Customer Reviews

Tunnel Through the Stars (Star Trek: The Next Generation / The Dominion War Book 3) (Vol 3)

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

 

 

The Federation is locked in a brutal war against the Dominion and things are not going well. Deep Space Nine has been lost and the Dominion is building a giant artificial wormhole. If it is completed, the Dominion will be able to send enormous numbers of Jem Hadar soldiers and ships through it to join the battle against the Federation. If that were to happen, the Federation would certainly be defeated.
Captain Picard is on a ship with a motley crew of various species. The crew includes a Trill who was the genius behind the development of the artificial wormhole, a Bajoran who once deserted to the Maquis, a Starfleet officer who was once a Dominion slave, a captured Romulan with one arm, Geordi LaForge and a Vulcan. Their mission is to somehow infiltrate Dominion space and destroy the wormhole. To complicate matters, there is a traitor on board who is sabotaging the mission. Despite the odds, Picard manages to get the ship into Dominion space, reaching the wormhole. He also manages to identify and destroy the traitor just before they launch their mission of sabotage.
The action in this story is kept rather low-key until the end. Most of the plot revolves around Picard's attempts to simultaneously carry out the mission and expose the saboteur. This point is a little weak, as the first act of sabotage should have been a strong indication as to the nature of the threat. Data and the rest of the Enterprise crew play essential but bit parts in the story, the focus is on Picard and his command abilities. While the story did keep my attention, there were points where the pace of the story was too slow for my tastes. I started to grow weary of the same features repeated with slight modifications over and over again. I also didn't understand why the story about the graveyard of ships and the winking in and out of the various dimensions had to be included. It came across as filler.

Unlike the rest of the reviews here, this one isn't exactly a glowing recommendation. I found most of the principles in the story completely out of character with their established personalities. In the series, you were left with the impression that Picard was extremely upset with Ro Laren's betrayal, yet in the book, it's hardly even mentioned at all. Another point, the author does a good job of describing federation prisoners suffering thoroughly at the hands of the Jem Hadar and Cardassians while doing slave labor, while the main character completely forgets them at the end to start his own life, no longer caring about his suffering comrades who are still prisoners. He even forgets about his best friend who helped him get through the tough times. No, I was completely let down. The noble Picard acting like the brash young Captain Kirk threw me for a loop also.

Already wary of John Vornholt's writing, I was hoping this would change my mind...I was wrong. There is little or no action until the very end, and I was hoping it would be epic space battles, which I got from the cover. But the Enterprise is stuck in a starbase, and all the crew does is try to help some pathetic commander. And when they do finally show up, it's too obvious, and it was like an after-thought to add the rest of the crew in the story. The only two characters who really shined were Hasmek and Geordi, since they weren't used that much, and Vornholt couldn't screw them up. The whole Badlands part is pointless. I suggest to anybody that you read the Deep Space Nine series, because they're awesome in comparison. A war fits nicely into the Deep Space Nine universe, not The Next Generation universe.

I'm not going to do a massive review, just to say that this is a direct sequel to the first book in this series and that the continuation was very satisfying. My major complaint with this title is the shortness of it.. 269 pages is more like a short story. Normally it would take me, due to time constraints, a week to get through the average Star Trek novel.. this one took me less than a day.

As for the plot, I found that the bit about the "sabotage" (I won't say more) and subsequent investigations seemed forced and contrived, leading me to thoughts of "just get on with it". The action parts of the book always felt a little unfinished and not very well detailed but it wasn't too bad.

All in all, definitely a great book that I enjoyed immensely.. just ended way too quickly. This needs the price to drop to accomodate for the fact it is a novella rather than a novel size.

Like the first book in this miniseries, this book is a fine action story, with a lively plot that moves right along at a fast clip. Also like the first book, if you want anything OTHER than action, this is the wrong book to pick up. The one attempt at something more than fast-paced action -- a budding romance between Ro Laren and Sam Lavelle -- is handled remarkably clumsily. This sub-plot could have been very moving and powerful; instead, it was only rather distracting. It didn't really ring true for either character, and seemed completely out of place, merely something tacked onto the main plot for the purpose of deflecting accusations of a lack of character development.

