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Taking Wing (Star Trek: Titan, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ Michael A. Martin (Author), Andy Mangels (Author)
Key Phrases: blue table, thalaron weapon, stellar cartography lab, Tal Shiar, Captain Riker, Ambassador Spock (more...)

3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

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Product Description

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW STAR TREK ® ODYSSEY

After almost a decade of strife against foes such as the Borg, the Cardassians, the Klingons, and the Dominion, the United Federation of Planets is at the dawn of a new era. Starfleet is renewing its mission of peaceful exploration, diplomacy, and the expansion of knowledge. Among the starships spearheading that endeavor is the U.S.S. Titan, commanded by Captain William T. Riker and manned by the most biologically varied and culturally diverse crew in Starfleet history.

But their mission does not begin according to plan.

In the wake of Star Trek ® Nemesis, Praetor Shinzon, slayer of the Romulan Senate, is dead. The power vacuum created by his demise has put the Romulan Star Empire, longtime adversary of the Federation, at the brink of civil war. Competing factions now vie for control of their fragmenting civilization, and if the empire should fall, that entire area of the galaxy may destabilize.

To restore order to the region, Titan 's long-anticipated mission of exploration is delayed as Starfleet assigns Riker to set up power-sharing talks among the Romulan factions. But even as the first tentative steps are taken toward building a new Romulus, the remnants of the Tal Shiar, the dreaded Romulan intelligence service, are regrouping behind the scenes for a power play of their own. With no other help available, Riker and the Titan crew become the last hope to prevent the quadrant from falling into chaos.

About the Author

Michael A. Martin's solo short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He has also coauthored (with Andy Mangels) several Star Trek comics for Marvel and Wildstorm and numerous Star Trek novels and eBooks, including the USA Today bestseller Titan: Book One: Taking Wing; Titan: Book Two: The Red King; the Sy Fy Genre Award-winning Star Trek: Worlds of Deep Space 9 Book Two: Trill -- Unjoined; Star Trek: The Lost Era 2298 -- The Sundered; Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Mission: Gamma: Vol. Three: Cathedral; Star Trek: The Next Generation: Section 31 -- Rogue; Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers #30 and #31 ("Ishtar Rising" Books 1 and 2); stories in the Prophecy and Change, Tales of the Dominion War, and Tales from the Captain's Table anthologies; and three novels based on the Roswell television series. His work has also been published by Atlas Editions (in their Star Trek Universe subscription card series), Star Trek Monthly, Dreamwatch, Grolier Books, Visible Ink Press, The Oregonian, and Gareth Stevens, Inc., for whom he has penned several World Almanac Library of the States nonfiction books for young readers. He lives with his wife, Jenny, and their two sons in Portland, Oregon.

Andy Mangels is the USA Today bestselling author and coauthor of over a dozen novels -- including Star Trek and Roswell books -- all cowritten with Michael A. Martin. Flying solo, he is the bestselling author of several nonfiction books, including Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters and Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide, as well as a significant number of entries for The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes as well as for its companion volume, The Supervillain Book.

In addition to cowriting several more upcoming novels and contributing to anthologies, Andy has produced, directed, and scripted a series of sixteen half-hour DVD documentaries for BCI Eclipse, for inclusion in the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe DVD box sets.

Andy has written hundreds of articles for entertainment and lifestyle magazines and newspapers in the United States, England, and Italy. He has also written licensed material based on properties from numerous film studios and Microsoft, and his two decades of comic book work has been published by DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, Image, Innovation, and many others. He was the editor of the award-winning Gay Comics anthology for eight years.

Andy is a national award-winning activist in the Gay community, and has raised thousands of dollars for charities over the years. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his long-term partner, Don Hood, their dog, Bela, and their chosen son, Paul Smalley. Visit his website at www.andymangels.com.

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Product Details

Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Star Trek (March 29, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743496272
ISBN-13: 978-0743496278
Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #162,211 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Michael A. Martin

Andy Mangels

Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
blue table, thalaron weapon, stellar cartography lab, stealth suits, forward viewscreen, tactical station, transporter room, diplomatic officer, sensor nets, aid ships

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tal Shiar, Captain Riker, Ambassador Spock, Commander Donatra, Romulan Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Great Bloom, Commander Troi, Admiral Akaar, Captain Picard, Utopia Planitia, Colonel Xiomek, Neutral Zone, Dominion War, Praetor Tal'aura, Federation Council, Romulan Senate, Commander Tuvok, Vikr'l Prison, Christine Vale, Ensign Lavena, Axel Bolaji, Orion Arm, Director Rehaek, Olivia Bolaji

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	78% buy the item featured on this page: Taking Wing (Star Trek: Titan, Book 1) 3.7 out of 5 stars (47) $7.99
	7% buy Star Trek: Destiny: Gods of Night 4.5 out of 5 stars (29) $7.99
	6% buy Star Trek: Destiny: Lost Souls 4.5 out of 5 stars (40) $7.99
	5% buy Star Trek: Titan: Over a Torrent Sea 2.9 out of 5 stars (17) $7.99

