markk

The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise is overcome with excitement when their vessel is selected to test out an experimental new drive, one that will allow the ship to travel instantaneously to other galaxies. When the ship sets out to test it, though, it is quickly beset upon by a squadron of Klingon warships determined to acquire the new drive for their empire. No sooner does the Enterprise crew deal with that threat, though, than they encounter a new crisis that they themselves created — one that endangers the entire universe.

 

Diane Duane's book is a notable addition to the Star Trek franchise for a number of reasons. A prolific genre writer, this was the first of her many novels in the series and enjoys the distinction of serving as the basis for a Next Generation episode, season one's "Where No One Has Gone Before." Yet for all of the novel's strengths of characterization and Duane's use of the freedom the novel format provided to her, I found the overall result disappointing. A major reason for this was the novel's progression in its later chapters into the metaphysical. While I'm not much of a fan of this approach in Star Trek novels, this one especially read like little more than a collective LSD trip by the crew, with much communing and willing an outcome. Perhaps if it hadn't led to a climax all too similar to many an episode of the show I might have been more accepting, but the beats were just too familiar for me to feel much suspense or surprise in the later chapters, making my first encounter with her novels a somewhat underwhelming experience.