Aboard the Starship Shenzhou, Lieutenant Michael Burnham, a human woman raised and educated among Vulcans, is promoted to acting first officer. But if she wants to keep the job, she must prove to Captain Philippa Georgiou that she deserves to have it.She gets her chance when the Shenzhou must protect a Federation colony that is under attack by an ancient alien vessel that has surfaced from the deepest fathoms of the planet’s dark, uncharted sea.As the menace from this mysterious vessel grows stronger, Starfleet declares the colony expendable in the name of halting the threat. To save thousands of innocent lives, Burnham must infiltrate the alien ship. But to do so, she needs to face the truth of her troubled past, and seek the aid of a man she has tried to avoid her entire life—until now.

I’m a fan of David Mack’s work and this story was no exception, it was tightly scripted, the characters all seemed to be the same people I’ve seen on TV and since he worked closely with the TV series script writers, there’s some elements of the Discovery crew that were revealed in the book well before they were revealed on the show. Of primary interest to me was the bridge crew of the Shenzhou. If you’re just watching the show, you don’t know any of their names or backstory, but there’s plenty given here!

This was an enjoyable story that moved quickly and explored the first time Spock and Burnham met officially, which happens at a surprising period of their lives and definitely not when I thought it would have happened.