Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism (Bk. 1) (Paperback)

by Christopher L. Bennett (Author), William Leisner (Author), James Swallow (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
It's been said that for any event, there are an infinite number of possible outcomes. Our choices determine which outcome will follow, and therefore all possibilities that could happen do happen across countless alternate realities. In these divergent realms, known history is bent, like white light through a prism -- broken into a boundless spectrum of what-might-have-beens. But in those myriad universes, what might have been...is what actually happened.

A Less Perfect Union: More than a hundred years after the Terra Prime movement achieved its dream of an isolationist Earth, humanity is once again at a fork in the river of history...and the path it follows may ultimately be determined by the voice of a single individual: the sole surviving crewmember of the first Starship Enterprise.™

Places of Exile: Midway through Voyager's journey across the galaxy, Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay must choose whether to brave a deadly war zone or abandon their quest for home. But an attack by Species 8472 cripples the ship, and the stranded crew must make new choices that will reshape their destinies...and that of the Delta Quadrant itself.

Seeds of Dissent: Khan victorious! Almost four centuries after conquering their world, genetically enhanced humans dominate a ruthless interstellar empire. But the warship Defiance, under its augmented commander, Princeps Julian Bashir, makes a discovery that could shake the pillars of his proud civilization: an ancient sleeper ship from Earth named the Botany Bay.

About the Author
James Swallow has written several books, including Star Trek: Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers and Seeds of Dissent (from Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism); the Sundowners quartet of ?steampunk' science fiction Westerns (Ghost Town, Underworld, Iron Dragon and Showdown); the best-selling novelization of The Butterfly Effect; The Flight of the Eisenstein, Faith and Fire and Jade Dragon; the 2000AD tie-ins Eclipse, Blood Relative and Whiteout; Stargate Atlantis: Halcyon; and the Blood Angels duology Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius.

In addition, Swallow's short fiction has appeared in Inferno! and Stargate magazine, the anthologies Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores, the Doctor Who Short Trips collections Dalek Empire and Destination Prague, Something Changed, Collected Works, What Price Victory and Silent Night.

His non-fiction includes Dark Eye: The Films of David Fincher and books on writing, genre television and animation; he has also written for Star Trek: Voyager, Doctor Who and Space 1889, along with several scripts for audio and videogames.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Pocket Books) (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416571809
• ISBN-13: 978-1416571803
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost Better Than the Original, July 18, 2008

By	J. Mark Graham "Seeker of Wonder and Awe" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

So, I really like Star Trek, and science fiction in general. But one of the most annoying problems with the genre is the inability to tackle the consequences of being human. Recently I've been trying to branch out into science fiction and really found it barely comprehendable, because of the inability to make the worlds convincing in a human fashion. Particularly the use of genetic enhancements and super elongated life spans. Otherwise known as a literary device known as deus ex machina. Commonwealth Saga and The Dreaming Void, I'm looking at you. Star Trek isn't completely immune to this, but in Deep Space 9 TV and books and the Alternate Universe they just nail this. People are PEOPLE. While there are many many great things to say about this collection of stories, all of these stories just get it right, to a greater or lesser extent, but on a fundamental level.

For this review, I'll tackle each story individually and then look at the themes that run through each of them and how they fit together as a whole, in comparison to the rest of recent Star Trek books. For brief story summaries, go the the book's Amazon Page.

A Less Perfect Union is a great start to the collection. First of all, the story flows in a natural fashion, particularly if you have a rough grasp of the background of the original series. These alternate or 'myriad' universes as they call them can create authorial nightmares in terms of exposition and development. Because of the established characters and the mental acknowledgement the reader has that these are going to be different, particularly The Original Series characters, its way too easy to overload on plot exposition and positioning characters within the new universe, but this story just does that very well. Particularly by gradually introducing characters in a natural fashion, like Doctor McCoy. The story itself isn't all that strong, mostly because a significant plot point requires a significant oversight by a major character, but the strength of the universe as a realistic and well-developed setting really makes this story work.

