. One curious aspect of the novella series seems to be a heavy reliance on DS9 plot elements and characters. While I love DS9 and continuity, I'm put off by how this is a 20th Anniversary celebration of TNG with so many non-TNG plot elements.

This eBook is about 1/5 to 1/4 the length of the average Trek novel, and is a bit overpriced. As well, there are no chapter markers on the progress bar which can be a bit frustrating, however the short length means less pauses in reading.

I will not be buying anymore Amazon Kindle products due to the brazen ripoff perpetrated by these Star Trek releases. Not only are some absurdly short for the money, the second and last I tried was actually truncated in the middle of the narrative. Amazon is arrogant and also ultimately foolish if it believes that it can replace the legit book business with what amounts to dilution and exploitation. Go support bricks and mortar stores if you care about the written word because Bezos clearly doesn't.