Customer Reviews

Star Trek New Frontier Book 1

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like Star Trek, and you like Peter David, you can't go wrong with this book or the rest of the series. I was hooked on David's writing through his classic "Grey Hulk" series of Marvel Comics. I find his writing stands out from the crowd (though they did bring in some good writers for the original Trek book series).

The New Frontier, Book One, is classically organized, developing the characters in their individual threads and then bringing them together for the new ship through the first four books. There's very nice balance, and the comics, er books, have a little more leeway with asides you don't get in the TV shows or movies. The time and place is set around the time of the Next Generation, with Jean-Luc Picard and even Spock putting in an appearance.

Just to be clear -- this book reads like a comic book, or like a Star Trek episode. It's pure pulp, but pulp of the highest order. One word of warning: this "book" is barely novella length; it takes about an hour to read, and that's if you read the funny parts twice.

Peter David has created his own starship captain with some familiar faces in the crew. My favorite is Shelby from the episode "Best of Both Worlds". She had a relationship with the lead character, Mac. Now she's the first officer. Lots of exciting plot twists and we actually read about Jellio trying to bring them down in scandal....

At times I've had a little trouble 'getting into' Trek or Star Wars books that don't carry forward the story of main characters.

This series completely overcame that reluctance of acceptance by establishing an interesting mix of new characters interwoven with some that you'll recognize from appearances (however brief) in the mainstream Trek series.

I've read the first six books, and they seem to get better as they go. I recently ordered the entirety of the series, and one that it crosses over into, "Gateways".

Highly recommended.

The characters are great, the plot twists liberally and entertainment abounds. This is the rump-kicking Trek you've always wished they'd make that cuts through the fluff and techno-nonsense and delivers on all levels. Funny, too!

Peter David skillfully weaves favorite Star Trek characters with new to create a stimulating new inaugural tale of drama and adventure. There are copious ties to the well established ST universe, and even the "new" ship, the USS Excalibur, originally had a cameo premiere in the ST: Next Generation series. The introduction and development of new characters provide opportunities for change that are far outside the normal guidelines for the established series books. A delight for Star Trek trivia buffs and new readers alike; a bold new beginning! (But be warned, you will be left hanging...

first things first. This book is NOT 304 pages long! Volumes 1 & 2 together are 304 pages! a real disappointment. The publishers should have put all 4 volumes together - it would have made 1 great book. Reading volumes 1 & 2 are like reading two chapters of a real book. Very disappointing. Now for the good part - the premise is excellent and should make for a good series - new characters mixed with old - you'll like them immediately. I recommend you all wait til volumes 3 & 4 come out and read them all together. Shame on the publisher - I can't believe this was Peter David's idea.

Peter David is, without question, the best author of Star Trek books there is. His "New Frontier" series looks like it will be a very enjoyable, very well-done series.

That being said, book one really wasn't one of his better efforts. (Granted, his "off day" is better than most writers' best, but still...) There are a couple of places where his language is a little clumsy, the first time I've ever seen that in his work, and this book is just a "setting the table" book, that doesn't really go anywhere, just prepares us for the following stories that presumably WILL accomplish something. Worst of all, it lets off on a cliffhanger ending, something that I despise and will almost always dock a book one star for.

However, the characters look fascinating, and as usual, David manages to write a fast-moving plot with no hint of the spoof to it (unlike, say, "How Much For Just The Planet") that nonetheless has a marvellous sense of the tongue in cheek to it. That's what makes David the best: he can tell a dramatic plot while still maintaining a sense of humor.

That's about the gist of my opinion on this series. The action is fun. Some of the dialogue is funny. And I love all the characters (inlcuding old friends Shelby, Lefler, and Selar) except two.

First is the obnoxious, sexually-harassing, pronoun-challenged hermaphrodite Burgoyne. I have no sympathy for s/her or s/him or sh/it or whatever David wants to call them. If Burgoyne is supposed to be a statement about gender or preference having nothing to do with one's abilities, then why is this character defined by obsessive sexuality?

Then there's the main character, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun. From his retroactively manufactured real name to his giant facial scar, he is just too much of a contrived "renegade" to believe. And he is so rough, so abrasive, so bereft of compassion or (most importantly) vision that I find it impossible to believe that Jean Luc Picard went out on a limb to make sure he had command of a starship.

But obviously that's just me. Hopefully, things will improve.

I read this book immediately after reading Q-squared. Picard said the exact same thing to Mackenzie and Trelane about Alexander the Great when he had nothing left to conquer. Just thought I would point that out. I loved the book and purchased the following 6 books.

Peter David has uniquely developed a new Captain to go where no one has gone before! Capt. Calhoun is a strong, bold and experianced commander who has now taken the reins of the USS Excalibur. With some old charactors from the Next Generation mixed in with the almost unbelieveable new charactors, makes this story the begining of the New Frontiers! It's an excelant story that makes your imagination go wild.