8.5/10

Places of Exile is in my opinion the weakest story of the three, but not really by the fault of the author, who did a fine job of building the characters of the arguably the worst Star Trek series. Where the story kind of hiccups is in Species 8472/Scourge/Groundskeepers, which I can't really blame the author for again because they were really difficult to flesh out. I was intrigued by the general plot premise, and thought the developing of the Delta Coalition to be just a whole lot of fun to experienced. Immigration issues are touched on in a political way, but again like a great deal of this collection just flows naturally. One thing that I really appreciated is the consequences of the deaths of the major characters. B'Elanna's collapse after the death of Tom was totally believable, espeically since it reminded my of the earlier seasons of Voyager, before it all descended into madness. Not only that, I missed Tuvok. There were moments where I just wanted to see Tuvok. So while the plot is a bit iffy, again the new setting works really well, the development of the Delta Coalition was natural (if way too fast timewise. No way Voyager could create a Delta Federation in under two years.) and well fleshed out, and they touched a grand scale that was great to see.

8.0/10

Seeds of Dissent is one of the best stories I've ever read period. Despite being the shortest story of the three, it flows in a natural fashion over a short period of time that makes it feel like you have experienced these events. The pacing is masterful, and the creativity on display was masterful. The development of the characters of Julian Bashir and Ezri Dax in particular were very well done. One of the literary techiniques that Swallow uses is a natural perspective shift. As the story begins, it begins through the perspective of Bashir, but as the plot quickens the perspective gradually to Ezri Dax. Not only that, but the characterization of Bashir is wonderful, and the universe-in-a-bottle that is created in the Defiance just feels authentic and very very unique. The only real weakness I feel is the crew of the Botany Bay, who feel like filler rather than actualy characters, but that just seems like a consequence of the direction of the plot. But overall, quite simply on of the best stories I've ever read.

9.5/10

As a whole, these stories work really well together. The universes are each truly unique, touching on great points. Thematically though with each universe, is that the standard Star Trek universe isn't necessarily better. The best example is Places in Exile, where the what-if scenario is explicitly 'better' than how the canon universe turned out to be. In most other alternate universe stories, the universe is distinctly worse, but these scenarios aren't necessarily worse. While A Less Perfect Union and Seeds of Dissent universes had discintly negative turning point, but these universes have a natural feel to them that even the Alternate Universe doesn't have. In the end, the transition from the Alternate Universe to these Myriad Universes is a great transition for the Star Trek book series, that allows a creative foundation while freeing the authors to create very realistic and unique universes. Kudos to the authors for taking this concept and executing it exceptionally well.

Overall 9.0/10

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad at all, July 26, 2008

By	Raymond J. Clements "Jobu" (Wichita, KS, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All three stories in this collection were enjoyable, and I read it in a day and a half. Of the three, my favorite was the Voyager story, "Places of Exile." The characterizations are spot-on, and in my opinion, the developments that take place for each of the characters (the ones who make it, anyway) are more interesting and fulfilling than what actually happened on the show.

The other two stories are equally good, but are much more reference-heavy (especially "Seeds of Dissent"; make sure you've read Greg Cox's Khan books and seen "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (TOS), "11:59" (VOY), and "Future's End" (VOY)) and the casual fan may not get it. Still, great stories.

I like the whole Myriad Universe idea, especially now that the Mirror Universe stuff is about at mined-out as it can be. Good read, can't wait for the sequel next month.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2 out of 3 are either one worth the price!, October 18, 2008

By	David Sisler "camapa233" (Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Alternate universes and what-ifs are -- obviously -- the life-blood of science fiction. Two of the three stories in this volume live, one just sags.

"A Less Perfect Union" features Christopher Pike at the helm and James T. Kirk as his second in command. Characters from throughout the original canon appear, including the animated series. I rated it tops until I read "Seeds of Dissent" the DS9 version in the book.

Again, capturing elements from earlier mainstream stories, it ranks as one of the few stories I've ever read that I could not stop once I had started it, and that is in the Trek universe or any other work of fiction -- and I write from the perspective of a 61 year old Trekker (I was there when it started). When Kirk banished Khan to Ceti Alpha 5, Spock wondered what it would be like to see what crop sprang from the seed they had planted. James Swallow lets us see what happened when Khan won the Eugenics War. Outstanding!

"Places of Exile," the Voyager installment, reads like one of the early Next Generation TV shows -- tea and talk. If you don't have anything else to read, read it, but you won't miss much by skipping it.

But don't let that stop you from buying this book!