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Customer Reviews

47 Reviews

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
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Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (47 customer reviews)

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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 'Taking Wing" A Good Start, April 24, 2005

By	Antoine D. Reid "80sforever" (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME) (VINE VOICE)

I'd say this is one of the few books that should be added to the "must read" list of Star Trek novels. This is, in a way, a follow-up to the movie "Star Trek Nemesis." This is the first full-length novel to feature the Titan and its crew. Captain Riker and Troi and the ship have both appeared in other post-Nemesis novels, including Shatner's "Captain's Blood." So, how does it do? It's a fun novel. We don't have Picard involved at all, we don't have Troi and Riker looking back or relying on the Enterprise-E, they're out on their own and there's a freshness to the entire premise.

Titan is a vessel whose mission is compared in text to the old Constitution-class vessels; long-term, deep space assignments. The premise of this first novel plays with this mission. The crew is bothered that Starfleet Command has chosen their vessel for an assignment into the Neutral Zone when the ship is meant for exploration and discovery. Part of the novel takes place days after Nemesis and the coming novel "Death in Winter," involves Riker's last visit to the Enterprise-E as seen in the movie, and him visiting Chrstine Vale (appeared throughout "A Time to..." series) to get her to join the crew.

I'd personally say this novel is more about the characters than the actual action. The plot of Riker and crew having to sort out the mess that's fallen upon the Romulan Star Empire is onlya backdrop to the characters. Each seems have something to work on; Riker on adjusting to his own command and finding his own style, Troi on proving she's more than Riker's wife and is a capable diplomatic officer, Vale being comfortable with leaving the Enterprise for an executive officer position, Ra-Harveii on ghosts from his past, Keru still hasn't gotten over the death of Sean Hawk in the novel "Rogue," Ree on being somewhat of an outsider among everyone. What's best about this novel is that the authors bring life into a lot of these characters. There are people from each series of Trek (except Enterprise) being involved. Tuvok, Spock and Admiral Akaar also play big roles in this novel.

What worked or didn't work? I felt as if the Romulan situation was so big that perhaps it was simplified for this novel. Tal'Aura (NEM) and Tamalok (TNG) have claimed power over the entire Empire while Donotra (NEM) and Suran (NEM) have claimed power over the military. Then you have the Tal Shiar, the Remans, and the Unificationers all working in the same picture, at the same time. Yet, the reader is only shown parts of this situation. We never really get a look at Tal'Aura beyond her wanting to stay in power. Who is she? Why did she feel she should support Shinzon in Nemesis? Who does she think she is to suddenly takeover the entire Romulan Star Empire? The end features her the typical angry, upset, fearful villain who realizes things won't go their way. Also, what's happening on Romulus beyond the capital? What's happening on other Romulan worlds?

The plot suffers also from a lot going on. I don't think there were too many characters introduced. It helped flesh out the Titan and set it apart from all the other ships out there. I liked that it is home to one of the first Cardassians in Starfleet and that there's a very different Ferengi doctor on the crew. Also, there was a death of a major crewmember while a couple had its first child by the end of the book, a rather amusing pregnancy indeed. Also, we got to see a rather uncertain Troi who doesn't do much counseling at all but plays up her diplomatic role. Even Spock has a moment when he learns his Unification movement may be in jeopardy. Tuvok, who's often ignored in Christie Golden's Voyager Relaunch novels, seems to have found a place here.

There are a few things that held this novel back from being a five-star novel. Perhaps too much focus on characters like Keru. A lack of development of the Romulan characters. Even though Sela will be a part of the "Death in Winter" novel, I'd have liked to have seen her in this situation a little since I'm sure she could have taken advantage of a Romulan Star Empire without any true leaders. I felt the ending mirroed a previous novel by these authors too much, and that it was too much like Star Trek Voyager redux. Admiral Janeway played a rather large role in the "A Time to..." series in Riker being assigned the Titan. Why wasn't she even mentioned here? Instead of Akaar being involved in the same capacity he is in the DS9-Relanch and TNG novels, the use of Janeway could have really been a creative point of the novel. The Romulan situation, by the end, seems to be wrapped up a little too well, though I was glad to read that the Remans played a major role in all of this.

So, perhaps it covers too much ground. Yet, it remains interesting throughout and introduces some great new charactes. This is a good series to get into, going back to the roots of Star Trek and putting a focus on the characters more so than big action and war. Definately worth your attention and money.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ho Hum! New Frontier Does It Much Better, January 12, 2007

By	Dindy Robinson "Swimming Kangaroo Books" (Arlington, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) (VINE VOICE)

Taking Wing by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels suffers from a clear lack of focus, too many new characters, and too little focus. Entirely too much time was spent on the political aspects of Romulan society-- the writers obviously learned nothing from Episode 1 of Star Wars, The Phantom Menace. I found the political stuff just plain boring.

