markk

After a reclusive alien species attacks a Federation research team on a barren world, the U.S.S. Enterprise is caught in an anomaly that saves it from a massive fluctuation in time. When they emerge, they find themselves in an Alpha Quadrant very different from the one they knew, with Romulans and Klingons engaged in a debilitating war that has devastated the galaxy and humans an unknown species. When the ship reaches Earth, they discover why, as they find a planet utterly devoid of intelligent life. As they grapple with the scope of the changes to the universe they know, the crew undertake a desperate mission designed to discover what has transpired — one that they hopefully can reverse before the violence around them destroys them all.

On the surface, Diane Carey's novel (which she co-wrote with paleontologist James I. Kirkland) seems like an effort by the Star Trek franchise to cash in on the post-Jurassic Park popularity of dinosaurs in 1990s science fiction, an impression that the book's cover art of what looks like a velociraptor from the movie looming behind Kirk and Spock does nothing to dispel. It doesn't help, either, that the book has more than its share of gaping plotholes, starting with how an isolated species would have learned about one of the Federation's greatest secrets. Yet Carey transcends these problems by using the premise to imagine what the Star Trek universe might have looked like without humanity. The result builds nicely upon the well-established concepts of the Klingons and Romulans to envision a war-torn galaxy that consumes all before it. From this emerges a powerful argument for the virtue of restraint in building a successful civilization, one that is emphasized further in Carey's portrayal of what might have happened had dinosaurs evolved. Such a values-centered message helps elevate Carey's book to among the best written for the franchise, as she achieves nicely the balance of ideals and adventure that has won for it so many generations of fans.