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Title: Crossover (Star Trek: The Next Generation) by Michael Jan Friedman ISBN: 0-671-89676-8 Publisher: Star Trek Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (30 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Crossover is the second best ST novel I have read
Comment: Croosover is one of those books that you can't put down. (I finished it in two days.) It was a page turner that kept you the edge of your pants and you never wanted it to stop. The story revoles around spock. He is working on his mission for Unifiing (sp) the Vulcans and the Romulans. He gets captured by the romulans and he find out that it was because of a spy. (I'm not going to tell you who because it would ruin the book for you.) Starfleet finds this out and sends the Enterprise-D to negotiate the Unificationist's release. They send a rep to help. That rep is Admiral Leonard H. McCoy. Meanwhile Scotty (Who is flying around in his shuttle) overhears the messege from Starfleet and he divises his own rescue plan. It is the various plotlines and characters the keep you reading. I grade it *Burns a five on to the side of a cow* A FIVE! By the way, if you were wondering what the best ST novel I have read. It is "Fallen Heroes" (ST: DS9 book no. 5)
Rating: 5
Summary: ST-TNG: Crossover
Comment: Star Trek - The Next Generation Crossover written by Michael Jan Friedman is a combination book of characters from TOS and TNG. This character-driven book has twists and turns typical to some of the best TREK as the outcome of the story really hinges upon cooperation from the intermixed crew members.
The book revolves around Spock as he has been captured with a group of unificationists on Constanthus one of the Romulan Empire's outer worlds. Fearful that the Romulans might extract knowledge of the Federation, the plot thickens as the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew get a call from Commodore Edrich informing Captain Jean-Luc Picard that the Enterprise and Picard specificly must secure the release of Spock and the hostages. Not to leave anything to chance, Commodore Edrich informs Picard that a consultant is on the way... someone who is still in Starfleet that knows Spock like the back of his hand.
Enter into the fray Admiral Leonard H. McCoy who is all of 145 and has slow down a little but he still has that razor-sharp mind and is hell-bent on getting Spock back to the Federation. Well, if McCoy isn't enough, Scotty is crusing around the Alpha Quadrant in a shuttle and over hears the message that Spock is in trouble.
Our favorite engineer has plans for a rescue of his own and purloins a one-hundred year old Constitution class starship from an archival exhibition and is on his way. Now, we know the McCoy can be a little short fused at times, as Picard wants to look at the situation for all angles, McCoy pulls rank and trys to negotiate with the Romulans. Of course, the Romulans won't have any part in the negotiations as we see both that it will take a combination of old and new crews to work together to spring Spock.
What is also interesting in this book is how Spock has been working the underground movement to reunite the two worlds of common ancestry. When you read this book you'll understand more of the "why" in Spock's effort to bring the Romulans and Vulcans closer together.
The book moves quickly and the plot lines are good. The character-driven narrative will captivate you as you read on to see what happens next.
Rating: 2
Summary: Bah
Comment: I'm curious why so many people gave this book 5 stars. I'm guess I'm equally curious why I'm giving it 2 stars. After all, I love the Romulans and I always wanted to see a follow up to the unification story from the Next Generation television series. But, this isn't how I would have wanted it to be at all.
For one, this story has Spock, McCoy and Scott. Now, even though I didn't care for the Original series (I'm sorry, it's just too old and cheesy for the next generation star trek fan myself), this was a major turn off for me. I love Spock, because he's just interesting and Vulcans have always been integral to Star Trek, however, I think it's contrived that a 140 year old doctor would be an Admiral in Starfleet where he should probably be growing tomatoes in his back yard (and yes, I am aware that he's probably not entirely human anymore to make him live that old). The conflict that arises with him and Picard is just absurd and I didn't find it entertaining at all. McCoy ends up taking over the ship because he's too prideful of the old ways and is too old to make the right decisions. Picard actually has the right idea to handle the situation and it probably would have worked if stupid Scott and McCoy had not come along and interfered. It was Starfleet's fault for sending them in the first place and they should have been thrown out of Starfleet long ago. I'm also not one to favour cowboy diplomacy - that's just not how the Next Generation should be. I prefer more intelligent conflict and scenarios than some pointless holy crusade to perfect order and justice in the universe. Needless to say, I was somewhat insulted that they made Picard out to be a weak leader in these matters.
So while the McCoy plot was just dumb in my opinion, Scott was just as bad. I just felt the only reason they brought him back was to save his friend Spock, but he could have easily been omitted too. The fact is, the story concentrated so much on Scott, McCoy and Spock that it wasn't even a Next Generation book - it was an original series story that takes place in the Next Generation era. It shouldn't have even been a Next Generation story to begin with.
I find it hard to believe that the current Enterprise crew would be taken so much to save Scott and I also find it hard to believe Picard would "give in" to let them go on the mission - he's not one to change his mind, especially when he knows he is correct the first time. He is convinced (and I would still like to know how, since Friedman didn't reflect on this) to let Riker, Data and Geordie on a rescue mission to save Scott against his better judgment, but they get caught and it (silently) proves that it was a stupid move anyway. McCoy must be a genius for suggesting such a stupid thing. It's not something a competent leader like Picard would have authorized in the first place. This just shows the author had no concept or respect for the Next Generation characters. Every just served the plot.
That's not all, though. Since the story focuses on the original series' characters, you can expect zero character development from the Next Generation crew. In fact, you can expect a lack of involvement in the story as a whole, as they are only there to fill the needs of the plot at all times, never using the characters themselves to their strengths - just their standard responsibilities. In my opinion, this sad excuse for an audio book is just a plain adventure story and it doesn't have any period of enlightenment or real big reward when you finished listening to it. I thought this was supposed to be Next Generation, not Indiana Jones or Star Wars or some other story that mimics the same formula. Michael Jan Friedman is to blame for all of this.
The last big complaint is that you already know what's going to happen most of the way through without much thought. The only mystery that book contains is the outrageous crap that Scott or McCoy try to pull, which isn't very intelligent at all - it's needless conflict that we should be able to write beyond. There is no mystery to the story at all, and in most of the book, Michael Jan Friedman spends his time writing about the Romulans figuring out Starfleet's deception (as if the Pro-council were Sherlock Holmes I suppose). Well, no one really cares if the Romulans figure it out or not because they are the most minor characters in the story. Since the audience knows of Starfleet's deception and the very likely outcome that ensues, you have no pressing need to care about the Romulans at all in this story because you already know the answers.
It was also contrived how Michael Jan Friedman introduced a new race called the Stug, which actually no had relevance throughout the entire story except to get McCoy a way out in the end. This just sounds so contrived. For one, it's not even a race we know, and secondly, that also suggests that they aren't much of a threat an empire as large as the Romulans. The fact that they were sending ships to the Stug border was preposterous - they have millions of ships. They wouldn't send that many to just a single system and no non-aligned race would be able to cope with it. The point? To make McCoy learn a valuable and so that he could save the day (and likewise, show that Picard didn't know the solution). This is just disgusting and contrived storytelling.
I really tried to enjoy this story, but the integration of the original series characters, the lack of character development, contrived used of the Next Generation characters and a lack of mystery story make this a bad choice. Don't pay attention to all these 5-star ratings you see on the site. I really hate to say it, but they are probably 50 year olds who are clouded by their nostalgia and love for the original series that it has blinded them to see just how bad of a story this one really is.
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Title: Federation (Star Trek) by Judith Reeves-Stevens, Garfield Reeves-Stevens ISBN: 0671894234 Publisher: Star Trek Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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