As the Gateways saga continues, Cold Wars by Peter David delivers a novel where the Gateways themselves take center stage. More than just a continuation of the New Frontier storyline, this is a Gateways novel in full force — lengthy, rich with tension, and surprisingly relevant.
As the fifth installment in the Gateways series, you would expect the Gateways to play a bigger part of the story. While they are present, they really serve as the MacGuffin to a classic Voyager tale.
This book continues the Gateways saga as a part of the Deep Space Nine relaunch (i.e., post-series) storyline. It does one better than the other, but it is still a fantastic book.
I love it when a tie-in author understands the assignment. James Swallow always seems to and this book is no exception.
Want to hear my thoughts on this book? Listen to Literary Treks episode 386.
Want to hear my thoughts on this book? Listen to Literary Treks episode 385.
The start of a big Star Trek crossover series of novels always has a big lift. In this case, the author has to take a concept created by two other people, create an original Star Trek story, end on a big cliffhanger, and set the stage for six additional original novels (plus a short story collection). This book does some of it well and other parts… just okay.
If you’re familiar with Pandora’s Box, then you know this Greek myth is about Pandora, the first woman created by the gods, who was given a box by Zeus, with strict instructions never to open it. Apparently all religions see women as complete morons, so of course out of sheer curiosity, she opens it. Hey, you would have done the same! Anyway, she releases all the evils of the world (sickness, death, and suffering), but quickly closes the jar. However, what didn’t escape, what was left in the jar, was hope. I had hope this book would be good. When I opened it, it wasn’t evil that escaped; but what did escape was… a LOT!
A new Star Trek novel by Una McCormack? Sweet! And the main character of the novel is [checks notes] Una?! I’m in! Now the question is, where does Garak fit into this story?
In the world of Star Trek books, this is not one you hear talked about a lot. But I’m here to tell you that that is a mistake. People should be reading this book and talking about it.
