Star Trek: Titan #6: Synthesis [Kindle Edition]

James Swallow (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Starship Titan continues on her outward voyage of discovery. Ranging farther and farther from Federation space, Captain William Riker and the crew look forward to living Starfleet's mission: seeking out new life, discovering new civilizations.

Striking a "sandbank" -- a spatial distortion -- the Titan is knocked out of warp, her crew shaken up but uninjured. Titan has stumbled across a battlefield, and floating in it, shattered and in pieces, are the remains of a ship. Searching for survivors, they discover the ship never had a crew. The away team removes the computer core, looking for answers. Once the device is restored, it becomes clear this is not just a computer, but a thinking, reasoning artificial intelligence.

It identifies itself as SecondGen White-Blue, and it comes from a civilization composed entirely of sentient computers. Eons ago these artificial intelligences were charged to be the first line of defense against The Null -- a destructive force so all-consuming that generation upon generation have waged unending war trying to find a way to beat back this terror. Captain Riker offers to assist them, but years of war have left the AIs distrustful and suspicious, especially of organics.

The tide of the battle is turning, and The Null is winning. Set free, it will destroy everything in this system and then, unchecked, spread its mindless destruction into the heart of the Federation.

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

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2140 KB
• Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek; Original edition (October 27, 2009)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002PMVQ86
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,471 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar addition to the STAR TREK: TITAN series, October 21, 2009

By 

Julio Angel Ortiz (Southeastern PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Synthesis (Star Trek: Titan #6) (Mass Market Paperback)

Swallow's entry in to the STAR TREK: TITAN series is an interesting twist on sentient machines and AI, along with an original threat that is comparable with other "high concept" sci-fi novels out there. Combined with Swallow's excellent capture of the crew's voices and wonderful drama, SYNTHESIS is a novel that lives up to the core values of TREK: the wonder of exploration and adventure. Highly recommended.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Synthesis is a decent addition to the Titan series, October 31, 2009

By 

Adrian - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Synthesis (Star Trek: Titan #6) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is a better treatment of Titan. No more side plots dragging the Titan crew into The Next Generation storylines. No Romulans or Borg. Titan is back to doing what they were meant to- To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.

There are a few twists and turns in the second half of the book so I'll keep away from too much of the story, except to say that the Titan comes across an Artificial Intelligence civilisation and it takes a lot of adjustment on the part of the crew to change their way of thinking to that of a machine society. I could see the situation in this book as being the precursor for the beginning of Culture (Iain Banks) or The Polity (Neal Asher).

Overall it's a well written book with an interesting plotline with an unexpected ending which leads itself open to new possibilities.

I apologise for the lack of specifics, but sometimes it's best not to spoil the whole book by giving everything away, like most tv and movie trailors tend to do these days.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kindle formatting issues, November 17, 2010

By 

shuband - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Star Trek: Titan #6: Synthesis (Kindle Edition)

I liked "ST Titan: Synthesis" a lot. The storyline, characters, etc. worked well together and held my interest. Perhaps I have finally become accustomed to the "Titan" universe. It was one of the better of the "Titan" series that I have read, especially compared to Titan Book 3 "Orion's Hounds" which was plodding and bordered on dreadful. (I had a difficult time finishing "Hounds" and frequently scanned rather than actually read several passages in that book.)

One issue I have with the Kindle edition of this book -- the formatting. There is a space or line break between nearly EVERY paragraph in this book. In print or other Kindle edition ST books, there is often a line break between sections, or a section break is sometimes indicated by a row of asterisks (*****). "Titan: Synthesis" does not follow this formatting convention and, at times, it took me a bit to mentally catch up with the fact the book had moved on to a new "section." It is really more annoying than anything, but it is the only book I have bought with this issue.

Otherwise, I highly recommend ST Titan: Synthesis.