Customer Reviews

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Genesis Wave : Book One

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Star Trek books usually are McDonalds for the mind, they are great while you are in the middle of them, but once it is gone that's it. Every once in a while a book will come out of the fold and grab me. This is one of those books. This story is filled with a disaster of galactic proportions, promising to threaten not only the Federation, but the Romulan Empire as well.
Carol Marcus is kiddnapped, and six months later the Genesis wave begins to tear through an entire sector of the Federation. Leah Brahms is the only survivor on a planet remade by the wave and barely escapes the system's destruction with another person from her science station. On her way to inform the Federation, she runs into an old friend of ours, (no I'm not telling). Eventually running into the Geordi and the crew of the Enterprise E.
The story is well crafted, the suspense keeps building, all the way til the final page....then you have to wait til April to finish the story. But as long as the second book is as good as the first I will be happy to wait.

An interesting concept: bringing the threat of the Genesis Device from "Star Trek II" (the best of the movies) into "modern-day" Next Generation continuity. Vornholt has certainly done his homework: the characterization is decent and dialogue is authentic (he has a great handle on Geordi La Forge's unease around women), and it's to his credit that Deanna Troi has a scene in which she saves the day, a nice contrast to the usual role for Troi ("look hot and state the obvious"). I was especially impressed with the re-introduction of Maltz, the surviving Klingon from "Star Trek III": his dialogue is sharp, witty, and sounds perfectly authentic, and his dismay at being a forgotten member of Klingon society is a nice subplot.

In the end, however, the book isn't compelling enough for me to want to wait the six months until the second volume, due out in April 2001. The plot is remarkably static, consisting of several destructions of inhabited planets by the fast-moving Genesis Wave. By the time the Wave threatens the Bolian homeworld, I was a touch bored: it was a case of "been there, done that" that made the climax much less dramatic. A ridiculous scene where Riker and Data are trampled by panicking natives did more to inspire giggles in me than shock or concern. Further, a well-researched full chapter Starfleet "report" on the Genesis device stops the action dead, and runs over the same ground that could have been covered with more interest and less numbing detail in an Enterprise strategy meeting. Finally, the "to be continued" aspect is frustrating and makes me feel like I've paid for half a novel. I know I have praised other continued Trek novels (Shatner's novels, the Excalibur series, the "Belle Terre" books), but I didn't feel as if I got a full novel here, and the six-month wait for the conclusion almost guarantees that by the time Book Two comes out, I won't be interested anymore. In short, interesting concept, some good characterization, but there's nothing here that couldn't have, in my opinion, been done in one single, tighter volume.

The Genesis technology and its creator, Dr. Carol Marcus, have been taken by unknown beings and the technology is being used to destroy a large part of the galaxy unless it can be stopped by the Enterprise crew. Geordi is part of a romantic triangle with his dream woman Leah Brahms & a very interesting geologist. Riker and Deanna are still a couple; she beams down to a soon-to-be-destroyed planet to rescue him. Worf does not appear, as he is probably on Deep Space Nine. However, there is just too much "science" and not as much plot as I would like, as there was in one of my least favorite Next Gen books, Dyson Sphere, which is why I have given this book four stars instead of five.

Genesis Wave is one of the best Next Generation Books to come along in a long time. It is fast paced and hard to put down. I must disagree with the first reviewer. There is a minimal amount of "science" in the book and what is there is necessary to the story. The book starts with an old Carol Marcus being kidnapped and then jumps forward 6 months into the future. Leah Brahms is working with her husband on a planet when unexpectedly the genesis wave hits killing everyone but Leah and a fellow scientist who are wearing specially designed environmental suits. They escape the destruction. Later they encounter and save the life of Maltz the Klingon from Star Trek III. Ultimately they are rescued by the Enterprise as it embarks on a mission to stop the genesis wave which is headed toward the heart of the Federation and the Romulan Empire. Admiral Nechavev enlist the aid of the Romulans and Klingons to help in evacuations and protection of planets as the wave devastates everything in its path. I recommend this book to all Star Trek fans and am looking forward to the final book

For quite some time now I've been looking forward to getting to John Vornholt's first hardback Star Trek novels, the "Genesis Wave" series and if this first novel is any example of what the whole series is going to be like, that anticipation has been greatly satisfied. I can say with utter certainty that out of all of John Vornholt's great trek tales, this by far has been his best and most complete story. Complete, to a point that is, considering that this is but the first in a trilogy.

This first title in the "Genesis Wave" trilogy sets an even higher standard for author John Vornholt with respect to his normally great plot setup and pacing. Book one is nothing short of a spectacular, thrilling, intriguing and enthralling ride as John Vornholt sets up the "impossible" crisis for our heroes to deal with. Along with great pacing and plot setup another standard feature to a Vornholt novel is his visualizations. Few authors, if any, in the Star Trek genre can describe the surrounding scenery as well as he does and it greatly enhances his stories.

