Customer Reviews

The Gray Spirit

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've read over 100 Star Trek novels and never felt compelled to criticize a book - ever. But this book, The Gray Spirit, is the worst Star Trek novel I have ever had the misfortune of reading. The first book in this four-part mini series was an amazing packed novel full of interesting plotlines and character development. I couldn't wait to read the second one. Unfortunately the second novel, written by Heather Jarman, is so badly botched that I currently fear to finish the series.

This book is heavy on the character development - yet it seems the author has never watched Star Trek before. The mini-references to TV shows smell of being included as after-thoughts by a conscientious editor trying to fix a mistake book assignment. The characters are completely unbelievable and, in many cases, no care was taken to maintain an accurate representation throughout the novel.

If you've read the first book - you'll recall how that author took great pains to define the relationship between Vaughan and Prynn as strained. In this book, the author writes that Vaughn "throws protocol out the airlock" and "kisses Prynn on the forehead" on the bridge, in front of everyone, after Prynn returns from a mission. There is no followup to this character misstep.

Good authors engage the reader. Mixing stirring content with valuable plot and character development. Page-turning happens because readers want to see conflict resolved and "see what's next". This book has none of those things. I hated reading it.

After I read the first few pages, I turned to the back of the book to read details of the author. The two-line bio stated that this was the author's "first work of professional fiction". It shows.

I didn't like this installment nearly as much as I liked part one. This book continues the stories on DS9 as well as what's going on with the crew of the defiant exploring the gamma quadrant. I wasn't particularly fond of this one partly because of the writer's style and partly because I think there was too much politics involved. All of what takes place with the defiant crew has to do with the crew trying to act as an intermediary between two alien races. I found it for the most part boring. I felt as if the author could have made the aliens more interesting and the story line less dry. There is some action, but it just doesn't pack too much of a punch.

The DS9 drama I think is the best part of the book. Some interesting things take place on different fronts. Shar's bondmates struggle to deal with problems which largely has to do with him not being there. A delegation of Cardassian and Bajorans push to normalize relations, but things get more complicated before they get better.

Although Heather Jarman isn't nearly as skillful a writer as either Diane Duane or Peter David, her first novel, "Star Trek Depp Space Nine Mission Gamma: This Gray Spirit" bodes well for her future literary career as well as diehard Star Trek fans. This was an intriguing, occasionally engrossing look, at Deep Space Nine in the aftermath of Captain Sisko's disappearance. Now in command of the Federation starbase, Bajoran Militia Colonel Kira Nerys must contend with a disastrous peace conference between Cardassian and Bajoran diplomats and an unexpected personal tragedy affecting the station's Andorian science officer Ensign Thirishar ch'Thane. Meanwhile Ensign ch'Thane, Lieutenant Ezri Dax, Doctor Julian Bashir and Lieutenant Nog continue in their ongoing exploratory mission to the Gamma Quadrant, aboard USS Defiant, now in command of a Starfleet veteran, Commander Elias Vaughn. Soon they become involved in a tense political conflict between the underclass and rulers of a civilization that holds the balance of power in its corner of the Gamma Quadrant, threatening to become an all out genocidal war.

Welcome to the ranks of outstanding sci-fi writers, Ms. Jarman, and I will be looking for your novels from now on. It's a great day when a brand-new writer performs as well as you have in this deeply thought-out book.

I very much enjoyed Books One and Three of the series, too, and did not like Book Four at all. But this one, printed in tiny print, satisfied from beginning to end. Others have covered the plot and characters, so I don't intend to do so. I only want to plead for good character development any day over brainless slam-bang action. Now that we've lost Charles Sheffield, I can see that someone is ready to step into his hard-to-fill shoes!

Keep writing, Heather!

I tried to really sum up this book in my subject line, 'Slow and Steady', because essentially that is how the book is. Heather Jarman has written a great 2nd novel in the Mission Gamma series, and considering that it is her first book, it is a commendable achievement.

The story begins with the Defiant exploring the Gamma Quadrant, and they become trapped in some sort of nanotechnology minefield. A friendly races arrives to help them, called the Yrthny, and the Defiant heads back to their homeworld for repairs. In their efforts to the repair the Defiant, the crew become drawn into the internal affairs of the Yrthny, which is an interesitng political situation.

On DS9, the political manouverings continue, and we mainly see them from Kira's perspective. Into the plot also enters the Cardassians, led by Ambassador Natima Lang and Gul Macet, a close relative of the late Gul Dukat. Some old wounds are reopened, but above all we see the two races trying their hardest to achieve peace, yet some individuals are trying to disrupt that peace, which makes for interesting reading. I found Jarman's treatment of the Cardassians particularly refreshing, considering what they did. All too often during the tv series, the Cardassians, Dukat in particular, got away with horrendous crimes. Gul Dukat himself was a murderer, war criminal, and a rapist, a man who lied, tricked and decieved people, especially when he wanted to have intimate relations with a woman. He had several illegitimate children, and was willing to kill them (and their mothers) just to protect his career. In this book, Jarman tries to show just what some of the other characters thought about this sort of behaviour, especially with regards to Ziyal.

The plot doesn't move with great leaps and bounds, in both the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. The book is also fairly light on the action, and while I didn't mind this, some readers may have other thoughts.

The story has a satisfying ending, but there is also a big shock on the way for certain characters.

While I found the story to be well written (Jarman is obviously well educated in both writing and Trek lore) it was verbose at times, especially when it came to details regarding the Yrthny. Often the Yrthny affairs were convoluted and confused, and I found them a little hard to make sense of, all the more so as they didn't contribute that much to the plot. The Andorian backstory was also a little dragged out, and while it was an interesting insight into their culture, it wasn't properly explained until much later in the book, which was frustrating.

