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Star Trek Invasion: The Final Fury/Time's Enemy/the Soldiers of Fear/First Strike (Star Trek : Invasion Series)

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The "Invasion" series spans all four Star Trek series and creators John J. Ordover and Diane Carey have come up with a story line that can successfully transcend time and space. Once upon a time the Furies, a collection of species that represent the demons of the mythology of every planet in the universe, were thrown out of the Alpha Quadrant by the "Unclean." Now they want back what was taken from them.

In "First Strike" by Diane Carey, A mysterious spaceship invades Klingon space, thereby destroying an entire solar system. When General Kellen of the Klingons sees the faces of the invaders he is so terrified that he seeks out James T. Kirk to help stop the beings he calls the Havoc. Kellen insists the invaders are the demons of Klingon mythology come to life and he is outraged that Kirk wants to waste time talking to beings who have come to destroy everyone. However, Kirk achieves a tentative friendship with Zennor, the captain of the Rath, and learns the invading ship contains the descendants of planets who were once banished from their system by a conquering race. In terms of the Star Trek characters, the most interesting twist Carey provides is Kirk's concern over being a leader, not only in terms of how he is perceived but how he trains his younger officers. I also like McCoy's psychoanalysis of Kirk when he insists that the reason Kirk is different is that when he sees strange new beings he always looks for the similarities between them not the differences.

Book Two, "The Soldiers of Fear" by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch is the least satisfying of the quartet, having neither the breadth nor the depth of the others. Picard has to deal with the next attempt at invasion by the Furies who have a weapon that generates waves of fear at the Enterprise. There was a sense of tragedy to "First Strike" because Kirk was trying to stop a war that was so unnecessary. In "The Soldiers of Fear" the writers try to create an epic moment, on the level of Spock's sacrifice at the end of "The Wrath of Khan," but when we get to the big moment there is no suspense because as soon as you know what the mission is, you know what will happen. The writers really needed to come up with a better way of getting out of that do or die situation.

"Time's Enemy" by "L. A. Graf" (sci-fi author Julia Ecklar and university scientist Karen Rose Cercone) is as fine a Star Trek novel as I have ever read. The hook is an absolute stunner. Captain Sisko, Jadzia Dax and Dr. Bashir are clandestinely called to Starbase One by a Starfleet Admiral to look at log records. Sisko recognize them as the final moments of his ship, the Defiant, under his command. The trio are then shown the Defiant, buried in ice for over 5,000 years in Earth's Oort Cloud. Aboard are the remains of Sisko and Bashir, as well as the Dax Trill, still alive after all that time in a stasis chamber. On its last mission the Defiant was blasted into the past. Whatever happened, this time line must be avoided at all costs. The other plot like has Major Kira, Odo and Chief O'Brien are dealing with the threat of sabotage on Deep Space Nine. The use of science in this novel was extremely well grounded and theoretically viable. However, the most impressive part of the book for me was the characterization, not only of each individual character but more importantly of their relationships with each other. In terms of the Invasion series Book Three finally gets around to answering the question of who (or what) cast out the Furies millennia ago.

The final volume of the Invasion series is a pleasant surprise and makes for a fitting conclusion to the self-proclaimed "ultimate Star Trek saga." What makes "The Final Fury" so fascinating is that Dafydd ab Hugh provides not only some interesting Star Trek science problems but also give Janeway the biggest moral dilemma in Star Trek history. There are 27 billion Furies living on a planet-like starship, having prepared for centuries to reconquer the Alpha Quadrant. They are going to make their sun go nova, harness the energy, and use it to transport themselves to the heart of the Federation when they will use their fear weapon to re-enslave everyone everywhere. While Voyager's crew grapples with the technical question of how to stop this from happening, Janeway has to deal with the responsibility that if they succeed they will kill every being on the planet. The trite philosophical chestnut, "If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?" is transformed into a very real question for Janeway. The debate among the characters is very interesting, and quite surprising in several regards.

The conclusion is a more than adequate payoff for the Invasion series, which is pretty impressive because usually the endings are never quite up to the set up, a complaint I have been making ever since I first saw "Apocalypse Now." I picked these books up just to read them on the bus to and from work and was surprised that overall they were well worth the effort.

I think that Star Trek Invasion is the best Star trek book that I have ever read. This book was the reason that I started watching Deep Space Nine. I would reccommend this book to any trekkie.

great, entraps you till the end. Once you read you got to read more.

I read the series awhile ago and I loved it. I still have the books and would be able to read them over and over again. It is a perfect example of how even superior firepower (The British against us in the Revolutionary War) doesn't guarantee that you will win.

4 book set came in excellent condition in set box. came within 3 days of ordering - excellent service - would use them again when the need arises to find old Star Trek books.

This series is about a race of mythical beings from our past who belive they were banished from this part of space many millenia ago, attempting to conquer it back. It is a fantastic series, and should be read by all Star Trek lovers.