The Genesis Wave Book One (Star Trek The Next Generation) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ John Vornholt (Author) "Waves lapped delicately at the blue pebbles and copper-colored sand of the lagoon, while ferns waved in the scented breeze..." (more)
Key Phrases: torpedo module, interphase generators, radiation suit, Leah Brahms, Book One, Captain Picard (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Intended to create life from nothingness, the Genesis Device had the potential to become a weapon of awe-inspiring destructiveness, capable of rearranging matter and life energy on a planetary scale. After the cataclysmic explosion of the Genesis Planet, and the Klingon Empire's attempt to steal the top-secret technology, Starfleet wisely decided to destroy all data and records on Project Genesis, hoping to bury its deadly secrets forever.

But now a mysterious wave of energy is sweeping across the Alpha Quadrant, transforming matter on a molecular level to create bizarre new landscapes and life-forms. Billions of living beings and hundreds of inhabited worlds lie in the path of the mutagenic wave, which is expanding outward toward Earth.

To discover the origin of the wave, Captain Picard and his crew must probe the long-buried mysteries. But even if he can uncover the shocking history of the Genesis Wave, is there any way to save the future from its unleashed fury?

About the Author

John Vornholt is the author of several Star Trek novels including two of the bestselling four-volume Next Generation/Deep Space Nine Dominion War sequence.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Star Trek (April 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074341182X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743411820
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #406,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Star Trek book I have read in a long time!, September 27, 2000

By	"blwest1" (Porterville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Genesis Wave, Book 1 (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Hardcover)

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.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting concept, but could be one book, October 1, 2000

By	John DiBello (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Genesis Wave, Book 1 (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Hardcover)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More "Science" Than Fiction, August 29, 2000

By	D. Bell "Imzadi" (Olney, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Genesis Wave, Book 1 (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Hardcover)

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.