Then the two major criteria that Martin and Mangels seem to have for making someone a crewmember of Titan is that we must never have heard of them before and that the person be from a freaky alien society. Oh yes, they do pull in Nurse Ogawa, Tuvok and Lt. Melora Pazlar (from a DS-9 episode) as well as making the ambassador be the adult son of the baby Dr. McCoy delivered in a notable Classic Trek episode but at least twenty (I lost count after that) new characters are whizzed past us with little more than their name, occupation, planet of origin and whatever alien characteristic makes them stand out from everybody else. They make a big deal of Titan being unique because of the diversity of its crew, but Peter David's excellent New Frontier series with the Excalibur has a much more diverse crew and doesn't pat itself on the back for it every five pages. I don't care if Excalibur isn't canon; the writers certainly have to be aware of it and don't need to act as if it doesn't exist.

Finally let's get down to the reasons why we want to read the Titan series in the first place-- the continuation of the story of Troi and Riker. Riker spends too much time dealing with insecurity and angst over his new command-- come on, this is the guy who thought nothing of spitting in the eye of Captain Jellico and being relieved of duty rather than accepting commands from a royal idiot. Now he's second, third and fourth guessing himself. The Riker of Next Generation was always superbly self confident and self-assured. He knew what he was, who he was and was comfortable with it. The Riker in this book seems to have lost all of that.

However, his character is not as poorly dealt with as Commander Troi. Granted, I always felt that her purpose on Star Trek started out as being for more of the babe in a catsuit factor than anything else, but her character developed into being a valuable and necessary member of the crew. In this book, her role is more as Riker's wife than anything. She's supposed to be the diplomatic officer, but Riker handles all the diplomacy stuff- while she suffers a fit of pique at his doing so without including her. She's still the ship's counselor as well, which means we get treated to the, "I sense you are feeling troubled" type of dialogue from her that she was able to get away from after a couple of seasons of Next Gen. With this book, she seems to be back where she started, as more of a sex object than anything else. Very few references to her are allowed to slip by without including the qualifier that she is Riker's wife. Okay. We get it. They're married. Big whoop. Move on.

The book is redeemed by about 50 pages of action that happen near the end when crewmembers stage a stealth raid on Romulus to rescue a Federation operative. It's a great scene, with terrific action and suspense. But then, unfortunately, we are returned to the ship where we once again need a scorecard to keep track of all the characters. We probably don't need to bother, however, as a lot of them seem to be getting killed off before we have a chance to learn if we even care about them or not.

In short, this is a disappointing start to what I hoped would be a good new Star Trek series. Forget Titan, grab a New Frontier book and read the kind of series that Titan apparently aspires to be but falls short of.

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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riker finally gets his due!, March 28, 2005

By	Jack J. Clark - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This has been a long time coming. A great book, a great lead character that the author captures beautifully. A great read. Twice already, first time in two sittings. Fantastic story, okay lead in to the next book. Riker has another alost conflict with an Admiral, and no it's not Jellico - although that would have been cool. Note to the author for future story lines. Could be a whole new Star Trek TV series.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Just A Little Bio-Diversity
I've been a Start Trek fan since air. But, I never really got into the books which is an error I'm begging to correct. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Geoffrey A. Snyder

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book..
The first in the Star Trek Titan Series, Taking Wing has an interesting story-line that is a quick followup to the last of the "old" Star Trek movies, Star Trek: Nemesis. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Randy Kiessig

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad . . . but Not Good
Taking Wing is a mediocre start to the Titan series. The main issues are: 1) The simple and flat plot; 2) No strong feeling of drama or suspense; 3) The overdose of new characters... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Michael L. Wong

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible!
We get it. It's okay to be gay and diversity is a good thing. Now, may we please have a story that is well written and does not spend all of its time developing characters that... Read more

Published 19 months ago by A. Stull

4.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to the series
I'll admit it, this is the first Trek book I have finished reading cover to cover. I found it to be a very great read, and loved all the unique species that were either... Read more

Published 21 months ago by M. Calkins

5.0 out of 5 stars Very excellent book
A very good introduction into the new command of Riker. Good descriptions of his interaction with the crew and Riker trying to figure out what kind of commander he is going to be... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Joe Rowlands

2.0 out of 5 stars Just not fun to read - confusing characters
I really wanted to like this series. I bought the first three. the characterization is what kills it. Read more

Published on December 24, 2007 by Manuel Castaneda

2.0 out of 5 stars I had a hard time getting through the writing style.
I have been reading a lot of ST books lately. I purchased the first three books of this series, looking forward to reading all three. Read more

Published on December 22, 2007 by M. Hall

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written
I had high expectations for the first of the TITAN series, but this is the worst Trek book I've ever read. Read more

Published on July 11, 2007 by 4562951413

4.0 out of 5 stars t. rex, but no gay humans?
I have been much chagrined by the attack on the inclusion of gay characters in this novel. Being gay, having read many Star Trek novels, and only once having discovered... Read more

Published on May 30, 2007 by Charles Weber

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