Three (Mass Market Paperback)

While this book continues the storyline, Picard sort of takes a backseat in this novel as the book fills in the characters of the identical twins Gerda and Idun Asmund. The book contains two storylines as do must of Friedman's works... this could become a little disturbing as you jump from one scene to the next, but Friedman has kept the scenes short and the dialog between the characters simple.

Storyline A is about a mysterious transporter mishap that brings a visitor to the Stargazer... not only just a visitor but an exact duplicate from another universe of one of the Asmund twins called Gerda Idun. As the story progresses Gerda becomes suspicious of the woman and her Klingon senses become heightened as she suspects the worst. Idun befriends Gerda Idun and is upset with her twin which makes for a good bantor between the two and the third Asmund tries to complete her secret agenda.

Storyline B is about Vigo the Pandrilite crew member as he gets to attend a weapons conference in the Mara Zenaya system where they testing the new Type Nine Phaser. As things go this mission should have been a piese of cake, but things go wrong as there is a Pandrilite consperacy trying to change things on Pandril and Vigo and his mentor Ejanix get into the the middle of the fray.

As the storylines interplay with each other you get greater character development and there is a nice recap in the first chapter about who the characters of the Stargazer are. Which is nice since you begin to forget who they are since there are just a handful of books about the Stargazer and her crew.

As Vigo is fighting on the planet, the Stargazer is on its way to explore an anomoly which is on the outskirts of Balduk Star Empire and, of course, the Balduk are not a friendly lot and defend their territory with zeal making for a space battle, but with a typical Picard twist.

All in all, this book is a fast read and has references to Kirk and his exploites with a mirror universe and brings you along a little further in the early career of Jean-Luc Picard. This is a solid Three Star book full of action intrigue but the plots were a little see through as you can figure out what happens as you read on before it happens. A good fast read light read.

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Three has two different plot lines. An 'A' story set board the Stargazer involving the twin sisters Gerda and Idun Asmund, the ships helm and navigation officers, and a 'B' story involving the Stargazer's Pandrilite weapons officer Vigo. After dropping Vigo off at a research outpost on Wayland Prime, where he is to observe tests on a new type of phaser emitter, Stargazer has been sent to investigate an anomaly that has recently appeared in an area of space claimed by the Balduk, an extremely obnoxious race that is fiercely protective of their territory.

Without warning a transporter beam deposits a mysterious visitor onboard the Stargazer, a woman who appears to be in every way an exact duplicate of the Asmund twins. Determined to return their 'guest' to her own universe the Stargazer must face off against the Balduk at extreme risk to the ship and crew. Meanwhile, on Wayland Prime, Vigo finds himself in the middle of a very nasty situation when a group of terrorists take over the facility, aided by one of his oldest friends.

Some readers of this series will probably find Three satisfactory and willing overlook the total predictability of the story. However, I found myself very disappointed that there wasn't much more to the story than already overused plot devises. While not one of the author's better efforts, Three does have a few things going for it.

One positive is the Balduk character Wutor Qiyuntor. The Balduk are a ridged and highly structured society. Through no fault of his own, Wutor has shamed himself in the eyes of his people and seeks redemption. I couldn't help but feel for Wutor and found myself hoping he would be able to recover his former position. As a race the Balduk are at times so preposterous that they are almost comical but the suspense of whether or not Wutor would achieve his goals was one element that kept the story interesting.

The plot moves quickly through the author's use of short scenes. The narrative is kept very simple, almost minimal. There are several amusing sly little references that have a little innocent fun at the expense of Picard and his future experiences on the Enterprise-D that many fans are sure to appreciate.

Picard himself plays only a minor roll in the overall story; the focus is much more on his crew and their reactions to their 'visitor'.

Regrettably the positive elements of Three are unable to save it. A quarter of the way in it is glaringly obvious exactly how both plot lines will unfold. You keep hoping you're wrong and something else will happen but the story remains mostly unimaginative. The book reads like an expanded television episode, and disappointingly a mostly unoriginal episode.

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