Customer Reviews

Vectors: 2 (Star Trek Next Generation: Double Helix)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was a decent follow on the first book of the series. It was very good to see Dr. Pulaski get in the spotlight, considering she'd pretty much had been written off the show and never made it to the books. I felt the character development was very good and the Ferengi portions were written very well. The only true complaint is that the author's seemed to done a poor job of closing out Kira's story. Overall though a very well written book and thanks to the author's for a good read.

Vectors was an interesting follow up to the first of the Double Helix series. I was also glad to see some new characters, such a Dr. Pulaski. I enjpoyed reading the adventures of the bartender, Quark, his brother Rom, and Rom's son. I also laughed at Kellec, who was a Bajoran doctor and Pulaski's ex husband. Gul Dukat, a Cardassian ambassador, however, was a bit too serious. I didn't really like his attitude towards Kellec... it was almost racist. Anyway, I very much enjoyed this book, and if you've read book 1 of the series, it's a definite must-read. 4 stars.

I'll admit that I'm a big Star Trek fan (have basically watched every episode, have most of the books (especially Double Helix!)). So, about half-way through, I was a bit surprised when I was kind of bored. This book could have a little improvement. All of the other Double Helix books, I have to admit, had quite a lot more action. This book seemed dull almost. Basically it was a doctor finding a cure to a disease that a Cardassian outpost was infected with. Plus, that annoying Ferengi was running around the whole time too! It almost ruined my enthusiasm about the Double Helix series. Overall, I'd say it has room for improvement.

Special only that it brings more about the life of Dr Katherine Pulaski. This task was assigned to her in between Season 2 and 3 as she leaves the Enterprise D and Dr Beverly Crusher arrives to replace her. I like the protrayal of Dr Pulaski as a no nonsense doctor. She tells Kira off when Kira wanted to pull off her own agenda to reveal the brutality of Cardassian rule. I like the character of Dr Pulaski and I was glad to see her back in action.

Pretty big drop from the first book. I just read it last week and cannot remember any good parts or any bad parts. I remember thinking how boring Kira was but that's about it.

Good story, well-written, with good pacing and good characterizations. One thing it does surprisingly well is that, being set in the early days of the Next Generation series, we see several characters (Gul Dukat, Kira Nerys, Quark, Rom, Nog, & Odo) at earlier points in their lives than we have in the Deep Space Nine series; it would have been very easy to either have those characters seem essentially the same as they were at later points in their lives (with Dukat, at least, there doesn't seem to be much change) or to have them have experiences here which should have changed them such that they would not have been who we saw later, experiences that they should have learned from lessons that we instead saw them learn for the first time later. Instead, the authors seem to have done a fine job of avoiding that pitfall, and instead have provided plausible early iterations of the characters, who could plausibly have developed into who we saw later from, in part, the lessons they learned here.

The other thing that they do well is that in spite of being book two of an ongoing series, this book is a reasonably complete story in and of itself; yes, the subplot involving the creator of the designer plagues is carried over from the first book, and Pulaski refers back to Crusher's cure of the first plague in book one while researching the cure for this one, but one could easily read this book without reading that one and not feel that one was missing anything important.

What can i say that i haven't said already about those wonderful star trek books.

Rondall Banks

A mysterious villain known as The General has been releasing his biological agents across the Alpha Quadrant and testing his creations to see if they are the perfect killing machines. In the first book he released a plague that targeted subjects of mixed inheritance (parents of two different species) on a backwater Federation colony troubled with racial tensions. This time he has released a plague targeting two races: Cardassians and Bajorans on the backwater Cardassian space station Terek Nor, later known as Deep Space Nine.

The book shines a light on life on the space station when it was still occupied by Cardassians. We get to see the ruthless yet pragmatic Gul Dukat in charge as he tries to save his station, his career, and his very life. Quark and a newly arrived Rom and young Nog provide comic relief. While Kira, still in the Bajoran Resistance, has her second encounter with Odo.

The book even goes one step further by explaining the departure of Dr. Katherine Pulaski, who filled in for Dr. Crusher on the Enterprise-D for over a year. So we get to see the goodbye that was never shown as she leaves the ship to lead a small team (herself, Nurse Ogawa, two interns) on a dangerous unofficial mission to help her ex-husband, a brilliant and courageous Bajoran doctor, fight the plague. Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher also have memorable cameos that further the plot.

Nitpicks: 1) an Amazon reviewer pointed out that Kira got her facts about the Cardassian Occupation wrong, acting like she was born free when in fact her world had been occupied for over 80 years. 2) the Kira-Odo storyline seemed boring. 3) once again the ending was rushed.

The love-it-or-hate-it medical thriller aspect of the first book is toned down this time and turns into a more general DS9-style "station in peril" story. Although the first hints that a conspiracy is at work does finally appear. Overall, I really liked the book. Thought it was much better than the first one. The look at Terek Nor and Dr. Pulaski alone makes it worth reading.

THE PLOT:
This is the second of six books dealing with biological terrorism by an unknown foe. In this installment that takes place at the end of Kate Pulaski's tenure on the Enterprise and before DS9 begins, Pulaski runs off to Bajor to help her ex-husband solve a plague that is infecting the Bajorans and the Cardassians during the occupation. The Cardassians believe it is the Bajorans; the Bajorans think it is the Cardassians. Again, however, the plague has an 100% fatality rate.

WHAT I LIKED:
Pulaski's character is fine, as are the "new" characters that are introduced.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Gul Dukat is far too mature, Odo is about average, and Kira Nerys is far too trusting of the Federation. In fact, her involvement makes almost no sense considering her character at the start of the DS9 episodes. The story doesn't have the same solid medical workup as the first one in the series, and the characterization isn't quite as good but it is also not as jarring.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
A fast-paced storyline but without much depth. Rating: 3.00 lilypads out of 5.00

Other information:
* Source: Library
* Original date of review: 2001, updated 2011
* Format Reviewed: Softcover
* Series: Star Trek / ST:TNG (52) / Double Helix (#02)
* Tags: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Sci-Fi, Star Trek, TNG

A good second book for this series. Action packed and with an interesting view both of Terok Nor before it became DS9 and Kira Nerys before she became Major Kira. Also provides a peek into the workings of Quark's family circle!