Many authors in the Star Trek fiction genre attempt to bring guest characters into their stories and use them well, with this novel, John Vornholt has not only used those characters from shows and movies past but he has deeply engrained them into this story and given them a whole new life, which serves very well in making this novel that much better.

The cover art for "The Genesis Wave" book one is among the tops for the time in which this novel was published.

The premise:

During the events depicted in Star Trek II "The Wrath of Kahn" and Star Trek III "The Search for Spock," Captain Kirk and crew dealt with the genesis device which was created by his former lover and mother of his child, Dr. Carol Marcus. Since the conclusion of those events, Starfleet has kept Dr. Marcus hidden away for fear that her knowledge of this ultimate weapon may slip into the wrong hands. After approximately ninety years of seclusion, she's been found and six months later the first of many planets is hit with the genesis wave, which is seemingly all but unstoppable.

Now, it is up to not only our heroes, Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise, they'll need help from some rather interesting guest characters that we've met in previous movies and episodes...

I highly recommend this first title in the "Genesis Wave" trilogy as you will most certainly neither be disappointed nor able to put the book down until you've finished and are able to move on the second and third books. One can only hope that the second and third novels are half as good as this first one. {ssintrepid}

I loved this book! The excitement never comes to an end, plus so much happens in it that there's a need for a second book. This one starts out with planets being endangered and the Federation coming to the rescue, when possible. You never do find out who the villain is, but I'm sure that's being saved for the next book in April. It was hard to put down for these reasons.

This book answers many questions about what happened to Genesis and Carol Marcus after the second "Trek" film as well. Although many critics say that the books contain events that never actually happened, this book in still entertaining. I can't wait until April when the second book is out. My only reservation is that sequels usually don't live up to the original, but we'll see.

John Vornholt is one of the best of the "Trek" writers. His earlier TNG novel, "Rogue Saucer" would have make a killer episode. Here he returns to the Genesis Device, the destroyer/creator from the "The Wrath of Kahn." Try as the Federation might to erase it all, the technology exists, and someone has loosed it upon the galaxy. It's up to Picard and Co. to stop it before it kills billions more by destroying inhabited planets. The story plays out at a break-neck pace which makes it hard to put-down (and hard to wait until April 2001 to see how it finally ends). Discussions of the political effects of the Genesis Device's existence are clever, and the character dialogue rings true. And Geordi might even get a chance with his obsession, the lovely scientist Leah Brahms.

The Genesis Wave was introduced in the second Star Trek motion picture "The Wrath of Khan", and it influenced the original crew until the fourth movie. Now it has returned to make lives of the Next Generation crew more thrilling. The Genesis Wave was originally concepted as a device to transform lifeless planets into earthlike ones with a breathable atmosphere and an environment that sustains all human needs. The Wave is triggered by the detonation of the Genesis torpedo which has to be fired from a starship. If you like to know more, I recommend to read this book; there is a chapter providing all necessary technical information concerning the device.

The story of this book has certain epic aspects about it. The terraforming device had been improved to function as a weapon which had been unleashed upon the Federation by an enemy unknown. The Wave had destroyed several worlds before the Enterprise and the entire Starfleet could begin to intervene. Soon Picard discovers that seemingly nothing can stop the destruction from spreading. The only possibility is to find the party which created it, and this is not very easy. Unfortunately they don't have much time to do the impossible: Earth lies in the path of the weapon and will be destroyed within six days.

Vornholf has done a magnificent job creating the story. Some interesting people from the past whose personalities weren't explored properly during their appearance on TV return to the bridge and lend their hand to the efforts made by Starfleet to stop the threat. There are particularly two people that must be mentioned: One of them is Dr. Leah Brahms, the constructer of the former Enterprise and the woman whom Geordie La Forge loves without her knowing his feelings; the other person is the Klingon Maltz who survived the battle against Kirk in the third movie. Since he was captured by the legendary captain, he lost his honor and had to struggle to survive in the unforgiving Klingon society. Now he is eager to take revenge on the Genesis Device which, he presumes, is responsible for his misery.

Although Vornholt had good intentions with this book, he hasn't been able to make the best of it. He concentrates too much on the Enterprise which is stupid because the entire situation can be considered a global crisis in which everybody is somehow involved. It would have been nice how Starfleet Command and the Federation President react to this threat. In this book, I would have appreciated the "outer" view. The same mistake was made with the Dominion War in DS9: There you often got the feeling that Admiral Ross was the only person responsible for the affairs of war, and that simply wasn't realistic. Furthermore Vornholt can't desribe tragical events. Though several worlds were destroyed under the reader's eyes and a few million people died in the process, the reader didn't really care. A real pity! I don't know exactly what went wrong. Additionally the majority of characterisations was really miserable.

At the end I must say that this book has a lot of values (potential) that are hidden, though. I hope Vorhnolt will uncover them in the continuation which is due to appear in April 2001.