This book is really a sequel to book one of the series; as near as I can tell, book two adds very little if anything to the storyline in books one and three. Essentially, books one and three are a linked pair, as are books two and four, but the two pairs actually have very little to do with one another and can be read independently of each other.

Book 4 continues on from book 2 (book 1 and 3 should be read together as a different series). I enjoyed seeing the many twists this book had to offer and how Picard coped with it all. The horrors of war were better flushed out as Riker's new conquest turns depressing, something I much enjoyed. Troi gets some time to do something, and since it's tied with Riker it was fun to read. Picard's ragtag team on the Orb of Peace was quite fun to read, especially when they encounter new people in the Badlands and take aboard an interesting one-armed 'guest'. That character was very refreshing, esp. due to his appreciation for Picard. It is sad to see the Enterprise tied at a starbase for most of the series, but it was quite necessary to accentuate the brilliance of Picard. A little romance b/w a few characters was actually quite well done, although somewhat unexpected from Ro's behalf methinks. I loved how Picard manipulates Grof to help him by strengthening his ego. The author really makes Picard shine, as it should be!
The cover of this book is very misleading, never does the Enterprise attack 2 Cardassian Galor-class ships. Its eventual turnout is very expected, but it still made me smile despite the predictability. Data's presence was very welcomed and it was good to see Geordi's response to him. Both series (1&3, 2&4) are essential turning points in the War. If either Sisko or Picard had failed, while the other succeeded, it would all be for nought, which makes this 4 part series somewhat intertwined. Personally I prefered books 1 and 3 to 2 and 4 since 2 and 4 were for the most part taken straight from the TV show whereas the TNG part was fresh and in accordance with the established characters. If you love Picard, then reading what he did to save the Quadrant in books 1 and 3 will be worthwhile.

Let me clarify my rating for this novel. I felt the conclusion of this tale was very good, but the editing was terrible. A variety of times during the Riker subplot, the female repair officer seemed to change ranks a few times, between Commander (pg30) and Captain (pg22). Once I realized the simple error, overlooking it because easy. But I digress...

The main tale of adventure weaved by Vornholt caught my attention and kept me pushing to finish the story. The sub-plots felt contrived. Data charging to the rescue and the Enterprise being in the right spot at the right time, felt wrong. The story was great but the execution just was not there.

I loved the tale and story. Would I read more from John Vornholt? I am not sure. As a Star Trek fan, I can forgive the minor problems in this novel. I even understand the pressure deadlines can cause on good stories. No one is perfect, so I am sure I will dive into more novels.

Ro Laren character comments:

S.D. Perry re-introduced Ro into the Deep Space Nine novel re-launch. The development of her in this story did not interfere with the character in Avatar. There is a minor mention in Avatar about Picard protecting Ro from Starfleet, which no seems kind of awkard but doesn't interfere.

This book concluded book 1. very nicely, I must say. As did book 1., this book moved smoothly. It also a couple plot twists that may not be expected.

In his second novel of the Dominion War series, Tunnel Through the Stars, John Vornholt crafts an incredibly exciting science fiction story that surpasses the previous Dominion War books in most respects. The story is a direct continuation of Vornholt's first entry in the series, Behind Enemy Lines, and follows Picard and his unusual crew as they attempt to destroy the secret Dominion project that threatens to doom the Federation. Along with this formidable task, Picard must also deal with a deadly threat from within his own crew. The novel is entertaining from start to finish as Vornholt creates a story that successfully combines elements of mystery, suspense and action. With all of these essential elements in place, Tunnel Through the Stars earns its mark as the best Dominion War book yet.

This was a good book filled with original and good ideas. It has lot of action and unexpected, suprising events making this book very good.

But I think it focused too much on Ro Laren and the others. Only Captain Picard and Geordi are really involved in action. And the Enterprise and its crew are stuck in a starbase so dont expect whats on the cover.

And why the Enterprise lower shields while firing torpedos.