Author: Susan Wright
Pages: 237
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Published: July 31, 2001
Publisher: Pocket Books
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Date Completed: January 20, 2025
My rating: 
Thoughts
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.
First things first, this book is a direct sequel to the third season original series episode “That Which Survives.” It probably would have helped readers with the context to put something noting this at the front of the book. I had just enough familiarity with the show to realize in the first paragraph or two that the prologue is from an episode. A little research on Memory Alpha found the episode title, which I immediately watched on Paramount+. I wouldn’t say viewing the episode should be required before reading the book, but boy-howdy did it help!
The premise of this book is actually a pretty logical follow-on to “That Which Survives” in that the Losira message had noted the colonists all died from some kind of illness. We also learn during that episode that the Kalandans are an ancient species which was extremely advanced technologically. So having the landing party stranded on the station having contracted this illness makes complete sense.
The Petraw were a little underdeveloped for my taste, but it’s clear that they are technologically advanced and not to be trifled with. Their early development of quantum torpedoes (something we won’t see until the TNG movie era and later DS9) proves that. But their reasoning for impersonating the Kalandans didn’t make a lot of sense. They detected huge energy signatures and wanted to investigate and came up with the plan very quickly. I don’t think I would have wanted to spend too much more time with them, but the beginning of their story felt pretty rushed.
The Klingon presence here is completely incidental. It does give the Petraw a moment to show off their quantum torpedoes and how formidable they are. But the backstory of the first Klingon captain we meet was unnecessary given how little they’re in the story. And then when there are Klingons en route later… well, we’ll make sure to end the story before they show up. I feel like the Klingons could have been completely left out and still show how bad the Petraw are.
My biggest issue with the book is that it’s just kind of slow. There is so much investigating and other aspects of the story that just don’t amount to anything. At least in this book. Given it is the start of a series, there could be further follow-up later. But each book should be able to stand on its own. The cliffhanger ending, while a staple of this series, is clearly a money-grab on the part of the publisher. When originally published, the first six books were published in mass market paperback while the seventh book with the conclusions to each story was first published in hardcover (it was published in mass market paperback probably a year or so later). It would have been better to conclude each book, with maybe some hanging threads to follow up in a concluding short story collection.
Unfortunately, this book is really just okay. I’m intrigued to continue reading in the series. I want to know what, if any, involvement the Petraw have. I wonder about the Kalandans and their true involvement with the Gateways. Side note: I read this series years ago and remember next to nothing about any of the books. However, I do believe I remember something about the true nature of the Gateways. No spoilers here though!
In the end, I give this one 3 out of 5 stars. It’s better than bad, but not good enough to be great. But this book also got me excited to continue this series and see how everything turns out!
