The middle part of a story is always going to be more interesting than the first part, because the first part is where the table is set and everyone is set up for the action, then all the action really gets started in the second book. James Swallow does a great job of using the table that was set up for him by book one’s author, Dayton Ward, and uses the expanded TrekLit universe for every possible delicious story element possible. There’s a quick addressing of my concern about Worf’s mourning, there’s fantastic meetings between characters that have never met or it’s been years since they’ve seen each other, and best of all there’s inclusions of elements from Star Trek franchises that I never thought in a million years would play such a critical role in this trilogy (Nog’s ship and Riker’s chase of the Enterprise among them).
Honestly, I was laughing out loud at how many references where made, at one point my wife had me stop and explain what was going on, which I did for nearly an hour straight.
Next up is David Mack’s “Oblivion’s Gate” due out November 30th, which is going to be a day one purchase for me.
