Invasion: The Soldiers of Fear (Star Trek: The Next Generation, No. 41) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author) "LIEUTENANT ROBERT C. YOUNG, Bobby to everyone who knew him, sat with his feet on the lip of the console before him..." (more)
Key Phrases: Furies Point, Lieutenant Young, Number One (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Decades after the original Starship Enterprise wards off the conquering Furies, who once owned the entire Alpha Quadrant, Captain Picard and his crew face a second confrontation and become subject to the alien's mind-altering powers.

From the Publisher

Long ago, before the dawn of civilization, they were banished to the realm of nightmares. Now the terrors are real . . .

A generation ago, another Starship Enterprise^TM fought off a ship of exiled aliens intent on conquering all of the Alpha Quadrant. Starfleet thought the foe had been repelled forever -- until now. The Furies have returned in might warships even more powerful than before. But their weapons are more than merely physical, for these aliens are the origins of all the demons and monsters of ancient myth, and they have found a way to project fear directly into the minds of their enemies. To defeat the Furies, and save the Federation, Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise^TM must first conquer the darkest terrors of their unconscious minds.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1st THUS edition (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671541749
• ISBN-13: 978-0671541743
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #393,222 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #1 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( R ) > Rusch, Kristine Kathryn
  #9 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( S ) > Smith, Dean Wesley
  #11 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( R ) > Rusch, Kristine Kathryn

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent in a Series, October 21, 2000

By A Customer

Perhaps not quite as good as the first book, but I loved the way if followed through with the story and made it a continuing series. I've not read the other two yet, but soon will. I highly recommend reading book 1 and 2 of this Invasion series. You'll love it if you're a Star Trek fan.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The one disappoint volume in the Invasion Series, November 10, 2000

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

It is easy to see why Book Two in the Invasion series is so readily dismissed by a lot of readers. We went from 289 pages of small print in "First Strike" to 234 pages of big print in "The Soldiers of Fear." There is even a 38 page excerpt from "Time's Enemy" to pad the book even more. But those numbers are only indicative of the qualitative drop off from Book One in the Series. You get the feeling Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch worked from nothing more than a synopsis or an outline, because all of the background Diane Carey put into that first book are totally ignored. There are references to what happened with Kirk, and certainly the fear weapon used shows the invaders learned something about their opponents since that first encounter, but the entire culture of the Furies is abandoned, particularly the entire Druid angle. Since Carey is one of the co-creators of this series I have to feel that her perspective gets privileged. If they had the opportunity to actually read "First Strike" surely Smith and Rusch they would have made some serious improvements in Book Two to bring it up to line.

Of the Enterprise crew, Geordi La Forge is the only character who shows any additional depth, and this is mainly because the book does spend some time while he is engaged in solving problems as opposed to his just being the disembodied voice speaking from Engineering. There are a couple of interesting chats between Picard and Guinan, and some nice insights into Troi's subconscious as well as her relationship with Picard. But a lot of the emotional part of the story is reduced to short hand. Troi and Worf exchange meaningful looks when Troi is in trouble and the reader supplies all the meaning and import, although it is not at all clear where this story fits into the Next Generation chronology.

There was a sense of tragedy to "First Strike" because Kirk was trying to stop a war that was so unnecessary. In "The Soldiers of Fear" the writers try to create an epic moment, on the level of Spock's sacrifice at the end of "The Wrath of Khan," but when we get to the big moment there is no suspense because as soon as you know what the mission is, you know what will happen. The writers really needed to come up with a better way of getting out of that do or die situation. More importantly, "The Soldiers of Fear" simply needed to follow up on "First Strike" a lot better. The feeling of momentum in the Invasion series is gone by the time you finish this novel and realize the rest of the book is a teaser for the next volume. But I promise you that if you keep reading the rest of the Invasion books, you are going to be impressed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An average TNG book...pathetic, just like the series..., January 5, 1999

By	David Maramed (Ft. Bragg, NC) - See all my reviews

After the superb TOS book, I was hoping that for once TNG would deliver. Boy was I wrong. This book features nothing new at all. Just another encounter with the Furies' that explains NOTHING! The only halfway decent part through the book was the "fear beam." But after a name like that, and how it was easily solved, made it like the rest of the book -- pathetic. I suggest you only buy this book if you are a collector. Skip to "Time's Enemy"