In conclusion, I recommend this book to readers of the Mission Gamma series and DS9 series in general. If you're just a casual fan, this probably isn't the book for you.

I suppose I should review this book based upon it's own merits and NOT in relation to the rest of the series.

But I won't.

This book when compared to the first book of the Mission: Gamma series is simply put: kind of boring. I found myself wanting to skip chapters to get away from the aimless cruising of the Gamma quadrant (even if they do hang out on a planet nearly the whole time) to get back to the events on DS9 itself. Though I do appreciate the desire to tell the events of both locations, I do wish that they had chosen to write two completely different stories, as the two together dilute one another.

Still, the story in the Alpha quadrant is a fun read, and I would recommend this book on that merit alone.

But I only recommend it if you can get it from the library.

This is not one of the better Deep Space Nine books. Books three and four of this series are much, much better. We get so bogged down in Andorian angst and, frankly, the author didn't make us care about these characters. This is a very long, small-type book, which could have benefitted from editing. Apparently it's the author's first book. She's got some good skills--she'll get better.

I think this book might be one of the best Trek novels I have read. The pace was nice, and the Gamma stuff held my attention throughout the book. These aliens drew a nice parallel to many caste systems here on earth. And the stuff on the station...wow. I was thinking this Andorian story line wasn't going anywhere, and after the shocking events at the end of the book, it has my attention. But the thing that got me the most was Shakaar. Turning the story around and making him out to be the unyielding jerk was a pleasent surprise on the level of making Winn the Kai instead of Bareil. Also, I like what is happening to Julian and Ezri. They seemed to be ironing out some of their annoying tendencies from the last book, and by the end of this one, I liked seeing Ezri solving problems on her own and not relying on her previous hosts. I guess Julian didn't have a lot to do in this story, but at least he wasn't acting like such a wuss. I have to say again that it is nice to see evolution in these characters. Bones has been grumping about Spock for 50 years, and it is still funny, but it can get old. These characters are always changing, and I love it that there is no reset button. The problems with Kira and Shakaar are going to be troubling them 7 books from now, just like in real life. Very cool. My compliments to the author, she did a fantastic job. If it wasn't spelled out in her bio, I would not have believed this was her first novel.

It's a bit of a cliche about the spouse of a TV cop that he or she has problems with that mate's career to the point of being whiny and self-pitying. Look at Faith Yokas' husband Fred on "Third Watch". Remember Lacy's husband Harvey on "Cagney & Lacy"? Or all the wives of other fictional lawmen. I suppose it makes the character less one-dimensional than in the old days--nobody knew or cared who Sergeant Friday went home to. That's what makes the story of Andorian Starfleet officer Thri'shar and his family an annoying distraction to the main story of the Defiant's current mission, which is where Shar himself is at the moment. He's up to his butt in alligators in the Gamma Quadrant and his spouses back on the station do little else but whine about how self-centered he is to be away from them--and even battle amongst themselves over this non-issue. To the point of waging a violent domestic battle in Quark's bar, necessitating the intervention of security chief Ro Laren, as well as that of Sickbay. It's not as much a case of "we'll miss you while you're gone" as it is "we're going to be a bunch of overage brats until you drop everything and get back here--NOW!" The problem isn't helped much by an explanation during the story by an Andorian diplomat that this mentality on the part of Andorian families is a symptom of a societal worry that the race is headed for distinction, so everyone is mega-obsessed with the whole issue. Don't get me wrong--for there to be side-issues involving pivotal characters in a story does indeed make a story more character-driven, but when one of those narrative "tributaries" takes over almost half of a book, that's crossing the line...The Deep Space Nine franchise remains the best of them all...

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine: Mission Gamma: This Gray Spirit written by Heather Jarman is a character-driven book with a deep rich narrative making this one of the better Star Trek book series to date.

What I liked about this book is how descriptive and detailed the character-driven narrative is, making an enjoyable entertaining read. The distinctive merit of this fascinating book lies in its lively portrayal of a varied and eccentric cast of characters along with the cast of the regulars in this series. This book is spiced just right for your reading pleasure and the story moves quickly, political intrigue escalates to a fever pitch as Gul Macet (Gul Dukat's brother) arrives on Deep Space Nine with an unexpected passenger. Now on a mission of peace and hope, old wounds seem to fester between the Cardassian's Ambassador Natima Lang and Colonel Kira Nerys, now in charge of Deep space Nine. There is also an interesting sub-plot between Ro and Kira as Ro is charged with more responsibility of Deep Space Nine as Kira tries to find herself in the path of the prophets.

The Starship Defiant is exploring the Gamma Quadrant and has a bout with some very interesting aliens with a rather unique biological makeup. As the balance of power in the Gamma Quadrant becomes unstable... Lieutenant Ezri Dax and Ensign Thirishar ch'Thane are in a gut check time to pull off a compromise preventing a genocidal civil war. All this action-packed adventure is written very well as you find youself reading till you find out what the result will be.

So far, the first two installments of this series is better than Trek has been in the past, as we read this book is a feast of information and insight working its way through the turbulent course known as Deep Space Nine.

This is well worth your time to read and enjoy this rich tapestry of descriptive writing. I'll see you for the Mission Gamma concluding adventures of Cathedral and Lesser Evil soon. It will be very interesting to see how this story will end... fascinating... indeed.

The characters are well fleshed out making for an interesting story that will captivate you.