O - The Badlands Newsletter - Maquis Forces International

PAGE 34
ST: The Lost Era - Book Reviews
by ADM Rob Johnson
BADLANDS
I just finished the 2nd Lost Era book entitled "Serpents Among the Ruins".
This book takes place 18 years after "Generations" and 53 years
prior to "Encounter at Farpoint". The main characters in this book being
CAPT Harriman of the 1701-B and his 1st Officer, Demora Sulu, daughter
of Captain Sulu of USS Excelsior. The last time we saw Demora
Sulu, she was the communications officer on the 1701-B.
Since there's not alot of information about Harriman and CDR Sulu, this
book entailed much more back-story than the 1st book of the series, but
it is a good story of those interested in Covert Operations and Spy novels.
This book tries to cover how the Federation/Romulan treaty of Algeron,
referred to in TNG, came about.
The only dowside to this book that I can see, is the book's author...David
R George III. This is only his 4th attempt at writing for Trek. He has written
a 1st Season Voyager episode and 2 DS9 Short Stories prior to this
undertaking. His biggest downfall, in my opinion, is being too friendly
with his Thesaurus! I've done alot of reading and been around the block
a few times, but I've found myself having to think about some of the
words he unneccesarily used. Case In Point: Using the word "respire" instead of "breathe". I don't know
of a single person, including the Medical community that uses the word "respire". There's another couple
dozen words used that didn't need to be. In my opinion, this detracted from my reading. Over all, I did
enjoy this book and look forward to starting the 3rd in the series.
This book spans the years of 2328 - 2346 and covers the Klingon-
Cardassian eighteen year Betreka Nebula incident discussed by Bashir &
Garak in the DS9 episode "Way of the Warrior". Some of the main characters
include General Worf (Mogh's father), Kang, Kor, Curzon Dax, Ian
Troi, Enabran Tain, Legate Kell & Capt. Garrett of the Enterprise-C.
For you "Forehead" & "Spoonhead" fans (terms used in the book) this
should be quite a quick read. As in the 2nd book of the series, there is
more espionage, as well as small skirmishes throughout the book. It spans
the family line of General Worf, Capt. Mogh and young Worf, as well as
the career of Ian Troy, and continuing careers of Ambassador Curzon Dax
and agent Elias Vaughn.
In my humble opinion, the writing style of Keith DeCandido in this novel
was less pretentious than that of David George III's "Serpents Among the
Ruins". Because of all the background that needed to be laid, this book
was also slower than "The Sundered", but not as slow going as
"Serpents". The one odd part about the book, was that its time period
overlapped the actual destruction of the Enterprise-C, so I'm interested in
getting to "Well of Souls", which deals directly with Capt. Garrett and her command of the "Big E".
All in all, I believe anyone interested in the back story of the Trek universe in general, and Klingon history
in particular, will enjoy this book. If anyone else has opinions of these stories, please speak up. I'm sure
nobody wants to settle for MY opinions, after all, we all have different likes, dislikes and interpretations of
Trek.