As a Star Trek books fan, I'm not one who likes books that dwell needlessly on series continuity. I picked up the Genesis Wave books, by John Vornholt, because they looked interesting and they are another link from the Original Series (TOS) to the Next Generation (TNG). I was hoping that it wouldn't be wallowing in continuity, and surprisingly, it doesn't. Instead, we get a rollicking adventure (if you can call a book where millions, perhaps billions, of people die as "rollicking") that creates another tie to the old series but yet does something fresh. Just a little bit of character whining detracts from an otherwise quite enjoyable book.

Vornholt does a wonderful job of giving us just enough continuity to explain what's happening without going into excessive explanations about the whole thing. I always wondered what had happened to the device after the Star Trek III movie, as it's never referenced again. Sure, the planet was unstable and blew up, but that's it? Vornholt takes what happened in the movies and extrapolates, giving us a horrifying force that is able to wipe out entire planets. There is one chapter that is a report on the Genesis Device, from four different sources as Starfleet examines the ramifications of the entire project. This gives enough background information for those who haven't seen the movies, but also gives additional information that even those who have seen it don't have, keeping it interesting. Otherwise, the continuity references are kept to a minimum, which I loved.

The body count grows quite quickly, but it's abstract enough that it doesn't get overwhelming. On the other hand, we do see, first-hand, the effects of the Wave, as Leah Brahms (the love of Geordi LaForge's life, though she doesn't know that) weathers it in a specially modified environmental suit that she was experimenting with for other reasons. The descriptions of this can get a little graphic, but only in a PG-13 way.

Vornholt also balances the personal and the cosmic pretty well, giving the reader a lot of character moments interspersed with the Wave itself. Counselor Troi finds herself stuck on a planet taking readings of the Wave (in a modification of Brahms' suit) and also seeing it first-hand. Riker has to do a last-minute rescue of Troi on another planet just before the Wave hits. LaForge pines for Leah, as well as finding himself increasingly attracted to a geologist on board, Dolores Linton. In fact, Geordi became the only annoying part of the book, as he was constantly thinking about Brahms, whining that she didn't know how he felt. Or, later, wanting to tell her but unable to because her husband had just been killed by the Wave and she was after revenge. Very human, but also annoying to read.

One wonderful addition to the book is Maltz, the only Klingon to survive the events of Star Trek III. It's now 90 years later and he's an embittered drunk. He's never been able to live down what happened to him, being captured by Kirk & Company. He's lived on the idea of vengeance against Carol Marcus since then, but when Leah meets him, he's just a drunk on an out-of-the-way Tellarite colony. However, he recognizes Leah's description of the Genesis effect, and hitches a ride with her. He becomes one of the more delightful characters, filled with gusto and energy, willing to follow Leah to the ends of the galaxy because he knows she feels the same way he does about the whole thing. He gives a light edge to the whole thing, balancing out the enormous devastation in the book. Of course, I had a hard time picturing John Larroquette playing him, but it *has* been 90 years. Even better, Vornholt again gives us just enough information to know that *something* happened back then with Jim Kirk, but he doesn't spend two pages explaining the plot of Star Trek III.

The rest of the characters are also well done, even if they don't stand out as exceptional. I loved the relationship between Picard and Admiral Nechayev, mirroring perfectly what we saw in the series. They exasperate each other some times, but both know that the other is good at his/her job and there is a great deal of respect there as well. Riker & Troi are also handled well, given their relationship at the end of the movie Insurrection. Good points all around for Vornholt on this basis.

The plot seems simple at first, but Vornholt adds just enough intrigue to make it even better. Ostensibly, the plot is just to stop the Wave and find out who is using it. But little side-plots, some having to do with the main one and some tangents, are scattered all over, giving the book a lot more depth than it may seem to deserve. The tension is palpable, and the twists and turns are interesting and not *that* predictable. It moves at a steady pace, which also makes for a quick read. It's hard to put down.

Vornholt, as an author, frustrates me sometimes. He's either hit or miss for me. His books in the Time to... series were really iffy, but this one is great. Well worth a read for the Trek fan, and even a not bad one for the non-Trek one.

David Roy

An intense page turner, this book is the first of three about a terrible menace, the Genisis Wave. It's creator has been kidnapped, and six months later the wave is unleashed. On the first planet in it's path, Leah Braums is testing a new experimental radiation suit.....she is inside when the wave passes over the planet, changing everything around her and killing billions of people in an instant. She makes a mission to swiftly move before it's path, telling someone who will listen to save lives.

She is found by the Enterprise, after picking up a few survivors, one who has information about what they're up against. Soon after, they race the clock, and must share this secret information with the Romulans and Klingons who all pull in to help with the rescue efforts, although thier intentions aren't entirely benevolant.

This first book leaves you hanging only minutes before the Genisis wave hits the planet, with Starfleet personell, including Geordi LaFordge, on the planet with some special shelters based on the ratiaion suit design. To add to some mystery, another vessel, which Dr. Crusher has taken command of begins behaving erratically, going against orders. I'm glad I had the second book on hand right then!

This is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and a well thought out story, however, I don't really care for the three book delivery method, a giant novel would have been better.