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When I was asking my fedi friends for cozy Trek novel recommendations, this was one of the books recommended to me. I was a bit skeptical about the book because of Tilly's not so good relationship with her mother. Something that I have struggled with all my life as well, I did not want to read a story about it. I feared it would be really uncomfortable and upsetting. I was reassured that that was not a big focus of the book (and it really isn't), so I got the audio book of it and... was a sobbing mess for the first part of it. LOL

So it did not start out very cozy and happy for me at all. LOL Part of that was due to how Tilly's mother behaves towards her, but a big part of it was due to how Tilly struggles at her school. I saw myself in her so much. I cried for Tilly as much as I cried for myself. (Reading Trek novels has been very revelatory, cathartic, and therapeutic for me recently. 😅)

The rest of the book, which is the majority, was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed watching Tilly find her confidence, which she puts to the test in the end when she confronts her mother about her plans for the future. I loved her grandparents a lot. Salla, the engineer she meets, was a great character as well. I also liked Ms Keith, the teacher. I just realise, Tilly meets a number of women to mentor her or help her out, where her mother can't.

This is a pretty low stakes, fun book. And if you aren't quite so easily upset about all the things that went wrong in your childhood and youth as I am, you shouldn't be sobbing so much either. Tilly has been one of my top favourite Trek characters and this book only confirmed that. I am very glad I finally read/ listened to it. Thank you, friends, for recommending it to me! 🙂

That I consider January LaVoy to be the queen of audiobook narration is no secret. This book is just another reason in a long list to support that.

Una McCormack talked to Literary Treks about the book. Worth a listen, as always.

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The amount of eyerolling, sighing, facepalming, and "Oh god, what!? No!" and similar commenting I did was too high to count. I thought about giving this 2 stars, but the longer it went on the more frustrated I became. So 1 star is all I can give.

A lot of this book is a regurgitation of scenes and quotes from TOS episodes and films. It sometimes feels like a badly re-enacted clip show. It's just too much. By a lot. The part about Amanda dying (no spoiler, it literally says on the blurb) left me cold, and her diary entries are beyond juvenile. (I am an avid journaler myself. A journal should never ever be censored or edited. Be as juvenile as you want in yours. I know that I am, and it is very cathartic. But I don't think it makes for good literature.) The part about Peter's stay with the Klingons was the most eyeroll inducing of it all. Good grief!

I think the basic story about KEHL and a possible conspiracy behind it, sounds interesting. The execution however did not satisfy me one bit.

I acknowledge, respect, and appreciate the narrator's skill for producing accents and speech patterns. His Sarek was excellent, I also enjoyed his McCoy. However, most of the rest I found a bit too much. Speaking of the narrator: It is not Mark Lenard (as even stated on Simon & Schuster's website), but Nick Sullivan.

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Star Trek: Destiny -- Book 3: Lost Souls ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It was another intense book, I am exhausted! Especially the stuff that happened on that "frozen ass" planet was hard for me to read. But also the invasion and battle scenes were emotional. I had tears in my eyes more than once. Everything comes together now, all threads find a satisfying conclusion. In a story that big, that is not necessarily a given. Mack nails it. I like Captain Hernandez. When I went into this trilogy I was not happy with how her original mission went. I thought she deserved better. But her story took quite a turn and I like it. Will we ever see her and the Caeliar again? I hope so! As for the big bad I will write more in another post, which will then be behind a CW for spoilers. I don't know how to write about it without giving anything away. All I will say here is that I loved the solution.

David Mack talked to Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson on Literary Treks about this book and the trilogy as a whole. As always, this is absolutely worth a listen. Alone for Mack talking about the techniques of story telling. Thumbs up!

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Star Trek: Destiny -- Book 2: Mere Mortals ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It took me a while to finish this for reasons that have nothing to do with the book. It's another fantastic action packed novel with quite some heartbreak too. I cried several times.

Again we follow the Enterprise E and the Aventine as they try to figure out how to stop the Borg from invading Federation space. There's a good space fight and also some face to face combat which was really good. We meet President Bacco a few times too, which I always love. I enjoy seeing all the different groups adding their part to solve this problem, as this is not something we get to see on screen a lot.

In the meantime the Titan is investigating the shelled planet they found while the away team down on the planet is facing some problems of their own, both within the team (WTF Dr. Ree??) and with the planet's inhabitants. On the ship there are some interpersonal problems to be solved as well, which I loved seeing. That gives a bit of a break form the rest of the story and shows that the crew are people with lives besides their duty. I'd love to see more of Tuvok.

In between we always go back in time to Captain Hernandez and her away team in Axion. I found that the isolation they face and feel among the Caeliar is palpable, and I never envied Hernandez as she needs to make difficult decisions. I can't wait to see how her role unfolds in the next book.

The end is one of those "OMG, how will they ever get out of this?!" situations. I can't wait to find out.

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Don't let the cover design trick you into thinking this is a Worf novel that includes a lot of Romulans. He's got things to do and I love seeing him do these things. But it should have been Troi and Crusher on that cover.

Listened to it a second time over the weekend. A great book with clear A and B stories, that are not interwoven. It's set right before "All Good Things...". I love that the two main women in the TNG crew get to be center stage here.

The story around Crusher, Riker, and Data is very cool. They face some unusual events on a new planet and it's fascinating to follow them figuring out what they are. Crusher has a very crucial role in that and that's so good to see. Love her scene with Data at the end.

The story around Troi, Worf, and Picard starts as a nice and funny stay on Betazed, Lwaxana included, that turns into a detective story and chase through space to catch a thief. Here it is Troi who can shine and she's great doing it. Her empathic abilities are used in a great way that we rarely (if ever?) see on screen. I love the solution between her and the thief. I also love all the hints towards later events as seen on screen. Lwaxana is always great to see, she's an amazing character full of heart. The author said in an interview she would love to write a Lwaxana novel and I am here for it. There are a couple of cute scenes between Worf and Troi and I think they are a well executed continuation of what we see on screen.

Robert Petkoff, as always, is great. Especially his Worf and Picard are excellent.

Two interviews with the author can be listened to at Literary Treks and Positively Trek.

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Star Trek: Destiny -- Book 1: Gods of Night ⭐⭐⭐⭐

What a book! Several ships and a story spanning centuries. I have not read any of the (relevant) post-Nemesis books before this one, so I'm probably being thrown in some cold water here. But I am just going with the flow. I may not understand all interpersonal relationships, but I always feel that the authors are good in describing what's been happening to new readers, or as a refresher for those who read the earlier books. I did struggle a bit to keep my storylines straight though, because there are several going on at once. But all in all a fantastic book. One of my favourite Trek books for sure.

The Columbia story is quite something. I'm really interested to learn more about the Caeliar. Ezri Dax as Captain is so amazing! I was not happy with how Troi's situation was dealt with by the people involved. Those characters didn't earn any sympathy points from me.

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Star Trek: TNG: Double Helix -- Book Five: Double or Nothing by Peter David ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Action packed, lots of violence, and full of wacky drama as only New Frontier books can be. A classic Peter David.

Here we finally find out who the creator of the virus is and why they did it. But that does not seem to be the main story actually. Which is a pity. Our heroes seem to stumble upon it almost by chance. And the bit that was actually planned... well, I wished we found out how that came about. I've been missing the actual virus for a couple of books now. Maybe I should stop expecting medical drama from this mini series, because it clearly isn't that at all. Still 4 stars because it's entertaining and never boring, even though it could be very well a book outside this mini series.

I wonder if any of the people involved with Picard, season 3 have read that book. 🤔

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