Sword of Damocles: Star Trek Titan [Mass Market Paperback]

"Sword of Damocles' is the first STAR TREK: TITAN novel in almost 2 years, and proves to be worth the wait. A wonderful aspect of this series (chronicling the adventures of Captain Riker and his crew) is the core concept of the series as given by editor Marco Palmieri, essentially that TITAN is "the Original series for the Next Generation era." In other words, TITAN is all about outward exploration, with the Federation getting back to the core ideals of exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and knowledge after years of war and strife. The crew of TITAN are leading this endeavor as they explore a region of the Beta Quadrant called Gum Nebula.

And there are some great moments in this novel- high concepts mixed with wonderful character development. There's a central mystery, the delving into a character's past, the proverbial clock counting down- it all makes for a thrilling adventure. If you're a fan of Star Trek *period* then you should like this novel. Highly recommended.

It never cease to amaze how the similar storyline formats of these novels can and still hold your attention but when the writer is good it can happen every time. I am two chapters shy of finishing this and I must say this is fine addition to the Titan saga. You get to know characters that were somewhat neglect in other novels, they become as real to you as Riker, Deanna, and Tuvok because of stories like these. Thorne gives Jaza Najem, Christine Vale, Xin Ra-Havreii and other characters back-stories, quirks and qualities that make them come alive and take shape in your mind. I miss the unique perspective and consideration that Michael A. Martin (Author), Andy Mangels (Creator) brought to the first two novels but this story certainly does not disappoint!

Geoffrey Thorne is a relative newcomer to the published Star Trek mythos, with just a few short stories to his name. Sword of Damocles, the latest "Titan" novel, is Thorne's first full-length novel, and he's written an exquisite one. The Titan writers seem to be excelling at not having "villains" in their novels, instead having antagonists that have conflicting points of view with our heroes, and Thorne provides us with a perfect example of that here. All of that, and Pocket Books has given us technical diagrams of the new ship too!

While the technobabble can get a little thick in Sword of Damocles, Thorne never lets it get out of control, and it helps that he has some non-technological characters for others to explain things to. Thorne has created an extremely intricate plot, dealing with some time travel, cultural contamination (and its avoidance), and how things that are not understood can assume heightened significance in those who don't know any better. Thorne puts all of his characters through the wringer, as all of them must make choices based on both the Prime Directive (the non-interference policy Starfleet has) and what's best for their ship.

What I especially liked about Sword of Damocles, though, is that the fact that the crew is extremely diversified was not used as a cudgel over the reader's head. We saw the integration of the crew, but nobody actually *mentioned* it. It was a breath of fresh air given the past three books. Thorne doesn't avoid this by not using any of the alien crew members, but by showing us how they're interacting with the crew without actually announcing it. I hope future Titan books do the same thing. I realize that this diversity is sort of a novelty, but we're four books in now, so it really should be stopped.

Thorne's characterization is almost perfect, from Vale, Troi and Riker to the other Titan crew members and even the Orishans themselves. Commander Ra-Havreii, the rather arrogant chief engineer, is annoying to everybody, but somehow he walks that thin line of not turning off the reader as well. The reason for the rift between Riker and Troi seems a little basic for how much anguish it causes, but it is understandable, especially in their situation. Still, the writing is powerful and the characterization is right on the nose. The climax to the story veers a little bit into the heavy technobabble mode, but it's exciting nonetheless.

Thorne's prose is quite good for a first novel, and the book reads very smoothly, with very few clunky phrases throwing you out of the book. He describes both the character scenes and the action scenes quite well, never making it boring but also not overdoing the action too much. There were a couple of coincidences that I shook my head at, but for the most part they have a plausible explanation that makes it so they're not too annoying.

Sword of Damocles is the best Titan book since Taking Wing, and here's to many more adventures in the future. Of course, we'll have to see what the upcoming Destiny trilogy holds for our Titan crew before we get the next Titan book, and since that series is written by David Mack, maybe they'll all be dead! Whatever happens, though, Geoffrey Thorne has himself a winner here, and I look forward to reading some more of his stuff in the future.

David Roy

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