The Badlands, Book Two of Two (Star Trek: The Badlands) [Mass Market Paperback]

The first improvement from the previous book is that the writing seems much better. I don't know if I had just gotten used to it, or if it actually improved, but I didn't get the feeling I was reading a young adult book in this one. The prose seems much improved, which is strange considering the book was probably written at the same time as the first book. Kudos to Wright for the improvement. It really added to my enjoyment of this book.

The characterization is also good, if basic. All of the characters we know and love from the two television series are on form in this one, with no major discrepancies as there was in the first book. There are a couple of notable ones. In the Voyager story, Wright adds a great deal of depth to Gul Evek, the Cardassian commander of the ship that gets disabled. He appeared in a couple of episodes of the various Star Trek series, but didn't get a whole lot of characterization. Wright adds a deepness to his character that I found really appealing. He's a poet and the story behind the romance between him and his wife is very good. Wright doesn't dwell on it too much, but when she does it's outstanding. The second piece of characterization I really enjoyed was Commander Dax in the Deep Space Nine story. In the television series she was always a bit flighty, a good and dedicated officer who didn't mind bringing a bit of fun to her job. She was a bit of a flirt as well. In this story, a Romulan officer is trying to drive a wedge between her and Commander Worf, her Klingon lover. Dax goes along with it in her flirtatious way, not realizing what the Romulan is trying to do. When it comes to light, her conversation with Worf is a great addition to her character. It adds some dimension to their romance that wasn't always there in the television series.

The plot continues to be intriguing, and when Janeway discovers what is really going on in the Badlands, it all ties together nicely with what's been going on in the first two stories. The book is a quick read and it certainly won't bore you. There's enough conflict between the various crews and the people they're interacting with (the Cardassians for Voyager and the Romulans for Deep Space Nine) to keep things interesting, and when you discover what the Romulans are really after, the tension starts to mount, especially when Sisko and company are outmaneuvered. The series is an intriguing look at an area of space mentioned quite often in the television series, and it was neat to find out more about it.

However, that does bring up one of the problems with the book, though you may not find it a problem. When I read a Star Trek book, I try to keep in mind what has gone on around it in the Star Trek timeline of the television series. This book, being slotted very deftly into some open spaces in that timeline, caused me to do it even more so. However, it does jar me a little bit when something so big happens that, if the book were included "officially" in that timeline (the books are not recognized as official by the Star Trek TV producers, allowing them to ignore anything that happens in them as far as television continuity is concerned), they should be mentioned and it seems strange that they weren't. In this case, all of the bad things that are happening in the Badlands really should have been mentioned in the episodes dealing with this area of space.

The second potential problem is that this book, even more than the first one, is only for the Star Trek fan. The stories are slotted so perfectly between certain episodes of the television series (the Voyager story actually takes place within the series premiere episode) that part of the story is very incomplete if you don't know what happens. In that series premiere, Voyager gets trapped by some cosmic rift and sent to the Delta Quadrant. That is basically how this story ends, as Janeway solves the problem of the Badlands but is caught before she can do anything about it. To the novice, it appears that this story ends completely unfinished. The Deep Space Nine story doesn't have this problem as much, but there do appear to be unresolved plot lines in it as well if you don't know the series. This isn't a problem for the fan, but new readers should be warned about this.

The final problem with the book is the offhand way Janeway solves the problem. It seems almost completely arbitrary, as if Wright just didn't want to have Sisko both figure out what is going on and do something about it. She has a sudden revelation about what must be going on, decides that must be the problem, and that's it. It all takes place in the space of four paragraphs and just seemed very sudden to me.

Still, that doesn't take away from the quality of this book. I found it a very enjoyable read, certainly better than the first book in the series. If you keep the potential problems mentioned above in mind, you should have a quick, enjoyable read. Just try not to grimace too much that you're paying for two books of about 260 pages each, which would have made one really neat book by themselves.

Star Trek Voyager

Part 3 takes place 2371, just prior to Voyager being torn out of the alpha quadrant to the delta quadrant by the Caretaker. This is another wonderful story giving us a brief back story for several events prior to the events in "The Caretaker." The author takes us there with Chakotay, B'Elanna, Seska and Tuvok as they begin a Maquis operation. Seska, being a Cardassian spy is trying her best to warn Gul Evek about an impending raid. She's desperately hoping to successfully foil the raid and be able to leave the Maquis. Unfortunately for her and Gul Evek, the Maquis raiding force is afflicted with the same type of damage that Captain Kirk's Enterprise and Captain Picard's Enterprise had taken. Chakotay's ship isn't as seriously damaged and Chakotay takes advantage of an unprotected Cardassian station. We follow Chakotay and crew right up to the point their taken by the Caretaker.

We catch up with Captain Janeway just as she's taking Voyager away from Deep Space Nine. She's on her way to the Badlands to find the Maquis ship with her Chief of Security, Tuvok aboard. Along the way the Voyager takes a small hit from this mysterious, sub space tetryon radiation. They then receive a distress call from Gul Evek, his ship took the brunt of the damage from the odd beam and he's preparing to abandon ship. Voyager of course picks the Cardassians up so they can rendezvous' with Gul Dukat to transfer the survivors. She puts Gul Evek into a particularly interesting light, where though he's the enemy, you truly feel sorry for him. Just after transferring the survivors, Captain Janeway has the ship in the Badlands searching for the Maquis and then the infamous coherent tetryon beam takes them to the gamma quadrant!

This third story in the series is exceptionally well written. A lot of the plot line for this one is seamlessly tied into canon from the episodes. Magnificent story!

Part 4

Deep Space Nine

Part 4 takes place in 2373. Captain Sisko has just finished closing off the Maquis base in the Terikof Belt. Odo has just gone through the experience of the baby changeling and its death, the baby consequently giving him his morphing ability back. Bashir has been captured by the Jem'Hadar and there is a changeling in his guise on Deep Space Nine. Odo determines to find out where the baby changeling had been injured by the tetryon radiation that killed it. Through his usually tenacious investigative process he finds out that the baby changeling had been discovered near the Badlands. Given Captain Janeway's discovery three years prior that the Badlands anomaly is in actuality a Romulan Artificial Quantam Singularity (AQS) that was released when the prototype Romulan Warbird was destroyed in part one of this great story, Odo enlists Captain Sisko's aid to track it down and remove the threat. Along the way, we're treated to a young Tal Shiar commander of a Romulan scout ship that itself is sent to capture the AQS and use it for their own little plan. We are also treated to Weyoun and a couple Jem'Hadar ships carrying out the pre invasion negotiations with Gul Dukat.

This is a stunningly well written story and closer for this great four part, two book series! Susan Wright has with these two book proven that she can write well for any of the four series! Of the four stories though, I would say that the Deep Space Nine is the best! Of no doubt, I would recommend these two books to any Trek fan!